Practicing [OPEN]

"No...No. Stop holding your breath. You can breath and still focus at the same time." Katsuo sighed, shaking his head. His twin sister, Aiko, was blue in the face with eyes shut and cheeks puffed out. Kinda funny looking. Nearby was a white fluffy rabbit sitting on Katsuo's jacket, nibbling on some grass. It watched them curiously.

Aiko inhaled deeply, looking at Katsuo with a pouting expression. "How do you do this?" She whined, stretching.
"Just watch me. I'll do it one more time, okay?" Her brother muttered, then locked onto the small tree they were using for practice. His body completely relaxed, his pupils narrowing, sort of cat-like in a way as they dimmed. He moved a hand forward to keep focus with what motion he would demonstrate using the tree's shadow. Suddenly his fist clenched, and the shadow of the tree seemed to fizzle slightly, as if being pressured. Though Katsuo was much better and more skilled at his gift than his sister, he still didn't know much about using it yet. Bringing his hand to the side, he eyes glared at nothing, and the shadow moved to the side. This alone was taking an energy-toll on the boy, and he dropped his hand with another sigh, the shadow flicking back sideways to its normal look.

Aiko rolled her eyes. "Our ability is kinda stupid..." She mumbled. Katsuo glared at his sister. "It'll be a lot more useful the more we practice. Now try it agai-" He cut off, hearing footsteps. Someone was coming.

"Powers aren't stupid as long as you learn about them," a voice said from the trees. Aethra, who had been lingering around, a bit bored, had watched the little scene. She hadn't had any new theories to test after trying so many in a short amount of days, and observing these new students might be her answer. Pondering on about what to do, Aethra hopped off the tree, her silver hair flowing behind her and used her two tails to properly land. With a graceful drop, she brushed off her dress before thinking that perhaps, it'd be easy to try and imitate their powers through her mirage induction. "Perhaps, I could help you train...?"

Aiko looked at her with wide eyes at the mention of help. She didn't even think of how exactly that would work. "Oh that'd be great! We could use some help." She agreed quickly before her brother could say anything. Then she remembered that she didn't even know this girl. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Aiko! Who're you?"

Katsuo looked away, a little look of agitation on his face. Wherever they went, there always seemed to be someone watching them, studying them. Sometimes the school gave him a feeling that he was in a testing facility instead of a special high school. "How exactly can you help us?" He half-asked Aethra in a low tone.

Giving an elegant bow, she introduced, "My name is Aethra." Turning to look over at the boy, Katsuo, the fox-girl gave a small smile before wondering how she should respond. It wasn't that she followed them to the forest, she had been there before and liked to visit - reminded her of home. Shaking her head, the other student first said, "You use shadow manipulation, correct?" Not waiting for an answer, considering she already saw what they could do with their powers, Aethra was going to pretend for the moment, she had those powers. They didn't need to know her real powers when she was going to be able to imitate it just from watching. Or, that's what she thinks anyway. "I have the same powers as you. I haven't been at the school for the same amount as older students, but, I do have similar capabilities to you," In a few moments, she took a deep breath, exhaling before, setting her focus on mimicking the power. A dark black magic circle appeared beneath her before a ribbon of shadows appeared from her hand and she disappeared into them. After a few long moments, she reappeared. "Does this answer your question?" Honestly though, Aethra didn't know how she did that, so if they asked for a repeat, she might not be able to. Hopefully, it won't come out to be like that...

Aiko's eyes shone with awe. "Woah! I didn't know other people had the same power as us! That's so cool!" She exclaimed. "Can you show me how to do that?" The young teen asked.

Katsuo didn't say anything, but instead simply watched Aethra with an empty glare that revealed nothing but minor annoyance. He knew she was lying. He was always big on studying and figuring out why the two of them had this ability, what it could do and where it came from. He studied for years yet really only practiced a little when his father had let him. One thing he knew for sure was that you had to be at least related to his father's family line in some way to have the ability. Perhaps he shouldn't say anything though, for now at least. In fact, maybe he should see how far she'd go with this.
"Yes, will you please show us more?" He said, faking a happy expression.

Knowing that something like this would happen, she wasn't going to repeat it - she couldn't unless she had a way of watching herself re-do or think about it again. That definitely wasn't happening anytime soon. Letting out a soft sigh, Aethra winced a bit, feeling as if she was figured out by that guy... Her powers felt suddenly weakened, but the mirage would still work for now. "Alright - just once more if that pleases you," she said before once again, the magic circle reappeared. The streaming shadows appeared before she started to use them, shaping them into different things before settling on a horse. Showing complete concentration as she created the different features of it, making it look like a replica of a real one, before the fox-girl started animating it, and making it move.

Aiko watched, happiness shimmering in her brown eyes. "Wow! I didn't think it could be such a pretty thing to play around with. Nice job!" She laughed, watching the 'horse' 'gallop', unaware that it was just a mirage.
Wow! I didn't think it could be such a pretty thing to play around with.
...could be such a pretty thing to play around with.
...pretty thing to play around with.
...play around with.
Ohhhh no. No no no. We're not doing that. Katsuo refused to let any false messages like that come out of his sister's mouth. He stepped forward, giving Aiko a completely serious look. "You know it's not safe to 'play around with' that kind of thing. Remember what dad said? It's a dangerous ability. Not 'pretty'." He snapped.
Aiko looked at him in shock. "Kat, I didn't literally mean it like that." She felt kind of bad, remembering suddenly that her brother was sensitive about talking about their gift. She smiled nervously. "Calm down and have some fun. We're practicing so it won't be as dangerous, and making some pretty picture-shadows is just to make things fun!" She encouraged, running over and giving her brother a shove towards Aethra. "Now stop being so uptight and try it out!"
Katsuo stumbled forward from the shove but stopped himself a couple paces away from the mirage-inducer. "Why don't you-"
"I'm not that good at it yet." Aiko decided to use that as an excuse as to why she wasn't going to try instead.

"Just a demonstration, but I'll be truthful now - I don't have the same powers as you. I believe your brother figured that out already from the first display," Aethra said as she froze the horse before making it disappear and caused it to separate into a pile of cinders. She didn't usually say anything about her powers, but it didn't seem right to force these people to do the wrong things and since those were mirages, they could get hurt trying to do the same thing. Bowing to them, the fox-girl said, "Let me properly introduce myself - My name is Aethra and I am a mirage inducer currently attending Beata academy." Looking over at Aiko and then to Katsuo, she apologized, "I apologize for not saying sooner, but I wished to test a theory and I've finished. Don't attempt anything like mirages - they weren't real, so I recommend not doing so until you're more advanced... Aiko, was it?"

Aiko gasped, going quiet. "Aw...I thought it was real. You got me." She giggled quietly. "Yeah, Aiko is my name. Nice to meet you, Aethra!" She greeted the girl and nodded at her warning about the mirages.

Katsuo looked away. "I probably should have said something sooner, but yeah I noticed. I hadn't realized you were just doing a sort of theory rather than just messing with us. Sorry for the assumption." He apologized rather roughly, not really wanting to talk about it anymore. He glanced at Aethra, getting a good look at her. "So...Your ability is to create mirages? You seem pretty...Skilled at it, I guess." He really wasn't that good at talking and "communication".

"Again, I apologize for not telling you in advance," Aethra said bluntly, before realizing that Katsuo wasn't exactly... very, social, was it? Sure, they were older than her, but at least strike up a conversation of some sort. This whole conversation was a little lop-sided and it had turned awkward in so many ways. What to do...? What to do? "A-actually... I don't know how to control it - it just happens." It wasn't that she didn't know what it was, she didn't know how to work it. She's tried numerous tests to make it reveal to her, but not once did it work, she couldn't fool herself with her own mirages at all. Not once, not twice, not three times.

OOC;; Lame post. Muse crash-landing coming through.

Ooc: *Dives out of the way*

Ic: "That's unfortunate. It seems like a useful gift." Katsuo added, bringing a hand to his opposite arm. Kind of the posture he tended to do when he didn't know what else to say or how to feel about the situation. Empathetic? Calm and not really bothering with it? It wasn't really his business. In fact, right now he was more confused.
Aiko on the other hand, had a very thoughtful look to her, and gave a little grunt in wonder. She was very expressive, yes ouo She turned away from her brother and Aethra, bringing up her hands and kind of...spaced them apart as if she were holding a big sphere. Katsuo turned to her in surprise, and inhaled as a tiny, black orb appeared in the middle of her hands and rotated there. Aiko surprisingly didn't react, but rather just stared at it, as if in a trance. The little sphere grew slightly.

"Aiko..." Katsuo whispered, hoping not to startle her. No reaction. The shadowy orb grew again in size. Little wisps of smoke-like shadows flickered on his sister's fingers.
"Aiko." Katsuo repeated, firmer and louder now, trying to get her attention. Still no reaction. His sister's eyes had grown dull. The sphere grew and little fizzles came off it. Her shadows of leaves and the tree from before seemed to faintly tingle.
"Aiko!" Katsuo yelled, beginning to panic. He ran over and grabbed her arm. Aiko jumped a little with a gasp, her eyes bright again but cheeks growing a bit pale. Katsuo's own eyes widened. He knew that a lot of times when Aiko tried to go a little too fast with their practicing, she tended to faint or so from exhaustion. He had never seen this happen before though, and had no idea what effect it would have.

The sphere shrunk down immediately and the shadows around her stopped fidgeting. Aiko snapped her hands together and stumbled backwards, face pale and breath quickening. Her brother caught her before she could fall, and she blacked out in his arms.
"Shit...!" Katsuo cursed under his breath, looking up at Aethra. "Don't just stand there; Get help or something!"

As she watched what happened, Aethra changed to her alternative, more normal and casual looking appearance. Taking note of what was happening real quick through her quick memory, the moment Aiko fainted and the orb and everything, and with Katsuo's sudden panic, she blinked for a moment, spacing out, before realizing what had happened. "Oh! Right, my bad. I'll be back with some help, just... Don't move," the mirage-inducer said, a teensy bit surprised at Katsuo's tone. He didn't seem like one to just suddenly... Panic, just a calm guy. Well, that was a bit off. She didn't have siblings - she didn't how to react, but she broke into a sprint towards the forest's entrance and towards the infirmary.

She tried to piece why everything had happened just like that, wondering and just trying to puzzle everything together. Trying to get a slightest hint about it would help - anything. She didn't like not being able to understand something, so now... It just frustrated her, and she just kept wondering as she ran through all the leaves.

Katsuo gently brought his sister over to a tree and laid her against it, sitting up. He sighed and felt her head with the back of his hand. Maybe he had overreacted a bit. This was pretty normal, after all. But Aiko and his dad were all Katsuo was close to at the moment. Sure, they all bickered occasionally, but he cared deeply for them. Whenever Aiko overdid things, like trying to use her powers beyond what she even knew how to and did it all too fast, without gradual, natural growth instead, she tended to faint and sometimes black out, like she did now. Her forehead was a little hot, but it would probably cool down easily with rest. For now, they just had to wake her up. He hoped Aethra would hurry up.

An hour later...

Rushing back was Aethra with some people. No, they weren't a figment of her mirages - they're real. She didn't know where the infirmary was, so she had went ahead and called her family at home to send some of their staff over. They took a little longer than expected because of air delay, but, they're there now. After some time, she glanced over at Aiko and Katsuo, beckoning to them before they understood. The staff at her home... Special enough. They didn't have powers, but well-exceptional nurses and doctors. What else do you expect from someone who was... rich? As they worked, and as soon as they were done, they left as quick as a blink of an eye. Okay, fine, they had teleportation powers. They just... take a little while to get back to their original destination. "I apologize for taking so long, Katsuo. She should be alright now."

Katsuo sighed in relief, looking at his sister as she breathed slowly in a gentle sleep. He felt her forehead, which had a little ice pack against it. The fever was gone, thank goodness. He glanced at Aethra and gave a small smile of thanks. "T-thank you...Sorry I freaked out. There's few people I'm close to." He leaned down next to Aiko and for a brief moment, he looked a bit...Happy. Not fake, not just a minor smile, but his brown eyes actually seemed relieved and happy that his sister was fine now. She'd be back on her feet and bugging him to go meet people with her again in no time. The thought made him chuckle quietly to himself. He blinked, suddenly remembering her sort of "hero" was still here. Getting to his feet, Katsuo reached in his pocket. He pulled out a fifty-dollar bill, which was about a forth of what his parents had supplied him with when he first came to Beata. So it was kind of a good chunk of money considering what he came here with. Holding it out to Aethra, he nodded. "I can't give you much, but I want to pay you back for the trouble you and your staff went through. You know, with materials and all." Katsuo explained.