[IC] ANKL Chapter I: As if a Dream

[Shamitako]

Arya, Esyllt, and Anita - Dorm Room (Music)

The three girls had all gone immediately to their dorm room after the orientation ceremony. They had quickly encountered each other and now very tensely awaited the arrival of their fourth roommate. The room was furnished minimally: it had four dressers, two bunkbeds, and a large circular rug. While the beds and dressers were of no consequence, the rug meant everything. It was half blue, and had a single green quarter and a single yellow quarter. What mattered most was that yellow quarter, signifying that one of the four girls in the room was a Laylite. That was why the air was so thick with tension, no one knew who the Laylite was and nobody was brave enough to outright ask. It was the dread of every second-stage girl to be roomed with a Laylite, members of the Line feared as manipulative and dangerous.

All three turned towards the door as it slowly slid open. The door was silent in its movement, they mightn't have even noticed if not for the soft humming of the one opening it. Revealed on the other side stood a small girl, clearly the youngest of the four. She wore a very revealing black tank top with red jean shorts over black tights. Her mess of curls were tied back in a hasty-looking bun. And her pale yellow eyes felt like they were reaching out to consume the others' souls. Silently, almost as though she were a ghost, she crossed the threshold into the room. The lights flickered slightly, blinking off for an instant so short one might wonder if it was just their imagination. She extended her left hand, the palm held upward as a sign of greeting and deference. This normally welcoming gesture was tainted much darker by the presence of pitch black nail polish on her fingernails and the already nervous atmosphere in the room."

"H-hello, I'm Layla, erm, Lilith Perditia." She said timidly.

Whatever doubt had been in the minds of the three, it was gone now. This young girl with the hungry eyes and the fearful speech was the Laylite in their room. The tension dissipated slightly, clearly Lilith was not a threat at the moment, she was even being polite to those who were clearly her seniors. But still, a feeling of nervousness and suspicion remained in the air

Rein, Emberly, and Lee - Office Area (Music)

Emberly sat between Lee and Rein outside the faculty offices as they waited for a teacher to show up. She didn't actually know what had happened, but apparently Lee had done something that had caused Rein to lash out at her, since she found Rein standing next to a Lee who had very clearly suffered a blow to the stomach. After confirming that Lee was not severely injured, she had insisted that the two come with her to the offices so that a teacher could deal with them. Unfortunately for her, there weren't any teachers present at the moment. It was orientation day after all, they were likely all busy. But it did mean that she had to keep Rein and Lee in check until someone showed up.

Thankfully, it didn't take too much longer before she spotted someone coming down the hall. They were young, not much older than she herself, so she couldn't be certain, but it was a glimmer of hope. The young woman's golden hair shone like it was on fire, her long skirt flowed behind her gracefully as she approached, and her tan turtleneck was covered in designs based on different summer flowers. She was absolutely beautiful and her presence was calming, like a gentle summer breeze. She stopped serenely in front of the three, her skirt swaying slightly as it drained its excess momentum. She looked down at the three seated on the bench with a kind smile.

"Did you need something in the office?" She asked, "Nobody seems to be around much today, but I can help you out. I'm Katherine Lucille, I may not look much like it but I'm a teacher here."

Arturia, Lana, and Haley - Library (Music)

The three girls all sat around a table reading. They had met in the halls and had discovered that none of them were especially interested in being social. Haley had suggested they head to the library and neither of the other two could think of a reason to disagree. It was a calmi- *SLAM* The door to the library suddenly flung open and a haughty-looking girl strode in. Her bright red hair signified that she was of a rare breed, a type of woman considered special by society. She certainly acted like it, barging in like that. Haley had a pretty good idea of who she was, Natalie Opium. Haley had heard the name often from her elder sister, who was a good friend of Natalie's mother and was going to have Natalie in her class. Natalie wasn't spoiler directly by her mother, but she had grown quite the ego from being a member of the "elite." According to Katherine, Helen Opium was trying to bring Natalie's pride in line. It didn't look like it was working.

"You there, Lucille!" She shouted, startling Haley.

"M-me?" Haley responded, looking around.

It was silly, nobody else was in the library but the four of them, and the chances of Natalie talking to either of her new friends was unlikely.

"Yes, you." Natalie said, rolling her eyes behind her purple glasses.

Haley gulped. She wasn't sure what Natalie wanted, but it couldn't be good. She unconsciously shrunk back from the loud and confident presence that was gesturing for her to come closer. She desperately wished either of the girls with her, or even better her self, had that kind of confidence. She could really use someone to tell Natalie off right now.

Riv, Sion, Sharp, and Lexi - Dorm Room (Music)

"I'll raise you ten fruit snacks." Lexi said cheerfully, shoving a number of pieces of gummy gold into the center of the playing mat.

With a sigh, Sharp looked down at her hand. The way Lexi was going at it, she must have had a really good hand.

"Fold." She said.

"Yipee!" Lexi said, scooping up her winnings.

"How good was your hand?"

"I have no idea, I haven't caught on to any of the scoring stuff."

They'd been playing for almost an hour, and Lexi had won every round... Yet she still had no idea what she was doing.

"You really live up to your name with luck like that." Sharp said, a touch of salt in her voice.

"I get that a lot." Lexi said through a mouthful of chewy fruit-flavored heaven.

Sharp was about to get up and go join their other roommates in playing other games with less gambling involved when Lexi held out her hand; inside it was a handful of fruit snacks. It was a kind gesture, even if it was nowhere near the amount she had lost. She took them gratefully. After she had swallowed, she held out her left palm and thanked Lexi politely.

"Oh don't be so formal. Sure, I'm a few years older, but we're still roommates. You can just say thanks." Lexi said.

"I, suppose." Sharp responded, looking away to hide the fact that she was blushing.

Sharp was about to say more when Lexi suddenly stood up. Her face looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Is something wrong, Miss Lexi?" Sharp inquired.

"You three have to leave right now. Like, right now right now." The sense of urgency in Lexi's voice was unnerving.

Sharp looked towards the other two to see their reactions. Should they follow Lexi's odd declaration and leave? The way Lexi was talking, Sharp was inclined to follow along. It seemed strange, but she had this feeling that she should trust Lexi above all else.

[Chevaleresse]

Fantastic. Alpha Bitch on the first day of school. "What do you want?" Artoria asked in a tone edged with irritation. "And could you at least attempt to keep it down?" All she wanted to do was read her book. She fixed the girl with a glare that came close to looking literally icy as she dogeared the page she was on, folding the book calmly before placing it on the table in front of herself. Please don't make me get up.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

She hadn't said much of anything to the other two, before that door had opened. Mostly just focusing on mentally preparing herself for the battle that would surely start whenever their little Cultist roommate walked in, working on her latest sketch all the while. The unholy little swath of yellow on the carpet had been the first thing she'd notice from the second she'd first laid eyes on the room. She knew more than well enough what it meant, that forsaken color, that stain of piss, had seen it more than enough times before... things had seldom gone well during all those few run-ins in the past with those little brain-washed, web-weaving goths. Oh, but they had always hated her far more than she had them... they had thought it made them stronger, made them better. But all it really made them in the end was predictable, sloppy even, in some cases. And when they got sloppy, when they got predictable, it only made them all that much easier to pick apart at the seams. And that always made them angrier, and angrier... and, in turn, managed to create a wonderful little cycle for her to exploit over and over again, unravel all their lies and burn all their little false bridges one by one...until they were finally revealed once and for all as the god awful, lying, exploitive bitches they truly were.

So fear... fear was definitely the furthest thing on her mind as she had stolen subtle glances at the floor. This wouldn't be her first run in, or the first experience she'd had. And chances were it wouldn't be the last either. No, what ran through her mind... was more like nervous anticipation. Because even she had to admit...

She had never had the utter displeasure of having to actually dorm in the same room as one of the bitches before.

But then... then, the wait was over. That door opened, and she steeled herself one last time... but she couldn't help but stifle a laugh when she actually saw the one behind it, sketch-pad and charcoal still in her lap.

"W-wow... this is...just wow..." She did a poor job holding it in as she looked the new arrival over once again in the silence that had followed, just taking it all in a second time."God, I-I'm so sorry, but, You...? you really mean to tell us that you're the big bad Laylite in the room? Oh Nayru, this is just freaking hilarious!" The barely stifled laughter grew even louder, but nothing could erase that subtle, nigh bitter edge of snow cold, loathing disdain and distrust that lingered in her eyes as she scrutinized the girl up and down. Even in her amusement, she wasn't just about to drop her guard so easily. this kid was funny to her, yes; Infact, as short as the girl was, she honestly kinda reminded her of some little kid who had gotten into their mother's nail polish and had started playing dress up in her big sister's wardrobe. But though she found it funny, Arya wasn't stupid. Just because the girl was nothing like she had been expecting of a laylite, didn't mean she was by any means harmless.

And just because she was being polite right now didn't mean she wasn't hiding something far uglier just below the surface. All the ones she had met before did.

All of them. Every. Last. One.

[Shadow Sketches]

Lee

Lee's left leg shook up and down impatiently as she waited there. She tried to have a blank look on her face to hide how she was feeling but she couldn't help the hint of an annoyed glower on her face that betrayed her angry mood. The headphones in her ears were emitting blasts of an angry, screeching guitar into her head as she sat there trying to keep her own anger in check.

Why the hell did that girl have to freaking punch her stomach in the first place?! She hadn't done anything to Purity but she still found herself getting hit in the stomach. The worst part was that the punch had come out of nowhere, Lee had no time to react or to fight back. The sudden assault had completely caught her off guard and sent her reeling in pain before she could get a punch off herself. The whole time she sat there, Lee kept going over the events that happened right before the punch to see if she could figure out why Purity had assaulted her.

She remembered walking up to Purity to try and introduce herself. Lee had seen her and thought she seemed nice enough. She had even gone out of her way to ask one of the other girls her name so she would have an easier time introducing herself. Today being orientation day and all she thought she should talk with others to get some first impressions of how the girls here were. Well, Purity had made an extremely crappy first impression. All Lee did was walk up to her and say "Hey Purity, what's up?", she didn't expect to get a punch in the stomach as an answer.

Katherine's sudden appearance brought Lee out of her head and back into reality. She took off her head phones and let them dangle from her black t-shirt as she gave Katherine her full attention. Strangely, although she knew Katherine was a teacher, Lee didn't feel the urge to call her Ms. Lucille since she barely looked older than her. If she hadn't said so, Lee would of thought she was just another student.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Shadow Sketches

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt tried to hide her displeasure with the current situation. She only had two more years to go, and hoped everything would go uneventfully. But not only were things awkward before, Lilith just shattered whatever semblance of peace as soon as she stepped through the door. Lilith was not remotely what she had expected of a Laylite. For someone so young, it was hard to explicitly hate her, especially given how timid she looked. But that did not change the fact that she was a Laylite.

Before Esyllt could do anything, the shorter girl burst out laughing. That cold, cynical laughter just resounded in the room, intensifying the discomfort. Esyllt sneaked a glance at the tallest girl in the room, but couldn't tell how she felt in this situation. In any case, Esyllt was going to have live with these three as roommates, and wanted things to go as peacefully, and as smoothly as possible. Assuming that she was the oldest girl in the room, she was going to take control of the situation before things could get any worse. She gripped the shorter girl's arm, not enough to cause pain, but to grab her attention. She then forced a suggestive smile; not one that was threatening or intimidating, but one that meant 'Please don't cause shit'. Esyllt cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention to her, and then went over to extend her hand for a handshake.

"Hello there Perditia. My name is Esyllt Morrianas." She then turned, and silently urged the others to introduce themselves.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Stalkerkain

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

Her amusement had already started to wind down when the other girl nudged her. That paper smile she had plastered for the little Cultist's sake may've been nice enough, but Arya could've seen right through it in a heartbeat. Fine. She was still nigh certain that it was all some cleverly laid facade to elicit pity or amiability, just as much as she was that this girl here would likely end up regretting her readily given trust in said facade...but fine. She could play nice too, at least, until the little Laylite finally revealed her true colors, that is. After that point though, she wouldn't bat a single eye about tearing apart the goth's little world of cardboard and burning it right in front of her, piece by piece, one falsehood at a time, just like all the others.

But that was later. This was now. And now was the time to be nice. So play nice, she would.

"Eh, sorry about that. It's just that, well you're... alot different than what I was expecting when I saw the rug." She said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly, as if she actually meant the apology. "Anyway, the name's Arya. Arya Wraith. Don't wear it out, okay?" The raw disdain and scrutiny that had haunted her gaze earlier had largely been reigned back in like the twin dogs of war they were. Even in their absence though, there was little there to fill that abysmal void of trust in those stone cold, twin pools of midnight grey.

So dismally little.

[Jory]

Riv

The blue-haired girl looked quizzically through her glasses at Lexi, tilting her head to the side. Up until that moment, the other girl had been acting so normally. Weird, she thought to herself. It was things like that that were best left unsaid. I've got to be careful of what I say. New school, new girls. And you never know what will set off a teenage girl next, she noted. It wasn't like she was exempt from the rule. Obviously she'd had drama in her life before, but Riv had a particular distaste for it. Careless words could turn the best of friends into the most bitter enemies. Before Lexi began acting so strangely, Riv had not been doing well in the game. Her keen analytical skills were useless next to Lexi's seemingly unlimited good fortune. And so, when Lexi finally had her little outburst, Riv was more than happy for a distraction from her losing efforts.

Although Lexi's voice had been unnerving, Riv's curiosity was piqued. Obviously Lexi was scared of something. No one should face that kind of fear alone, she noted solemnly. However badly she'd been doing earlier, it was just a game. She smiled warmly at Lexi, standing up and making eye contact with her. "I know you want us to leave, but maybe we can help you. You seem scared," she said. "You were just winning, after all! There's no need to stop the game if we don't have to."

[Hiss13]

Sion

Sion was never the gambling type. As much as she enjoyed a good game, even when she was on the losing end, she knew that gambling would only put her into loss after loss after loss. There truly was no point to her trying to gamble since she would inevitably lose more than she would ever gain. She preferred to sit in the corner of the dorm room with her book in silence. After all, conversations with her generally ended up getting awkward.

As she looked up periodically from her book at the game she that was going on, Sion could definitely reaffirm that her decision was the most accurate one. The Lexi girl seemed to have a goddess's luck as she kept winning round after round without even understanding the game she was playing.

This is only getting more and more awkward. I should have just joined them. At least sitting with them and losing would have been far more comfortable than being the only one sitting and reading a book. In the end, she could only pray that they finally ended their game soon since it would have been even more awkward to try and join in mid-way.

Oddly enough, that seemed to come in the form of a terrified Lexi telling everyone to get out of the room. Sion shut the book, leaving the outer cover as a bookmark. "You seem scared. Is everything alright?"

Edited April 1, 2016 by Hiss13

[Shamitako]

(OOC: BTW, I'll be sticking to a single NPC's PoV outside the start of a new chapter, so try to keep track of who you're interacting with)

Sharp - Dorm Room

Sharp was concerned about Lexi, but she didn't really know what to say. Thankfully, her other two roommates picked up the slack.

"Yes, I agree with Miss Riv and Miss Sion." She said.

Lexi looked at around all three of them, her eyes clearly worried for them. Sharp wasn't so sure offering to help was so smart after all, if Lexi was this worried perhaps they should trust her judgement.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but you really can't-" Lexi froze mid-sentence, "No..."

She started pacing back and forth in a panic. Sharp didn't know her very well, but the way Lexi was acting felt very unlike her.

"No no no. It's too late, I'm sorry for letting you guys get caught up in this." She clutched her right eye in a gesture of pain and self-admonishment, "I shouldn't have tried to stay a normal schoolgirl, it was too risky. I'm so sorry."

Sharp was extremely confused, but before she could say anymore the entire room flashed white and she found herself standing in a barren white plane. She was not alone, her three roommates were there as well. And in addition, a multitude of large centipede-like creatures loomed over them. Considering how she had acted just before, Sharp figured Lexi knew what was happening. But when she turned to ask, she saw Lexi frozen in place, staring wide-eyed at the giant insects.

"Miss Lexi, what's wrong?" She asked.

"B-b-b-b-b-bugs." Was the only answer Lexi could conjure.

Oh, that was right, Lexi had mentioned she was terrified of bugs. Sharp herself couldn't really understand, she wasn't especially squeamish.

As Sharp contemplated what to do, one of the centipedes suddenly charged in her direction. No, she wasn't the target, it was Lexi. Since Lexi seemed paralyzed, Sharp took it upon herself to rescue the older girl. She wasn't strong enough to pick her up, so she did the next best thing: She pushed her over. The centipede passed harmlessly over them, although Lexi's panicking was clearly becoming worse. Sharp could tell she wasn't going to snap out of it, it looked like this was up to her. She had lost track of the other two, so she hoped they wouldn't get in the way. As soon as the creature was past them, she stood and ran as far away from Lexi as she could, trying to draw attention. It was only when all three of them charged in her direction that she realized what a terrible idea it had been. She was about to fall to the ground again when she heard Lexi chanting a strange prayer of some kind

"By the light of my heart
By the strength of your trust
To manipulate every aspect of faith
And for the salvation of all humanity
I bestow upon you my strength
That you may bring light to the world"

As the chant finished, Sharp felt a tingling at her feet. It quickly traveled up her body, although it didn't feel like it was doing anything. And yet, when it finished she felt very different. The only physical difference seemed to be that her glasses were gone. She didn't really have much time to think about it, the centipede were milliseconds from overtaking her. She no longer had time to dive for cover, all she could manage was to raise her hands to guard her face. And as she did, they erupted with flame. Not just her hands, the centipedes as well. She had no idea why or how, but she knew she had a chance her and she wasn't going to let it slip by. She concentrated and formed the flames into a fireball in front of her. And with a scream of determination, she launched it at the wriggling mass of insect parts and flames. The world exploded with red and orange, and when the smoke finally cleared nothing remained of the danger. Relieved and exhausted, Sharp fell to her knees and felt her glasses re-materialize on her face.

"I knew it, with an outfit like that there was no way you weren't a Fire Adept." Lexi said, walking over, "Or maybe you were a fire Elemental or Blade , but eh, one in three seemed like pretty good odds to me."

Considering how she'd been going at poker earlier, Sharp was inclined to agree. She wanted to ask what had just happened, but first.

"That can wait, where'd the other two go?"

[Code: PIRULUK]

Rein stood stoicly still, her face showing only disinterest. So she was outside the Teacher's office. Waiting to be scolded and possibly suspended. Would not have been the first time. She glanced at the girl next to her. While she bore no ill will towards this person, it was her own fault for calling Rein by her given name.

...Granted, Rein had never actually indicated that she hated her given name. In hindsight, that probably meant that she was in the wrong here.

...Oh well. Apologising was too much effort, much better to simply stay still and wait for whatever was coming. It's not like she particularly cared about school, anyway.

...Perhaps she should work on controlling her gut impulse to hit someone when they used her name.

...Probably. But she would not. Self-control required effort. Rein was never one to force herself to put in more effort than barely necessary.

Rein glanced over at Lee again, this time with an evaluating gaze. Tall, lots of piercings. Not her aesthetic at all. Any slight intention which she had to apologise quickly evaporated.

Then the teacher approached. Rein glanced over to her as well, and breathed a sigh of resignation. Where there no cute girls in this entire school?

[K_H]

Anita

As her fourth roommate arrived, and the ensuing antics occurred, Anita mentally facepalmed, annoyed at her Nayran Roommate's contempt and surprised by the fact that her Laylite Roommate wasn't of the typical kind. However, during all of the action, she made no obvious physical movements other than breathing normally, easily hiding how on-edge she'd become. As she was sitting on the edge of the lower bunk on her side of the room, a thought passed through her head, and she made a barely-perceptible frown.

Good grief... not even a day has passed, and already the stereotyping begins.

Her annoyance was soon assuaged by her fellow Alexian Roommate's actions. Even so, she was still rather mistrusting of her other two roommates. Despite this, she introduced herself, not even moving from the edge of her bed as she did so.

"The name's Anita Lotensio. Just call me Anna, it'll be easier for all of us."

However, as she continued sitting after introducing herself, something that she'd heard in what Lilith had said in her own introduction still bugged Anna.

She almost introduced herself as her own Goddess... That's rather interesting. I'll just keep a low profile and be nice to all of them, no matter how frustrated with them I get. It's worked out well in the past, so it'll probably pay off here, too.

Esyllt would be easy enough to get along with, but her mistrustfulness would be harder to overcome for her other two Roommates, as the deep, dark purplish-blue, and seemingly emotionless twin abysses that were her eyes showed.

It wouldn't be impossible for those two, though...

((OOC: Sorry I'm so late to the party, I got held up by Real Life.))

Edited April 1, 2016 by K_H

[Shamitako]

Lilith - Other Dorm Room

Lilith stared at the extended hand blankly. It wasn't that she didn't know how to give a handshake, but she wasn't sure she trusted Esyllt. Nobody was ever as trusting of her as Esyllt was acting, and it made Lilith suspicious in turn. Still, after a moment she grabbed the hand and timidly shook it.

"It's n-nice to meet you, Miss Esyllt." She said meekly.

She released her grip and turned then to the girl who had laughed. Arya she had called herself. Arya was someone who was clearly real, she hadn't hidden herself in an attempt to please Lilith or get something from her as so many others had. It made her sad that someone so honest would probably come to hate her for the person she was and the things she had done and been forced to do, but she was glad to be rooming with her.

"It's alright Miss Arya, I'm used to far worse responses by now. And in fact your honesty in your reaction was far kinder than anything else you could have done." She said, her voice much calmer than normal, "I doubt you'll ever come to trust me, but know that I wholeheartedly trust you."

Once again she extended her left hand with the palm up, this time it was not only a gesture of respect for a senior but also a gesture of trust.

Finally, she faced her third roommate. She seemed unhappy, no doubt because of Lilith's presence.

"It is also g-good to meet you, Miss Anna." She said.

She couldn't think of anything more to add, but she was afraid of letting the room fall into an awkward silence, so she quickly changed the subject. She reached out the door and pulled a small luggage bag inside.

"So, um, h-have you all decided wh-where you're sleeping?" She asked, "I don't care which b-bunk I have so it's fine if you decided without me. Although if you haven't, I, um, I'd l-like to have one of the lower bunks."

She shifted uncomfortably with the request. She wasn't really fine with one of the top bunks, but all three of these girls were her senior. And on top of that she was a Laylite. She had no right to request anything of them, but she was very worried as to what she might cause if she wasn't well-grounded. Not that she could explain that to them, it didn't make sense to her in the first place.

[K_H]

Anna shrugged, expression returning to neutral, then laid back on the bunk she was sitting on, her luggage having already been placed at the foot of the bed. As she laid down, she spoke.

"Fine by me, so long as I get the lower bunk that I'm on."

She then waited for her other roommates to speak, looking at the underside of the bunk above her as she waited, hands behind her head and elbows out to the side.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

"Um...thanks...I guess?" She didn't honestly know how else to respond, just sat there on the top bunk, again scratching the back of her head. The part of her that was the natural skeptic, the part that had seen and dealt with it all before, didn't want to falter for even a minute, demanded she keep the guard standing, deny the wooden horse admittance to Troy and torch it on the beach. The other parts of her, however, weren't quite so sure. Memory had always served her correctly, and right now it screamed that she was fool if she just discarded everything she'd ever known and seen about them in the past.. it said that Troy was going to burn. Yet, her gut said that Troy was safe. It was the first time the two had ever been so utterly out of synch and opposed to each other, when it came to Laylites. But...even as certain as her mind was, she still had to give more weight to instinct in the end.

"She's may be... nothing like I expected," She thought as she stared down at her latest, half finished work in silence, just trying to push the strangeness of the whole situation out of mind as charcoal again started to scrawl against paper. "but, whatever she is... there's definitely a lot more to her."

"So, um, h-have you all decided wh-where you're sleeping? I don't care which b-bunk I have so it's fine if you decided without me. Although if you haven't, I, um, I'd l-like to have one of the lower bunks."

Arya didn't answer, though her eyes passed what should've been an obvious enough glance to what sparsely few belongings she had beside her on the mattress.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt let out a small sigh of relief. Tensions seemed to dissipate, if only for the moment. Looking around, it seemed as though everyone else were waiting for someone else to say something. Anita had already claimed a lower bunk, and having the already hostile Arya to bunk with Lilith was a disaster waiting to happen. Things were going to deteriorate sooner or later, but Esyllt needed time to gauge out her roommates. Arya was rather quick to put on an accommodating farce from her initial reaction, making her someone to keep an eye out for. Of course, the Laylite was no exception either.

Anita didn't even do so much as bat an eye when Lilith had walked in. She too, was an Alexian, so perhaps it would be a wise choice to approach her and get to know her first.

As for Lilith, well, she'd cross that bridge when she got there.

Without further ado, Esyllt decided to break the silence. She bent over to Lilith's eye level, and began to talk with an even tone.

"Lilith, would you mind if I took the other bottom bunk? I tend to wake up early to go for a run, and wouldn't like to wake anyone else up." she explained.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason. If Lilith and Arya were on the top bunks, she would know if they woke up in the middle of the night.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Rein, Emberly, and Lee - Office Area

EMberly sprang up nearly instantly from where she was sitting, a crazy feat considering how tall she was. Nearly clanged her head on the ceiling as a result.

"Oh, why yes... yes you can. Sorry, sorry, I didn't see you there." Emberly tried to not look totally incompetent but she was really regretting this whole decision. She thought it'd be good to get a teacher to help moderate the issue between these two since... she didn't seem able to really breakthrough to them herself. To be fair... she didn't really try much either. Neither one seemed to be the reasonable type to her so she wasn't sure there was a lot of headway she could've gained. However, she was one of the older students here she felt obligated to take some responsibility. Older, and taller. She nearly crashed her head into the doorway coming in, but luckily she caught it beforehand. Being 6'3" she was a giant compared to most people her age. So much so that... not really any doors were built in a way that she could easily access them. She always had to dip down to enter otherwise she'd whack her head against the door frame. She had enough bruises there to know she didn't want anymore.

"But, yes. Miss uh... Lucille... Miss Katherine... Look I'm nooot sure if you're the same age as me it's... really coooonfusing... uuuuuh cause... I'm older than most of the other girls... well you're off to a great start Drake..." Emberly said to herself sighing. She was a bit flustered... she didn't even know why. It was probably because she was spacing out for a bit and didn't anticipate such a quick arrival. She thought she'd be waiting here a lot longer. "*AHEM*" she cleared her throat, really it was a way to reset her nerves. It nearly always worked for her. It worked once more dispelling most of her jitters, at least... for now.

"Yes, you can help. I'm not really sure but these two here were having a bit of an argument when I found them, and by that I mean it waaas physical. I didn't really know what to do, soooooo I brought them here! However, I know nothing about either of them. I don't even know their names! Soooooo... yeeeeeeea. Needless to say... I am a biiiiiiit over my head here, which if I'm in over my head, it must be a big problem considering I'm the size of a small skyscraper." Drake joked to to kill some of the tension. It worked for her... probably not the others, but who knew? She hoped it did. "I just... would rather find some help to sort this out then mess up myself. Hopefully that's not... too much of an issue. I don't even know what this little spat was about... I only saw the aftermath. Which... I gotta say... you've got a KIIIIIILLER right hook. Teach me sometime?" Drake said to one of the two. Sadly, she had no idea what her name was... or the other girl's name either. "Uuuuuh... I mean... Let's get this solved. Yes? Yes."

[Jory]

Riv

Riv shook her head in disbelief, still processing everything that had happened before speaking. That was... It defied all logic, she thought to herself. Magic? Here, at school? She looked around, noticing that their location had changed. Riv was not a hard person to shock, but this was enough. A sudden teleportation followed by the appearance and subsequent destruction of the centipedes. A girl who was definitely not who she'd said she was at orientation. And, to top it all off, Sharp could apparently shoot fireballs from her hands. Not a normal student? she remembered, reflecting on Lexi's choice of words.And what's a Fire Adept? Riv wondered. It must have something to do with her powers. She also mentioned a Blade, so maybe there are different ways to wield magic? All the questions and possibilities raced through her head. And the only person who had the answers seemed to be the person responsible for their situation.

Suddenly, Lexi had the audacity to ask where "the other two" were, as though they'd been an afterthought. Good to know she doesn't care who she drags into her drama, she judged tiredly. She could imagine a little "-1" with a broken heart hovering over the other girl.

"Like, I get that you clearly have some supernatural metaphysical shit going on here, but I'd at least appreciate you taking a head count or something after you teleport us to another plane of reality," she joked in a deadpan, choosing not to confront the obviously irresponsible... whatever she was.

[Chim]

Lana

Wasn’t the library supposed to be quiet? Lana’s gaze stayed focused on the same sentence in her book without really reading what was written. She was startled by the entrance the fierce redhead had made and didn’t really feel like getting involved into something that wasn’t her business. Especially not on the first day.

Hell, the only reason she was here was because it would’ve been rude to ignore the other two girls with her or to sit at another table. But when one of the two spoke up, in a not so friendly way, Lana wished she had picked another table. Or better yet, that she could slide under the table and disappear from what seemed to be the start of an argument. Instead she finally looked up from her book and waited. Maybe this situation wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[Shamitako]

Natalie - Library

The girl was staring daggers at her. Some peasant was glaring at her. Natalie wasn't going to take that lying down, she turned her frigid lavender eyes on the girl and glared right back.

"And who the hell are you?" She said, "Nobody, at least nobody I care about, which is basically nobody anyways. So I'd appreciate if you kept your nose out of my business."

Without looking away from the glaring peasant, she spoke to Haley again.

"Lucille, I came here to talk to you bout an important matter concerning Kal- Erm, Miss Katherine. I'd appreciate if you would join me in the hall so that we can talk about it."

Lucille said nothing. Natalie wasn't sure why, she couldn't bring herself to tear her eyes away from her opponent, she wasn't willing to lose to this girl.

Lilith - Dorm Room A (OOC: I finally thought of a good way of differentiating these, yay me)

It seemed to Lilith she wasn't getting a lower bunk, she wasn't really expecting her request to be granted anyways. It was even likely that by asking it she had caused the others to want to deny it, though whether that had been a conscious or subconscious decision she was uncertain. She wished she didn't know so much about people, it would be so much nicer to naively think that they simply wanted those bunks instead of knowing that at least some part of them wished to deny her the place of comfort she had asked for. But neither the answer she had received nor her understanding of how the decision was made was going to change, so it seemed best to simply accept it and move on. With the way things were now, she felt the best course of action was to claim the bunk above Anna as hers.

"A-alright then, I'll sleep on the bunk over Miss Anna." She said.

She moved to the side of the bed but waited to place her bag on the bunk until she had confirmation that this course of action was okay. She was very nervous about having a top bunk, in fact she wasn't entirely certain she wouldn't just sleep on the floor. If she ended up hurting someone she was sure she couldn't forgive herself. She really didn't understand, but the safest course of action seemed to be to seek out the girl from her dream. She thought maybe she'd ask Arya or Esyllt to help her with that after she'd unpacked. Not that either of them would, they'd either think she was crazy or trying to manipulate them. And Lilith didn't blame them in either case.

Katherine - Outside the Faculty Offices

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there." Katherine said, trying to get the girl to calm down.

All she had managed to gather from the girl's ramblings was that she was older than the other two and that she was extremely tall. And the latter bit was only because Katherine, who wasn't especially short herself, found herself looking up to the girl. Although she wasn't sure of the entire situation, she could puzzle out the basics. The senior girl had found the other two breaking the rules--fighting with each other, vandalizing the halls, making out in a classroom, etc--and had brought them to the faculty office to receive a reprimand. Although she was surprised at this, it didn't seem like the senior girl was especially good with people so she wondered how she'd coerced the two into coming with her. Perhaps it was simply that she was their senior and the other two had naturally deferred to her as an authority figure. Or maybe they were both just too lazy to argue, who knew?

"Let's take this a bit slower. How about we start with you three introducing yourselves?" She asked.

[Chevaleresse]

If one looked closely, they could have seen the muscles under Arturia's skin tense briefly, fingers pressing into the hardcover laying in front of her. Do not hit the girl with the book. Even if she deserves it. Her grip relaxed. She's not worth this one, anyway. The girl stood up, continuing to match Natalie's stare regardless of how uncomfortable it made her - her anger overcame that quite handily. "Dear Nayru, are you trying to sound like you just walked out of some shitty movie about high school or something? Quite frankly I don't give a fuck if I'm putting my nose into your business, especially since you seemed to have barged in here with the sole intent of being as obnoxious as possible."

[Code: PIRULUK]

Rein directed a sidelong glance at Katherine. The teacher seemed reasonable enough. Though attempting to explain the sheer hatred for her name would be tiresome. She sighed in resignation.

She shifted a bit and recrossed her arms. Then, without moving from her spot or turning to face the teacher, she responded to the woman's query with disjointed, monosyllabic words.

"...Name. Rein."

[Shadow Sketches]

Lee crossed her arms and glanced over at "Purity". At least, that's what she thought the girl was called. But Purity introduced herself as "Rein", so could Lee have called her by the wrong name...?

Even if she did, that still wasn't a good reason to get punched in the gut, not in her books anyway. Though whether that was indeed the reason or not, they were about to find out anyway. Now that there was a teacher here, she would want to know the whole story and hopefully this will clear everything up easily. She didn't want things to get any more complicated than they already were.

With pale blue eyes, Lee looked Katherine up and down curiously. She seemed too young to be a teacher, but perhaps that would make things easier since she doesn't seem to be too strict like some older teachers are. Katherine seemed nice enough, so hopefully she was as easygoing as she looked.

"My name's Jasmine, most call me Lee though." She replied calmly, trying her best to keep her slight annoyance at this whole situation from being heard in her voice.

[Hiss13]

Sion

Sion just let her eyes stay wide open at the scene that unfolded in front of her. Beyond Lexi's cryptic remarks and the giant centipedes, Sion found herself most startled at the change in the environment around her. It was as if everyone had been transported to some sort of alternate plane.

But, things only seemed to get even more intriguing as one of the girls drew the centipedes away before immolating and combusting them…somehow.

When the smoke finally cleared, she turned to Lexi and Sharp, questions racing through her head. Surprisingly, Riv had gotten the main snarky remark she was planning to make out of the way before Sion could even do so. "Beyond getting our existences acknowledged by the people in our immediate vicinity, would you be so kind as to explain what we have just been dragged into?" Sion asked with a manufactured polite smile.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Rein, Emberly, and Lee - Office Area

"I am Emberly. Friends call me Drake. Long story... not got the time for that now." Emberly said giggling. she was still trying to more or less remain calm. She wasn't doing very well at it. Her nerves were threatening to burst. She was at least holding together for now... and she would probably make it through the rest of this. She sighed at how silly she must've looked right now to all of the others.

"Anyway, Miss Katherine, I don't know much about the situation that happened. It'll have to be these two that talk it out. I'll stay though. I kinda want to see this through."

Emberly wasn't honestly sure what to think of the other two girls. Rein and Lee. She was quite a bit older than the two. At least a couple of years. She also towered over them both by a decent margin. Though she was MUUUCH taller than Rein. It was honestly pretty funny to her that someone so small compared to her and even Lee, did what she did. She was rather strong it seemed. Emberly's mother always said, "Scary things came in small packages." She never been inclined to believe that until now. Lee on the other hand... Emberly wasn't sure what she did to annoy Rein that much, but it must've been something big. One didn't usually punch someone straight in the gut for no reason. Well, unless they were crazy. But that was the reason so still... the point stood.

Either way. Emberly was getting more than a little restless since she couldn't really do anything from here on out. So, she just sat back down on the bench. Perhaps... this would sort itself out without her need to intervene anymore than she had. So, she endeavored to wait it out. She picked out a small journal that she proceeded to begin jotting down notes in. It was typically something she used to write about the goings of her day, but also... she used it to jot down inspirations or things that she found interesting. What she was doing now... well no one knew that but Emberly herself.

[Shamitako]

Katherine - Outside the Faculty Offices

Rein, Jasmine, and Emberly. She didn't recognize the first two names, but Emberly was likely the Emberly that was going to be in her homeroom. She had to wonder what Helen was thinking, putting a girl who could so easily undermine her likely already weak authority in her class. Then again, Emberly seemed fairly reasonable, if she had Emberly backing her up instead of pulling authority away from her it would be a positive. Considering Helen had basically lumped all the "problems" into Katherine's class, it was nice to see that at least one of her students could be an asset. After all she had three Laylites: one of whom apparently had a penchant for being violent, Helen's own daughter Natalie: whose red hair made her quite the snob, a girl who had been raised by her father, and a girl who was supposed to be extremely obstinate about her opinions: a trait Katherine shared but nonetheless knew could cause trouble with authority.

"That's fine Emberly, in fact I quite appreciate you sticking around." She said calmly, "How about we head inside the offices and use on of the conference rooms to talk? This will be much easier if we're all sitting down and comfortable."

(OOC: In case anyone was curious since we won't be visiting classtime, Katherine's classroom consists of everyone except Riv, Sion, Lee, and Lana. As well as lacking in Lexi, Haley, and Sharp as NPCs go)