Never-ending Nonsense [semi-open;tepigturtwig]

Every day just had to crawl at a snail's pace, didn't it? One minute lasted excruciatingly long, and nothing she did in her spare time was keeping her mind off of the fact that a certain someone still hasn't turned into a kebab yet, or at the very least, had a bit of crimson staining his clothes here and there. Instead, it was just another lame day of the same boring routine, one filled with an innumerable amount of worthless worksheets, pithy teachers trying to win the hearts of their students, and peers who had conformed to the schedules of classes they were told to take without not so much of an interesting part to them. Maybe she had gotten unlucky, that her classes were the ones with all of the plain and average students; the academy housed a good number of students that there should've been some kind of variety, never mind the fact that she had met some intriguing kids every once in a blue moon. Her thoughts first flashed to Madison and then Keo. Nicola sighed.

Already more than a year of being on Beata's campus. The scenery was already one that had grown tiresome. Seeing the same, ol' stony walls and long, winded corridors. Seeing the same, ol' staff members in their usual, stiff-looking attire with some sort of air of professionalism that they had to keep up, lest they wanted more of their pupils to disrespect them. For a place that was obliterated to ashes only a few months ago, the school sure looked brand new and just as snazzy as before. That janitor was a force to be reckoned with, being able to conceal what happened back then so perfectly without a trace. Not to mention the fact that they were trying to buy back the students' trust with that meteor shower slumber party...

... It wasn't that bad. A rain of shooting stars that hadn't been seen in her current living history was certainly a spectacle to behold. But not being able to accomplish what she wanted to that night? Agh, another time. What time was it? Should've been half past four when she left her dorm. She should've turned in all of this work to Mr. Zykov sooner.

Jerek sighed as he made his way around the campus. He was yet to go through the whole welcome process, and he was putting it off as long as he could. I just want to make some friends first, he thought, thinking of every excuse to prolong the inevitable. He was certain that classes would be important for mastering his power, but that just served to remind him of it. It was times like these when he remembered that he could probably wipe out the human race while lying in bed all day, which was never a healthy thought for a fourteen-year-old.

Regardless of the circumstances, Jerek wanted to get his mind off his power, at least for now. As he walked the halls of stone, he took a breath of air, but that only set his mind spinning again. It was fresh, almost unnaturally so for the city boy, causing him to wonder how long it would take to send an airborne disease around the school. Shaking his head, he refused to answer the question, and continued walking. The hall was too boring for his taste, especially since he needed something to steal his attention. As he walked, he saw a few students displaying their powers, but nothing quite caught his eye. All these other powers instilled on him was jealousy; after all, their powers had all the pros without many of the cons, and his was the opposite: no immediate combat application, a requirement of intense focus and control, and no interesting affects to showcase, since he dealt with a microscopic little thing: the pathogen.

As he walked down the hall, his mind raced with questions, and he instantly refuted them without response. However, the less he pondered on the questions, the more they lingered. It was a lose-lose scenario, so he needed to find something to do fast. No one really paused to talk to him, since he was, at best quite weird-looking. The average kid his age probably did not wear a lab coat and gloves, after all. Not to mention he was sort of frail, and, at best, normal height for his age. Well, he would have to use his rather mediocre social skills. Soon after his decision to speak with someone, a certain young lady caught his eyes. Perhaps it was her colored hair, or her adorable tie, but she made him curious. So, he walked up to her, and quietly said, "Um.... Pardon me madame, but, are you a student here? And, do you have any interesting powers?"

Just as she was about to move away from her spot on the wall and continue on her way to the science classroom, someone had to approach her. Wonderful. Nicola let out an exasperated sigh, turning to face the whatever student had walked over to her, expecting someone who wasn't.... however to describe the person in front of her was. A boy who was more than a foot taller than her, donning a coat of white that was most likely something she'd expect from a mad scientist in a horror movie and the gloves really didn't help the image. His hair was chocolate brown and his eyes matched the color of the curtains, being a sort of strange hazel. He didn't seem like a student in the slightest, given the attire. If he was one, then he should be wearing the school uniform. Not that she had much room to talk herself when she was wearing the clothes that she would take to Rosebury. Ah, and just when she wanted to make sure that these assignments would be taken to the professor. Maybe she could hand it off to this guy. For all she knew, he was some assistant or secretary.

But no assistant would ask that question he just asked. "Hah?" Keeping one hand firm on the strap to her bag, the other finding its place on her hip, Nicola replied nonchalantly, "I dunno, the only people 'round here are students or teachers." If someone was that clueless about the academy, then she could only figure that this would be worth her time after all. You didn't run into anyone that was this oblivious to their surroundings every day. There were times where she regretted cutting her hair still; the habit of flicking it off to the side was something she couldn't get rid of. "If you consider dealin' with demons interestin', then sure."

Jerek did consider that an interesting power, to say the least. "That's interesting, but seems highly dangerous. What sort of abilities would evil demons give you?" Jerek rustled into his long lab coat, bringing out a blue notebook. "Oh, before you answer that, can you tell me your name? I'm documenting any powers I find, and, if you allow me to, document contact information. I could use some help with my own power, after all."

Of course, silly Jerek just happened to mention his power. Once again, he thought of the airborne cholera, the breath-transmitted gonorrhea, and all the other amalgamations he could make. And he shuttered, quite visibly. His shutter practically stirred the air around him, and led to him shaking his head just as violently. Then, quickly, he took a ball-point pen from another pocket of the lab coat, and prepared to write her response.

"Wait, wait." She was used to being asked her power as a part of the Beata culture, that it was something that everyone inquired about others when they first met. After all, they were students of the same unusual gifted academy, and it was a natural thing to be curious about what other atypical superpowers their peers had; it was second-nature to have that question be part of their greetings. But what? Was this guy a student or a part of the faculty? A few seconds ago proved the former, but the latter was right in her face. If he was part of the staff, then it was only clear that he wouldn't have asked the primary question in the slightest. Deductions were screaming that he was most definitely a part of her class of some sort. She'd never run into a student who bothered to take notes on others, besides her brother.

Maybe delaying her visit to the science classroom a bit longer would be in her best interests. What an unexpected stranger. The corners of her mouth twisted upward into a smirk, a glint of mischief within her mismatched irises. With a snap of her fingers, a crimson red cloud of energy snaked around her arm. "You're kinda direct, askin' for a girl's number after callin' her evil, 'ya know?" Pointing her index finger at him, thumb up, and other fingers curled, her hand shaped itself into a mock-gun. "Care to give me your name before I give mine?" She was careful enough not to actually pull the trigger. Landing in detention was the last thing she wanted that day, especially for something as trivial as attacking another student. He was kind of fidgety, wasn't he?

Jerek blinked. Why was she suddenly playing the seductive card?"Well, my name is Jerek. I hope it is satisfactory. And, since you were quite open about your power, I should be too. I can create and manipulate pathogens, which, I assume you already know, are microscopic organisms that cause diseases." Jerek was careful in his response, keeping rigid formality with minimal personality in his approach, and, silently, he hoped she would not give him any comment along the lines of "That's so cool!" He did not think his power cool, and could not understand people that did; after all, what's so cool about plagues and maladies?

A cool breeze rustled through the halls, as Jerek's lab coat swished up, causing a small purple notebook to fall out. Quickly, he picked it up and shoved it back into its coat pocket. He quickly cleared his throat, and asked, "So, do you have to make pacts with the demons, and how are they connected to our world? Oh, and what sort of enhancements would this demonic communication grant you?"

Keeping her arm where it was, Nicola just sighed. Apparently a hands-on demonstration really wasn't enough for him to notice what she was doing, or perhaps he was one of the few who managed to stay calm when someone was pointing a gun at them and could pull the trigger whenever they felt like it. Another option was that he was the sort of person who spent too much time being oblivious to his surroundings, burying his nose into heavy texts and the most dense books he could find to absorb whatever knowledge he could grasp within his mind. Or maybe Jerek was someone in between, or hell, he could even be insane for all she knew. Considering how wonderfully well-off most of the students at the school were, it wouldn't be too outlandish. So predictable. People were always the same.

"Pathogens, eh? There was a kid here who had a gift similar to that. Got beat up by wolf boy or somethin' like that." she answered, recalling the summer tournament from last year. Nicola wasn't sure whether Jerek was over-curious or actually trying to get on her nerves. It was one thing to be curious, and then it was a completely different thing to be obsessed with digging into people's personal affairs. Explaining her powers to someone else wasn't something that she had ever done, especially since she didn't understand it fully herself. "And sheesh, chill with the questions, would you? You talk too fast."

Nicola didn't give him a chance to respond first. "Seems like someone isn't payin' attention in class either. Demons and all of those fun, supposedly mythical creatures kinda exist on this Island in the middle of nowhere."

Jerek blinked at the lady, and calmly replied, "That's probably since I have not been to class yet. I've actually yet to go to the entrance and get my welcome tour. I can be quite hesitant at times." Jerek was slightly amused by the fact that a wolf-boy defeated a pathogen-manipulator, but maybe the lady was making an incorrect assumption as to that child's powers. He doubted it; maybe the user forgot to look up necrotizing fasciitis.

"So, madame, you have yet to tell me your name. May I inquire on that again? It would make communication more effective." Clearly this lady did not like answering questions, which was normal. However, her sarcastic responses, at least to Jerek, seemed like they could be replaced with the actual answers and spend no time. He would simply have to think out his questions more methodically, and present her with one or two very loaded questions at a time. However, he had already made his inquiry, and so held off on getting some island exposition.

Oh, so he was a student. Not to mention that he was playing hooky by avoiding the tour - which really wasn't necessary in the first place -, but who was she to judge? Her brother might get mad at her for not enforcing the rules, sure, though it wasn't exactly her job. If a prefect walked back, then it would be a different case, and from the looks of the rather empty hallways, none of them would be appearing anytime soon. "Classes are pretty borin'. Just the basic math and the same ol' things," she listed off without much enthusiasm behind her words, a bored expression washing across her face. "Kinda weird though. Didcha just barge into a dorm and hang there? You aren't exactly the kind of person that seems to have friends." There really were a lot of weird students, but Jerek might've taken the cake this time around. She'd have to reassess this later when she had the chance.

Nicola didn't like how stilted this guy came off. He was less of a human and more of a robot with a one-tracked programming with no capabilities of learning anything outside what it was told to gather. It was annoying. His speech pattern was too reminiscent of certain people she didn't have a particular affection for. "Yeah, yeah. The name's Nicola, Robot Boy." Taking her hand down and releasing the energy she had gathered in her hand, it dissipated without a trace, crossing bother her arms across her chest. "Oh, and quit with the 'madame' thing. Not a fan of formalities."

Casual? Well, he never understood why people would prefer a more crude and impolite nickname, but, their choice. "First of all, wench, I did not steal a dormitory. I'm simply conflicted about actually accepting my dormitory right now. As you might have gathered from our little chat, wench, I am quite conflicted, so to say, about cultivating my power, as that will only increase the pain and suffering of the world. Hoping his casual naming would suffice, he simply rearranged his notebooks in his pocket.

At this point, Jerek was agitated with the girl, to some degree. She simply dodged all his questions, except for displaying the most basic and tantalizing replies. If she wanted to say nothing, he could bear that. If she gave him all the information he needed shortly, he would appreciate that. But this, this was exactly what he hated. His face contorting in frustration, he asked her, in an extremely passive-aggressive tone, "Now that I cleared that up; wench, stop dodging my questions. Answer, or refuse to. Don't avoid them. Let's begin with the following: what is your name? How do your demonic powers activate? What effects result from them?"

"Gee wiz, you're really a buzzkill," Nicola sighed with a half-shrug, a hint of disapproval and annoyance seeping into her voice. The more this conversation continued, the more she found herself with a burgeoning sense of disappointment. At first, his rather off-putting and out-of-the-ordinary appearance had perked her interest, leading her to the decision that stopping to speak with him would be ideal and worth the time it would take, no matter how short it'd end up being.

Yet, here Jerek was, failing to meet the expectations she had conjured in her mind. He was the stuffy sort of person, someone who was too serious and his complete insistence on learning more about her gift when they met only mere moments ago, a subject that many people considered personal, wasn't subtle in the slightest. Too serious, too focused on one thing, and most of all, too oblivious about anything that didn't concern him. It was kind of stupid how he couldn't read her tone when she joked around, taking a passing comment about not having a dorm as though she had shot him in the heart. Plus, the use of 'wench' couldn't be anymore inaccurate, and all Nicola could do was roll her eyes at the excessive repetition.

Her hands raised to readjust her cap's bill before she answered his convoluted mini-monologue, "Not like you could steal a dorm, anyway." They were free, so long as he bothered to head to the office to pick up the keys. Initiates only stayed in a temporary room before moving to their assigned ones with the placement test. Nicola narrowed her eyes dangerously, leering at the taller boy in front of her. "How selfish can you get? Do you even know how many people have dangerous powers here?" Her thoughts flickered to Madison before she shook it off, more focused on addressing the matter at hand. Taking a step forward, Nicola boldly trespassed into his personal bubble space. "You're talkin' to one of those said people."

Perhaps it was the fact that she was still terribly unstable in an emotional sense, or perhaps it was the demonic influence getting to her, she didn't know, but it was annoying that she had lost her composure so easily against someone like this guy. Not that it mattered in the slightest. He was being a pain in the ass. "Blah, blah. You have diseases. Big deal. They're curable at one point or another. I have a fucking demon army that could wipe out humanity if I'm not careful." That might've been a little bit of an exaggeration. Might've been. She didn't really care. And seriously? Jerek was asking her name again? "Not to mention your awful attention span. I already said my name, but you're so self-absorbed in yourself that you didn't even hear it." At this point, Nicola saw little reason in answering any more questions that he had been throwing at her, especially with the kind of attitude he was giving.

"Instead of bein' such a big baby, why don't you just skidaddle to the office, get your dorm, and start attendin' the classes to train your powers, smartass?"

This madame wasn't the only one who could snap. Frankly, wench, I asked you your name again to test your compliance and attempt to restart the interrogation. As I expected that flew right over your ignorant head. Perhaps you've never heard of fasciitis, have you? Within in hour of the pathogens entering the body, the victim suffers from intense pains and bruises, often described by patients as more painful than they look. Within 24 hours, the victim dies. Now, usually, the disease is not too contagious. But if I get upset with humanity one day, I could create enough pathogens to immediately wipe it out. Sure, your demons might be scary, but humanity has ways to fight back, or hide. Treatments require both rapid surgical treatment and antibiotics, which are tough to administer when everyone has the illness. And you can't run from something microscopic. And you want me to train that?"

Frankly, Jerek was tired of this talk. Quickly, he took a pencil and scratched out Nicola's name from his journal. If she wasn't going to give him any information on her powers, he could at least vent his frustration through a messy blotch over her name. His glasses tilted slightly as his face contorted in anger, and he crammed the blue notebook into his lab coat, glaring at the girl.

There were many things that she hated, but the thing she hated most was being called ignorant. How dare he talk about that to her? Clenching her teeth, Nicola held herself back from starting a fight right then and there with him and maybe just shooting him up with demonic energy or hell, maybe turning him into a demon and forcing him to abide by her every command and see how he liked that, she immediately took a step back and turned towards the wall to punch it. The flesh on her knuckles cracked under the pressure, but she couldn't care less as much as she wanted to maybe break Jerek's jaw or his nose or maybe his arm or something. In the heat of the moment, she didn't bother to take a deep breath and recollect her composure.

No.

If he wanted to fight with fire, he would have to willingly get burned. "Tch, what am I to you? Some test subject?" This was why she despised scientists so much. All they cared about was getting the information they needed without caring for a single thing around them. The fact that he was in this stupid get-up didn't help his image to her in the slightest. "And aren't you so clever, assuming things? I'm close to the top of the class in science, thank you very much," she hissed, her voice immediately dropping the immature facade she had been clutching to and immediately going all out. "Tell me how humans are supposed to fight back against hell, creatures unaffected by stupid bullets and cannons? The gifted world and the magical creatures in it are a secret; they won't have a fighting chance." Her own experience told her that much. "Gifted people can only be defeated by other gifted. Get your facts straight before you start spewing nonsense."

Why was she even wasting her time here with him? She still had to turn in her assignments to Professor Zeykov, and staying on his good side so she could continue her studies in her own dorm instead of running to class every day was more ideal than all of this. "And maybe you should start training instead of being such a scaredy-cat." What kind of logic was this guy using anyway? "Throwing a hissy-fit about scenarios where you lose control isn't going to do you any good. The training is there so that you have control if your emotions get the better of you, so quit whining." Meeting his glare with her very own, her eyes flickered blood red in brief instances, and Nicola resisted the impulse to grab his throat and simply throttle him right then and there.

Spinning on her heel, she turned to face the empty hallways in front of her and heaved a sigh. Demonic energy snaked its way around her arm, manifesting itself as a sword before she whipped around and positioned the blade just at his neck. "You're an eyesore. Don't make me kill you."

"You'd kill me in front of all these people? Why, that can't be good for your image in the slightest. And, seriously, apparently your science class is filled with an assortment of various...how should I soften it? Inept folk. Anyone can tell you that humans love associating things with evil. That's why demons are just what they want: something scary and unreasonable on which to blame all problems. Maybe they could only last for a month, hiding out in small remnants after the invariable first attacks decimate the population. But a germ? That's something else. Either way, you raise a good point about the training, or so I hope you do. Also, I won't even ask how you can summon a sword through demons. As you can obviously tell, I'm quite new to this academy, and quite new to the strange beasts it yields. And you're calling me an eyesore? Seriously, that gaudy attire hardly suits you." Still at the end of Nicola's blade, Jerek was calm in the face of danger, staring down his opponent with a slight grin. Quickly, he made sure his notebooks were in tact, quickly brushing their tops with his thumb.

"You know, for someone so smart, you clearly don't get the clues, do you? I've been killing you for a while now. I even put all the clues on the table: I mentioned the disease, clearly been constantly moving my fingers to check on my notebooks, which allowed me to create and control the pathogens, and I even hinted how subtly my powers worked. Honestly, if you're the highest grade in Literature/English/Grammar as well, I'll know for certain that the curriculum is not to my standards. Either way, you've honestly invigorated me to try this academy thing out; after all, only gifted can defeat other gifted, and who better to keep my powers in check than other more....potent gifted. Truce and a kind farewell?

"Well, wouldn't be the first time a student has killed another student," Nicola flatly replied, her thoughts flickering to her roommates and the one night that she just had to be out of her dorm to come back to the aftermath of it. Never mind the chaos that swallowed the academy whole only mere months ago where the general student populace was wiped out by possible a third or more. "Also, Mr. Smart Alec, there's nobody in the hall right now." She wasn't stupid enough to actually pull a sword out when there were other people around... err, actually, she did it once because a demon of hers decided to be funny and ravage the academy lounge, but that was an entirely different matter. "And we finally agree with something - most people here are idiots, by the way." It made the competition to be at the top of the class really really boring often, especially when it was generally the Winter students dominating those positions. God, this guy loved to monologue so much; it was becoming a pain to respond to every single thing he said.

"Demons don't bring the same kind of apocalypse that you see with zombies in movies, 'ya know. They aren't mindless or stupid," she retorted, almost offended that he thought it would take so long for them to wipe out humanity. Did he think he was all high and mighty or something? He wasn't an angel. "And because you're so new, you shouldn't talk as if you know everything about anything." Ugh, she really wanted to end this conversation already. Edging the sword closer to his throat, she only mumbled under her breath, "You can't exactly talk about attire when you aren't wearing normal clothes." She didn't mind him insulting her fashion sense since it didn't seem like someone like him really knew how to dress.

With another half-shrug, Nicola didn't exactly give him the sort of reaction that he was hoping for. "Yeah, yeah, I caught on. Not that I'm worried about that sort of thing." She gave him a halfhearted smirk. "Demonic influence means I don't get affected by silly things like that anymore." Too bad her powers awakened a little too late. Being stuck with asthma holding her back every now and then wasn't exactly her concept of an ideal time. She didn't know why she bothered to give him advice, her sword dissipating into thin air before she turned to begin walking away. "There's a gifted or two 'round these parts that can negate powers if you can find them."

...

"I'll kill you if you get on my nerves next time, just so 'ya know." If there even is a next time. "Ta-ta." The farewell wasn't even graced with a wave. Heading out to Diane's Hill later seemed ideal; she needed to throw her frustrations out on the demons she'd attract there. Leo's influence made it impossible to get them sometimes, which was a blessing and a curse depending on the current circumstances.