Entering the Black [Closed]

She was all smiles as her parents dropped her off at the academy, the school where she would learn to properly harness her powers. Her "special gift", as her parents called it. The moment they drove off, however, Lenoir immediately dropped the smile, opting for a meaningful scowl instead. She did not want to be here. No way, no how.

There was nothing wrong with her old school. She had friends there, and some kind of a social life. Here she had nothing. The only things she had to worry at back in her old school were failing a test or some gossiping blonde brat. Now she had to live with the knowledge that any one of the students here had the capacity to murder her in her sleep if they so chose. Oh yeah, it was totally safe. The brochure said so, and brochures never lied.

On top of all that, now she was too far away - states away, even - to see her counselor. Her parents tried to console her under the foolish guise that she could find a new one. They had no idea how angry she could get, even though she did her best to control it. Even if there was one here, they wouldn't be her counselor. It'd be some stranger. They wouldn't understand.

Grumbling under her breath, Lenoir kicked at a rock, immediately losing it in a bush. She didn't know where she was supposed to go: hell, she didn't really care. Pulling that dumb brochure with its stupid map out of her suitcase, she tried to figure out how to get to somewhere, anywhere but where she was actually supposed to go.

She had recovered quickly from her run-in with that girl in the orange vest, discharging from the infirmary in but a few days, but Kaya found herself avoiding the courtyard more and more. She didn't want to see that girl, her amber gaze whose ambivalent impression was masking a snake-like sadism.  To see these eyes, it would remind her of what happened. It would remind her that the girl was not punished, that the girl was real and a student and could attack her again. It reminded her that she did not fight back. A thousand whispers from a thousand aflutter souls whispered deep-throated demands at her when she lay there, a blade so close she could feel the handle on her skin. Kill her, they said, kill her. She abstained, and the pain that followed echoed through her abdomen each night, in the murmurs of stomachaches.

The forest was her home. It was nothing to complain about; it was something new to her, a biome that never touched the white, crunchy plains of her previous home. Every day was an adventure, so long as she didn't go too deep, to the stream where she'd be sure to find the bear or to a place that would enrapture and hold her forever. She stayed close, close enough to always see the rooftops of the campus' tallest buildings, and everything was fine. She had Larissa, she had her brother she never talked to. She had Kayla, though she didn't know if that relationship had ended with the infirmary stay. But overall, she was okay. The forest was her own, and no one thought to disrupt that.

A pebble shot through the bushes like a bullet, skipping on the ground in a hot whir, colliding with a boulder and sending a sharp smack across the undergrowth. She started, stepping back and crouching down, feeling the handle of her knife before she realized there was no danger. But an actor; yes, someone acted on that pebble. She peaked out into society from behind the trees, hugging the trunk of a slender oak, blinking and pinpointing who did it. She was approaching the campus, the iron gates, and her expression caused Kaya to grip the tree. There was something about her. A bad aura, as her mama had once said, flows through the air like a magnet's push. She was talking about her papa at the time, however.

Though not breaking the barrier, half-fearing an onslaught of razor discs, she traced the forest boundaries and followed the girl, hugging each tree she passed and stepping sideways, blinking and loose-faced like a doe.

The map didn't mean anything to her. It would mean something to someone more familiar with the campus grounds, but that person was not her. There was a cafe, but she didn't want to try for it and get lost like an idiot. And she felt like she was being followed, which was great.

She didn't always feel so insanely paranoid. At least, she didn't consider herself to be a paranoid person. It was just the new place that was making her feel on edge. Now that she'd gotten it in her mind that someone here could very well kill her, she was convinced that someone would try to kill her. Did they hate newcomers? The students here, that is. She didn't want to be here. Why was she being forced to come here? Rolling up the pretty much useless map, she placed a hand over it and quickly ran it over the surface. The formerly paper-thin map changed immediately, becoming sharper, a bladed map.

Grabbing onto the blade, Lenoir whipped around and stared into the dense forest that stood impassively near her, ready and willing to run any attackers through. There wasn't anyone there, though. It was silent, except for the occasional call of an animal. Frowning, she lost concentration and the map faded back into its original shape, crumpled up and more useless than before. Paranoia wasn't a good look, especially if it started to make people here - already likely crazy with their powers and all - consider her crazy. Running a hand through her hair tiredly, Lenoir turned and started back down the path, hoping she'd find something of interest, or at least of consequence.

This girl looked genuinely lost. A certain guilt arose in Kaya's test, and she looked out across the courtyard. That girl wasn't there. She certainly felt crazy for actively avoiding the courtyard, but even when she thought of stepping out, her hands trembled against the smooth bark of the tree she sided. Swallowing and closing her yes, she decided to walk forward, for the good of helping a new student. Larissa and Sarah helped her. She remembered how scary Beata looked on that cool, misty day.

Despite the cold weather, Kaya was wearing no coat, The school's uniform blazer pulled tightly over her palms as the girl walked forward. Behind Lenoir, she walked up, noticing her hair, a white as bleak as Arviat snow, the white devil beyond. It made her feel uneasy, but she was already reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder. "Excuse me, madam," she said on a breathy voice, "I am very sorry, but it seems of me that you are lost. Are you a new person?" She kept her fingers curled over the black cotton covering her palm.

There was no warning that someone else had joined Lenoir on her little excursion. At least, not until a hand landed on her shoulder. Immediately she flew into panic mode. She had been right: people were trying to kill her at this school. Whipping around, she attempted to turn the map back into a blade, but her quick about-face made her stumble, and the paper fell from her hands as she tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground. Eyes wide, she let out a shaky breath as she looked up at her attacker.

Well, she didn't seem dangerous. The girl didn't make a move for her, having clearly just touched her shoulder to grab her attention. Lenoir flushed with embarrassment, trying to force her heart to calm its loud beating. The girl was asking something, but it sounded... off. It made enough sense, but something about how this girl talked was strange. "Am I a... new person? To the school? Oh, uh, yeah, I... I am." She didn't like how it sounded. She didn't want to be a new person at this school: she wanted to be a normal person at her old school, where everything was familiar. Why couldn't she just be normal?

Standing up with a slight wince, she eyed this new person curiously, her fingers twitching in the air now that she didn't have the map in her hands to fiddle around with. Complimenting her odd way of speaking, this girl had a strange hairstyle: like pigtails, but intricately tied, woven even. A thought crossed her mind, wanting to just grab them and swing them back and forth like a pendulum, but she thankfully resisted the urge. That would definitely make her seem weird among the weirdos. "I just... couldn't find the... whatever. The map is fucking useless."

Two paranoid beings react in two very similar ways, and Lenoir's little fright set off one in Kaya, who jumped back and put the heel of her moccasin to the base of her thighhigh sock. It had already trailed up, the black handle of her capped knife jutting out slightly. She too stopped from the excursion of a blade, however and regaining balance on two feet, watched wordlessly as Lenoir got on her own. She cautiously pushed the knife back into her sock with her foot, wobbling and pretending she had an itch.

At the conclusion of Lenoir's words, Kaya expressed a worried frown, looking up at the taller girl with back-tilted eyes. "It is great to see a newcomer," she said. "However, pardon me for asking why you used that word?" Fucking. It was such a peculiar word. She only knew it in movies, and it was used in every which way. She could not stamp down a definition, and she needed to be able to read before she looked it up in Loic's dictionary.

"That... word?" What word? She had used multiple words. Trying to think back on what she had just said to the girl, she concluded that maybe it was 'fucking'. Nothing else really stood out, unless the girl didn't know what a map was. "Uh, for... emphasis, I guess? Like, it gives it a bit of punch. It's not just useless, right? It's fucking useless." Where was this girl from anyway?

"Hey, uh, can you... uh, can you help me get to the front office? I guess I need to sign in." The latter sentence was muttered dejectedly. She certainly did not want to do this, but there really wasn't a choice in the matter, unless she absconded off to the forest, which wouldn't work well. She would more than likely die pretty quickly. God, this place sucked.

"Interesting," she said. What a strange word. Kaya combed her French vocabulary for something to compare it to, but her French was decidedly worse and less tested than her English, and could not come up with it. She studied this girl, her rigid sullen demeanor hard to miss. Was she uncomfortable? It was not hard to believe. She was uncomfortable entering the school herself, despite its pristine beauty. The beauty was overwhelming. The flatland white of the arctic was not particularly fascinating, and leaving that for a new world was difficult.

Was this girl from a distant, gray world? Were her senses exploding from the vividness of life there? Kaya brushed bangs from her face against the break of wind, a wind she could only describe as the arctic devil's pull, and smiled.

"I can help you," she said. Her voice was silent, a soft glow through the breeze. "Yes, yes, I was helped not too long ago! I know where to go, follow me."

There was a rejuvenation in helping a soul she knew wouldn't slice her up, a soul that needed her help and thus wouldn't kill her. Or so she hoped. Kaya walked her through the courtyard, stiff green from what survived the bleak winter. Though it was cold, the girl didn't shutter in her lack of winter wear. Her fingers were pointed upward, at a diagonal slant, and she glanced at each plant she passed, the foxes running around in her head, the knife blade chilling her calf nicely.

Interesting. That was a word that more than likely would be best used to describe this girl. Was this what everyone was like here? It wasn't bad, it was just... different. That was bad to her, though. She didn't want different. Her powers weren't uncontrollable. She'd never activated them by accident, and no one's life had ever been in danger. Wasn't this school for people to properly control their powers? She was fine: she didn't need this. It wasn't fair! She didn't hate her parents, but she hated them for making her come here and lose her entire life. She felt like she might actually cry at any second.

Nodding silently, Lenoir followed after the girl as she led them towards where the front office assumedly was. She didn't know if the girl actually knew where they were going, but at this point she didn't care. Truthfully, she didn't even want to go to sign in. That sounded so final, like she would officially be integrated into the school, and she'd never be able to leave. She wondered if others felt this way, or did they all like to be there. Was it better for them because they liked their powers, or did they know they couldn't control them? Were they sane, or would they kill her? "Hey, uh, do... uh, is everyone here... sane?" Maybe it was a tad insensitive, but she didn't want to die. She was not this paranoid at home. This place was filling her with worry.

"No." The word came simply for Kaya, simpler than it would have for most. She had experienced her fair share of baddies in her short attendance, though there was a lightness in her voice, she she turned to give a giggle. "Everyone isn't insane here either, though. We aren't an asylum, but some people are...mean, to use a simple word." She closed her eyes to the sound of honking geese afar, an obnoxious noise she liked. It was new, and that was good enough for her. She couldn't wait for the courtyard to bloom. "I do not have a vocabulary like yours, I apologize. I did not know the word fucking until just now." Her voice was like a child's apologizing for not holding a door, that which she did, of course, walking up to the building and leaving it for Lenoir to step inside.

Oh. Well, that wasn't comforting. At least not everyone was insane, and maybe it was only a small, tiny part of the student body. Still, even having those few crazies was enough to put her on edge. Either God or evolution was playing a dangerous game with all these powers. "It's... It's fine. Not everyone knows every word." She had figured that this girl didn't have the greatest grasp on English, but she did it mostly right. There wasn't that much confusion.

Well, now they'd reached the building, or a building anyway. Lenoir looked more visibly nervous as she stepped inside, relishing and dreading the cool air that hit her as she entered. It wasn't home: it was strange. Despite going in first, she deliberately slowed her steps so she didn't get ahead of her guide. She didn't want to do this alone.

"This is our main building." Kaya grasped the sides of her skirt, forcing it downward before tossing up a hand to present the entrance room. It wasn't particularly fascinating in the slightest, but Kaya liked the idea of helping and found ever part of the short walk amusing. She always seemed to be helped since she got to that school. In her excitement, her Canadian accent was especially present. "We learn in the classrooms here, which is what most of the students are doing now, so be quiet." She wasn't very silent for someone demanding it. She started walking down a hall after a few short glances to all her options, almost as if she picked it from random. "Follow me."

"Ah..." Yeah, she wouldn't consider this girl 'quiet' for wanting others to be quiet in the presence of learning. Maybe it was one of those foreign things. Looking around at all the different doors, Lenoir wrapped her arms around her body, biting her lip nervously. There wasn't any need to tell her to be quiet: she tended to be pretty silent unless she was angry. At that point, she was prone to shouting and maybe throwing things - rest in pieces, mom's favorite vase. Still, overall she didn't want attention drawn to herself, because that would mean potentially coming under the eye of somehow who wanted to harm her. Touching her shoulder-length, snow-white hair, she wondered if she should dye it a less conspicuous cover. There wasn't really going to be snow for long, and then she'd be like an arctic bunny on a fully-bloomed meadow: exposed.

"Do you, uh, know where you're going?" Not that she wanted to criticize this girl's sense of direction, and she personally didn't know where anything was to begin with, but she wanted to get somewhere, not lost. She was fine with having help from one person, but things could get dicey if more people were involved.

"I believe so," Kaya said in an uncertain tone, walking through the hall. Thankfully, it was relatively clear. When the bell rang students flooded the halls like a pond in spring, and though Lenoir seemed tall, it was quite the navigation for short people like Kaya. "Truth be told, it's been a while, I don't positively go here in my leisure." She stopped halfway down the hall and frowned, before backing up and turning around.
"Yeah," she said, "Wrong way, wrong way." She pushed up her bangs. "Pardon, I apologize, we need to backtrack, it's the other hall."

So they were probably lost. It honestly wouldn't have been that bad if students didn't start flooding the halls. Lenoir felt overly nervous, glancing around at everyone in fear of one of them making a move towards her. They were probably all staring at her, sizing up the new girl. Ugh, this was awful: was she the only new girl? That wasn't fair: she needed others to lessen the heat on her. This was not a burden she wanted to hold all on her own. "Let's just... go somewhere," she muttered weakly, her voice and mannerisms growing further unnerved. "Just anywhere, please!"