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 Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:31 am
Verdi had to do her own thinking for a moment. The language had been uncommon. Oh, that's right! "It's written in He...brew." A cold shiver ran through the girl. All of her attention had been on Gerald and the mystery they were discussing, but there was no possible way she couldn't feel the strange aura coming from somewhere in the ballroom.
Distractedly, she glanced around the large room. Something caught her eye. Seating area. Verdi disrupted the flow of their walking by taking a step in the direction of the more dimly lit seating area of the room. As soon as this step was taken, it was gone. What the...? Her blood turned to ice and she paled slightly. "Gerald...do you remember Moline?" The spirit-seer shook her head. "I mean, do you remember our first trip?" The question came out of nowhere. At least, that's how it would seem to Gerald. Fearful green eyes locked with his.
Grinning as they walked away, Pyralis sighed. He knew they would be shocked by his decision. Even so, he had his reasons. There wasn't a thing he wouldn't do for his love.
Arriving late, a white haired woman walked briskly up the path to the ball. Dressed elegantly, Arondis was a vision of white and gold as she entered the ballroom. A smile graced her face seeing all the students mingling as they were. Beautiful.
It was certainly a night for magic, but there was a matter she needed to speak to Kaien about before she could enjoy the ball herself. Her eyes flicked over the crowd searching for him. Pyralis spotted her first, having moved from his seat to get a glass of punch.
"Mother, you're looking lovely tonight." Walking up to her, he kissed her cheek. "You're late." He grinned.
Arondis smiled and shook her head slightly to dismiss her late entrance. "My son, you've dressed handsomely." She straightened his collar out of habbit. "Have you seen Kaien? I need a word with him."
Pyralis winked. Sure you do. "Anna and Damien have just gone to find him. Why don't we sit for just a moment and give them a chance to talk. I'm sure it can wait." Offering his arm like a gentleman, Pyralis waited for his mom to take it and proceeded to lead her to a table.
The two of them sat down, carrying on a convorsation by mental links as was more natural for the two.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:09 am
Hebrew... That was an odd language, especially for a monk... Absorbed as he was, it took a moment for him to notice the distinct change in Verdi's behavior, but when he did, he was immediately on guard. Her following question, therefore, increased the caution to a palpable fear. Even earlier, he had been thinking about Moliné; there was no way he would ever forget that. He took a step closer to Verdi and then came to a complete halt. His eyes sailed around the room, trying to watch for danger everywhere at once. Finding nothing yet, they settled on the face of the girl next to him. Verdi looked frightened, and for someone who dealt with spirits on a daily basis to be afraid of one... that just wasn't a good sign. "What do we do?" he asked in an undertone, skipping over the answer and hoping she could read it from him. If he'd had time to think about that, he might have found it odd, considering how often he hoped people couldn't read his expressions. Still, his mind was occupied with thoughts about exactly how bad this could all get. A ballroom full of people... of energy... he'd done some research since he first met Verdi, and he knew spirits could feed off people and events. A frightened crowd of energy... Bad. Very bad. But it wasn't as though they could cause a scene and get everyone to clear out... the longer they could avoid any panic, the better. He tried to calm himself. Calm. Cool. Collected. Right.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:57 pm
 The angel's wings wrapped around her before she blinked, frowning. Fear...? That was the last thing she expected to feel here. Her painted lips pursed and she focused on the emotion, following it. Blue eyes blinked with disbelief when she found it was from Verdi. What on Earth could cause her to be scared? Gerald stepping on her toes, perhaps? She tried to laugh at the idea, but couldn't. She felt it was more important then that.
MaryAnne shook her head a little and put her hand on her forehead, releasing the feeling. What as going on?, MaryAnne wondered. She felt the controlled calm of Gerald next and sighed. The blond shook her head and focused on her own feelings, then the sky.
"Can't I just shut down... For one night...?" She murmured, sighing.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:29 am
Verdi frantically searched her mind for an answer, but shook her head not finding anything. The girl did try to read the boy's expression, but didn't spend long on that. It was rare for him to divulge anything through his guarded expressions. The only thing she got from him was seeing that he knew just how bad this could get.
Then she froze again. It was gone, just like that. "We...where did it go?" No trace of it remained behind except for the chill that reamained deep within her. "I hate this." She murmured. "It's been haunting my dreams too."
Ever since their first trip to Moline and the encounter with the evil spirit, Verdi had been plauged by nightmares. She had taken to rarely sleeping and any sleep was far from restful. It had been taking it's toll on her. Most days there were dark bags under her eyes, the tell tale signs of her restlessness. The only reason she didn't have them now was due to her going to the school nurse pleading for some form of a sleep aid two nights ago.
She again looked at Gerald. It worried him, but he was doing his best to keep calm. "We do nothing for now." It wasn't a threat at the moment, but surely it wouldn't just leave. "Keep on the look out. The moment that thing is around, we'll have to do something." Normally the spirit-seer would be the only one able to see it, but this spirit could appear to others. Just because it hadn't yet, didn't mean it wouldn't. Gerald had a chance of spotting it later. That was also the unnerving part. She should have still been able to see it. Spirits don't just disappear, not to a spirit-seer's eyes. How was it doing this?
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:26 pm
Kaien was strolling placidly around the perimeter of the room. It was relaxing to watch all of the young students enjoying themselves outside of the constraints of Academy protocol. He smiled, recalling the days of his youth when he would also revel in the freedom of events like these. The atmosphere inside was charged with the excitement of the students and the background buzzing of the Gateway's steady emissions of energy. Of course only those from the Other Realms would be able to identify the source of the energy, but it's effect could be felt everywhere.
He paused by one of the glass doors to the gardens, enjoying the fresh winter air that was seeping in through the cracks in the door-frame. The breeze wafted through his hair, making him shiver slightly in response. It was difficult to believe that things had been so quiet for so long.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:34 pm
A tall, fair woman with soft but excited eyes threaded through the crowd of students with an angel in tow. Every now and then, Anna greeted a student she recognized, but did not linger. She knew that they wanted to spend time with their friends and not a school administrator, no matter how close to them in spirit she was.
Anna turned slightly to Damien. "I'm quite sure I just saw him... he looks rather dashing tonight. Ah! There." Finally Annabelle spotted her quarry, the Headmaster, standing by the doors to the outside wintry world. He seemed so singular then, making Anna feel even more of a need to speak with him.
"Kaien!" she called out when she was close enough to be heard. As he turned to see her, Anna beamed, pulling her friend ever so gently to her side.
"Kaien, how are you? This place is magnificent. You must be so proud."
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:51 pm
At the sound of his dear friend shouting out to the headmaster, the angel's face flushed, more embarrassed and even uncomfortable than he had ever been before. It wasn't till Damien and Anna came to a stop in front of Kaien that the angel started feeling even more nervous, coming at a loss of what to do so he just let Anna do as she pleased, wondering how she could be so calm at this particular moment.
Of course she's calm, she actually knows the guy! Damien's self-conscious berated to himself. The angel mentally kicked himself at this thought, starting to feel slightly stupid at forgetting such a thing.
Damien straighten his stance as Anna started conversation with the headmaster, and became even more flushed as he tried to straighten his jacket and readjusted his tie for the ten millionth time that night, trying to be even the slightest presentable.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:08 pm
Aye! Aye! You! -flails- Go to the OOC! I have a question that more then one person needs to answer!
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:19 pm
Kaien woke from his reverie in surprise, having not expected to be so enthusiastically greeted. Smiling, he replied "Ah, but it was not I who decorated. I leave those delicate matters to the staff, as you can tell from my office, my skill with decorating goes as far as to line the walls with bookcases." His jocular smile was inviting as his gaze slipped to Anna's companion.
"Ah, and who do we have here? An Angel, I see. Welcome to the Academy, I am Headmaster Sordeau, it is a pleasure to meet you." The polite greeting was merely a mask for the flurry of questions bubbling in his mind. He'd not expected new students - at least he hadn't sent for any - and he couldn't remember the report that listed a newcomer from the Gateway.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:23 pm
"This is my friend, Damien Kiote Hyadain. He's been here at the Academy for a bit of time now... I'm sorry you've yet to meet him."
Honestly, it was an odd situation that Damien wasn't exactly a student, but wasn't exactly staff, either. Anna knew he could be trusted, but what would Kaien think? She almost wished Damien had some rehearsed speech to explain why he was at the Academy in the first place, but it would have to come naturally in the conversation.
She could feel how nervous he was anyhow. With a reassuring glance, Anna sent a bit of calm to him, hoping he'd latch on to it to feel a bit better.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:49 pm
To say Damien was nervous would be an extreme understatement. He had never been more nervous and uncomfortable is his entire life and that was saying a lot. The angel did a stiff bow towards the headmaster when he faintly heard Anna mention his name.
He quickly glanced out of the corner of his eye at Anna and strangely felt slightly calmer. He figured that is was the elf's doing that he felt calm even though he, just moments ago, was literally having a panic attack. Remembering his manners, he nodded slightly towards Kaien. "It is an honor to meet you." He said slowly, not trusting himself enough to know for sure that his words would come out coherent enough to understand a thing he said.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:22 pm
"Ah, well the pleasure is mine." Kaien said cheerfully. He decided that the time had come to tactfully broach the subject of his arrival in the Mortal Realm. The Gateway and travellers through it were his responsibility, but he couldn't remember clearing Damien to come through. Perhaps Gabe, the Gatekeeper, allowed the entrance.
"My apologies, but I don't seem to remember your arrival. I usually coordinate my Other Realms students' arrival to my schedule and Anna's so we can properly initiate you." He wanted to ease the question, so he added "I must be getting forgetful in my old age." Of course Kaien wasn't old in any sense of the word, but the jest would be good to ease the tension Anna's young friend appeared to be suffering from.
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:30 pm
Anna was the first to laugh at his jest.
"Kaien, that's nonsense. I have dresses older than you, for goodness' sake."
Though his question made her reach back to when he first came into her office. Damien had said that he was indeed sent to guard the students, but by who? Maybe there were arrangements with the school's other angels for him to come... or maybe he had just come of his own accord. Either way, he had been a great help and Anna would be happy to see him take on a larger, more official role in the school.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:54 pm
Damien laughed slightly as Anna replied to Kaien's jest. He felt more calmer, and once again figuring it was Anna's doing, he smiled softly in her direction.
The angel then remembered that the question had been directed to him and he had yet to reply. He shifted nervously from foot to foot trying to remember exactly why he was here. He mentally cursed and kicked himself for his short term memory span.
"I was sent here to protect the students." He finally managed to say through his second, though small, panic attack.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:11 pm
Gleesh Sebastian sighed as he slithered down the side of their hill. His boot heels caught on the small rubble that collected on the sides, sending it tumbling down with him in a mini-landslide. When he landed with a thud, he did his best to straighten his clothes and brush them free of dirt. "Yes," he said, wincing at a scrape he'd found on his hand. He'd have to deal with that later. He cursed that his power wouldn't let him heal himself. "For our own peace of mind. It would be...difficult...for me if I knew that one of the few I consider a friend was not compatible with me. I'm assuming that you have even less human contact than I do." He said, resting his injured palm on the snow-covered shrubbery. The snow helped to ease the slight stinging, though it was not, probably, very heigenic. Samyule smiled. "Yes, and you can use it for a lovely set of curtains when you're finished." he said. Honestly, he'd never really liked the over-elaborate stiching on the Kurtas his sister sent him. This one was relatively plain, but the others...they would never see the light of day from his closet. "er...all settled in?" he asked awkwardly. They'd been in school several months, but he wondered whether she had begun to feel as if Grove was her home. He was a nomad by nature, comfortable in any place as long as it had a bed and food.
" I suppose. But, before this turns into some sort of insane argument or a conversation of you trying to convince me of something and my not listening as is my wont, why don't we just call a truce?" The words came out easily, as she could already sense what this would be turning into if it wasn't halted quick. He's say something, she'd draw her sword- which was magically hidden at the moment- and threaten him with it, and they wouldn't talk for months. Well, something like that anyway.
They called a truce and set to walking down the garden path in silence for a good 10 minutes before Evy stopped suddenly with a frown.
" Do you feel that? Something is very wrong." Her voice was a soft whisper as a hand went to her left hip out of pure reflex. There was a shiver going right up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. She was quite acclimated to the feeling, but despised it anyway; it brought back too many unpleasent memories.
" We should probably go give Kaien a heads up." With that, she spun and hurried back down the path towards the ballroom.Ella let out a short laugh, rubbing her fingers over the sleeve.
" I bet it'll look lovely with my walls." At the question however, most of the mirth dropped from her face, to be replaced by an anxious and slightly awkward look.
" It's beautiful here, to be certain, but..." She bit her lip, wondering how she would say what was going through her head without sounding like a freak.
' Yeah, it has this weird dampening effect on my "powers" and I feel like I've lost a sense or been blinded because of it. I find it impossibly hard to communicate with Cerridwen, call up my guardian, or anything. It's rather unnatural, and at times I feel like something malevolent is watching me and the only protection I have is the weak ring of protection I can put around myself with pre-enchanted items and such.' Without realizing she did so, Ella groaned and dropped her forehead into a hand.
" Wow, I'm such a weirdo." Was mumbled as she tried to sugar-coat her thoughts. She could feel his eyes on her, so she perked up.
" So! Anyway..Can we head inside now? I have a weird feeling we probably should." She stood and offered her hand to him with a sense of urgency. It was faint-either far away or it could be accounted to her now weak senses- but something was distincly not right.
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