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PE Catch-up fpr Yambati

Yambati blinked. Then blinked again. His other make-up classes had been easy, as the teachers had been, well, expecting him. He'd thought he'd sent a letter ahead of time to Orrys, but as the Professor was currently doing benchpresses...

"... Do I just... go over to him and interrupt him?" he asked, turning to glance at Kallisto. He felt strange, imagining himself doing that. What did he do, tap him on the shoulder?

Kallisto stood beside Yambati and turned to look at him slightly confused, "I guess so. He was expecting the class...." She shrugged and started over, flashing a smile at Yambati as she did so. "Professor Orrys...?" She called softly from the side of the bench, hoping that would be enough to get his attention.

Orrys sniffed audibly. The scent of Zeroes. He pressed the bar one last time and then set it to rest on it's bracket with a long exhalation. He sat up wiping the sparkling sweat from his brow and grinned. "There y'are. I was startin' to wonder where y'were. You both ready for your Lesson?"

"Ah, yes, Professor." He was starting to feel uneasy. Practicing Kallisto was one thing. Actually taking the class-

He was suddenly very worried about breaking his glasses, and he touched them, absently.

Kallisto blinked as he sniffed, wondering what that was for. "Ah. I've got my credit for this class but I'm helping Yambati study. That's alright, right?" She glanced over as he fidgeted and smiled encouragingly at him.

Orrys looked her over and grinned. "A'course. There's always more to learn. And if memory serves, you were quite a natural? Y'keeping up on Sparring then?" Orrys got to his feet and stretched, his spine making a sharp popping sound.

Yambati shifted slightly from foot to foot. He was feeling honestly nervous for some reason - something he hadn't felt in his other make-up classes. Maybe it was because Kallisto was there?

Still, Kallisto had that smile turned at him. He tried to relax, smiling back (though it was a bit awkward).

At the professor's words she stood up straighter, proud that she would receive such a compliment from a teacher. "Yes! I want to be a Grigori and I've really enjoyed PE - even sparred a few times since."

"Nervous?" She asked, curious as to the why Yambati was suddenly so shy. "It'll be fun!~"

Orrys laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, shall we begin? Arms up!" He raised his hands into intimidating fists and slid effortlessly into a fighting stance.


This- this was starting quickly. He didn't really even have time to respond to Kallisto. He slid easily into his ready stance, feet sliding slightly apart, one positioned farther back than the other, arms raised but held loosely, not locked. He glanced over at Kallisto.

She took up her position in front of him and relaxed into a neutral position, arms up as indicated by Orrys. She was smiling brightly and the bob of her head set her pigtails to swinging playfully.

Orrys righted himself and stepped up to stand beside them. "Nice form, nice form!" Orrys purred. Alright. i'm going to slowly step you through a basic exchange and focus on your form. Kallisto, I'll start with you, since you know the basics, and can offer a good demo." Orrys grinned. "I want you to slowly step forward and throw a back-hand punch to Yambati's middle. Yambati, I want you to slowly . "Step back and block with your arm in a gedanburai." Orrys demonstrated a sweeping block that aimed the hand down to rest above his knee. "Keep it slow and safe, eh?"

"Okay." She nodded and shifted slightly, throwing the punch out as requested - slow and deliberate. Kallisto offered a smile at Yambati as the punch swung in. She was going to enjoy this, she was sure.

It was similar to when they'd practiced in the Gardens, and Yambati felt yet more at ease. There was more instruction, less 'feeling' what to do, and yet it still made sense. The instructions just gave more confidence to his action, as he stepped his foward foot back and blocked by moving his opposite arm down across his body to deflect the blow. They were moving slow, like that first practice, but that was just fine.

"Alright hold it!" Orrys said, kindly and stepped up. He spent a moment adjusting the angles of their arms. Tilting the line of Kallisto's wrist to be flush with her arm, aiming her knucles to line up with the bones. "Like that, a straight line of strength..." He murmured, then moved on to Yambati - crooking the elbow to make the arm block at a 75 degree angle. "A wedging motion, like so...."

Kallisto paused, blinking and relaxed her arm as Orrys adjusted her arm, allowing him to move it around. When he shifted to Yambati she found the new position to be more natural, to flow better and be more comfortable. Drawing the fist back, she tested the new angle and smiled as she was able to copy the corrected movement. It wasn't perfect but it had improved. "Thanks!~" She grinned and followed through with the strike, letting her fist to be swept aside.

And Yambati was easily able to sweep it aside, with the adjustment. It made sense - it even felt more natural than what he'd originally been doing, even if that had been instinctual and uncorrected. "Mm," he assented, agreeing with Kallisto's gratitude.

"Alright" Orrys grinned. "Now try the same combo again, adding a little speed as you get the hang of it. When you manage to do three in a row without a mistake, switch sides and start off slow again."

She nodded and reset her stance, throwing the punches at an increasing speed with increasing fluidity and control. Kallisto's smile widened as the motion became ingrained in her memory - she was learning a great deal from this. She was truly happy and obviously in her element as her movements became better and better with the repititions. When at last she felt they'd done the three required movements, she paused and stepped back to ask Yambati if he were ready to move on or not.

Yambati flowed into the defensive moves quite easily, like he had back in the Garden. The constant repetition of the move made it a part of him. Their practice in the Garden had given him experience in thinking on his feet. This gave him skills to use during that.

He stepped back once Kallisto did, nodding. "Mm." He gave her a small smile, than settled back into his stance, this time ready for the offensive.

Orrys watched over them and nodded approvingly. "Good, good... Keep that up. If you feel ready, you can begin to alter the targets for your punches to force your opponent to judge where the strike is coming from and adjust their blocks accordingly."

"Alright..." She trailed off as she concentrated on completing the blocks appropriately. "Go ahead." Kallisto flashed a smile at Yambati, nodding to let him know she was ready when he was.

Yambati nodded, slightly. He wasn't smiling much, but it was clear that he was very, very focused. Considering as he threw the punches as normal, he shifted the next time to move to the right and down. From then on, he continued to alter targets, but he made sure to focus on form, slowing down once more.

Orrys watched attentively as the two bantered their moves back and forth. He offered encouragement as they worked, pleased with their grasp of the skills. When they were finished their set, he quirked an eyebrow. "How's that feel? You ready for something a little more advanced?"

Kallisto stepped forward to stand beside Yambati once the set was finished and grinned her approval to him. Turning to Orrys, she nodded, "I am! Are you?" The latter was directed to Yambati as she bounced on the balls of her feet, energized by the practice.

Yambati smiled amusedly at her bouncing, and nodded to the Professor. "Ready and willing," he said, as he rolled his shoulder to ease out the muscle memory of the movements they'd just gone through.

Orrys grinned. "Alright then... How'd you feel about learning how to Tackle?"

Kallisto laughed and nodded, "Sounds fun!" She wondered what all would be involved... what exactly made up a tackle.

"Fine by me." His slight smile widened. The images in his mind, while completely wrong, were amusing.

Orrys wiggled his eyebrows and wiggled his paws. "A tackle is a great move to learn. It can interupt almost any move your opponent is trying to prepare, and can throw them to the ground. If you do it right you can strike at least once more before they can retaliate." He tossed a quick wink at Yambati and lunged without warning at Kallisto. He threw his shoulder (gently for Orrys) into her midriff and bore her to the floor as gently as possible.

She nodded, understanding what he was speaking about and shifted about, standing square to Yambati once more. Of course, this movement resulted in her missing the look Orrys sent Yambati and she cried out in surprise as she was borne to the ground. Eyes flying wide, she flailed and pounded on whatever part of him she came into contact. Once the initial surprise dissipated she laughed and lay on the ground glaring at the professor in mock anger. "Not fair! I wasn't expecting that!" She was grinning though and shaking her head.

Yambati thought of warning Kallisto, but it was too late. If it had been anybody but a Professor, he probably would have bristled a little in protective jealousy. As it was?

He laughed, crossing his arms. Though he did make sure he was balanced so he could hopefully resist if Orrys pounces on -him-. He didn't have much hope for it, but...

Orrys picked himself up and offered Kallisto a friendly hand to help her to her feet. "Obviously the element of surprise is crucial to landing a tackle. If you lose that element, your opponent may be able to redirect your momentum to send you off balance."

Kallisto took the proffered hand and grumbled something about it still not being fair. "If I'd known I wouldn't done that." She was blushing, finding the comment embarrassing even though she knew it had just been a demonstration. "... How do I that?" She eyed Orrys, determined not to be caught off guard twice before turning her look to Yambati, "Don't laugh at me! You would've been surprised too!" She flushed more and crossed her arms, fixing the choleric with a bemused grin.

"Of course I would have been surprised, but the look on your face was -priceless-." He laughed again, though his eyes kept going between her and Orrys. He didn't trust either of them when surprise tackling was on the brain.

"Well now, the first rule of Sparring is to watch your opponent. It's no good to fix a gameplan and not be able to respond when your opponent does something unexpected. So, I'll leave it up to you two to figure out how to watch each other and see if you can determine what move they'll use next. If you start small, and limit the number of moves you'll toss up in your practise, it'll train those "skills while still keeping things safe. You'll find you'll learn a lot." Orrys grinned and stepped back.

Kallisto merely harumphed at Yambati's remark and settled into a stance before him. "Okay..." She breathed out and pulled a breath in, clearing her mind. Bouncing on her feet, she threw a punch at Yambati at the point where she hoped she wouldn't broadcast her movements. The punch she threw wasn't slow but wasn't particularly fast either. "Punch and kicks, okay?"

"Sounds good," he responded, dodging rather than blocking the first time. He moved into a kick at about the same speed that Kallisto was using. This was more like what he was used to, and his lips curled as he dropped back into sparring mode.

Orrys watched them practise and kept his mouth shut. There were some things you simply had to learn on your own. He stepped back, out of their peripheral, and watched carefully from the side. Their form and foundation were good, the rest just came with building on techniques and refining one's skills.

Using the concept of the sweeping block, Kallisto met and moved Yambati's leg to the side, diverting the momentum away from her. Pivoting on one foot, she lauched her own kick at him, looking for an opportunity to surprise him.

Yambati got his foot back on the ground as quickly as possible so he could move to block his exposed side, stepping away in place of pushing her. The added distance let him settle back into a good stance, waiting for the right moment- before he tried a punch moving upward from about waist level, at a slight angle.

Orrys watched carefully, rubbing at his chinfur and leaned back against the wall. He wondered if either of the students would have the bravery to attempt the new Tackle he'd demonstrated.

Kallisto frowned as Yambati danced away. Using the momentum from the swing of her kick to pivot and throw her opposite shoulder forward. Ducking into the strike and wrapping her arms around his middle as she surged forward. She wanted to try to tackle the other. It seemed like a fun technique.

At first, Yambati was able to only stagger back, sliding his feet apart to gain traction and pushing forward in surprise. His advantage in height and weight helped. But his surprise left his defense faltering, and he went down, yelping, after a moment's resistance.

"Hey! You said just punches and kicks!"

Orrys chuckled and clapped. "All's fair in love and war!!" He chuckled and moved forward, grinning and nodding at them. "Well, I'll leave you two with that for today. If you have any further problems of questions, you know where to find me, eh?"

Kallisto lay a top of Yambati grinning at him. She nodded as Orrys spoke and sat up, straddling the choleric for a moment, "Yep! Thank you professor!" She flashed a smile at the teacher before standing up and stepping away, offering a hand to help him up.

"Mm, thank you," he agreed, nodding to Orrys. Then he moved to take Kallisto's hand... and promptly tugged her back down towards the ground and him, putting a good deal of his strength behind the move.

Orrys chuckled and shook his head and moved back to the bars, and began a set of chin-ups.

Kallisto squeaked in surprise as she was yanked down on top of Yambati and laughed. Finding herself in his arms once more, she shook her head and smiled, "No more practicing?"

Philosophy

Class
Philosophy


Notes

Worship and the Powers of the Gods

Patron Saint - could be prayed to in times of need by those it protected for guidance, strength, health, or courage. Patron saints were generally a hereditary worship. Specific families or cities would have a God or Spirit they worshipped, and in return the God or Spirit could be called upon in times of trouble.

The strength and authority of any worshipped deity is directly proportionate to how intensely the worshipper's beliefs are held and how extensively they are worshipped. Going through the motions of worship does nothing unless honest faith is possessed. In a way, Gods are co-dependent with their worshippers, yet are also above their worshippers. Deities have skills and powers that Empyreans can never achieve on their own.

There has never been a faithful who became a monster when it died.

Faith in the Gods has no bearing on whether or not they will exist, merely the strength of the connection between you and your deity. Example: If you were to try to contact a deity for assistance once, in the throes of battle to try a last ditch effort to save your life, your response from the celectial bodies would not be very strong. If however, you continueously practise your worship, and excersize your faith, like any muscle that is worked, it will become stronger.

There are those who pray to gods not because they wish to build up their Karma to receive help in times of trouble, but to justify their deeds, and use the god's power as fodder against their enemies. Example: the Outsiders collectively believe in an monotheistic deity known as Jesu. At one point in time this deity may have been the Jesus of Christianity. But like the Outsiders, the deity has become warped and malicious with time and war. The Jesu they worship now is a vindictive and cruel god, all about wroth and smiting the enemies of His people.

Jesu was worshipped by his faithful for thousands of years. As the culture changed, the interpretation of how to show one's faith gradually changed with it. The God had the choice: Abandon his faithful, as some of the older deities had done, and thus lose his worship, or adjust his power and his meanings to suit their needs. Jesu, a young, and short-sighted deity chose the latter. Each little change must have seemed nothing to Him. A small and insignificant detail in the shadow of the larger celestial sphere. But each concession for His faithful changed Him more and more. The faithful can influence a deity, but not change it by their prayer or will. That decision remains in the God's own hands, just as you all have free will to worship or not.

Many of the older deities, especially those of the pantheons have remained true to their stations, and are ready and willing to accept new faith instead of changing for the whims of some few faithful who have tried to manipulate them.

The Deity prescribes how it wishes to be worshipped. Some prefer tribute of wines or foods. Others prefer statuary made in their likeness, decked with jewels or fine fabrics. Some wish for prayer, and soft-spoken heart-felt words. Other require deeds and proofs of faith. Each deity has his or her rules and prescriptions.

The tasks that Gods can be called upon to assist with are things beyond the sphere of mortals. It would be trite and presumptuous of us to ask for help with things we could do ourselves anyways. The spells we have, the crafts we make are things that we rely upon our best to perform. The skills the Gods offer are things well beyond our scope of talents. It is not a matter of misusing the Celestial power like the Outsiders do. We remain different in our faith because of that distinction. I will not say which is the right way to worship, merely that ours is a good and just way to worship.

As an Empyrean, you cannot shirk the blame to a deity, for our existence within the circle of Karma will find a way to punish your falsehoods. You worship, if you so choose. Every time you do, you build up good karma with the deity to whom give love, devotion, patience and respect. You can then call in favours, small ones for small showings of devotion, larger favours in times of dire need if you have been supportive for a long time. You may one day find yourself in peril. In times like those, you may call to heaven for help. If you have been good, and true, the gods may find pity or love enough to answer your need.


Karma

The beginning and end to it all.

Almost everything in life follows a cyclic pattern. Examples: archaic weather systems, the flow of energy through the chakras, the cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide in animals and plants.

Karma is also cyclic. It is impossible to live on this planet, breathe and move, and not impact something. Each choice made, each day lived making those choices, you influence the things around you, and the path you forge will perhaps allow you to encounter this person, or not, experiece this moment, or that. Attempt to be conscious of how and where we impact other matter and beings in each choice we make, large or small. To understand that connection will allow you to avoid a scenario down your life path that you'd rather avoid, or conversely, make the choices that need to be made in order to ensure that something does happen. Many types of Fortune Telling are merely high levels of understanding these pathways.

There are no coincidences.

Death

When an Empyrean dies, a number of things can happen depending on the circumstances of the death. If attacked by an Outsider's weapons - like firearms and blunt-trauma weapons - the Empyrean falls and over time, usually about two weeks, their Additions begin to reverse and disappear and fade away. This is their Essence leaving them. If attacked by the Outsider's Chemical weapons or a monster, the Empyreans Additions generally mutate and fall off the Empyrean immediately upon death. Again, the Essence if forced to strip from the Empyrean. In both of these cases, if the dead Empyrean's body is left Outside, and not recovered, they will become a Monster. Depending on how they died influences what sort of Monster they will become.

The body must be returned to Empyrean City so that the Metatrons can touch the fallen Empyrean, release their soul and take that soul back into themselves. An Empyrean might be reborn, if their soul is given by the Metatron to a new husk, or an Empyrean might rest at peace with the other fallen of our alignment.

If the Empyrean who falls had a patron Deity to whom they prayed, their body does not lose its additions after two weeks, and never becomes a monster. These Empyreans are safely returned to the Metatron and saved from a worse fate.

Haunted House

For All Hallow's Eve this year we all got together and made theme rooms. Sanguine decided to draw inspiration from a poem of some sort (I've never read it) and I was slotted with the terrible room. After a bit of thought, I decided to go with a gory feast! It's all edible and looks really awesome. Thanks Tryna!~

It was lots of work but still, I had fun. Thought I got kinda sick from eating so many candy eyeballs....

As for the other rooms... I really liked the Choleric room with it's plague and zombies and actually getting sick. Very realistic and frightening but great at the same time. It got my vote (though, I must admit it was partially because Yambati was on that team.)

Oh! This is the prize I got for Sanguine placing second!

Metatron Council Event

This... was scary. I didn't know what was going on, only what had happened and that I'd been told to try to figure it out. But the clues seemed so disjointed. It was hard to follow along.

Music Tutoring with Aureus and Argentum

Tutoring Science with Abrid

It wasn't long now, until they would be able to ascend and Kallisto was both nervous and anxious. Swinging by Yambati's room, she knocked on his door to see if was still around or if he'd gone ahead and was going to meet her at Abrid's classroom. "Yambati?" She called, shifting from foot to foot.

He was still there, albeit just about to leave. He opened the door almost as soon as she knocked, smiling briefly before crouching quickly to pick up Hien, who darted towards the hall. "She's been whining about not being able to come," he explained, a bit sheepishly. Carefully, he set her back inside and closed the door behind him. "Ready?"

She blinked and stepped back as Hein made a break for the hallway, smiling. "Mmhmm... Just seeing if you were ready." Kallisto nodded and turned to leave, "I'd offer to have Cecil keep her company but I think there'd be a bigger spectacle then." Laughing lightly, she caught his hand and started off.

"I would come back to a destroyed room," he said, wryly, squeezing her hand and continuing along side her, until they came to what Yambati assumed was the classroom (since Kallisto slowed down). He knocked with his free hand.

As the two students entered the classroom set aside for Abrid, they saw all the periphenalia that would be expected of a Professor of Science. High counters with beakers, alembics and test tubes filled the front half of the room, with equally high stools tucked neatly under each table. Along the walls, cabinets and bookshelves covered every available inch of wallspace. Countless glass jars filled with fermented and well-preserved specimins leered eerily from the open bookshelves, and imagination only knew what lay concealed behind the closed cupboard doors. At the front of the classroom a massive slate board had been securely fixed to the wall, and across it in casual, loopy cursive was written ANATOMY. In front of the board was a naked skeleton, standing up much of its own accord.

There was only one other person in the room, and that was not the Professor, but a small and chubby Zero of the Sanguine alignment.

"Hiya!" Cyphr chirped happily, seeing another couple of students enter the room. "You here for the Science lesson?" For those that had known Cyphr any degree of time, they might have noticed that his grammar had improved a great deal; he'd also dropped the falsetto sweet voice and spoke in more natural tones, husky and sturdy like the rest of him. He looked expectantly from one to the other, swinging his chubby legs over the side of the table he sat on.

Her gaze had settled on the skeleton towards the front of the room, inspecting it, and then had moved on to play across the equipment that was laid out. Some of it was familiar to the alchemist-in-training and she smiled happily, wondering if they might be using them in this lesson. When Cyphr spoke up, she blinked and turned to face her fellow sanguine, "Hello!~ Yep." She nodded and tugged lightly on Yambati's hand, "We're not late are we?" She seemed a little worried at the thought and glanced from Cyphr to Yambati.

Yambati was focused on the skeleton, remembering how strange it was that Hien could move as if she were alive. Maybe he could ask Professor Abrid about that? At Kallisto's tug, though, he turned to look at her, a bit off-guard. He smiled a bit after a moment, though, and shook his head. "I doubt it. I allowed myself fifteen minutes to get here, in case I got lost. And we didn't, so..."

He shrugged, then glanced over at Cypher, nodding in greeting.

They were indeed on time, in fact a little early. And still no sign of their Science Professor. If one watched the skeleton closely, though, they might notice a slight rise and fall in it's ribs, as if the thing had issued a sigh of small proportions.

Cyphr grinned from ear to ear at that and jumped down off the high table with a flat-footed thud. He kicked out one leg to shake off the vibrations and then the other and then, shoving both hands deep into his pockets he gallumped over to them, glancing up at the skeleton as he drew nearer to it. "Pretty neat, huh??" Cyphr asked, pausing and craning his neck. He was not even up to the skeleton's hips.

Kallisto's eyes narrowed as she thought she saw movement in the skeleton but quickly dismissed it as a trick of the eyes as she was distracted by Cyphr's thud. Nodding she agreed with him, amused that the little guy wasn't even half the skeleton's height. Granted, she didn't come up too much higher but at least she didn't have to cran her neck to look up at it. "Yeah." Biting her lower lip, she moved further into the room and took a seat at a nearby table. Smiling at Yambati, she patted the seat beside her. "Wonder what it's for...."

Yambati suddenly felt very tall, compared to Cypher and even Kallisto, a little bit. He shifted slightly on his long legs, but shook off the feeling and followed his love, sitting beside her.

"If this is anatomy class, probably to teach us the bones in the body," he pointed out, indicating the words on the board.

"Very Astute, Master Yambati." came a rich, mirthful voice from the direction of the skeleton. In fact its jaw bone wiggled about held on by invisible strings as it clacked out the words. And then, to further make the situation odd, the skeleton lifted up one fleshless arm and indicated the board. "Anatomy, indeed. But not just the skeletal system, all the bodily systems of both Empyrean and Outsider!" The skeleton sounds very much enthused by this prospect.

Cyphr giggled a tad and sniffed unconsciously, watching as the thing moved in its unstable wiggly way. Cyphr did an impression of its wiggly arm pointing at the board and then chortled harder. "Hee, nice!" he complimented the skeleton in a pleased, genuine voice and then turned on his heel to take a seat on the floor in front of Kallisto and Yambati's seats.

Kallisto cocked her head to the side when the skeleton started speaking, confused and more then a little intrigued. Was this skeleton like Hien then? "Outsider?" She asked, curiosity piqued. So many of the othe professors were tight lipped about the Outsiders.... it seemed like such contradiction to learn something like their biology when other subjects were so hush hush.

Hien was the first thought in Yambati's mind, too, after the initial start faded. He shifted, slightly uncomfortable from being surprised. "Sounds good," he murmured, then glanced at Kallisto. "And if we're going to be fighting them, it's probably best that we know where their weak spots, anatomically, are." That was his conclusion, at any rate - the idea of knowledge for the sake of knowledge only went so far with him, and into anatomy was not a part of it.

"There are actually a startling number of identical systems between the Outsiders and the Empyreans. So, for this particular lesson, I - an Outsider- shall be a good model to illustrate the point." The skeleton gave a little mock bow, it's head lolling dangerously to one side before righting itself. "My name is John Burnham. Pleased to meet you."

Cyphr grabbed his boot-toes and squealed with glee at that little bow of the Outsider Skeleton. What a fun class this was. So, this is what Outsiders looked like, then? Cyphr scrutinized it carefully. They didn't look so tough or scary... In fact, with all them naked bones, they looked mighty easy to crush. There had to be a catch.

She'd nodded in agreement with Yambati. Once he'd mentioned that fact, the relevance seemed obvious and she flushed slightly, embarrassed at her oversight. Kallisto blinked, taken aback by the introduction, then shook her head. There was no way this skeleton was a reanimated Outsider... the Metatrons wouldn't allow such a thing, would they? Still, her curiosity grew and, like Cyphr, she scrutinized the skeleton, wondering where the similarities and the differences lay.

Yambati also focused on the skeleton, trying to find differences in the length of the arms compared to the length of, say, Grave's arms. Trying to find differences in the shoulders. But all of it seemed comparatively normal, from what he could tell. He kept himself focused on the physical before him, though, slowly taking out his notebook. There were too many questions he would ask, otherwise.

"To begin." Mr. Burnham said with another clattering of jaws, "Both an Empyrean minus their individual Additions and a full grown Outsider without their Grafts, looks like this:" And at that he lifted into this slow, parody of a pirouette, revolving entirely and coming to rest again. Aside from the soft clack of bone rattling against bone, the revolution was graceful and unearthly in its way.

But regardless of theatrics, it gave them a full view of the entire set of bones that composed both sides of the warring factions.

Cyphr sat forward, rocking into a squat as the skeleton lifted up on a foot and slowly turned around. He stared at the skeleton's hand, and unconsciously wiggled his own hand. He stared at the flat bladed scapula covering the back ribs and flexed his own. "Huh." was all he said.

Just bones? There wasn't anything special to either or and it gave Kallisto a strange sense of familiarity. Nodding slowly, the sanguine moved to retrieve her own notebook and jotted down notes, even doodling basic porportions into the margin. Shivering, she glanced at Yambati to see how he was doing.

Just the same? It was a strange thought, and though they had never been expressly told otherwise, it seemed to run contrary to what they had heard. But he cast aside doubt for the time being, accepting what was said as truth and writing slowly, making careful diagram sketches. He caught Kallisto's glance, twitched his lips into a slight smile.

"After the skeletal system comes the Circulatory System." Mr. Burnham announced and grew still as lines of red and blue spread out rapidly from his chest lacing their way over his entire body. And there, in the centre of the ribcage a fleshy piece of muscle formed, throbbing and pumping, making first one set of tubes swell and then the others. "Again, between Empyreans and Outsiders, precisely the same." This time the skeleton did not turn, but lifted his arms so they could see the paths of blood as they ran over his otherwise fleshless body.

"Neat!" Cyphr exclaimed before he could stop himself. He'd cut his finger before, and it bled and bled and bled. And at the time, he couldn't figure out why it kept coming, and couldn't see where exactly it was pouring from. Now, staring at the multitude of tiny capillaries coating the boney hands he understood quite clearly.

Kallisto watched the tubes grow and entwine throughout the bones, paying particular attention to the handful of thicker ones - the one that ran behind the heart, a few up the neck, and the two that branched off into the legs. They looked important... on her diagram, she bolded the lines and looked up, "Why are there blue lines when we bleed red?"

Yambati nodded, silently seconding Kallisto's question (though could the skeleton see without eyes?). Then he set down his quill, after a few sketched paths, and placed his fingers against where one of the larger pulsing tubes was in his own neck. He could feel a steady beat there, something he had always known, but never quite understood the reason for. Parts of his body beat in time with where his heart was... but this was how it happened. He nodded, understanding.

"Quite true! We don't bleed blue..." The skeleton rolled his head to look at Kallisto with gaping sockets and clattered its teeth together. "The starkness of these reds and blues are exagerrated. While in the body, blood is not nearly this red. When it hits oxygen in the air, it darkens to a bright red that grows steadily darker the longer it is exposed. The blue, on the other hand, represents the blood that has been emptied of it's nutrients. without the oxygen in it, it has much less of a red colour, and can appear anywhere from mauve to purple to blue, depending on the skin tone."

"My blood's -real- red." Cyphr chirped, committing the lines of bloods vessels to memory. He didn't take notes, just sat back on his haunches again, crossed his arms ober his knees and grabbed opposite hand-to-foot boot toes. He barely even blinked, staring at that skeleton before them.

Kallisto nodded at that, raising her hand to gaze at the veins there. In her skin, the blue seemed more of a purply-green then the stark blue of the model before them. And then she paused as a though ran through her mind, "Where's Professor Abrid?" Here they were, learning from some re-animated Outsider skeleton and not a one of them was questioning the lack of a Three in the room.

"Probably watching from somewhere," Yambati suggested, shrugging slightly, too entranced by feeling the pulse of blood in his wrist, now, and observing the teal color of his veins. It was like a sort of awakening, coming to understand what was inside of his body. He felt a bit more aware.

"Hahaha" Laughed the same, joyous voice, only this time it came from the wall. There was a ripple and then the whirr of a Technoequip being deactivated, and then Professor Abrid simple walked away from one of the cabinets and grinned at them, all droopy dog ears and scaley face and bushy mane. "I am indeed watching, and you've been absorbing this information well so far, so let's move on shall we?"

The jaw of the skeleton no longer rattled in time with the Professor's voice, but still it stood there of its own accord, all pumping heart and glistening veins. "Next is the Nervous system." At this, a series of pale green threads sprouted from the skull and spread down the body to every last extremety. "Again, between Outsiders and Empyreans, precisely the same."

"Ha!" Burst out Cyphr poniting a chubby finger at the Professor and grinning broadly. "I kneeeew it!! That's why you told me not to touch it, before the class started. Heeee..." Cyphr waved a hand at the professor and then stared back at the skeleton. "What do the green ones do?" He murmured under his breath. He recognized blood and bone, but what did nervous lines do? Make you nervous?

Kallisto jumped as Abrid materialized and walked out before them, turning to peer at Cyphr as he called out. "You knew!?" She laughed, however, and shook her head, intending on asking how Abrid was doing this demonstration and what technoequip he had been utilizing. Turning her garnet gaze on the professor, Kallisto voiced her question, "And what does the nervous system do?"

Yambati blinked, jumped a little at the sudden reveal. His heart beat faster for a bit, and his hand still against his wrist noticed the change. He was caught between being startled and being fascinated, but he shook off both. "I can't think of anything they'd carry..."

Abrid grinned, his whiskers curling up at the edges of his mouth. "They carry electricity. Specifically, electric pulses from sections of your brain out to the body part it's trying to communicate with. It is these lines that we activate in medicine with arts like acupressure and acupuncture." Abrid stroked his mane and thought to add something else on. "Likewise, signals can be sent from a body part to the brain to keep it informed on what is going on around you. Your senses are a good example. Cyphr, if you'd help me with a mini demonstration...?" Abrid raised his eyebrows.

Cyphr hopped up, a big grin in place. Interactivity, his favourite! "Okay! What do I do??" Cyphr asked. The professor sat him up on the edge of one of the tables and extended one hooved finger. He tapped Cyphr on the knee cap, and Cyphr felt his leg jerk, kicking out his foot in a little spasm. "Cooool." Cyphr cooed, staring at his leg as if it no longer belonged to him. "What does that mean?"

The professor replied that his nerves in his knee had just sent a signal to his subconscious mind, and the brain had in return responded with a reaction for the situation. In this case, a reflex. "Neeeeeeeat." Cyphr purred. This was now his favourite class. Hands down.

Kallisto nodded, writing furiously. This was rather interesting! "Will that result if you tapped him anywhere? What if you pushed on his neck, where that big cord is? What would that do?"

"Probably hurt, if it connects to our senses," Yambati tossed out, quirking a brow curiously. Reflexes... that would include recoiling from something painful, yes? "Can reflexes be overcome, with practice?" he asked, after a short moment's thought.

Abrid laughed joyously, pleased that they were asking so many questions. "That specific response won't happen everywhere. But, each grouping of nerves has its own responses, many of which are interconnected to other sets of nerves. If you were to tap someone of the back of the neck, depending on the angle you would either knock them unconscious - and a dangerous way to do it, since those nerves are connected to the medula oblongata which controlls your heart rate and breathing. If the impulse went down, rather than up, it can cause paralyzation in the body that has varying lengths of lasting which vary from person to person." Abrid paused and then adressed Yambati's question. "As for whether or not you can overcome your reflexes, yes and no. Some, like the one Cyphr's knee gave, certainly. It requires a great deal of practice, will-power, and having a relative resistance to pain. There are some things that you can only repress, such as the reflex to breath, or the speed your heart pumps at. For these, even if you develope the power of will enough to cease them, as soon as you lose consciousness - assuming you haven't damaged your brain too harshly - your medula oblongata will resume these activities. Hence why you don't die in your sleep."

Cyphr's mouth hung a little agape. Wow. That was a lot of information. This study seemed to cover just about everything... Cyphr stared at all those many many lines and began to wonder where each one sent it's signals, and how many it could carry, and what would happen if they broke. So many questions, and so much knowledge, he wasn't sure he could take it all in at once. He'd have to study this.

"So, providing you learn it well enough, you could potentially put someone to sleep with a simple tap on the neck or paralyze them by poking a certain spot? That's really useful for sparring..." Kallisto had perked during the wave of information and her mind was racing forward. "Is the nervous system what controls Essence then? Essence is an ambient thing like breathing, right?"

Yambati just listened, writing down notes. He had mostly asked his question so that he could more easily work with prickly, dangerous plants. Less flinching meant steadier hands, after all. He supposed it could be applied outward, but his focus had narrowed - after all, it was a way to organize all the new information.

"Yes, it can be applied to sparring, and far more broadly than that. You ought to ask Professor Orrys about that one nerve plexus in your arm that makes it impossible for you to make a fist for a few minutes." Abrid grinned and winked. "As for Essence, it can be applied to the nervous system, but it is not the same. We'll get to that. The next system is the Lymphatic system." A series of white lines sprang up between the nerves and the blood vessels, with small concentrated nodes growing behind the ears, in the jaw, in the throat, the armpits and the groin. "This, while the same in structure between both Empyreans and Outsiders, is a tad stronger in Empyreans due to our use of essence and a tad weaker in the Outsiders due to their use of Grafts."

Cyphr perked at Kallisto's question. He'd been thinking of fixing people, medicine and the like. But that was a ponit to, you could use the same vessels to inflict pain. Wow, versatile. He glanced over at the two of them, Kallisto, a sanguine kinesthetic like him, he figured they'd probably agree on quite a lot. But Yambati...he didn't look like a fighter. Cyphr wondered what the quiet Choleric spent his time on. But then a new system sprang up on the increasingly complex Mr. Burnham, and Cyphr's gaze snapped back to attention to try to remember it all.

Kallisto nodded and switched to a new diagram, pursing her lips thoughtfully, "And what does that system do? It looks like it's linked to the circulatory system."

"But it has more than one larger point... the circulatory system has only the heart. What are the larger parts of the lymphatic system?" He couldn't think of any names he knew for them, and was thus dumbfounded as to its purpose.

"The Lymphatic system works very closely with your circulatory system, it's true. It is in charge of creating the white blood cells and antibodies you use to fight infection - just as the bone marrow produces new red blood cells to carry nutrients. When you get a slight cut and that clear liquid oozes out, that's lymph. The larger centers are the nodes, those are the body's first line of defense.

"When ill or trying to fight off an infection prior to becoming ill, the lymph nodes swell as they produce antibodies to attack the invading organisms. Our Essence enhances the speed and efficacy of our Lymphatic System. The Outsiders use Grafts to augment theirs." Abrid paused and then glanced at the model beside him, pulsing with life. "And that's where the similarities end."

"Huh." Cyphr piped from his spot on the table. He'd had that clear good happen before too, especially when he skinned himself not bad enough to bleed, he'd leak this sticky stuff that would harden and turn yellow. He always picked it off. Now that he thought about it, the stuff did work to seal the wound. What better way to seal it than with a bunch of little fighters who'd protect the breach?

Kallisto nodded once more, falling back into silence as Abrid spoke. That made sense. But... if that's where the similarities ended, what were the differences then? Obviously Additions versus Graphs, but what system, exactly, were those tied to?

Yambati took some more notes, silent once more. The body was more and less complicated than he had thought. Now he had names and images of what made the body work... but those systems were complicated in and of themselves.

"The final basic system of the Outsiders is, as I've mentioned, the Grafts. These are not an organic or natural part of their growth, but are augments and alterations built of plastique, metal, oil, gears and electricity. They insert these pieces into the body to help with natural weaknesses. In some circumstances they can achieve an unnatural speed and strength. These are the Grafts that John Burnham had before he died." Abrid turned towards the Skeleton, and it began to develop machinery-looking additions. A glowing red eye formed in one eye socket, the metal brackets and wires running through holes drilled in the skull, bolted in with screws... The heart developed a series of four pistons that began their revolutions forcing the heart to pump ever faster and faster, injections of adrenalin and stimulants being pumped into the blood vessels...panels of metal screwed into the bones along his forearms and shins to offer added strength and protection, tubes and wiring in his gut where his digestive organs would be... by the time the Grafts had all materialized, John Burnham was nearly half composed of machinery.

Cyphr swallowed at that, feeling uneasy all of a sudden. This thing before him...it was threatening, even without it's skin and armour and weapons. It scared him a little, the unnatural look of it, the coldness of it, like there was no feeling left in it, only purpose.

Kallisto felt a shiver arc down her spine and looked away from the skeleton. How could someone function like that? It was so.... false. So unreal. This Outsider shouldn't be alive, with all that augmentation. It had to have damaged his core somehow. "That's.... depressing." She said at length, truly more saddened then intimidated by the Outsider. If push came to shove, she had faith that she would be able to stand against these murderous people. But to live as what was essentially a fancy technoequip? She shook her head. Impossible to imagine, really. And she felt luck for having been chosen and rescued from a life lead in such... horrors.

Yambati's eyes narrowed, almost dangerously. He felt sick, absolutely sick, at the sight of the natural being contaminated by the constructed. Additions he accepted as natural outgrowths of the person... but this? This was unnatural, inorganic, and disgusting. "How could anybody live like that with a clean heart?" he asked, voice almost a hiss. "How could they live with what they have done to their bodies? Even death would be better than this polution."

It was a reflex, a gut reaction, not influenced in any real way by anything he'd heard about the Outsiders. He had, for a long time, imagined them rational. Sentient. Misguided, of course, but... but not this. Not this... horror?

Abrid turned his gaze sadly away from the skeleton before them and slowly shook his head. "The more Grafts a person takes, the less personality and truth of self they retain. When an Outsider dies, they strip his body of any still useable Grafts and implant them into another Outsider who requires an...what do they call it? An Upgrade." Abrid sighed and then continued. "But their troubles do not start with their Grafts. The large majority of Outsiders are born with mutations, everything from blindness to limbs that never finished forming. I once saw an Outsider child with my own eyes that had been born with it's stomach outside of its ribcage. They built a graft around it to protect it, and this child, this tiny girl had to live with this metal thing on her chest. It was terrible. But, it is the result of their own chemicals. The fallout from their attacks on us, and from the explosions and accidents that our offensive fighters cause in their plants and factories poison thier lands. Not to mention the abundance of Plastique." Abrid waved a hand of dismissal, and the Grafts disappeared, leaving the other systems intact.

"Enough of that sadness. Onto the final system of Empyreans: The Essence." And over the body a shimmering, opalescent skin formed, but this skin moved through all the other systems, it was in constant motion, moving deeper and shallower in the body as if it possessed some inner current. And there, along the centerline of the body, 7 centres of light glowed softly, from the crown of the head all the way to the base of the spine.

Cyphr had clenched his fights tightly as he listened, aand ground his teeth without thinking about it. It was not until the Grafts disappeared and the Essence replaced it that he felt soothed, calmed. Back in the realm of the familiar.

Kallisto, too, had felt her blood almost boil at that. She wasn't sure what, exactly, she felt but the sympathy was quickly replaced by a fire. They suffered, but it was their own fault, they warped and destroyed their bodies by their own hands... it was a diseased and horrid existence. Kallisto briefly thought that the Empyreans were doing the Outsiders a favour by putting those they did kill out of the misery they were surely in and good riddance, too. Combined with the history lesson, Kallisto's view of the Outsiders had grown ever more biased. Such that when the Graphs were gone and replaced by shimmering Essence, she relaxed and admired the subtle beauty of what she saw before her. Then something nagged at her... the placement of those glowing nodes... Sitting up with a hopeful expression she spoke, "Those are the chakras, aren't they!? I was reading about those..." She hadn't spent much time on the subject but to actually recognize (or hope she recognized) them.

It took a bit longer for Yambati to relax. His blood had boiled, and he fought to reign in his temper. His temper... something that had long been controlled, actually. But this had pushed him enough to potentially make him rage, and he shied away from that, forced himself back. He took deep breaths, letting the soothing image of Essence wash away, bit by bit, the lingering burning memory of the Grafts. Such inhumanity.... it was the Graft that was more important than the person who bore it, it seemed, that they would take it from person to person. People didn't even get customized Grafts to suit their exact needs - they got leftovers, what remained of others. It was horrific. His mind was still so fogged with disgust that even his recognition of the chakras didn't penetrate at first.

"Very good!" Abrid beamed, quickly regaining his equilibrium. "They are indeed the Chakras. Crown, Third Eye, Throat, Heart, Solar Plexus, Sacral and Root." Abrid point out each one as he named them, from the top down. "Essence works differently than any of the other systems. It does not rely on specific roots, like the veins and nerves. It moves through tissue and through those other systems freely. This means that it has a potential flexibility and application far greater, but also that its weaknesses are everywhere. While Essence flows, if it becomes unbalanced, it can gather in certain areas, causing blockages that can cause unexplained pain, illness or infection. This is why it is important to have your Chakras cleansed and balanced from time to time. "

Cyphr focused on his hand for a moment, and slowly felt a warm tingling in his fingertips as his essence flowed there. If he looked really carefully he could see a bit of flickering aronud the edges of his fingertips. It was faint, but it was there. Likely as he grew older, it would grow stronger too.

That fascinated Kallisto and she cocked her head, to the side, "So... When you charge a part of your body, does that pull Essence from other parts of your body and leave those areas more vulnerable? Kind of like tilting a container of water to side - you get a deep end and shallow end." The sanguine was going on the memory of Grave's surprising attacks with charged limbs that one time and it made her wonder if she might be able to counter such a move or at least match it.

Yambati was able to do no more than listen - he didn't trust himself more than that. He listened and wrote down notes, but they were brief, too brief. He focused on what he could, pushing the still lingering nightmare-images from his mind's eye. He would probably have to compare notes for this part later, though.

"All of the Essence never fully leaves any part of the body, but it does thin out as it concentrates in other areas. The Chakras are the centres from which you can help focus where you want to direct the Essence to, because as they have no exact lines to follow, without direction they spread out even and you lose direction and strength. Like water on a table top, it spreads itself even to cover the surface." Abrid smiled and clasped his hands behind his back.

Cyphr sat agape once more, head reeling with all the information and body feeling oddly sensitive. He felt almost as if he could hear his own heart beating, and feel his nerves tingly now that he was more aware of them. He stared down at his skin, amazed it help so much under the surface.

Kallisto kept writing and then paused as Abrid finished, waiting for him to continue for a moment before blinking and looking up once more. Was that it? "Are... we done, Professor?" That seemed rather short.... Then again, maybe not. There were quite a few notes in her school book now and she fully intended to find out more. She certainly felt more aware of herself and held a great deal more respect for her body.

It was more than enough for Yambati, for the day. He was coming back to himself more fully, now, almost completely. He looked down at his own notes and then stretched some, hearing a couple loud pops from joints in his back. Skeletal system. He, too, had a new awareness and respect for all the workings of his body... that worked organically. Naturally.

Abrid nodded. "Merely the tip of the iceberg. But there are many tomes in the Library if you wish to expand on these points on your own. And, as always, I am more than willing to chat with you any time you wish to." He smiled again, friendly and pleased that the lesson had gone well.

Cyphr sat still for a little while, wiggling his toes inside his boots to get the circulation back in them. "Circulation, huh." he mumbled to himself. When he'd gotten all the feeling back in his feet he jumped down off the table as he'd done at the beginning of class and gave Abrid's waist a big hug. "Thank you, Professor." He piped and offered a grateful smile.

Kallisto nodded and closed her book with a thoughtful expression. Upon rising, she waved at Abrid and smiled warmly at Cyphr, "Thank-you very much, Professor! It was really interesting and I may just take you up on that offer."

Yambati rose as well, if more slowly, and put away his own book, pulling his bag over his shoulder. He inclined his head in something of a bow to Abrid. "Thank you," he repeated after the other two. "You've greatly increased my understanding of the workings of natural things."

Abrid chortled, quite pleased with how things had gone indeed, "That's the idea, m'dear boy! Take care now!" And Abrid waved pleasantly with his hoof-fingered hand.

Cyphr peered again at the skeleton, but it had gone back to being a boring ol skeleton. After all those other cool things, he was kind of disappointed to see it without any of its fancy systems. But, he was still very glad he'd seen it at all. And shoving his fists into his pockets he galumped to the door.

Audience with the Metatrons



--Official-y-ness to come--