Shadows [open]

There wasn't any other way to describe it than dread. This place was flooded with them, every corner, every room, saturated to the core with fear and blood. Well, it was stupid to expect anything different. You didn't walk into a lion's den and expect kittens.

A wave of cold washed over him as he pushed forward. Stepping through that gate was like stepping into a tomb. I better get used to it. Hello, Beata Academy. Hello, new life. It was a bit like a fresh start, and that's what he was looking for. He forced an awkward smile and slung his satchel over his shoulder, just a small bag with a few of his last worldly possessions, journals, weapons, a few changes of clothes, some tokens here and there. Maybe it'd be refreshing to build up from the ground up again.

Who am I kidding?

He sighed, flicking his hair out of his face, and walked out with his head high. The old fashioned brick look and traces of Victorian detailing kinda gave it the feeling of a haunted mansion, but he couldn't say if that was normal, or just his nerves. Just something about this place, besides the obvious... It creeps me out.

Footsteps sounded ahead as Stavros paced back and forth, his gaze aimed halfway at the ground, seemingly almost somewhat oblivious to what was going on around him due to how he gave no reaction to his mint green hair being blown into his face occasionally by the wind. Stavros also didn't notice the arriving student, or at least, if he did, he didn't show it in the slightest. He simply continued to pace as if the world around him didn't exist, at least for the time being.

People were strange. Gifted people were... well, stranger. He tried not to stare, but he couldn't help but notice the small green-haired girl pacing back and forth along the campus yard, their eyes lowered to the ground. Uh, was she alright? I should just keep walking, the little voice in the back of his head nagged at him, but he sighed and stopped beside the girl, just watching them for a minute... or two... Err, talk about head in the clouds. Maybe he was being ignored? Elliot rubbed the back of his neck, clearing his throat to catch their attention. "Is everything good?" he finally broached with a loose grin. "Sorry for prying, but you looked like you were pretty... deep in thought." Brooding? Pissed? Did they need help? Were they lost? Whatever it was, pacing usually wasn't a great sign.

Stavros paused when he heard Elliot's voice, turning to face him. Whether or not he noticed everything else that was going on around him, he noticed Elliot. "Yes, I was deep in thought. I was pondering potential uses for my gift since I have had little need to use it outside of classes every since I came here and have grown somewhat bored as a result. Few have needed the aid of my capabilities, you see." Stavros had a slight smile on his face by the end of that, in addition to looking at least a little bit excited. Maybe this new student would be able to give him a use for his gift for awhile?

Oh. Oh. Honestly, he hadn't expected her to be so... wordy? He swallowed at the mention of a gift, shifting away with an awkward smile. "Your capabilities?" he murmured. It wasn't like he could help much with that, but they were looking up at him with a hint of expectation. "Ah, well, I can get that. There's nothing that challenges you around here?" Elliot glanced around, the crowds of students flocking from here and there, the leering brick facade of the Academy. What's your gift anyways? He almost asked. Almost. The question, as innocent as it was, caught in his throat. No, he'd be better off not knowing. "There's got to be something you can apply yourself in, right? Even if it's boring."

An awkward smile. Hollow advice. It was an awkward thing to say, especially to a stranger. I just got to find my footing. He'd only been here, literally, for a couple minutes. It was alright to be a little out of it for right now.

"I'm Elliot, by the way. You're the first person I've met here. I guess I'm a bit off today."

A new rush of students came into the school that day, many with bags slung nervously over their shoulders, whitened hands clutching them tightly as they looked on, up and beyond the pointed roof of the academy. They were visibly nervous, perplexed, white faced and overwhelmed. Many did not know what lied ahead of them, whether this creepy old school was as creepy and dangerous as its precarious form looked. In the midst of this crowd of stern-faced newbies, the grin of Lucy Han presided, a shine in the gloom. Her eyes were touched with pink liner, the same color as the lipstick she wore.

A phone was held to her ear, a bag slung over her shoulder and another trailing behind her with a low, rolling growl. "Yeah," she said, her light voice hardly permeating through the crowd of murmurs. "No, I probably won't be on today. Probably won't be on for a while. Don't think they give me a room of my own for a while."

The girl paused another moment, and bit her lip. She smiled shyly, looking around the bustling student body that had begun to clash with the new cascade of initiates. She covered her mouth. "I love you too," she said lowly.

"Yeah, it's in North Dakota, not South Dakota."

"No, you can't drive up here and visit me."

"Because it's a private academy, it's very serious about outsiders. A big security policy, you know."

"Listen, I've really gotta go. Bogo sip-eo... no, I didn't call you a mean word, it was something cute."

"Bye bye~"

She hung up the cellphone and found herself on a bench, not entirely sure how she got there. The girl placed her bags under her, sighing silently into them, looking around the busy courtyard with interrogative eyes. From there, she rested her gaze on a green haired girl a few meters away, and after a few curious moments, she piped up, "Hey, how did you get your hair like that? It's cute." It was sputtery and soft, almost like she didn't mean to say it before her mouth took initiative. Her eyes brightened and she gave the kindest, nice-strangeriest smile she could. She didn't even really notice the girl was having a conversation with another boy, who seemed to be glancing around the crowd more than talking.

"No, there isn't anything that challenges me most of the time. My gift allows me to have a superhuman level of intelligence so virtually anything of that sort is too easy to be very entertaining to me. I would always occupy myself by inventing things and similar things but I have long since made most of what I need for myself and I've only encountered one student who asked anything of me. However, I had completed that small project in under an hour, and that was weeks ago. However, I-" Stavros paused when he heard a female voice off to his side, glancing over. Just when it had seemed his monologing had come to an end, he simply began to answer the girl's question just as excitedly as he had the boy's.

"I used a dye I had devised that, accorsing to tests, should last at least a few decades without fading if nothing is done to intentionally try to remove the coloration from my hair. It also grows the way it is mostly naturally so I did not need to do much else to give it its current appearance."

He smiled. A polite smile. But she kept talking, and talking, and... oh, dude. Alright, so he'd known a few chatty girls back where he'd grown up, but nothing like this. Elliot couldn't keep up. It was just a blur of words, something about inventions and projects, but he wasn't about to ask her to repeat herself. "Uh-huh," he breathed, nodding along, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Enhanced intelligence. It explained a lot, but he guessed that kind of power didn't flow over into conversational skills. Or maybe he was just being too standoffish? Just think positive. These people were going to be his classmates, his dormmates, maybe even friends. If someone was opening up and didn't hate him on instinct, that was a hell of a lot better than it could be. Just... think... positive...

A voice cut in, and for a second he thought he had relief, but it just set her off again. She... made her own dye? Elliot glanced away, rubbing at his face. Maybe the stereotype about men being bad listeners was true after all, but damn it, he'd tried... He looked over the other stranger, another girl. Short. Maybe he'd just come to the school a bit late, but he was starting to feel a bit like a giant. The girl had a bag with her. "Ah, are you new too?" he piped up, just hoping his interruption wasn't all too obvious. Elliot ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm a bit lost, honestly."

"That's...long lasting." The girl admitted with a pause. It sounded like a tattoo. What if he no longer wanted green hair? It was pretty conspicuous, your hair color and all, unless you shaved your head or wore a lot of hats. She rubbed her lips together, tentative in her focus, and perked at the other boy's question. "Oh, yeah." She said as she exhaled, making her voice flighty and soft. "I just got here. It was a long train ride from Fresno." She gave a cute giggle, one mimicking a video game character she adored. Weeks of training finally paid off; it came naturally to her, though she'd never admit its origin. She pressed her tongue to her cheek, embarrassed just by the memory.

"I'm Lucy," the girl introduced herself, unzipping her bag and withdrawing some gum, one of those larger rolls, the kind you unraveled like tape. She ripped a small section and extended it to the other two, placing the piece gossamerly into her mouth. Her voice came muffled as she chewed. "Want some?"

"I'm Stavros," he simply piped in, shaking his head at the other of gum a moment later. So both of them were new students then. For oncd during this encounter he had grown somewhat quiet, observing the other two. He didn't have much else to add at the moment, and couldn't help but wonder if maybe he'd be able to make something for either of them, to help them in addition to easing his own boredom. Maybe something akin to a map would be useful to them? Although, a map wouldn't exactly be difficult to make or find, so maybe something else would be better.

Fresno, huh? He watched her unroll a strip of bubblegum like measuring tape. "Oh, sure." It was part of his policy not to refuse little offers like that; and besides, if chewing gum was supposed to help you during a test, maybe it'd help him keep cool here. Elliot smiled and popped it into his mouth, looking from Lucy to... err, what was that again? Stavros? Was that foreign or just made up? "Elliot," he greeted with a smile, sinking his free hand into his pocket. "I just flew out from Rhode Island yesterday. I guess the jet lag's still killing me a bit." It wasn't exactly exciting, but it wasn't like Fresno was some shining beacon of a citadel either. "Nice to meet ya."

He didn't bother to clarify where. If he'd mentioned the town name, there was no chance they'd recognize it, and if they did... Well, that didn't spell good news for him. What were the chances?

"My all nighter is killing me." Lucy commented, blowing a bubble from the gum. She surely seemed a well for an all nighter. The girl did have moments of fading in and out of attention, but besides that was not drooping. "I tell myself every day to go to bed early, but--" she give a thin, introspective smile "--I don't sleep much, I suppose. There's too much to do to go to sleep."

Like rank up. Her pupils still seemed to reflect the blue LCD of a night spent in front of her television screen, mashing buttons furiously as she yelled at her friends to 'suck her dick.' Perhaps the time could be better spent elsewhere, but the timesink had become massive. She had a bag dedicated specifically to her PC and her console, after all.

So Lucy liked to stay up late, for one reason or another. Of course, the reason she stayed up late was of no concern to Stavros. "If you would like, I could attempt to make something that would make it easier to stay up as late as you wish or make the effects of sleep deprivation less severe." Excitement flooded back into his voice as he almost blurted the words out, looking towards Lucy. Having something to occupy his mind, at least for awhile, would be rather nice. Not to mention he'd be making a friend in the process. For both good and bad, this wouldn't be the first time he'd be concocting something along the lines of a drug. It'd be good because it'd be easier to do, but bad because that'd make it more boring than it otherwise might be. Still better than nothing though.

"I think I value my sleep too much for that," he laughed, thumbing at the strap of his satchel. "Is it really worth it if you're groggy and miserable during the day?" An all-nighter was a bit too intense for him. He couldn't understand how some people could pull it off, even if he wanted to. He was the kind of guy who'd still accept nap time if they offered it. Shut-eye was too rare and precious to just toss away.

Stavros' sudden excited chattering made him scratch the back of his head. Err, devise something? Like what, a coffee machine? "And I'm not sure you should be encouraging her..."

"No thanks." Lucy looked at the green-haired girl oddly, peeking at Elliot and brushing her bangs across. She volleyed her attention, the person she was answering, as she stated: "Nothing a little pop can't fix." She fought the urge to accompany that with a peace sign, making the gesture with her left hand but unraveling it immediately on her lap. That'd be weird, and she knew it was weird, but it always seemed to happen when she made a statement like that. Instead, she blew another bubble, looking over the heads of passing students for a vending machine, smiling awkwardly and playing with the metro tag rapped around her bag handle.