A Splotch of Blood, and a Lot of Training [Open]

Even though she was rather new, when Keira heard of the training rooms she knew she would be going there as soon as she got settled into her dorm. There was a technique that she wanted to practice which she picked up from a fictional book. It was an interesting idea, but she wanted to see if it would work.

The girl stood a good ways from a dummy, in her normal yellow dress, and her hair was down and hanging loosely. It wasn't in her usual side braid that she wore. She hadn't put on her new uniform yet, nor did she really want to. She would eventually but today wasn't that day. The girl reached up with her right and and placed two of her fingers on one of the earring's she wore. The girl pulled it out making sure it drew blood as she did so. She knew it worked when she felt the red liquid start dripping down her ear lobe.

Now came for the hard part. She actually had to manipulate her blood. It was going to be hard, but she was pretty sure it would work. She took a deep breath and concentrated. Steadily the blood flowed from her ear, and connected to her hair creating long strands. When she decided it was enough the blood stopped flowing from her ear, and he hair was a lot longer now due to the blood that she was manipulating. When more concentration one strand lashed out hitting on of the dummies creating a gash into it.

It had worked! She felt herself getting a little happy about it, but she felt herself getting weaker. She needed to take a small break. Finding an empty trash can, she let the blood flow from her hair into the bin. It was a decent amount of blood, but not as much as she thought it would be. She sat down on the floor sitting next to her bucket of blood. Man this was going to take a lot of work to perfect.

Silver-hair was combed down and pulled back on Mera's head, keeping it all out of her face. She had come to the training rooms by herself, without her "other half;" Vera was never as inclined to train as she was. If you want to get stronger, Mera had told her, You have to work. Vera didn't disagree, but she let Mera work on her own; it was less than ideal, as their powers were stronger when they were together; their barriers could become like steel when both of them focused. But it would be good to try and develop her individual abilities, which, if she wasn't being modest, were already exceeding what her sister was capable of. . . but that's because she trained.

It was difficult to practice defensive powers like theirs', though; difficult to measure what they were capable of when nothing was attacking them. In secret they had spent many nights throwing things at one another and seeing how fast they could stop it. One night, last summer, they were at their grandparents' house on the bayou. It had been Mera's idea for Vera to grab the shotgun and see if she could block a bullet. Vera had been terrified, but after some convincing she acquiesced. The force of the bullet shattered Mera's barrier like glass, but it was slowed down enough that it didn't bring any harm to her. They had gotten in trouble for shooting the gun, and Vera said she'd never do it again for fear of hurting her, but Mera knew one thing from the experience: she had to work harder.

Physical well-being and mental focus were important in controlling their powers. Vera didn't keep up on the exercise as much as Mera did; she knew that staying in shape was important for her health but even more so for her abilities. She wasn't crazy about it, like some, but she found that training her body and her powers had come to be an enjoyable activity. This was her first time using Beata's training facilities and she was trying to get a feel for it on her own.

She stumbled a cross a girl who seemed to be... draining something into a bucket? "Are you alright!?" Mera asked, sucking in breath, realizing that blood seemed to be dripping from the girl's head. "Do you need me to call someone?"

Keira turned around to see a girl with white hair looking at her. "Yeah. I'm fine." The initiate stood from her spot, the remaining blood on her hair dispersed, and there was no trace of it left. The wound where her earring was closed, and was already healing up. It wasn't a deep wound anyway just enough to draw blood from there she pulled out the rest.

That's when Keira realized how dirty working with her gift was. There was nothing she could do with the blood that she already pulled from herself, which was now sitting in the empty trash can. She could use it to train but what was she going to do with it after she was finished with it? She just couldn't dump it somewhere because then it might freak people out.. She would probably have to wash it out in a large sink or something.

Keria shook her head. "I'm just doing some training. There isn't a need to freak out. She said. Even though she felt weak she felt like she needed to prove something to the girl. With great concentration, a fountain of blood lifted out of the bucket. With one eye closed and the other open she looked at the girl. "See?"

Mera suppressed her queasiness at this girl's ability when the girl started manipulating her bucket-full-of-blood. What on earth? she couldn't help but think. On the inside, she was more than a little disgusted... on the outside, however, her feelings didn't show. It was, after all, kind of interesting.

"You took that... from yourself?" She asked hesitantly, cocking her head and narrowing her gold-brown eyes. Possibilities began swarming in her mind, and she gave the girl a smile. "What kinds of things can you do with that? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Such a curious gift, that girl had. She wondered if they should be friends. Mera had the "dreadful tendency," according to Vera, to weigh whether or not her relationships would be beneficial; she wasn't selfish, of course, she just wanted to know that her time wouldn't be wasted, and at least she was honest about it. She kept smiling her pretty smile.

Keira crossed her arms over her chest, letting the blood drop back into the bucket. "Well it was either taking it from myself or taking it from someone else, and do you see anyone else in this room besides you?" The girl shook her head. "Anyway.. I can use it for many things. I can attack with it, as well as make a shield. I can also use my gift to stop bleeding if I wanted to." She wasn't going to mention that she could take over someone's motor skills. Not everyone needed to know that.

She didn't really want to display any of her techniques for she was still weak but she figured she had to. Using her hands to help with manipulating the blood, she picked up the blood from the bucket, and brought it in front of her. The blob turned into a small circle in front of the girl then hardened to a crystal like solid. Forming a shield. She held it for a few seconds then let it return to a liquid and fall back into the bucket. Man her head hurt.

Mera's eyes widened in surprise. Interesting. This girl's power was dangerous; it seemed villainous, almost, to manipulate blood, of all things. She didn't choose it, of course, but what sorts of things could she do to someone with that? The thought nearly made Mera shiver. She wasn't sure what other kinds of abilities the "gifted" (freaks, she knew, had to be what they meant) at this place had, but she felt severely unprepared and vulnerable. She needed to learn the ins and outs of this place quickly; what kind of people were here, what kind of school this even was. It was better to be her friend, she decided.

"That's. . . pretty amazing," Mera said, in a way that made her sound utterly fascinated and not at all disgusted. A shield made of blood? Well that was different from what her and her sister could do, for sure. Thinking of Vera made her remember she hadn't introduced herself yet. Her sister was always one for propriety. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Mera, dear," she extended a hand. "And you are. . ?"

"Don't call me dear, and we should get along quite nicely." Keira said to the girl. "My name's Keira." She was kind of mean, but she was a good person generally. She just really despised being called dear.. and other pet names similar to it.. Reminded her too much of her dad, and that wasn't a good thing.

Keira used on her hands to combs through her hair making sure there wasn't any blood left in it. Even though her head hurt she came her to train not to come here and give up after she showed some signs of weariness. "Sorry if the sight or smeell of blood is bothering you. I need to train." The girl said before manipulating a small amount of blood again.

She's a feisty one, Mera thought, unable to tell if she found that a good thing or a bad thing."Aren't you just precious!" Mera laughed a clear laugh that, if one listened closely enough, sounded slightly scathing... but not enough to be offended. Mera was good at that; egging someone on to make them question whether she was insulting them or not. If they responded, she could easily deflect and make them look paranoid. It was manipulative, and it made her sister frown, but she took joy in the little things.

"Course I don't mind," Mera said, smiling at Keira. "If you need any help training, I'm right here." Mera wandered off to the training dummies.

Keira shrugged she didn't really need any help. Well she didn't really want it. If she hurt the girl then it would be bad for her most likely. She didn't really want to deal with anything like that. Keira was kind of known for going a bit crazy if she got hurt.. So yeah let's avoid hurting the blood bender.

Using the blood she was already pulling out of the bucket, she reattached it to her hair. It was kind of like a whip. This way she was able to control more than one strand instead of just one if it wasn't attached to her hair. It was honestly tiring. She was breathing hard already. The girl sent forward to bloody strands forward which cracked across the training dummy, leaving two dents, but that was the most she could manage at the moment. This time she didn't put the blood back in the bucket she left it attached to her hair. This was tough.