Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Good. I don't think I could handle more of them," Angie told him softly, smiling. "So where are the Star Atters? America? Why are they called the Star Atters? What is an Atter?"

The heel strike was naturally a bit slower, though not by much, and Rex was able to brace himself better, tensing his muscles as Roland's foot collided with his side. The impact area stung lightly, and Rex jumped back, keeping on his toes. "You really live up to your title then," he said with an exhale. Surprisingly he hadn't broken a sweat, though this was the most exertion he'd put his body through in ages.

Not wanting to bore his instructor, Rex lunged again. He jumped and raised his leg, aiming a kick for the merc's center. 'Just knock him off balance. That's all. Then go from there...' he coaxed himself.

If she hadn't already been sitting, Angie would have asked to sit down. However, even despite this knowledge, she still felt like she was swaying dizzily and needed to sit down. "Yeah. Sudden. A bit of an understatement, really," she replied dryly, but not unkindly. "I think I need to have a rest or something when we get there... get some food... clear my head... something..."

Rex fell to the ground with a soft thud. "You really know your stuff... No wonder they chose you." He got to his feet and dusted himself off, his shadow moving slowly around him on the floor like some phantom blob of tissue paper. "Bit depressing, really, that I never had any instruction on things like this.." he chuckled lightly. "I suppose, though, that with a black belt as a teacher, I should get the hang of it sooner or later." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking around the cavernous entrance hall at the impressive structure and architecture. His eyes fell on one of the towering glass windows that stood on either side of the main doors. That's when he saw it...

The unassuming black shape his eyes took for a mirage at first turned out to be nothing more than a shiny, midnight-black raven. It sat perched on the outside sill, staring at him. 'Staring..?' He had to be imagining things. Why would some common bird care anything about what they were doing? He looked away for a moment, but when his gaze was pulled back by curiosity, the bird remained, its own beady eyes locked on his as if in a trance.

Something stirred inside him at that moment, prickling up through him like a faint numbness. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it subsided. The bird bowed its head forward, squawked noiselessly, and took off. The second its bony talons left the marble sill, Rex's slow-moving shadow trembled, collected in a pool beneath him, and darkened. In one swift motion, and without any chance of stopping himself, Rex fell through the floor, into the pool of his shadow, and was gone from sight.

"Yeah, I sure hope so," Angie murmured. She brought her knees to her chest and buried her face against them, wrapping her arms around her legs. She remained curled up like this until the plane had stopped moving.

Roland stared on in amazement at the sight he had just seem. "...I... I don't get it. You ok?" he asked at the shadow pool. "Something tells me this is only the beginning of all the weird crap that's gonna be happening..."

"Don't hit it if you haven't tried it Angie" he looks around. "You want to take a tour or nap?"