Welcome to Gaia! ::

A small rural farm town in northern Kansas, Plainview is located about five hours from the nearest large city of Lincoln, Nebraska. News travels slow to Plainview, but inside the town's relatively small borders, everyone is more than aware of everyone else's business. Apart from the random act of vandalism by bored teenagers, very little ever happens in this town. At least, that's how it would appear to those without eyes to see the true face of the world...

Note: try to stay away from more supernatural characters. Humans with strange, unexplainable powers are alright, but immortals, mages, and others with a more definite connection to the supernatural are less desired for this particular story.

You'll need to explain what the hell you're doing in rural Kansas too...whether you live there, are visiting family, or you're just passing through.

Since there's no dice in this thread, don't worry about making one with all the stats and stuff. Use the rules and powers presented in the character creation section more as inspiration for what your character could be.

There was a rustling through the trees as wind blew gently through them. To anyone else the whisper of the leaves would seem little more than extra sensory input which is ignored and discarded on a second-to-second basis...but to the young many contemplating whether or not to pursue his education, it seemed sound advice that he should always seek knowledge; to learn is to grow and all living things must grow if they are to survive.

Zoey found herself easily distracted when there was nothing much for her to do at work. Aside from the multitudes of projects lining the walls and shelves, collections of student dioramas and paintings, there was never a short supply of dreams for her to work through. Dreams was a nice way of convincing herself that each and every night that she woke from horrifying or disturbing images it was a message, or a meaning, and she simply had to discover it.

And such as it was she happened to only become aware that the teacher of the class was no longer speaking after whatever it was that had interrupted her. For a moment Zoey worried that she had said something aloud in her musings but saw that the eyes were not trained on her; they were trained on a boy she had not seen in this class in over a month.

Ben Reice, named for his foster parents, was standing in the doorway. With the color that comes with being at the sudden center of attention he went to his desk at the back of the room and seemed to be withering dramatically. Whether it was his being here, or the attention of the other student, or something else, Zoey felt her heart go out to him. She'd always had a soft spot for troubled youths, a trait only accented upon her courses and exposure to what children faced too often, and she made her way to him quietly once class had resumed.

She usually had full reign of the class when she was substituting as a teacher's aid, as long as she did not interupt, but seeing as how the lesson had already been interupted she didn't see the harm in placing a hand on his shoulder and kneeling down next to his desk so that she could be on eye-level with him once the teacher's voice once more filled the air.

Speaking quietly, not entirely convinced that an absentee student would remember an occasional "Ms. Magellen" TA, she met his eyes with her own in a concerned expression.

"Ben, if something is troubling you, maybe something at home, you know you can talk to someone about it, right?

"Anything at all."

She squeezed his shoulder gently to emphasize the point and then pulled it back, not wanting him to grow uncomfortable with the contact.

((if it's not okay to jump in here with a little interaction then let me know, I have no problems removing the post.))

((I'm fine with have you join, the more the merrier, having someone to rp alongside is part of what makes this so much fun biggrin ))
He could feel his shadow withering away from the touch on his shoulder, trying to escape the feeling; what feeling was it? It was the same as when he first met his new parents. What was it? This, this feeling of... How could he describe it? It felt so nonchalant, yet he couldn't remember when he had felt it before. A long time ago... maybe? What was it called?
"Agony, resentment, you don't need it. Get away!"
"No!" He called automatically and pushed himself back, knocking himself out of his chair. He opened his eyes not realizing that they had closed and looked up into the face of some woman who likes to hang around his school. When he looked up into her strange colored eyes he realized his mistake. He was so focused on finding the source of the feeling the stupid woman's hand had given him that he had reacted to his shadow's words without thinking about where he was. He stood up and straitened his shirt out trying not to look at the woman; what was it that she had said?
"Don't worry about her, she just gives you those bad feelings. Let's just leave. We don't need to be here anyway."
But that wasn't it. The feelings weren't bad, they were... were... good.

"Talk?" What was this lady? Some crazy woman? Why would she want to talk to a boy like Ben?
"Why would anyone want to talk to you?"
"Shut up! Jus' leave me alone!" His hands found their way to the chair and it was swung over his head and landed with a crash on the floor. His shadow didn't even move out of the way, it just lay there staring up at him. "Don' jus' lay there! One o' these days I'll rid myself o' you! Then you won' be a naggin' me all the time! I'll be free! Haha! Ya hear tha'? I'll be Free!" He wouldn't let his shadow stop him. No. Nothing would stop him now. Nothing except maybe the whole class that he had forgotten was there. He turned around to face the class, to face the woman who had given him those weird feelings. What had she said? Leave? That sounded like cliché music to his ears right about now, so he jumped at the excuse to leave. "Yes I would like to talk; somewhere else."

"Do not follow that woman." His shadow coiled under him as he reached down to grab at where he had set his bag.
"Since when I ever cared 'bout wha' ya think, I'll do wha' I wan'." Ben turned after saying this, not caring who heard him, and took his first steps toward the door. He felt powerful. For once in his life he wasn't doing his shadow's orders. Once he stepped through the doorway he would no longer be bound by the chains of his shadow. He would be free.
"Nothing has changed. You'll see; nothing will ever change." His shadow slithered next to his feet staring mockingly up toward the boy.

((sorry for taking too long sweatdrop I forgot, then when I remembered life caught up with me...))

"The question isn't about weather it is going to be alright or not, it's about weather or not you can trust her, then answer to the question suddenly becomes no. You can't trust anyone in this world. You should know that, so why are you going there?"
His shadow was right, again, he couldn't trust anyone; no one except himself, even if she did look nice. Trust was what got him into this mess, but he also wanted to get out of the mess of the classroom. Well he'd just have to play this one like all of the rest.
"So wha' ya wanna talk 'bout?" He asked as he stepped out of the room. Now it was just him and the teacher and he felt kind of helpless, but then again he did have his shadow.
"Yes, you will always have me."

Torn into indecision he didn't know what to do. He didn't trust this... zoey?... anymore than he trusted his shadow, but there was a different feeling that he got when he was around her. It almost made him uncomfortable, both the fact that he didn't know what it was and the strength of the feeling that arose from her and surrounded him. What was it!? It unsettled him not knowing what it was, yet the feeling had a settling quality to it.
"It's rubbish, pay no attention to it."
He wished he could, but there was no ignoring it. He was too uncomfortable to sit so he ended up pacing in front of her; he felt like ants were crawling all over his skin; what was it!! It was so old and familiar. It reminded him of... of... of his parents. He stopped cold and looked over at Zoey realizing suddenly that that is what the mystery feeling reminded him of: his parents. It was some feeling that they had given him a long time ago. Some feeling that he was now without.
"I wan' outta 'ere." He found himself saying. What was he staying? His mouth went onto autopilot and was rattling off the usual. "There's this student, Zach, he keeps bullyin' me and so I wanna get moved to a new class, 'k?" What was he doing!? He couldn't leave Zoey until he found out what that feeling was.
"Ah, of course you could. In fact if you leave now I'll show you how easy it is. Come let's ditch this woman."