Aaron sat on the chair next to Nelle and looked down at his hands on his lap. That talk about parents was a little depressing. He usually avoided talking about it, but with Nelle it felt a little like talking to himself, so he didn’t mind as much. She was probably the only person in the world who knew what that felt like.
This would be Aaron’s last year in Wimbleton and he had no idea of what he'd do with his life once he graduated. Ever since he got into school his only plan was to get Drake back, or at least find out what happened to him. He kind of gave up after their last sceance when once again, they found nothing. How could he not be dead after ten years? Or if he was - the most likely scenario, why couldn’t they find him? It was frustrating, not knowing. It was scary to think he could be trapped there… Forever.
First days always reminded him of the first time he stepped in that castle. He pushed the thoughts away and noticed Nelle talking to the air.
“We’ll save you a seat for when you come back.” He smiled gently, and breathed deeply. Enough with the depressing thoughts for the day.
The first girl was the one who flung back a retort, recognizing him for what he was. She was certainly harder to pin down, the sour lemon expression distasteful, but not indicative. The only aspect that betrayed her inhuman nature were a set of pointed ears, much like his and her companion's. Curious. What's her damage, I wonder. The sodden wench spoke up, piggybacking off her, presumably friend's, insult.
"Now which is it? Are my brains mash or do I have none at all? Make up your minds." Sulyvahn rolled his eyes, still focusing his attention on the kelpie.
"The water horse doth protest too much, methinks. Who knows, I might be wrong. Books hold up grand after you drag them into your foetid puddle, don't they?" Sulyvahn cocked his head towards the other girl. "Glad to see you've got someone to give you a head start on your insults. Keeps you from making a complete haymes of it."
“Truly? What an odd taste they have to wish to eat this.” Hanashi said, a conflicted look crinkling her brow. Still after a moment she lowered her arm, if others really were so ravenous that a piece of paper could wet their appetite then perhaps it would be best not to hold it up. She flipped open her shoulder bag and slid the piece of paper in between the pages of a notebook. It was lovely, she would need to find something special to use it for, so for now it would be best to keep it somewhere where it would be safe.
But, it wouldn't do to linger long on the decision of what to use it for, paper liked to have a use after all. Perhaps a new fan?
Her little gift stowed away, Hanashi looked up to find one of the groups of students coming close to claim a section of open seats. One of the girls looked their way, so Hanashi smiled. The fight also didn’t seem to end quite as dramatically as the boy had illustrated, though it seemed that now a trio of monsters were all bickering. Was this what it was like with other monsters? Is that how she should be acting? It didn’t seem like it would be a pleasant way to act. And, the drawing boy had given her a sheet of paper and didn’t seem like he wanted to pick fights, was that correct monster behavior then?
It was all dreadfully confusing.
“They’re quite loud.” Hanashi said, looking back to the sketch pad as the charcoal once more left its mark on the paper, “is this how monsters often are?”
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
Seph stood outside the school, nervous to step foot in. She had never been to a school with other monsters. She went to a small school for Sirens up until now. Her choir had begun some major changes since her birth. Their leader, Arielise, wanted her choir to use their powers for good. She decided that all children would go off to Wimbleton at the age of 15.
Seph took a big deep breath and walked in the castle doors. The hall was filled with students, some who knew each other and some who didn’t. It all made her nervous. Steph tried to go unnoticed into the auditorium, where she looked for a seat away from the others. She finds one in the very back corner and sits down. Seph scans the room to see a whole lot of commotion happening. She sees three girls causing a ruckus and hears how rude they are to each other. This makes her nervous, is this what school is going to be like? Seph does feel bad for the girl with the rat, but she is too anxious to approach anyone. First days are very hard. Seph scans the room once more. She sees many intriguing people she hopes to meet one day. For now, Seph pulls out a book on marine animals from her bag and begins to read, while waiting for the opening ceremony.
Cailet assessed the situation, and decided it seemed like she could safely disengage. That was good. Talking to people was hard and it always went wrong. Of course, a lot of what Cailet did went wrong, but if she kept trying she was bound to get something right at some point. She listened to some of the arguments going back and forth, her ears catching words that were familiar but not too familiar. Kelpie? Dullahan? Oh, she'd heard about them. She had stories.
In fact, she had the stories with her. Cailet reached down into the backpack that she had tucked under her seat and retrieved an ancient looking book, emblazoned modestly with the title The Goode Childe's Guide To Faeries And Othere Worldly Creatures. She had gotten it out of the library's book sale. The library tended to have all sorts of odd things at the book sale, because most of the surrounding townspeople used it as an excuse for cleaning out their basements without having to throw things away, not really caring too much about the relative selling power of whatever they were donating. Usually there were large stacks of almanacs, most of which were older than Cailet. The library sold them for a quarter each, and Cailet's father had a stack of them by the fireplace for kindling.
Once upon a time, she had been very upset about the idea of burning books, but her dad had calmly told her she could have any of them she liked as long as she read them. Being a stubborn sort of child, she had made it all the way through the 1973 World Almanac and halfway through the 1985 before deciding that she'd rather go play outside.
Still, sometimes there were interesting books in the sale - old books that were a bit musty. The Goode Childe's Guide didn't have a publication date, but it seemed to be from a time when things were spelled differently, and the pictures were quite old seeming. Cailet wasn't sure how accurate it was, since it mostly seemed to be the sort designed to scare children away from dangerous things like rivers and cliffs and strangers. Apparently back then you couldn't just say "don't walk home alone past the liquor store, that new stocker is weird and I don't like the way he looks at the girls," you had to say "be thee ware, young faire maiden, of walking by thine self after the sun hath set, for along the roade many foul things lie in waite for thee unwarie traveller" or something of that sort.
But it was better than arguing, so she flipped to the page about kelpies and started reading.
"If mush above nothin' gives ye comfort, slosh away," Ainsley spat back, "and I'll have ye know I don' live in no feckin' puddle, and there ain't no feet in it but me and my mam's!"
She bared her teeth again, moving closer to the boy, standing on her tiptoes to meet him face to face. Her nostrils flared.
"So if ye'd kindly feck off, maybe I won't yoink off yer heid and shove it up yer arse!"
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
[attr="style","background-image: radial-gradient(circle,#2A3D4C,#141f28), url("https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1503217195339-397eb18024e1?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&w=1000&q=80"); background-blend-mode: multiply; color:#7E91AE;padding:30px; font-family:'Lora';font-size:10pt] Getting stuck on this side was not an unfamiliar occurrence, and the routine was handled in a familiar manner. As soon as Ellie said hello, Nelle would know Eden was there. The message was passed on to Aaron, who promised to save a seat for her when she came back over to the other side. If she came back over to the other side. There were just so many people around, and even if she managed to cross over again, surely that would get some stares from the other students. A ghostly figure materializing in a previously-empty chair. Everyone would be looking.
It was almost as if she could feel something grounding her even more firmly in place on the wrong side of the veil.
Comforted by the fact that there was someone for her to talk to, and that she didn't need to worry about anyone else listening in, Eden smiled back at Ellie. "I missed you guys, too. That was a really long summer."
She took the seat that Aaron had mentioned would be saved for her, but instead of sitting, she hovered cross-legged, roughly six inches above the surface of the chair. "Seen any interesting new students?" With just her and Ellie, it was the perfect time for a bit of gossip. A short distance away, the first stirrings of a fight already seemed to be brewing between a small group of students, so she was fairly sure the answer to her question was going to be 'yes, plenty of interesting characters'. "I think I passed by another vampire on my way over. Maybe Aaron can make a new friend."
The backhanded insult made her frown. Sure, it wasn't directed at her--and the parts which were actually seemed more like a compliment than anything else--but it still stung, somehow. She had seen that puddle of which he spoke- and, if Aisling was being honest, she couldn't exactly fault him for inaccuracy. Still, it was understandable that Ainsley would take offense to that. Less understandable that she would take that offense into violence, but she was never one to handle things the proper way- Aisling's way.
"Seems to me you're at a bit of a crossroads here, horseman."
She tilted her head to the side as she stepped forwards, positioning herself centre-left of the oncoming conflict- like a referee taking his stand.
"Either you've got the spine to bite back, or the brain to back down. So, what's it to be? Which would you rather prove?"
Post by xXxStitchesxXx on Dec 4, 2022 21:55:38 GMT
Nel’s smile fell back into a nearly blank expression as her sister supplied emotional words on her behalf. They weren't wrong. Nel had missed both Eden and Aaron all summer. The twin girls weren’t really allowed to leave the house unaccompanied, and even if they were, well. Finding someone with the same interests as both sisters was hard.
While Eden was much more Ellie’s friend, Aaron was much more hers. It was a fine divide, but a good divide for the sisters nonetheless. They liked each other’s friends, and that made the group relatively cohesive. Still, Nel nodded as Aaron promised to save a seat for Eden. She was equally as quick to throw her coat over the two seats next to her, preventing anyone but Eden and Ellie from sitting there.
Meanwhile, Ellie had turned her attention entirely over to Eden. “Omg, Aaron and another vampire. I bet that would go over well, haha!”
In response to the question, she jerked her head toward the crowd. “There’s a few new faces. I saw a kelpie, a new ghoulish looking guy, and a few people who look like people but I think they’re some kind of fae. Like that girl bothering Horns.” She gestured toward the girl who was enthusiastically talking to a student she had already decided to call “Horns.”
And to those Gods I will speak bluntly, We have an accord if you ever touch or harm him Please rest assured, you may not fear a man, But by the end to a woman, you'll kneel and plead Because I'm more than my mom taught me to be.
Sulyvahn's smirk turned to a sneer as the kelpie shoved her face in his, standing on her toes to reach him. His hand came up and grabbed a fistful of hair. With a sound like tearing meat, a thin line tore open around Sulyvahn's neck, wisps of black smoke leaking out. He pulled, and with one last wet noise his head pulled free of his body, dangling within his hand. He raised it as high as his arm could go, tilting to look down at the kelpie.
"Sorry, had to get out of there. Your breath stank like a rotting corpse for some reason. Needed some fresher air."
"As for shoving my head up my arse, well, you can certainly try, but first you gotta be able to reach it." Sulyvahn chuckled before narrowing his eyes, his gaze shifting between the kelpie and the unknown girl.
"If you're looking for a troid, you're more than welcome to give it a lash. Just don't be a pair of gobshites when I lash back."
For a small girl, she had some wallop. He'd give her that. Sulyvahn had expected her to be all bluff and bluster, but the strike landed solidly. He took a half-step back out of surprise, reflexively gasping out.
"Not bad, pup. My turn." His right hand reached inside the space where his head should have been and grasped something, yanking it out and cracking it in the air. A spine dangled from his fingers, tapering to a narrow point on the end. Patches of black were interspersed across the surface of the off-white bone and, with a practiced dexterity, Sulyvahn lashed out with it, looking to return the kelpie's strike.
Aaron leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. How long would it take for the ceremony to start? Distracted, his eyes wandered to the kelpie he'd noticed earlier and this time she appeared to be bickering with someone who was just as interested in blowing off steam as she was.
Aaron didn't like bullies, and that was the vibe he got from that girl. He searched the room for the human she was picking on earlier and found her a few seats back, with her head buried in a book. She didn't look bothered, which was a good sign. Maybe she'd be alright, but it wasn't any of his business.
He turned to the girl by his side, Nel, and examined her for a second. She'd taken her coat off to save the ghosts' seats - a very practical solution.
As Ellie and Eden chatted, the other twin was quick to throw her jacket over the two chairs they were occupying, for want of a better word. With their seats now secured, Eden comfortably floated a few inches higher, eyeing the characters that Ellie had pointed out. A kelpie was new, she had read about them, but hadn't seen one in years. Fae made up a large demographic in the student body, but they came in so many different varieties that you could never be quite sure what you were getting. "Do you think the horns are real?" she mused, eyeing the student that Ellie had pointed out.
Before she could receive an answer, the commotion that had been brewing nearby erupted. A loud swear from the Kelpie captured Eden's attention, and she turned just in time to see her punch land squarely in the center of the young ghoul's chest. Violence wasn't uncommon here. Plenty of monsters were prone to less than cordial behaviour. Violence on the first day of school, before opening announcements had even begun - that might be a new record. But it was something else about the fight that caught her attention. "Oh..." she said quietly, feeling a hint of nausea growing in her stomach.
The young ghoul's head wasn't where it should be. He had torn it off, and was holding it high above his head in a game of grotesque keep-away. Things didn't stop there, though. Eden watched as he pulled out his own spinal column, and snapped it like a whip at his assailant. "Oh that is so gross," she lamented. Of course, seeing the dead meant that she had witnessed all manner of lethal gore. Plenty of ghosts walked the earth bearing the scars of whatever had caused their demise. But many of them didn't have a say in the matter, and even so, Eden still found it unsettling. Intentionally pulling your head off in the middle of the school auditorium was just indecent. "Does he have to do that here?"
And so, inevitably, the fight escalated. Aisling stepped back- well, it seemed more like a jump than anything else, but she really didn't want to be caught up in things. Her eyes scanned the room around her, searching for a better place to spend her time, but all she could see were returned stares. They really were causing a scene- and, for once, Ainsley didn't seem to be the biggest part of it. She was expecting things to escalate, but not this wildly. Perhaps she had underestimated this dullahan's unquenchable thirst for blood- clearly, the urge was enough to completely blind him.
She laughed again.
"Oh, I was right." She said, "Too braindead pick a better time, too spineless to fight fair. I mean, if an unarmed strike is all it takes for you to pull that thing out, I'd hate to see what happens when faced with something serious. A hoof to the head, and you'll be blowing up the whole school, won't you?"
Aisling stepped back even further, moving slightly closer to a voice who seemed to match her own sentiment. It was gross. He shouldn't do that here. She was right.
"She's right. You shouldn't do that here. And it is gross."
She... didn't know where the voice came from, actually. Maybe someone in the crowd?
"Four hundred acres of outdoor space in these grounds, and you choose here to have this spat?" She frowned, "Just step outside, for fuck's sake- at least then you'll be helping the fertiliser. Might even get some points for it, if you would just wait five minutes for the house sorting."