[IC] ANKL Chapter I: As if a Dream

[Chim]

She was wrong. The situation had just turned out like Lana expected. Great. A rude redhead versus a silver haired girl who apparently couldn’t deal with this type of people. And then there was the third girl who seemed to have unwillingly caused this. As far as Lana could tell the girl addressed as Lucille was similar to her. If that was the case there was no way she could stop the other two from tearing at each other.

“Uhm, excuse me,” Lana tried, calling out to the girl with the silver hair. “Maybe we should let them talk? They seem to know each other.”

[Shamitako]

Natalie - Library

"Obnoxious?!" Natalie exclaimed, her expression turning quite offended but her eyes not leaving her challenger, "How rude, I am not being obnoxious. In fact I was very explicitly being ostentatious!"

It occurred to her that perhaps ostentatious wasn't exactly a good thing either, but she didn't really feel the need to care. She could be whatever she wanted, she was a redhead, the lesser masses had no right to insult her so.

Well, maybe they do... And I probably deserve it... She thought for just a moment.

But she couldn't admit that, not even to herself. If she did she risked dropping her act, and right now she was in far to fragile a state of mind for that. All she needed was to talk to Haley, was that really so much to ask? She really wish she had found Haley alone, had they been alone Natalie wouldn't have needed to act. Now she had entrapped herself in a battle that neither her facade nor herself was willing to swallow their pride and lose. Her eyes remained locked on her rival, but deep inside they began to waver in fear and self-doubt. Meanwhile Haley remained abhorrently silent, which wasn't helping matters. Natalie desperately wished the girl would just speak up so that this whole fiasco could end.

[Chevaleresse]

"I do believe that the two behaviors are not mutually exclusive," Arturia stated dryly. She glanced over to her side, eyes catching Lana before returning to Natalie. "I'm not stopping anybody from talking to anybody. I would think that a fellow Nayrist would at least have the common decency to be polite when walking into a place of learning. Or common decency at all, for that matter, since evidently you can't be bothered to show a little magnanimity to the common folk unless they bow and scrape." This line was accompanied with a significant look up toward the other's hairline.

Finally, however, Arturia sat back down, though she continued to hold Natalie's gaze. "Honestly, though, I don't know why I even said anything. You're obviously not worth the effort."

[Chim]

Lana

Thank Alexus this Arturia girl seemed to be reasonable. The last thing Lana wanted was for their discussion to escalate. And for the second time in a few minutes she went out of her way and addressed

Haley. “Uhm, your acquaintance is waiting. Don’t you want to talk to her?”

Lana refrained from using the word friend. Just by looking at the redhead’s entrance, she doubted the two could be considered close.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Rein, Emberly, and Lee - Office Area

"Of course, I don't mind." Emberly said as she quickly finished whatever it was she just scrawled into her journal. She realized this was kinda all protocol. However, she wasn't sure why she had to be here. She'd rather wait out in the hall. She was mostly worried things might geeet... a bit heated. She had no idea what the two girls had been fighting over. Drake really didn't want to be caught in some crossfire between the two. Though... she definitely didn't do anything wrong. Well, that she knew of. She just hoped this was over with quickly. She sprang back up and walked towards the office or wherever it was that Katherine would be taking them. She of course had to stoop down as to not smack her head on the door frame.

[Shadow Sketches]

Rein, Emberly, and Lee - Office Area

Lee shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah sure. Let's just get this over with." She replied in a bored voice as she stood up from where she was sitting. Putting her hands in her jeans' pockets, she followed Katherine and the tall girl to wherever it was they were being taken. The faster they could get this all sorted out and done the better.

She wondered if Rein was going to end up getting a punishment or if would she just get a slap on the wrist and a stern look. Although Lee doubted Miss Katherine had a stern bone in her pretty body, she assumed it would be the latter.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt clenched her stomach, as her stomach growled loudly. She smiled sheepishly, as she knew everyone had heard her. She had gone for a long run this morning, and when she returned, she had planted herself face-first onto her bed. By the time she woke up, she was already late for the orientation ceremony. With no time to grab breakfast, she had hurried out of bed.

"How about we all grab something to eat?" Esyllt suggested. "It'll be my treat."

Perhaps she could get her roommates to open up over a meal. With how things were now, everyone was just going to stare at the ceiling until it caught fire.

[Shamitako]

Alexus - ???

Alexus winced at the realization she'd forgotten her other roommates. Their lack of rushing to get themselves murdered for her had sort of pushed them to the back of her mind.

"I'm so sorry guys, there were just bugs and Sharp was crazy and everything just happened so fast." She apologized, "I really did try to get you guys out before this happened, but I didn't notice fast enough because of all the fruit snacks."

She really wished they'd just left, now they were all caught up in her stupid mess. Although, she supposed they didn't have to be caught up in her mess if they didn't want to. She at least owed them the option.

"Alright, but for serious now." She said, her face turning grim, "I'll give you two options: You can stay out of this entirely, just go back to the dorm room and pretend nothing ever happened. I'll be more careful in the future to prevent you from being caught up in all this. Or you can commit to being a part of this and I'll explain to you what just happened."

It wasn't really a fair deal, help her or live in the dark? It was almost cruel of her to offer. But she really didn't have any option. If she told them the truth she couldn't just let them leave like nothing had happened. Really she shouldn't be letting them leave after anything had happened. It was just too dangerous for them. She should have known better than to keep coming to school.

"I'll be staying." Said a voice from her side.

She turned to look and saw Sharp standing there, her hand still glowing slightly with heat power. She smiled in thanks and then faced the others once more, awaiting their responses.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Rein, Emberly, Lee

"...n."

Rein uncrossed her arms and pushed herself off the wall. Better to get... whatever over with. Punishment or suspension or whatever, she could not bring herself to care. It was just school, after all. Filled with hypocrites and selfish people and worst of all, tall people. She glanced at Emberly with eyes containing infinitely more rage than normal. Which, considering her eyes were normally in a permanent state of emotionless indifference, just meant that she looked slightly angry.

Shrugging, she made to follow Katherine.

[Jory]

Riv

Hailey Rivers was at a crossroads. Turn away and leave all these questions unanswered, all these possibilities unexplored. Alternatively, she could go with Alexus and possibly get super awesome magical powers like Sharp had. Yeah, real tough decision! She looked toward Sion, then to Alexus and Sharp. "Well, I have just too much to ask to walk away. I want to know everything about what just happened. Not because I'm mad, but because you've shown me a whole world different from my own. You expect me to just turn tail and run before I know everything there is to know about it?" She giggled, a wide smile lighting up her face.

Her blue eyes shone with excitement that reflected in her eyeglasses. "Of course I'll go with you, Alexus! And besides, what kind of friend just abandons a roommate in need?" She asked, her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned forward and closed her eyes with a grin.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

She kept working, didn't even look up or give the slightest bit of acknowledgement. One could question whether she'd even heard Esyllt at all, as her hands seemed to move on their own, eyes tracking every line, every stroke of black that bloomed on that small field of white. The charcoal swapped hands every once in a while, in the right for a few moments, then the left, then right back, the transition nearly seamless as she actually incorporated the hand offs into the work's completion. She was ambidextrous, but there was no favored hand, not when it came to her art. Both had their places, right was the strong one, the bold one who made long, broad, yet elegant strokes across the page without fear of reprisal or mistake. Left meanwhile was the perfectionist, the one who made the far smaller, more intricate detailing and line work a reality, the one who followed up behind the right, cleaned up the excess, reclaimed the wasted work and effort and brought it all back into line with everything else. Right laid the groundwork, created the bigger picture, formed creations out of the abyss of muddled chaos and nothingness. Left filled those creations with life and depth.

"Just a bit more... it's almost right." The air of focus around her was almost intense.

[Hiss13]

Sion

There were two options. Go back and ignore the events that just took place or commit to some unknown conditions and finally get her questions answered. As much as she would have loved to get some answers, the fact that she was withholding all knowledge until she got a complete commitment was absolutely shady. Every nerve governing Sion's conscious thought was screaming at her to just ignore everything and live her life without this trouble. Yet, every nerve in Sion's subconscious seemed to be telling her that running away from this after it was forced on her would be pure cowardice.

Are you going to continue like this and live the cowardly act of running away? And what if you are the only one who runs away? I guess that would prove how inferior your own fortitude is, Sion.

But…I…

She clenched her teeth and her fist. All she could do was hope that someone else would just walk away. At least then, she would not be alone in running away from this. But, things never seemed to work out that conveniently. The other two were more than eager to commit.

How reckless. Yet, Sion was…

"I…" Sion stuttered, her mind reaching wildly for the words that were clearly there. "I will stay as well."

She would not be the only one who ran away. She would not be the inferior one.

[Shamitako]

Haley - Library

Haley had remained silent throughout the confrontation. She had seriously considered simply turning and running. But with Arturia standing up for her she felt she needed to stay. Arturia said something about magnets scraping together which caused Natalie's face to turn a shade redder than usual. And then she sat down, giving Haley the sense that it was her turn to speak.

"Um, Miss Natalie." She said timidly, "I'm perfectly fine talking to you if you can just be a little quieter and nicer to everyone."

Natalie continued glaring at Arturia for a moment before finally releasing her gaze.

"No, it's fine, we can talk some other time." She said before storming out of the room.

Haley watched the redhead's back worriedly as she strode away. Over the course of the discussion it had occurred to her that Natalie had started to call Haley's elder sister by her proper name, which meant that perhaps she had come to realize who she was. Although knowing what her sister had told her, the stubborn Natalie would probably wallow in denial for a while. Haley shook her head and sighed sadly before sitting back down at the table.

"I'm sorry about that guys." She apologized, "I shouldn't have let you get dragged into that, if I'd agreed to talk to her sooner she might not have been as much of a bother. But I didn't realize what she was in such a tizzy over, so her actions surprised me."

She lowered her head shamefully and picked up the book she had been reading in an attempt to hide her face.

Layla - Dorm Room A

Lilith shook her head at the mention of a meal.

"No thank you." She said, "I ate not to long ago, that's probably why you all beat me to the room."

For a moment she was willing to consider that her silly excuse for being late might ease whatever tensions they might have had with her delay, but her internal moxie quickly faded. It was pointless to think that minor details could change how they all felt about her. She was still waiting for clarification on whether or not her chosen bunk was okay when she noticed that Arya's attention was no longer focused on her but on a pad of paper which she was making markings on.

"M-miss Arya?" She said curiously, "Can y-you tell me what you're doing? You seem very focus and I'm c-curious as to what is so in-inter-interesting."

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia - Library

"You shouldn't be embarrassed over someone else being bitchy," Arturia said. "It's not like you're controlling what she does." She paused for a moment, considering what Haley had said while simultaneously trying to wind herself back down a bit. She didn't want to catch herself accidentally shouting when she'd just told another girl off for making too much noise. "Whatever she wanted, it couldn't have been that important." She suddenly let out a short, sardonic-sounding laugh. "Unless I'm really that terrifying."

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt softly whimpered. She really wanted to get food, but at this rate it seemed that though it would just be herself going. She really hoped Anna wanted to get food. Lilith's mention of Arya's activities piqued Esyllt's interest. She had been hearing soft skittering sounds, but couldn't discern what it was. She hopped out of bed, and slowly scaled the ladder adjoining the two bunks. She looked almost comical climbing that tiny ladder, which was designed for girls younger than her. She peeked her head over her bed to see something that caught her off guard. She could see Arya's small, delicate hands deftly sweeping across her canvas. It seemed as though her drawing was wild and aimless, but at the same time, it was clear that Arya was the one in control. It was rather mesmerizing to watch.

But what surprised Esyllt wasn't her ability at drawing, but the amount of focus that Arya was summoning. The look in her eyes was completely different from the scathing glare she had when Lilith walked in. There was this glint in her eyes that made her feel so animated.

So alive.

It was hard to tell that she was the same person.

'So she's not just a ball of hatred,' she mused to herself.

She'd like to see this side of Arya more often. But for now, she would just observe her from the edge of the bed, with Arya being immersed in a world of her own, and all. Curious to see what Arya was drawing, she slowly inched herself closer to get a better view.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

She didn't stop even when the Laylite commented or one of the other roommates climbed higher for a look. The last few strokes of the charcoal piece flowed across the page as easily as ink and her hands finally slowed their mad-yet-methodical motion. She brought the makeshift writing untensil away from the page at long last, twirling it between leftie's fingers as she looked over the finish product. It wasn't long until she finally looked up and realized the atmosphere in the room had changed, all but confirming that she had been completely oblivious to the world around her the entire time.

"Huh...what?" She looked back and forth between Lilith and Esyllt, confusion obvious in her eyes "Why are you guys staring at me like that?"

On the page meanwhile lay the sprawling, finished work she'd spent so much energy on. The entire page was coated in pure black, save for the central figure of the focus, the profile of a wolf with it's head arced towards the heavens and letting out a howl, each and every ruffle and strand of it's coat constituted of nothing the raw contrast between charcoal black and negative space the girl had intentionally left behind, even more contrast forming the wispy, stream of hot breath visible pouring out of it's mouth to the sky above in earnest as it hailed it's companions, tiny, glinting stars burning in the night sky all the while. Amazing... simply amazing. Those were the only words truly capable of doing the image justice. Though the methodology behind it's creation had been simple: merely filling the page with dark charcoal marks and leaving the area of center focus alone and going back later to fill it in bit by bit, the piece made something that was far greater than the sum of any of it's parts. The attention to detail, the perspective and the photo-realistic, nigh living fur and steaming breath, the subtle bristle and sway of the animal's coat as the night breeze graced it's surface.... were it not for the stick of charcoal she twirled in her hand, one would probably have had trouble even believing it was just a mere sketch, rather than the actual product of a camera's lenses.

Perhaps the only thing even harder to believe then what it truly was though, was what it had been made with. Other, lesser artists would've surely needed several implements to bring a work like the one sitting in her lap all together, pencils of varying hardness and shade, proper smudging material to blend the contrasting spaces together for their shaded effect, a kneaded eraser to get rid of any mistakes without taking too much of a toll on the paper, etc... and yet, Arya had successfully executed it with naught a single tool at her disposal, one that by all accounts wasn't even that impressive; at a glance, the utensil in her hand appeared to be barely more than a stick quickly cooked over a fire and wrapped in white cloth to prevent the hands from turning black at the mere touch, a makeshift point worn from use at it's head.

[K_H]

Anna noticed that the other three girls had started to gather in a group for some reason, but she just laid there, outwardly unconcerned about what it is that they were curious about. The only thing she did, other than breathing, was to simply look in their direction, secretly interested in what was going on. She felt most comfortable when observing at a distance, not getting up-close and personal. All this time, she seemed as cool and calm as ice water in a glass.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

As soon as Arya had noticed her presence, she spent zero time on clambering up the rest of the ladder. Esyllt began to cuddle Arya, completely oblivious of her reception towards her. Clearly, personal space was not in her vocabulary. As she peered at Arya's drawing, she let out a whistle. In such a short time, Arya had fully fleshed out a drawing that simply felt alive. Esyllt had never seen anything quite like it. Although it was impressive, she couldn't really appreciate the piece of art, as it was just another drawing to her. If she were asked to critique it, the only words that come to mind were "good" or "great". She wondered how long Arya had drawn for to get this good?

She continued to coddle Arya as if this were simply natural to her. She turned her head to face Arya, and smiled and blinked at her as if nothing were wrong. Then she let out a small sigh. Being like this made her feel rather nostalgic.

It was like having a little sister all over again...

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

Caught off guard by the sudden force, Arya could only watch as the charcoal stick fell out of her hand and landed on the ground right at Perditia's feet, followed near immediately after by the Sketch pad itself.

"What the hell!?" she looked back at the older girl's nostalgia filled gaze as if she were insane, face flushing red at Esyllt's touch as the familiarity of the sensation came flooding back. It was just like she was a little kid all over again, sitting there and listening before bedtime... In another time, with another person, she probably would've let herself sink into the fondness of it. But times change, people change; change in ways you can't control, change regardless of whether you like it or not. Along with all the fondness, the display of misplaced affection also brought back with it the harsh reality that lesson.

"G-get off of me." She demanded, in the same instant twisting away and breaking free of the crazy girl's strange embrace, just long enough to scoot to the opposite side of the mattress. Her face still burned red as hot iron as she sheepishly glanced away, arms crossing like an iron gate over her chest.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Arya's retreat from her grasp threw her off guard. On top of the fact that the bunk beds were not designed for two people in the first place, Esyllt accidentally stumbled over the railing, landing on the ground with a loud whump. She lay on the floor dazed, as she stared at the ceiling. Her body and hair were splayed across the floor, scattered wherever they please. Immediately, she burst into a fit of laughter. Arya sure didn't hold back.

"I... that... was exactly... how I imagined... you to react...." Esyllt said inbetween fits of laughter. Her reaction amused her more than she had imagined. It was enough to make her stomach hurt. It took her a while to calm down. She hadn't remember the last time she had laughed this hard.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Has anyone told you that you're very cuddly?" she said, trying hard to stifle her giggles. She knew Arya was not very pleased with her as of this moment.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Stalkerkain

[K_H]

Anna

When she saw the other girl fall to the floor, and then heard the loud thump, a faint smile crossed Anna's lips. Then, she got up, offering Esyllt a hand up off of the ground.

"I can already see that this year is going to be very interesting."

Edited April 20, 2016 by K_H

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

Arya's sight couldn't help but linger away from it's exile on the far wall loud impact on the floor. She felt a little cringe as she stole a single glance at the other girl's... rather disgraceful splaying. Barely a second or two passed, but to Arya, it felt like an eternity that the girl simply lay there silent, the subtle pang of guilt first rising in her gut and beginning to eat at the rest of her from within.

"Are...are you al-"

She was cut off by the outburst of laughter... and the commentary. The tightening in her chest vanished. Her cheeks gradually lost their former red hue as she scowled, crossing her arms even tighter and again averting her gaze. This idiot down below was just fine.

"J-just don't ever touch me like that again." She ordered. "There's this great thing called Personal Space, ya know. Ever hear of it?"

[Shamitako]

(OOC: K, so, I was sick last week, sorry. As apologies, there'll be a bonus at the end of this... Which may or may not have been coming anyways but shh)

Alexus - Nightmare

Alexus looked around at her three companions, companions whom she had dragged into her stupid mess. Tears welled in her eyes, tears of thanks and sorrow.

"Thank you all," she said, "I know it's unfair of me to drag you into this madness, but thank you anyways."

She wiped her eyes and faced Sion. Her look was still one of thanks, but also one of curiosity.

"Particularly you, Sion." She said, "Nobody made much of it, but I noticed that yellow quarter on the carpet. I wasn't entirely certain until just now, but I'm convinced you're a Laylite. It goes against everything you've been taught to stay and help me, self-improvement is not worth braving the unknown to your kind in this day and age. But I know for a fact that Layla herself would be proud of you for staying to strengthen yourself."

Alexus gave a slight bow of her head. Sion was a strange one, or perhaps a perfectly normal one, Alexus couldn't say she knew what was strange and what wasn't anymore. She then steeled herself for what she had to say next.

"Let me introduce myself: I am the ruler of the subconscious, queen of the unseen, the spirit of chance, the river which flows beyond life, Goddess of Luck and Dreams, Alexus. But above all that, I'm a schoolgirl by the name of Lexi Aislin who has found herself thrust into an unknown world where people and monsters try to kill me because of sins my past committed. I am both overwhelmed and in control, and those who would have my head have turned this state of mind and being against me. My own beloved dreams are turned to nightmares. Should I chose, I could easily erase these lands. And yet I find myself constantly alone and helpless, incapable of stopping them. They slowly draw closer to ending my existence. In fact, were it not for Sharp here those bugs earlier would surely have done me in. Because of this, I need the help of all three of you to beat back this insanity, to help me find my sisters--the other goddesses--and to stop this unknown enemy once and for all!"

She clasped her hands in front of her and bowed her head behind them, "Please, please, please help me out."

Natalie - Small Side Hallway

Why? Why couldn't they understand how important this was? She had just wanted to talk to Haley! Why did that stupid, that stupid... That... Natalie dropped to the floor, tears overflowing from her worn out eyes and pooling on the slick tile of the hallway. She was supposed to be special, stronger than everyone else. So why, why did she always ruin everything?

Suddenly, a girl with short, navy blue hair and dull grey eyes appeared in front of Natalie. She crouched down and placed her left hand on Natalie's shoulder; her right reached out to caress her cheek and its thumb struck out to wipe away her tears. A thin and sweet, almost seductive, smile spread across the girl's lips. Natalie stared at her, shock permeating her features. She had never been touched so intimately before, not even by her girlfriend. She started to protest but the hand on her shoulder suddenly moved to block her lips.

"Shhh..." The girl whispered softly, "Do not speak, I am here to help."

Natalie nodded numbly, unsure of how to react. She felt so vulnerable, she had no hope of lifting her mental defenses against this girl who had seen her in tears and now caressed her so intimately. Both hands grasped her cheeks, lifting her chin and forcing her to look into the girl's eyes. Natalie found herself staring far beyond the superficial grey she had noticed before; staring back into the deep black of her pupils and beyond. Behind those soft and beautiful grey eyes lay a spark, a deadly spark of white pain. A grasp of longing and obsession. Not for Natalie, no, Natalie was just a tool to this girl. A tool to acquire something she wanted desperately.

"No! Get away from me!" Natalie cried out.

She shoved the girl away as hard as she could and scrambled to get to her feet, but suddenly found herself falling to the floor as a leg extended to trip her. She fell backwards, landing against the wall.

"Tsk tsk." The girl said, shaking her head in disapproval, "It seems your awakening has progressed farther than I had thought. Tell me, do you know what you are, how disgraceful you make yourself out to be, whimpering like that?"

"Yes." Natalie whimpered, almost as if to illustrate the girl's point for her.

"I see." The girl took a step back, "I guess I'll have to do this the hard way."

She flung out her arms to the side, her palms extended directly away from her body. She let her head hang limply, as though it were empty and her body was being held up by her arms. She began a strange chant, one which Natalie recognized despite its corruption,

"In the empty depths of hope
With the flow of destiny
I see the futility of luck
And have surrendered to fate's whim
Lend me your power
That I may free myself"

An orb of white light traveled up the girl's body, transforming her outfit completely. Her simple flats transformed into a pair of white heels. Her miniskirt was replaced with the long trail of a dark blue ball gown, her shirt becoming the top part. Her otherwise bare arms each had three white eyes like tattoos form on the wrist. Her hair grew longer, soft white ribbons twisting themselves into its folds. But the most drastic change was her eyes. No longer were they soft grey, now they were pitch black across the entire surface. Small white specks flickered on them, as though they were portals to the night sky filled with stars.

The color drained from Natalie's face. Eyes like that could only mean one thing.

"You're the Eye of Hope." She said.

"I am." The Eye replied.

"And you've been tainted."

"I prefer to say enlightened, but it's really a matter of perspective."

"How screwed are we?"

"Oh dreadfully so, you most of all, Nayru."

"I'm not Nayru, don't call me that, never call me that." Natalie said, what little pride her true self held shoving itself to the forefront of her consciousness, "I may have her memories and powers, but I am definitely Natalie Opium. I'm the Wicked Bitch of the School, not an almighty goddess."

"Well then we have no reason to be enemies, why not join me?"

"Please, join with a commoner like you? What kind of Bitch do you take me for?" Natalie would never even consider joining up with an oxymoron such as this hopeless Eye of Hope.

"Your defiance is adorable, but fruitless."

"Just get this over with, I have a lot of apologies I need to make after you destroy my future."

"Very well then, let's begin."

(OOC: Pictoor because I'm bad at describing dresses:

)

Haley - Library

"No, really, she may not have gone about it well, but if I'm right, what she had to say was super important and I needed to listen to... her..." Haley trailed off, her eyes widening in surprise.

What was that thing doing here? Katherine had said it wouldn't show up until all four goddesses had begun their awakening, but Layla and Nayru were still asleep. Except that Nayru was waking up, and she hadn't checked on Layla in a while. What if, after all the work Katherine had put in to bring them together to prevent this, it had all been for nothing? The presence Haley was sensing, the pressure was strong enough for a normal human to feel. There was no way that it could have been something else. She stood up fast enough to knock her seat down.

"I have to go find Nay- Natalie." She said hurriedly.

She walked as quickly as she could for the door. It was probably best if she went alone, the others didn't need to get caught in this craziness. But she couldn't help hoping that the other two would follow her. she'd feel a whole lot safer with backup.

Katherine - Offices

Katherine calmly directed Emberly to a seat off to the side and sat Rein and Lee on opposite sides of a small table.

"Now then, I'm going to prepare some tea for Emberly and myself." She said, a kind smile on her face, "You two are going to spend no more than ten minutes and resolve your differences with words."

Her smile grew wider, feeling a bit less kind a lot more threatening. It might seem like an empty threat, but if the two couldn't work something out in time, Katherine was sure she could come up with something. That would give her at least a couple minutes to prepare for what was approaching. As terrible as it was, she hoped it went for one of the others first, she wanted to finish her duties as a teacher. Perhaps the pressure from its presence would cause the negotiations to accelerate.

Lilith - Dorm Room A

Lilith just glanced back and forth, unsure of how to deal with the sudden explosion of things happening around her. Her roommates were only half of it. Everything felt heavy, as though the air had become denser and harder to breathe. She looked around at her comrades, not sure if they felt it or not. And if they did, would they know what it was? She reached towards the closest of her roommates, Anna, to tap her shoulder.

"Hey do you fee-" Her sentence was cut off as a spark lanced out from her fingers to strike Anna's shoulder.

She pulled her hand back and instinctively shielded it.

"I'm so sorry." She said quickly.

This was bad, perhaps the pressure was some kind of buildup of the electricity inside her? Layla didn't really understand how it worked yet so she couldn't be sure it wasn't.

"I'm sorry Miss Anna, I didn't mean to, I can't control it..." She said worriedly.

She'd barely managed to deter their suspicions once, she doubted she could do it again.

Eden - Outside OI

Eden glared at the modern looking building. She would never understand modern culture's fascination with brick and mortar. In her mind, something with lots of shiny metal and large glass windows would look much more attractive. But that wasn't why she was glaring. She glared because the Opium Institute stood as a symbol against her. It was Kallisto's puny attempt to gather all four goddesses to stand against their inevitable demise. But Eden didn't mind, all she had really done was make an easy target. She casually strode inside, her odd outfit drawing stares from all around. She didn't care, it was within the school's dress code, albeit barely, so she had no reason to wear anything else. It wasn't that she liked the bland outfit Her had selected, it was simply easier. And easier translated to quicker which translated to killing those worthless goddesses sooner. She walked briskly towards the faculty offices where she expected to find Kallisto. From there she could use the school's files to determine the most likely locations of the others. Then she would gather them all together and unleash her pent up pain and anger upon them. Unfortunately she was female, or she would be able to do so in a much more humiliating manner. Of course if she were male she would have no reason to hate the goddesses, so it wouldn't really matter then. An angry frown creased her brow and bent her lips, she truly hated the goddesses more than anything, she would make them suffer at her hands ten times worse than she had at theirs.

[K_H]

Anna

The small, sharp electrical shock from Lilith made her arm twitch, so she looked in the laylite's direction. She wouldn't have thought much of it under normal circumstances, but the girl's next words really caught her attention. Anna decided to inquire into the matter further, speaking in a calm and gentle voice.

"It's okay, accidents happen all the time. On that note, what is it that you're unable to control?"

[Chevaleresse]

"I need to find Nayru?" She definitely started saying Nayru that time, not Natalie, and it seems like a rather odd time to start invoking the goddesses whether you believe in them or not. Come to think of it, the Alpha Bitch started to say something other than Katherine earlier. After a moment of hesitation and a glance at the remaining girl at the table, Arturia decided to at least follow Haley outside into the hall. Couldn't hurt, right?