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Fio was completely taken off guard by the freshling's vehement reaction; for goodness sake it wasn't as though it were live prey or anything! Nevertheless, the reaction caused the vespercat to jump back and emit a loud hiss of warning before darting back to Chervil.

Chervil meanwhile was assessing Adalyn's wound; the bite mark on her leg and the adjoining injuries around it reminded him more than anything of a predatory animal, dragging its keening victim off to its lair. Apparently it had underestimated his friend, but that did little to alleviate his thoughts. He turns his head and nodded at Ilya. "Thank you for looking after her. You're quite right; at the very least, that leg needs to be elevated." He pointed to an area where others were being situated for the medical personnel to look over and reached down to take Adalyn's other side, so that she would have support on either side of her as they walked.

"I wish I knew more about medicine than I do, but my specialty is more centered around first aid. With bites and such, usually disinfectant or good old fashioned soap and water will do; I would go for lots of the former, considering......" He looked rather pained as he cleared his throat once, then leaned closer and spoke in a whisper. "I know it's better not to panic in times like this, but I would not feel right lying to you when the inevitable question arises. I don't know if either of you have noticed but.....the ones that are previously bitten have not yet begun to heal. They don't seem to be getting sicker, but neither are they getting better. It could just be that they've yet to discover the proper medicine for it, but I will not lie to either of you and say that they currently have a means of properly treating it." He hoped he had done the right thing in telling them; from his previous interactions, Adalyn at least seemed less likely to panic in spite of what he had told her. But remembering the somber look in the little freshling's eyes made him think that perhaps sometimes the truth was more necessary than comforting words blanketed in false hope.

Speaking of which..... Chervil spared a glance toward where he had last seen the little one, hearing the angry shout and just in time to see him vanish into the hiding place he had made, and Fio walking towards him with his tail poofed out and his ears back in a huffy sort of way. "Fio! What did you do to that poor child?" In answer, the vespercat sniffed and sat down to pointedly lick his paws, as though washing them of the whole affair. Chervil turned his attention back on getting Adalyn situated before straightening up. "I'm going to look for something clean to hold against that bite, and if all of the staff are busy, some disinfectant as well."

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Oh, sitting felt good. Well, as good as she could feel given the circumstance. Sighing, Chunli rested her head against the cold concrete, happy to have something to stave off the rising heat. A whisp of smoke trailed from her nose as she groaned. "Nah, I couldn't see anything. I was too panicked when it hit me. Did you?"

Glancing at her companion, the chimera grimaced. Ruby had lost a huge chunk from her arm... that had to hurt. It would leave a pretty nasty scar too.


smolderingskies

Those who had been bitten back before coming to the academy look pale. In fact, most are starting to feel heavy. Over the next five minutes all those who had been harmed before approaching the academy have either fainted or about to. The wounds they received earlier have darkened, almost completely black in color. Strange and thing black vein markings run up from the wounds, fading into skin. Earlier, their had been no signs of the strange black substance, but as the wounded survivors fell it was evident something had happened.

Were they changing?

Yuki began frantically tending to the fallen, urging her fellow medical team to join her. Ava and the teachers formed together, muttering softly to one another. With a firm nod from the headmaster, they departed from their group a few moments later.

"I didn't want to do this, but it seems we must." Ava slipped towards the back of the bunker, hand raising. The wall seemed to melt, forming a door in her path. Quickly, she opened the door and slipped inside the mysterious room, returning with a box.

"I need all juniors and seniors to come forth and take both an amulet and knife." She began, and waited patiently for them to do so.

What to Do:
Those who were bitten before arriving to the academy have blacked out. Please RP your character doing so. Leading up into the experience they should have felt weak and dizzy, as well as irritable. Any negative feelings or events that have recently popped into their lives would harp in the back of their brain, leaving them both tired and distressed. Blacking out feels relieving, as if the constant barrage of emotions and sickness have finally stopped.

The fallen survivors dream of their normal lives and the strain of the same routine. The dreams harp on how everything could be better if one had their way, whatever way that may be. During this time, the dream turns into a nightmare, forcing upon the victims images of what frightens them the most. Please refrain from writing the entire dream, as this will come in future play where you need to describe the dream!

Yuki cannot do anything for the collapsed victims.

For the search party members who were recently bitten, their wounds have not turned black like the survivors from the first attacks. They are beginning to feel a little nauseous, and just as before with the previous survivors, Yuki cannot do anything to heal their wounds.

Everyone who has not been injured so far must approach Ava to get an amulet and knife. Freshlings do NOT do so. The amulets are delicate and silver, shaped like a faint swirl with vines wrapping around it. The knife feels heavy despite the small size, and is also silver. When you pick up an amulet, you must RNG 1-10.

The next round will begin Jan 31st

EDIT: Characters who were bitten in Find the Child may RNG for an amulet BUT they may not actually hold the amulet/knife for now, it will be set aside in case it is needed for the time being.

Illya nodded and helped Adalyn to somewhere where she could sit down. "It's no problem at all, Chervil," she said. "Adalyn was my search partner.

"First aid's an important thing to know, though," Illya said. "I learned first aid a while ago, but I'm sure my methods are all out of date by now."

When Chervil leaned in, Illya leaned in with him. She didn't want him to strain his voice, and she wanted to be able to hear him clearly. She glanced at someone else sitting nearby. They looked...tired...and...corrupted? Blackened...? What was going on? "I'd be surprised if they were all the way better by now, it's only been a couple of hours. Maybe you should see if Yuki has some anti-biotics as well." As she said it, she doubted her words. A bacterial infection shouldn't have set in so soon.

But before Illya could say anything more, Ava was directing people to grab amulets and knives. Illya frowned. Why knives? Was she telling them to grab knives so that they could kill the infected? Some of them were students--some of them were still children of eleven or twelve! "I'll be back," she murmured to Chervil and Adalyn. "Shall I get you a knife and an amulet each, too?"

Should Adalyn have it? She'd been bitten. Ava was obviously worried about the bitten people if she were handing out powerful magical artifacts. The Demon would likely not react well to someone who was potentially dangerous being given a knife.

Illya frowned. Even the bitten people need to have some sort of protection from the-- She refused to say it.

She refused to think of the first victims as "corrupted," as if that made them different or alien, as if that meant that they were no longer sick and injured people, casualties in some terrorist's campaign, but now monsters to be put down. It was only with extreme reluctance that Illya snatched up an amulet and a knife and strode back to Adalyn's side.

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"Oh, hi. I'm Chunli. This is Ruby." This was one of the people from the safehouse? Sounded like it. Coughing, the Chimera shifted and nodded in agreement, "Yeah, they move really quick. How are you holding up?"

Was the room always this... Sickening? The scent of blood and the smells of fear - sweat, tears, probably some urine. Just nastiness. All of it was pummeling Chunli and making her want to gag, but the Chimera hadn't eaten in hours. There was nothing to vomit, nothing to relieve the sensation of nausea.

Then, things went bad. People were fainting. From where she sat, she could see some of the blackness of their wounds. "They're turning black." Alternting cold and hot chills ran through her body as she clutched her arms tgithly.


smolderingskies


Milady Emerald

Come to get a knife and amulet, hm? Nine help them, they were truly screwed weren't they? The earlier biting victims seemed to have gone unconscious and the latest ones weren't looking well at all. The knife she felt had an obvious use, but the amulet was less obvious. None the less, she had been identified by age and so she went to queue up with the others to get a blade and an amulet. She just hoped that when someone got stabby it wasn't near her.

Feeling immensely nervous about the situation as a whole, Kanako wondered what would happen to everyone. She worried about the missing child as well as the ones who had been bitten. When Ava suddenly melted a wall and disappeared through the hole she had created, Kanako was certain that it meant their situation was getting worse.

When Ava came back and instructed that everyone take an amulet and a knife, this only confirmed for Kanako that things must be truly taking a turn for the worse. Figuring that following instructions was at this point her best option, Kanako gingerly picked up the items and wondered what would come next. She hoped that everyone would get through this, alive at the least.

Ms. Elf, huh. Well Arabelle didn't know his name either, thinking of him as "the Chimera" or "the kid". But memories, completely unbidden, surfaced from the back of her mind. Children of other races shunning her because she was an Elf, and a low-class one at that. She had been alone, oh so alone. Despair and irritation circled around her mind. Higher-class children treating her like dirt, and she couldn't do anything about it lest they go running to their mommies and daddies, getting Arabelle in trouble. Children of her own class smiling empty smiles even as they were prepared to plunge the knife of betrayal into her back if it meant improving their family's standing. Adults that never saw her, a quiet shadow that wouldn't be missed.

Memories that Arabelle had long since pushed away, wounds she thought had healed, all of it tearing at her consciousness until she felt like she was clinging to a log in the middle of raging rapids. She was so tired and felt like she was losing her hold bit by bit, yet to let go was terrifying.

Arabelle slumped to the right, her head nodding forward, until she gently toppled to the ground. Éloi skuttled out of the way, flying from her shoulder to land on her outstretched leg. The blanket was pulled away from her shoulders, pooled around her torso and waist, revealing the bloodied clothing and clean bandaging wrapped around her arm. And something else. Against her pale blue skin were veins of black, traced like blood vessels. They looked like branching lighting, and seemed to be spreading outward from under the bandaging. From the bite wound on her shoulder...

A blackness dragged at Arabelle's mind, but it was a soft, gentle blackness. It sheltered her from pain, from the hot and cold, from the rush of emotions too strong for her fuddled mind to handle. Forgetting her struggle to hang on, Arabelle grabbed for the darkness with both "hands". Soon she lost awareness altogether.

Arabelle was at work, grading papers. Outside the sun was shining and she could hear the voices of students, chatting and laughing and enjoyment the good weather. She was too busy to do the same. Besides, there wasn't anyone she had to spend time with. She'd been working here for a bit, but she still got those looks. No one really wanted to get close. She'd muddle through though, somehow. But if only things could be...