NationStates Jolt Archive

"If you wear black it'll end up being white goo," Raven said with a smirk, taking a book off the shelf. 'The Souls Black Magic'.

"Good point, but dye or even a convenient ink spill could fix that," Mierin said amusedly. "Besides, my black clothes are more easily replaced, as they're mostly not as nice as my white ones, and I have more in black."

Raven looked around as if to look for the headmaster.

"You don't want to give Professor Bräck any idea's considering you have him for necromancy next period," she then told her.

A girl with light blue hair near them opened a book that promptly growled and a large clawed hand took a swipe at her, causing her to drop it.

"Good advice, considering the incident with the book and the goo." Mierin said. "I wonder what that one is, that the blue haired girl just dropped?"

"Most likely a monster book," Raven replied, watching the book try to take a bite out of the girls leg. "It doesn't seem to like her."

The girl had to leap out of the way as it took another leap at her. The academy librarian came round and used a long white stick to stun it before giving the book to the girl.

"Interesting," she muttered. "How long before class starts?"

Raven looked at her watch. "About twenty minutes," she said.

OOC: I currently have two choices, go straight to the Necromancy lesson or just give up. I don't want to be the only one who's actually interested in doing this RP.

ooc: Go to the necromancy lesson? I'm still interested, I just usually need something to react to and no-one else seems to be doing much.

"Maybe I'll just head over to the classroom then," Mierin said. "Since I've got my book and all." She sighed. Twenty minutes, a long time to wait, but not long enough to do much else.

OOC: I'm still here...

IC: Upon glancing at her watch Alice discovered she would soon be required at her necromancy class. Pulling out her timetable and map of the school, she began the task of navigating through the many vast hallways of the school until she hopefully arrived at the correct classroom.

As soon as the class was out, Elrohir and a few others made their way quickly to the Necromancy classrooms for their next lesson. Elrohir himself was greatly looking forward to Necromancy, it was the one class that he had been looking forward to starting.

The door to the classroom was opened and inviting. Seeing no reason not to, the students went inside and took their seats. The classroom was in the dungeons and the lighting was pretty poor, but it was still visible inside. At the front of the class was the teachers desk and a blackboard with the words 'Sit Down' written upon it. Lying on the desk was the body of a dead alsatian.

Aecheron left the classroom contented, his head buzzing with all the new knowledge. He smacked a palm into the side of his head to try and stop it, but it didn't work. He had no regrets about choosing the subject: it genuinely interested him, just as he had said to the professor. Unsure about what to do next, he decided to head for the library. Going there would probably keep him out of trouble and allow him to meet new people at the same time. He set off in what he hoped was the right direction, whistling quietly to himself along with music only he could hear.

The pink-haired girl from the Transmutations class had also headed down to the library and was now looking through the Transmutation section. In the Necromancy section, the academy caretaker was trying to get black goo out of the carpet.

"Damn kids," he cursed. He was unshaven and generally looked untidy.

Despite a series of wrong turnings, Aecheron managed to get to the library fairly quickly, astounding himself. He opened the door quietly; if there was one thing he knew about libraries, it was that they were obsessed with quietness; and took a step back. It was huge: bookshelves as far as he could see, positively groaning with collected knowledge.

It would take at least one lifetime to read all that!

Luckily it appeared to be neatly sectioned. He looked at the signs carefully, wondering what he should check out first. Still buzzing from his Transmutation class, he decided to read up more on some of the things that had most interested him in the lesson. He followed the signs, padding almost silently down the aisles, then rounded a corner into the section he wanted.

There, looking at the books on one shelf, was someone he recognised. While he had either not found out her name or simply forgotten it, the pink hair was a real giveaway. She had been in the class with him. Choking back shyness, he decided to talk to her.

"Hi."

That was as far as he got before his throat froze up from nervousness, so he waited for a reply.

She looked up in the direction of the voice. "Umm hi," she replied. Black eyes stared at him. "Aecheron isn't it?"

There was a 'poof' sound as the caretaker cleaned up the last of the black goo.

Thanks to her map Alice was able to find her way down into the dungeons and enter the appropriate room for her Necromancy lesson. The room was dark and generally smelled like a dungeon, which was a new odour to Alice. Unfortunately her super-human senses picked up the odour quite effectively, making her cringe as she entered. Vampiric sight allowed her to see perfectly within the darkness, making the task of finding a seat easy.

Noting the dead dog upon the desk, Alice smiled. Animals were not terribly hard to reanimate, she'd done it a few times before and knew her limits. Of course locating the individual essence of that dog would prove harder, it was no challenge to place a dog spirit within the body.

(OOC MY heart felt apologies for holding this up, BUT I AM BACK.

My life is actually stable now, and my computer is actually in a place where I can write. For the interest of everyone in this thread, I will make my lesson swift. I have wasted enough of your time already. Again, I am sorry.)

Leonado proceeded to teach the lesson of Manipulation and Transmuation, first outlining the general princibles of the art. The lesson was taught with a manner similar to a seminar at the first half of the lesson, where the students had to take notes on the general outline of altering the reality around them. The premise was that one could change reality by visualising the possibility being reality, in conjunction with methods which did in fact change that reality. For example, one believing that a feather was extremely heavy would not make it so. One believing a feather was extremely heavy, while also carrying out a trained pattern of thought and assistance to that belief (such as arcane gestures or words) would allow that to come into existance. The more skilled mages in the world could determine these required gestures and motions in order to force the possibility into existance, through research and intuition. Those new to the art of magic in general, had to go on other mage's experiances and preset patterns which worked.

The class was given a small piece of glass each, which was extremely delicate. The Professor demonstated this fact by tapping his own piece of glass with a small hammer. Then, he got another piece and went through the proceedure of changing the properties of the thing.

Leonado DeGraice and told the class what he was doing. He was visualising the glass being harder than it actually was, that it was in fact steel and could resist the hammer. Through a command word, after properly visualising it, which was "Itik" in this case, he got a student to tap the glass. It resisted the attack, and then the student in question hit it harder just to be sure. It did not even budge.

The class was instructed to do the same, and each student helped one another by tapping the glass. A lot of glass broke, but a few gifted students could do it. The bell went.

"Do not worry about it if you cannot do it just yet. I did not expect any of you to suceed with such a difficult task just yet. Try it on something smaller for homework, like a rubber or a piece of paper. Class dismissed!"

OOC: can i join in? I am soooo bored, not being at school with nothing to do...i need some entertainment ;) :fluffle:

Aecheron's throat unfroze again at the sound of her voice. It was strange: introductions were incredibly hard, but once he actually got talking it was almost effortless. He noticed that she was looking towards him and his eyes locked on to hers, but his smile made it obvious that this was not intended as a challenge.

"Yep, thats me. Whats your name?"

OOC: can i?

Aecheron's throat unfroze again at the sound of her voice. It was strange: introductions were incredibly hard, but once he actually got talking it was almost effortless. He noticed that she was looking towards him and his eyes locked on to hers, but his smile made it obvious that this was not intended as a challenge.

"Yep, thats me. Whats your name?"


"I'm Shari," she replied. "You worried about the homework?"

OOC: can i join this pls? what kinda person do i need to have?

OOC: can i join this pls? what kinda person do i need to have?

No, now stop spamming my thread.

"I'm Shari," she replied. "You worried about the homework?"

"I'm trying not to worry. I could just about do it in the lesson, but it was a struggle. I kind of forgot the command word though."

He looked embarassed at this, and shuffled his feet a little.

"Can you tell me what it was?"

"It was Itik I think," Shari said, taking a manipulations book from off the shelf. "I'm looking for more books about it, I hope there are some still left."

"It was Itik I think," Shari said, taking a manipulations book from off the shelf. "I'm looking for more books about it, I hope there are some still left."

"Thanks."

In a sudden yet unwelcome flash of inspiration he realised that the conversation was probably over. He walked around the corner, mentally kicking himself with each step.

Damn it, I'm so... awkward...

Taking a book at random from the shelf, he opened it.

Shari looked up from the book. "Strange boy," she said to herself, noting the way he had rushed off.

OC: i havnt been gone, just nothing to do so far.

IC:

Haedrian heard people hustling down the hallway, and assuming it was time for his necromancy class, he stood up and pushed open the door.

A slightly cool breath of air came out, as though this room itself was colder than its surroundings. Feeling a little nervous, he stepped inside.

Arpad went back to his room after class.


Mierin found her way to the dungeons, and smiled at the dim lighting as she entered. It was plenty bright for her eyes. She plopped her book down on a desk near a girl who was already sitting there.

"Hello," she said in a voice that was cheerful in an odd way. The odor did not bother her very much.

Alice turned to her left side, directing her cold gaze upon Arpad. She'd noticed this girl around before but being herself hadn't said anything to her before. Reminding herself that she shouldn't be so hostile, Alice made an effort to lighten her expression and speak in a friendlier tone.

"Hey, I'm Alice."

Elrohir was leaning against the teachers desk talking to a couple of friends as a few more students of various ages entered the classroom and took their seats.

"I reckon Professor Bräck will be late, he always is and makes up some kind of lame excuse," he said and laughed.

Unseen to the others, the dead dogs eye rolled over and looked in Elrohirs direction.

Extending her hand, Mierin continued "I'm from Istengrad, in Callisdrun. What about you?" She hoped that Alice was open-minded, as her barbed fangs were quite visible when she spoke. One disadvantage of Callisdrunian Moroii, was that their fangs were not the slightest bit retractable, and were quite large, especially in the Batory family and its offshoots, such as her family.

Alice smiled for the first time in a while at the sight of Mierin's fangs. She hadn't noticed any other vampires in the school yet and it was good to see she wasn't completely alone. Her own fangs slid down slightly, easily into view of the others.

"I'm from all over the place, but I guess you could say my home was in Assington. That was a while ago now, I kind of just wander around. I've got plenty of time to kill."

Mierin smiled when Alice revealed that they had something in common. She sometimes envied the other varieties of vampire she had read about, their retractable fangs, their eternal life, but neither of those were things she could change, and so it was useless to envy others for them. She had never met another kind of vampire before.

"I guess so," she said. "If I may ask... how will you get proper nutrition here?"

Alice shrugged at the question, not entirely sure about how her need for blood would turn out.

"For the moment I have some bottled blood that I aquired before arrival. Otherwise I'm not sure, perhaps I'll come across an irritating student and help myself. Or maybe there is some magic that could help out. I don't really know."

What Mierin may not have known was that Alice was quite serious when she contemplated feeding off other students, even though her manner seemed to be joking.

Mierin had heard that Assingtonian vampires often had little regard for humans, and she did not know Alice well enough to be a good judge of her sarcasm, so she thought it best to move past the remark.

"I've got quite a lot bottled away," she said. "However, I'll probably try to find a donor, in case things don't go as planned, as I doubt the authorities would take kindly to me going hunting." Callisdrunian moroii usually fed from willing donors, often very close friends (sometimes donors became lovers, even), although some, particularly of the Batory family, enjoyed hunting, feeding from an unwilling victim. "I don't yet know enough magic to know something that would help in that area, either," she sighed.

Alice nodded in understanding, not knowing much magical theory herself.

"Yeh, I don't know of anything that could help a vampire, but you never know. I suppose feeding off a local would just cause trouble. Unfortunate, I've always enjoyed stalking food, the power rush of being able to take it. I know it sounds weird, but I came to terms with what a vampire was when I decided to become one."

"If you're looking for blood supplies just ask Professor Kvapil," came Professor Bräck's voice behind them. Seemingly he had appeared in the room without any of the students noticing.

"Hello, Professor. I suppose I could take that suggestion, it's just that donors are so much more fun." She was a bit surprised by his sudden entry, though she tried to hide it.

Continuing to Alice, she said "Well, I didn't really have a choice, as I was born what I am. And if one wants to hunt where I'm from, you have to cross the border into Altar Rang, which is an anarchy. Donors can easily be found though." Her donors were mostly boys who thought by doing so they were scoring points with her. She looked around, "I'd doubt that's the case here, though."

Professor Bräck smiled. "Like I said, see Professor Kvapil," he told her.

Up at the front of the classroom, Elrohir and his friends were oblivious the the headmasters enterence.

"I see we've found our class clown," the headmaster commented.

Alice nodded at the headmaster's suggestion, acknowledging his presence and sensible input.

"I suppose that would be the best solution."

The idea of vampire donors was foreign and almost laughable to Alice. Back in Assington no one donated their blood to a vampire and hoped to live.

"There are no donors in Assington. You take what you can get or you starve to death."

Professor Bräck headed down to the front of the classroom. "Sit down," he growled at Elrohir and the others. Once they and the other students had sat down, the headmaster leaned against his desk and rubbed his chin, eying up his new students. "Now I wish to start this class by asking each and everyone you names, hopes, dreams and why you took this class and what you hope to get out of it."

Haedrian, felt around for a seat, and heard the headmaster begin to speak. As he bent down to scratch an itch on his leg, his head smacked against a metal bar on the desk. He sat back up, holding his bruised head, and just lay it down, and started to doze off. "That hurt..." thought Haedrian as he began to fall into unconsiousness...

Alice remained silent as the class began. She was never one to volunteer anything and she didn't particularly like being in the spotlight when several people were in the room. She had never enjoyed attention and always prefered to lurk in the shadows.

Professor Bräck looked towards Alice, he could always tell the quiet types. "How about you?" he asked. "You can start us off."

The idea of vampire donors was foreign and almost laughable to Alice. Back in Assington no one donated their blood to a vampire and hoped to live.

"There are no donors in Assington. You take what you can get or you starve to death."

"The donor system of Callisdrun was set up over a thousand years ago. Many moroii end up marrying a donor. Of course, for other kinds of vampires, this wouldn't work, as we don't need as much to survive."

She got quiet immediately as the headmaster spoke to the class.

Alice turned shifted her cold gaze to meet the headmaster, showing her displeasure at being asked first.

"My name is Alice. I took this class in order to further my knowledge of necromancy in an attempt to one day become a master necromancer. I have an unlimited amount of time to do so and intend to succeed."

The headmaster grinned at her. "Interesting," he said in a calm voice and placed a hand on his chin, his intense eyes stared coldly at her. "Interesting that you say you have an unlimited amount of time." He cocked his head to one side as he looked at her. "Why do you think you have an unlimited amount of time?"

Alice spoke as if she were stating the obvious to the child.

"I'm immortal. Assuming that everyone is nice enough not to kill me, I won't die."

Professor Bräck smiled at her. "Immortality is a con Alice," he said in rather calm voice. "Even the most immortal of us necromancers meet our end eventually." He chuckled as he leaned forward. "The trick is learning how to make yourself come back from the dead, but thats fourth year stuff."

The headmaster began to look around the classroom.

"So who wishes to be next?"

Alice nodded at the headmaster's words. He did raise a valid point and agreed that being able to return from the dead was definitely the true sign of immortality. One day she would achieve such.

"Hello, I'm Mierin Dharvul," she said. "I signed up for this class because it sounded like something that I would find interesting and something that would be challenging but within my ability to learn. Also, my parents thought it would be a good idea after I was fooling around re-animating dead insects. I hope to become fairly competant in necromancy eventually." She spoke firmly, but not too loudly, though her hissing accent was noticable.

Professor Bräck nodded. "A good reason to take a necromancy class then," he said, his smile had lessened somewhat and his cold eyes looked somewhat more serious then usual. "However, there will be [b]no[/i] fooling around in this class." His eyes fell upon Elrohir. "This is more serious stuff then re-animating dead insects Mierin, I will be teaching you how to re-animate bigger and better creatures. By the end of these classes when you leave the academy for good, you will have the knowledge to create a small undead army."

Mierin's grin at the headmaster's last comment could have frozen the sun. This was going to be a very interesting class.

The headmaster picked up on that vibe from Mierin and smiled at her. "Now who wishes to be next?" he then asked.

OOC: Since it appears that the players behind the other Necromancy students are no longer participating I'll carry on.

IC:

Professor Bräck smiled as he listened to the last student. "Very good Elrohir," he said. Quickly, he looked over his shoulder at the dead dog. "I'm sure some of you have had pets who have died and I'm sure you've wished you could bring them back." He eyed the class. "Now I bet you're wondering about the dog behind me, that's Hobo, belonged to my daughter until he was hit by a lorry. Not too flat fortunately, been in the freezer all summer."

Professor Bräck ran a hand over the dogs back. "Who can tell me where the name Hobo came from?" he smirked.

OC: hey uhh...draconis. Im not sure that you noticed that, well, my guy hit his head on his desk and is currently uncouncious in your classroom lol. just thought id point that out.

OOC: And you're surprised? He is rather odd and the other students are pretty much not taking notice :D

OC: oh, i thought YOU as a person had forgotten lol. Ill wake up sometime during the class.

OOC: Sorry, I've been unable to be online the last couple days. Graduation stuff.

OOC: NP, been having computer problems myself.

Professor Bräck chuckled to himself. "Probably was a long shot wasn't it," he said and looked around the class. "Now one of the rules of this class is always know when your classmates are in trouble." His face turned to a frown and his cold eyes grew colder. "Now it seems that you have all been unaware of a fellow classmate lying unconcious on the floor."

He raised his hand and a black light shot forth. It formed a sort of tent over Haedrian's face and brought him round to conciousness.

Blackness.

Haedrian was floating in nothing; suspended; motionless.

A flash of images flew before his eyes. The blur of color froze, set at a picture that had been one of the most important moments of his life. A horse's hoove was falling, inches from his face. The pictures began moving again, slowly. He saw the hoove and turned his head, to feel it impact on the right side of his skull. The weight of the horse built, and built, and built until the pain was unbearable and he willed himself to fall into unconsiousness.

The image was gone, replaced by one he had never seen. It was of a boy standing in a stone corridor. The boy was feeling the walls, searching for something. He paused as though listening to something and then started running. As he came to a corner, he tripped and fell onto the floor; hard. His head was bleading, he pressed his hands against it, moaning.

Another figure came around the door. It was very tall, he couldnt tell how tall exactly, and it was wearing a long black cloak.

"Haedrian," said the figure in that same low, gravely voice Haedrian had heard in his dream before. "You cannot run from the inevitable. Just give up and die."

"No!" screamed the image of Haedrian. He curled into a ball, crying and a dark blue, black aura started to glow around him. The ground surrounding him began to glow and...things...started to rise out of it. Bones, full skeletons, things he had never imagined. Then everything disapeared. He was lying on a stone floor. He heard Professor Brack speaking, and he felt around. He found his desk and pulled himself into it. He needed to talk to the professor after class...

Mierin wore a wry smile on her face. The images before her were reflected in her black eyes, pools they seemed to be. She made another mental note to herself Do not get in trouble in this professor's, or probably any professor's, class.

Alice watched the whole situation unfold with mild interested. She had noticed the unconcious boy earlier on but had decided it was not her responsibility to take care of other students. As the professor attempted to wake the boy, it seemd part of his nightmare was creeping into the classroom.

Ready to combat almost anything, Alice held a firm grip upon her power yet finally it stopped. It seemed she wasn't the only one with hidden demons.

Professor Bräck placed a hand on his chin and looked toward Haedrian. "I trust there will be no more passing out in class, Master Jaerix?" the headmaster questioned him.

"No sir, I'm sorry," mumbled Haedrian, a little shakin from the dream, memory, fortelling, or simple imagination he had just experianced.

A sly grin crossed the headmasters face. "So since you were out cold, you'll need to introduce yourself to the class," he said. "And tell me why you took this class and what you hope to get out of it."

Haedrian gave a slight sigh, then spoke.

"My name is Haedrian Jaerix. I decided to take this class for reasons I do not know. I was simply drawn to it. Nothing else felt right."

He hoped that would satisfy people. He never liked revealing anything about himself to anyone. He didnt feel like coming out and bluntly saying that he took this class as a path to power. He wanted to create something that people would remember.

"I do not know what I want out of this class. Power, immortalitly or the ability to save someone."

Professor Bräck raised an eyebrow and swatted a fly that was buzzing above the dead dog. "Interesting," he said. "We get many like you here, never the best of students mind you."

Giving Haedrian a cold stare, he then said. "Power is meaningless unless you can control it, do you think you can control an immense power?"

Haedrian thought for a moment to find the right words.

"No sir, I do not believe that I can. But when I have studied these arts for several years, I believe that it would be possible. If not, then I have wasted several years of my life doing something more interesting than living on streets."

"It's what's in here that helps your power," Professor Bräck said, tapping his head with a finger. "It's how intelligent you are, those with high intelligence rise to the top of the class, those who are dumb usually drop out before not too long."

"I hope I do not disapoint you sir. I do not entend to drop out of this school. Even if I turn out to be a failure, I will continue to attempt learning here as it is a far better place than from which I have come," replied Haedrian, frowning slightly. "Do you imply that because I am searching for power, I am unintelligent?"

Professor Bräck just grinned at him. "You tell me," he replied. "Are you unintelligent?"

Haedrian grinned inwardly. He liked this man. He thought for a moment.

"Yes, I am unintelligent, but I suppose that is why I am here; to correct that problem. Besides, one who believes himself to be intelligent, usually is wrong. True intelligence is fully understanding a certain, or many, different subjets or ideas. I am not on this level of understanding. Therefor, one could call me unintelligent."

Professor Bräck just silently looked at him. For a moment he kept quiet, his eyes crossed the classroom and he looked at each student in turn.

"In fact you are all unintelligent," he said with a cruel smirk. "By the end of today's lesson this dog will still be dead. I dare one of you to prove me wrong."

OC: helloooo?? *echos around the empty thread*

"Anyone?" Professor Bräck asked, looking around at the class in front of him.

Alice figured she may have a chance of reanimating the dog. She was competent enough in summoning spirits and thought it would not be too much more difficult to place said spirit within the body of the dog.

Of course, there was probably much more to it than she thought. The Proffessor would be unlikely to place a challenge before the class that was easy.

She remained silent.

OC: guys, i feel that we three are very alone lol...im tired of running this rp w/ just us three lol...OTHER PEOPLE POST!!!W49R7Y2049RH*noob spasm*

Mierin, arrogant as she was, knew that trying probably wasn't wise, as she was sure she could force the dog's heart to beat and lungs to expand, but she thought it entirely possible that she would prove unable to actually bring it alive.

She had a considering look in her eyes. Perhaps one of the class clowns would prove brave enough.

Professor Bräck continued to watch the class. "I'm picking up alot of reluctance here," he said, rubbing his chin. "I know some of you can give it a go."

He eyed Alice as he said that.

"I'll do it," Elrohir yelled.

Professor Bräck sighed, "Anyone besides Elrohir?"

"I will make an attempt if Elohir does first," Mierin said softly, with a smile that didn't touch her eyes. "Perhaps I have the ability, perhaps I don't."

Elrohir just grinned.

"Well since I'm the headmaster, I can say he has to skip his turn since I'd rather keep the classroom in one piece for now," Professor Bräck said. "Come up here Miss Darvul."

"Oh like I'd blow up the classroom," he protested, folding his arms.

A slightly pouty expression on her face, Mierin went up to the front of the classroom, and stood by the dog carcass. Putting her finger to her chin, she studied the dead animal for a moment. Sighing, she thought about how to begin. It would take considerable effort, and she needed a moment to think out how to do it.

Professor Bräck smiled and waited with interest to see how she would do. "In your own time," he said.

Haedrian heard someone go up to the front to attempt this ridiculously challenging task for someone of his own experiance. He heard the Headmaster say "In your own time" and assumed that this person was going to have the same difficulty with it as he would.

"If she won't do it, I'll do it," a young boy with messy white hair said from the back of the classroom.

Professor Bräck looked to the back of the classroom, "Wait your turn, Master Graves," he told him.

Mierin probed at the dead dog, and hten begain her attempt. Abstractly, it was similar to re-animating a bug, however, physically, it was way more difficult. She didn't know exactly what she was doing, but she got the heart to beat and the lungs to suck in air. The dog carcass gasped.

A smile crossed Professor Bräck's face, she had it in her after all he was pleased to note.

"Very well done Miss Darvul," he said. "Now, how much more can you do to reanimating this dog?"

Slowly, she managed to get blood flowing, carrying oxygen to the muscles. The dog got up and took a couple wobbly steps. Unfortunately, Mierin was near to the end of her knowledge, and trying to figure out how to get everything else working was quite a strain. After a little less than a minute, the dog carcass fell over back onto the surface of the table in a heap. "That's all I am able to do, yet," Mierin sighed, though if one listened closely, they could hear the emphasis on "yet."

Professor Bräck nodded, "Very well done Miss Darvul," he said with a smile. "Very well done indeed, most students here will not even beable to get the dog to breath."

He looked down at the carcass.

"You may sit down, would anyone else like to give it a try?"

Mierin nodded her head and went back to her seat, sitting very straight. She had not expected it to work out quite so well. She had known she would be able to get the dog to breath, but beyond that, it had been new to her.

Professor Bräck looked around the room for the next volunteer.

OOC: Are the rest of you still in this?

ooc: I'm still around, just not in the necromancy lesson.

OOC: Just post your character studying in the library, I'm sure I can cook something up for you ;)

OOC: im here, just cant think of anything lol. my dude cant reanimate the dog, so hes just gonna chill lol.

OOC: I was thinking Alice could have a go... she could get the dog going, she may end up putting something like the spirit of a ghoul inside it... ;)

OOC: Could be fun :D

ooc: Well, that comment sounded slightly ominous...

IC: Aecheron sat by himself in the library. A large, heavy book was open in front of him. He turned the page, blowing the dust off the paper to read the text, which was so small as to be almost illegible. He had read six pages and his mind was wandering already. Magicks Moste Potente had sounded like it could be an interesting read, full of powerful spells to turn people inside-out, but instead it seemed to be entirely about an ancient wizard's attempts to create a spell to remove hairs from food. Needless to say, it was doing very little to grasp his attention.

He yawned loudly. He hadn't had much sleep the night before, a combination of excitement and jetlag keeping him alert until approaching daybreak. He glanced down at his watch. Still mid-morning. Surely something interesting had to happen soon?

OOC: Well it depends on Assingtons choice really :D

IC:

There were plenty of other students about the library, along with a rather old looking librarian who was watching over them. She gave the odd student a shh! when they got too loud. Behind Aecheron, a young girl who had been looking through the bookshelves for a book she needed had heard him yawn.

"You sound like you need coffee," she remarked. "Or a good wake up spell."

Alice was bored of sitting around, perhaps she would give it a go. Whilst she'd never revived a dog specifically, she had fully reanimated smaller creatures such as rats and bugs, a dog couldn't be too much more difficult. Hopefully.

Alice matched the gaze of the professor as his eyes passed over her. She didn't speak or move, yet her eyes indicated she would be willing to give it a go. It would be interesting to see if he would notice.

"You sound like you need coffee," she remarked. "Or a good wake up spell."

Aecheron was surprised by the voice, but he welcomed the opportunity to get away from the book. He set it down, causing a plume of dust, then turned around to see who was talking to him.

"Yeah. I didn't sleep much last night."

Alice was bored of sitting around, perhaps she would give it a go. Whilst she'd never revived a dog specifically, she had fully reanimated smaller creatures such as rats and bugs, a dog couldn't be too much more difficult. Hopefully.

Alice matched the gaze of the professor as his eyes passed over her. She didn't speak or move, yet her eyes indicated she would be willing to give it a go. It would be interesting to see if he would notice.

Professor Bräck noticed the gaze, "Is that you volunteering Miss Darkmoor?" he asked.

Aecheron was surprised by the voice, but he welcomed the opportunity to get away from the book. He set it down, causing a plume of dust, then turned around to see who was talking to him.

"Yeah. I didn't sleep much last night."

Behind him stood a black haired girl of around the same age. She had a couple of large books in her arms. "Nervous about the academy?" she then asked.

"Just a little."

He laughed as he said this. And he was nervous, more than he was letting on. At the spaceport, several people had looked worried when he asked them for directions, and he could feel them watching him as he set off. One old man had actually glared at him so fiercely that he looked as if he was going to attack, and snarled at Aecheron to "take his curse a long way away". Their obvious apprehension not only hurt, it also made him worry about what was actually there.

"Don't be," she smiled. "Theres only a few people you'd need to worry about, the rest you can get along just fine with."

He smiled back.

"Well, I hope so. I quite like my limbs where they are."

Pausing for a second, and deciding that talking to her was far more intereseting than the book, he decided to continue the conversation.

"Whats your name?"

"I'm Iihera, Iihera Drake," she said, smiling. "Whats yours?"

"Aecheron Claw."

He smiled.

"I already know that I sound like a B-movie villain, so don't bother saying it."

"Well then, what are you worried about?" Iihera laughed. "You'll fit in well here with a b-movie villain name."

He laughed hard at that, finally managing to shake off the anxiety that had been haunting him since his arrival. The sudden freedom felt good, like a refreshing breeze. There was no real outward change in him, but his eyes sparkled a little more and his smile seemed more natural.

"Well, I'd need a half-dressed female assistant..."

Iihera smirked at him. "That could be a lousy pickup line," he joked.

Professor Bräck noticed the gaze, "Is that you volunteering Miss Darkmoor?" he asked.

Alice nodded.

"Indeed I am sir, if you'd allow such."

Iihera smirked at him. "That could be a lousy pickup line," he joked.

"Indeed it could, but magic users are off-limits. I've decided that I like being un-charred."

Alice nodded.

"Indeed I am sir, if you'd allow such."

Professor Bräck nodded. "Yes, such would be allowed," he said and smiled at Alice. "When you're ready Miss Darkmoor."

"Indeed it could, but magic users are off-limits. I've decided that I like being un-charred."

Iihera just laughed, "Some of the older girls would just strip your skin off or something similar."

Iihera just laughed, "Some of the older girls would just strip your skin off or something similar."

Aecheron looked worried again.

"I thought you said that they weren't that bad..."

"I was joking," Iihera smirked. "Anyway I did say that some could be bad."

She looked up to see the librarian giving her a hawk-like stare.

Mierin waited in expectation for Alice to make her attempt. She thought that Alice would probably do better than her attempt, though she did not know why.

Professor Bräck nodded. "Yes, such would be allowed," he said and smiled at Alice. "When you're ready Miss Darkmoor."

Without another word Alice stood and silently made her way towards the dead dog. Her thin black dress seemed to flow behind her as if a slight breeze followed the young vampire around.

Alice's eyes narrowed as she gazed upon the dog, staring at it for several minutes. To those without the common knowledge it appeared Alice wasn't doing anything, yet she was looking at far more than the physical from of the animal, she tracked the energy paths of the creature, noting just how much life force would be necessary to physically revive the animal.

Sure enough about what was necessary, Alice called upon her own talent, causing the room to go slightly darker. Obviously the young girl could command an impressive amount of power, yet it was debatable whether she could control it well.

Her eyes took on a completely black shade as little sparks surrounded her pale hands. With full confidence, Alice placed her hands upon the dog's body. Immediately the creature jerked as life flowed back into it. Muscles spasmed and organs began their functions once again, yet the dog still wasn't fully 'alive' in the true sense of the word. It had no spirit as of yet.

This was the difficult part, Alice had never successfully relocated the spirit of a deceased animal and replaced it within its own body. She had put the spirit of a lizard in a different lizard which whilst worked, wans't perfect. And so the young apprentice necromancer plunged her senses into the underworld, searching for the particular german shepard soul.

Professor Bräck placed a hand on his chin as he watched the young apprentice necromancer try her stuff. He watched with interest as the dogs muscles spasmed. He knew she was not yet finished and patiently waited to see what she did next.

She finally found it, or at least she thought so. The spirit seemed to be that of the shepard and it had memories of the professor deep within its essence so Alice could only assume this was the dog.

With that confirmed, Alice opened up a channel between the body and the underworld in an attempt to retrieve the soul of the creature, pulling it back into the world of the living. All seemed well as the channel was about to close around the soul, yet nothing ever seemed to go perfectly right.

Just before the dog could be retrieved, Alice noticed an apparently formless soul pass over the dog and become caught up in the channel. Within seconds the soul was yanked out of the underworld and plunged into the body of the soul. Alice gasped as her mind came back into the living world, unsure of what now resided within the dog.

The young vampire watched on in shock as the dog's eyes opened and it attempted to roll onto it's feet but ended up on the floor below. It obviously wasn't the soul of a dog, it had no idea how to control the canine limbs.

After a few minutes, the dog found it's feet and turned to the class, an angry growl emerging from a mouth armed with many large teeth. Alice cursed under her breath...

"Very well done Miss Darkmoor, you have managed to place a soul into the dog," Professor Bräck congradulated her.

He watched the dog for a moment as it growled. Quite obviously something was wrong.

"That's not a dog soul in there," the boy who's surname was Graves yelled.

A cruel smirk crossed Professor Bräck's face. "Then perhaps we are in for some fun," he said.

Haedrian heard the dog fall to the floor, and the headmaster said "Very well done Miss Darkmoor, you have managed to place a soul into the dog."

Then a boy yelled out "Thats not a dog sould in there!"

They obviously were going to be having an interesting time to say the least...

Mierin's face was expressionless, but she found the idea of a different sort of soul residing inside the dog's body quite interesting, no, that was not the word... fascinating. I wonder just what sort of soul it is she thought. Obviously, one not used to working the limbs of a four legged mammal, and one that didn't appear to be friendly.

"I suppose this could turn into an example of an occupational hazard for necromancers" Mierin muttered. "What did you put into it," she asked Alice in what to everyone else was a faint whisper. Mierin was hoping that, like Moroii, Assingtonian vampires possessed a sense of hearing better than a human's.

At first her face had been quite shocked, yet now Alice had managed to compose herself and take a few steps away from the growling dog. It was now frothing at the mouth and there was something about the glint in it's eyes that unnerved Alice. It wasn't natural.

"I'm not sure... what's in there. It's not an animal though, I couldn't get a glimpse of it, but I think it is not of our world."

Still stumbling, the possessed dog attempted to rise onto it's back legs and walk like a humanoid. Unfortunately for the beast, the canine body was not designed for such and so it collapsed back onto four legs once again.

For several minutes the dog remained still yet continued to growl before suddenly leaping towards the desk of the nearest student, the one that had called out about the lack of dog soul.

Alice cursed and readied herself, she was used to cleaning up her own mess.

The boy who's surname was Graves stood up, hands held in front of him. He muttered something and a yellow shield appeared between himself and the dog.

"Hold the dog in place," Professor Bräck told him before turning to Alice and grinning. "Isn't necromancy fun."

"Robin couldn't hold a dead dog," Elrohir remarked.

The white-haired boy glared at him as he attempted to hold the dog in place. The only thing he was sure of was that the dog couldn't penetrate the shield. Holding it in place was a whole different matter. Yellow threads emerged from the shield and attempted to tie up the dogs legs.

The dog jumped as energy from the shield sprung forth in an attempt to grab it's legs. Obviously the creature inside was significantly smarter than a canine and was becoming much more competent with the four legged body. After dodging the initial strike, the dog jumped towards the shield and collided with a loud thud.

Alice merely watched in mild amusement, her power still at the ready if she had to deal with the dog herself, which didn't seem too likely.

"Sir, any ideas what is in the dog?"

Alice was having trouble getting used to calling people sir or ma'm yet she supposed it was a little price to pay considering they were sharing their knowledge.

Robin held the shieled up, noticing that yellow threads were having little effect in capturing the dog he decided to try something else. By expanding the shield he would encase the dog in an impenetrable prison.

Professor Bräck rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "No Miss Darkmoor, I have no idea what is in the dog," he admitted, his cold eyes completely focusing on the dog. "Whatever it is, is certainly very mad."

Haedrian sat listening to the dog attempting to get at the boy who had apparantly created shield to prevent it from getting near and decided to take matters into his own hands. He abrubtly stood up and reached down to his worn boots, and pulled a knife with a six-inch blade out.

He then spoke to the professur and said "May I sir?" raising the blade.

Professor Bräck looked towards Haedrian and shook his head. "I sense that would be a bad idea," he said.

Haedrian sighed, replaced the knife into his boot, and sat down. He had been hoping to do something as he had no knowledge of magicks. Some other time perhaps. For now, he sat and listened to the struggle against with dog. He trusted the headmaster's judgement, but he did wish that he would let him participate in this small skirmish.

Mierin sat, wondering what to do, and then an idea occurred to her. What if I crippled some of its organs somehow? she thought. After all, she had managed to get its organs to work, perhaps stopping them from working was similar. She set to mental work attempting to disable the dog's lungs. It was a longer process than she had been expecting, but she appeared to be making some headway.

OOC: I just wanted to let you guys know that this is "khiraebanaa." That acct got deleted because I lost my temper. I'm still going to do this RP if thats ok with you guys.

OOC: I just wanted to let you guys know that this is "khiraebanaa." That acct got deleted because I lost my temper. I'm still going to do this RP if thats ok with you guys.

OOC: Tsk tsk :D

Of course it's Ok with us.

Professor Bräck raised an eyebrow and looked in Mierins direction. "Miss Darvul, I hope you are not doing what I think you are doing," he said.

Robin had succeded in placing the shield around the dog, hapefully giving it no way of escape.

Just as the Professor Bräck addressed her, Mierin succeded in causing the dog's lungs not to work. It was an odd technique she had used, since she had been forced to go around the work of several other students if she wanted to do something. As soon as the task of shutting off the dog's lungs was completed, she snapped off the flow of power and assumed a too-innocent-looking grin.

Professor Bräck noticed the dog had stopped breathing and narrowed his eyes at Mierin. "That'll be a detention Miss Darvul," he told her sternly. "Do not use magic or any other powers in this classroom without my say so."

Mierin said "yes, sir," and then simply pouted. She was not used to being humbled.

Professor Bräck gave a quick nod before turning to Alice. "So, Miss Darkmoor," he began. "What can you tell me of where you were geeting the intended soul for this dog from? Perhaps then we could begin to understand what actually got into the dog instead."

Robin stayed quiet as he held the shield around the dog.

Alicee gazed upon the Proffessor calmly, assured that the dog-thing would not attack her.

"Well, I guess you could call it a sort of Underworld. A place for the souls of beasts really, since most tend not to be of a particular faith I guess. So, I would assume we are dealing with some kind of beast, yet I am not sure if it is of this world."

Alice found it slightly difficult to explain such. She'd never really thought about it and usually stuck to the practical side of things.

Is there any room for a couple of late sign ups? Two of our budding students from Grennards Magical College have been elected to gain knowledge into Dark Magic, and we feel this would be the perfect place for it.

Is there any room for a couple of late sign ups? Two of our budding students from Grennards Magical College have been elected to gain knowledge into Dark Magic, and we feel this would be the perfect place for it.

Sorry too late I'm afraid, theres always the next academy year.

Alicee gazed upon the Proffessor calmly, assured that the dog-thing would not attack her.

"Well, I guess you could call it a sort of Underworld. A place for the souls of beasts really, since most tend not to be of a particular faith I guess. So, I would assume we are dealing with some kind of beast, yet I am not sure if it is of this world."

Alice found it slightly difficult to explain such. She'd never really thought about it and usually stuck to the practical side of things.

Professor Bräck rubbed his chin as he thought it over. He found it all rather interesting really, he knew of many underworlds and was always delighted to hear of another.

"So it could be the soul of anything from a mean little hamster to the largest dragon or even some kind of demon in there," he pondered. "Certainly very interesting."

A grin crossed his face, it looked as if teaching Alice this year would be very interesting indeed.

Sorry too late I'm afraid, theres always the next academy year.


Dangit...When, out of interest, is the next year beggining?

Dangit...When, out of interest, is the next year beggining?


OOC: Dunno, too early to say yet.

Alice was relieved to know the proffessor wasn't angry about the situation. It was obvious she had much to learn as far as the theory of necromancy, yet she definitely had the skill for it. Alice knew this and would not hide it. She didn't brag or anything, she was simply honest.

"Well sir, the way I see it we have two options. We attempt to send whatever it is, back to where it came from or we keep it around and study it a bit, so what the effects of the soul of a different creature being in another body are. Could be interesting..."

This was just the kind of environment she needed. Whilst her father had been a good teacher and definitely possessed a vast wealth of knowledge, he was never patient when she didn't grasp something or made a mistake.

Professor Bräck nodded. "Well I would prefer to keep it around, poke it a few times and see how long before it tries fighting back," he smirked. He then looked towards Robin. "Master Graves can the shield hold until after the lesson when we can take it to a cell in the dungeons?"

"Yes Sir," Robin nodded.

Professor Bräck smiled, "Good, good," he replied.

OOC: I'm going to be away for the weekend.

OOC: Ok, have fun.

Professor Bräck looked towards the dog as it was held within it's cage. "On second thoughts," he began, "Miss Darkmoor and Miss Darvul, help Master Graves take the dog down to the dungeons."

Alice nodded, putting her power back into use. Whilst she hadn't meant to summon the soul of whatever they were dealing with, she still held power over its presence in this world to a degree. Focusing on the dog before her, Alice closed her fist and watched as the dog's eyes widened before it sat and became docile.

She couldn't help but smile at seeing the discomfort of another creature, all because of her. Alice held the soul on the brink of the underworld, just giving it a taste of death once again, reminding it that she had the power.

"It should be easier to move around now."

Using the forcefield he had created around the dog, Robin used it to float the dog in the air.

"Thats how easy it is to move the dog," he smirked.

Nodding at Alice, Robin began to move the dog towards the door.

"Don't take too long," Professor Bräck warned them.

Mierin got up and followed, not sure why she was being sent along. Perhaps for additional power, should anything happen she thought. She still wore a sulky expression on her face, but did as the Professor said anyway. She was still curious as to what exactly was in the dog where a canine soul should be. Perhaps they'd find out more details eventually.

As Robin left the room, he looked over at Alice. "Never a bad thing to get out of class," he grinned.

Alice noddged vaguely. She didn't particularly care about getting out of class since her goal was to learn more about her abilities, not evade them.

"We're fortunate things turned out to be so easy to handle..."

Robin nodded. "Now we get to go down into the dungeon, I hear its very haunted down there," he grinned.

Down the end of the corridor they found a door, a sign that had been placed upon it read, 'No Unauthorised Access To Students'. Robin placed his hand on the handle and opened the door.

Alice was slightly anoyed by this Robin character. He seemed the kind of person to walk into a situation blindly and end up causing undesirable events. Yet she did not wish to cause a conflict as she figured the headmaster would not take kindly to her feeding upon other students and so she merely posed a question.

"Haunted with what?"

Mierin followed the other two in silence, observing. She had no opinion of this Robin so far, but she did like Alice somewhat.

The sign on the door did not trouble her. Such things generally didn't worry her. Hauntings sounded somewhat interesting, though she was not at all surprised that there were rumors of such things in a school of this nature. She had expected the strang upon moving in.

"Ghosts, former students who have met grisely ends taking on stuff much too powerful for them," Robin explained as they headed down a spiral staircase.

At the bottom they were greeted by another door, this one had a face upon it.

"Professor Bräck warned me to expect you, you may enter," the face on the door said.

Slowly the door creaked open and they were faced with a long corridor with doors on each side for as long as the eye could see in the torch light.

Robin looked to the others. "Take the closest cell?" he asked.

"Probably go one past that, I don't know why, though," Mierin said quietly. "I've never felt comfortable with the ends of rows, for some reason. Seems like the ends are the parts of anything that are most used." This analogy probably would remind some of public restrooms.

"Closest to the doors is always the one people go for," Robin agreed and walked a few doors down. "What about this one?"

Further down from where the trio were, the white image of a ghostly girl stood watching them.

Alice remained silent as they moved down the hall a few more paces, coming to one of the many empty cages. She nodded when Robin suggested this one, she didn't really care though. A cage was a cage.

At that point a faint white blur moved across Alice's eye, catching her attention enough to move her whole head around and come face to face with the female form of a human.

"Hmm, it seems this place is haunted afterall."

"Told you so," Robin replied.

As the ghost watched on, the young white haired boy peered into the cell they had chosen. It looked rather empty, save for the magical unbreakable chains that shimmered with the magical energies flowing through it.

"Looks like we can chain the dog up," he said. "Though I wonder how we can do it without taking the shield down."

"No idea" Mierin. The ghost girl simply watching them was a bit unsettling, though mainly because of the silent watching aspect. It would have been better if she said something, or perhaps at least moved her eyes a little, but she did not.

"We don't really have anything like that where I'm from," Mierin continued. "Maybe you have to wrap it around the dog-thing," she suggested. It may sound crazy, but she couldn't see any other way.

"Well the shield will only hold for another hour or so," Robin explained. His eyes crossed from the chains to the dog as he thought up a plan.

The dog looked rather angry.

"Do you think you can hold it in place with a spell or something?"

"Maybe if we buckle the manacles on the chain around his legs, and then somehow fuse the edges together so they can't be opened..." Mierin thought. She believed she might be able to do that, with help.

Alice wasn't even thinking magically anymore as her practical mind simply took over. Some things just didn't need magic to solve the problem and she reasoned this was one of them.

"There are three of us and I still hold a firm grip upon the creature's link with the body. I say we hold it down and chain it up, I'll make sure it doesn't cause any trouble."

Robin nodded. "Ok," he said. Looking around he entered the cell bringing in the dog behind him. "Better be careful, the dog looks pretty pissed off."

The young white haired bot set the dog down next to the chains and looked towards the other two.

"Be ready to grab it."

Alice watched the dog intently, her gaze not leaving it's face as she concentrated upon more than simply the creature's appearance. With a tight grip upon it's life connection, Alice prepared to strangle that grip if the dog wouldn't cooperate.

It couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but something was happening and the dog knew it. It didn't want to be restrained and it realised they would have to release the shield to fix the chains upon his legs. The dog merely growled lowly, prepared to leap out at the human boy once the oppurtunity arose.

"I'll be ready, you just be careful. I can see in it's eyes, it's smarter than a dog."

Robin took a deep breath and nodded. This was going to have to be quick.

"One, two, three..."

He took down the shield and grabbed for the dogs leg with one hand and had the magical chains in another. As quick as he could, he went to place the chains around the dogs legs.

With the shield down, the dog didn't hesitate in lunging towards Robin, his large teeth ready to tear into human flesh. Unfortunately for the creature Alice had pounced upon it, using her weight to keep it down whilst she kept a hold around the dog's neck.

Now more angry than shocked, the dog struggled with all it's strength in order to gain freedom and vengence.

Mierin quickly grabbed a hold of the 'dog' and gripped it as tightly as she could. "Maybe we should have thought this out a bit more thoroughly" she said, not very loudly, but plainly not happy about the situation. She had the dog's legs tightly held, and she tried a bit of power to unlock some of the bone joints in the dogs legs. The dog was plainly displeased, but even if it broke out of she and Alice's grasp, it would not be able to walk.

Robin struggled against the dog. With the help of the others keeping it at bay, he was able to place the chains around the gogs legs and another around it's next. With the chains magical, there was no way that the dog was going to be able to escape.

"Phew," the young whitehaired boy sighed. "That's that."

With the dog now physically and magically restrained, Alice moved backwards quickly and exited the cage. The stench of the dog's breath had unnerved her a bit as there was something not quite natural about it.

"Good, now let's get out of here."

Alice took one last glance at the dog, then at the ghost girl before turning around and beginning the journey back towards the classroom.

The ghost girl stuck her tounge out at Alice.

Robin looked towards the ghost as he locked the cell door. "Back to class then," he said leaving the dungeon. He looked around to make sure that they were both still there.

Mierin scowled at the ghost girl who stuck out her tongue at Alice. The only expression the phantom had made thus far was one of rudeness. She came out with Robin and Alice without comment until they were in the hallway. "You sure put something quite unfriendly into that dog," she said quietly to Alice.

Alice merely met eyes with the ghost as she rounded a corner and gave it a quick single fingered gesture. She wasn't about to take crap from anyone, dead or alive.

Within minutes the trio were back in the ordinary halls, heading towards the classroom in silence. The dog hadn't been too much trouble afterall and Alice was more concerned with getting back to class and furthering her knowledge.

Just before they entered the classroom, Mierin made a short comment.

"Indeed. I'm just glad it's within the body of a dog and not whatever it should be in..."

She left the possibilities unmentioned.

Robin looked over at Alice. "Wasn't a demon was it?" he asked. "I've seen demons in human corpses and they're rather nasty."

Finally back outside the classroom, Robin waited for a reply before heading back inside.

Alice gave an audible knock upon the door as she noted they were awaiting the teacher's acknowledgement. Whilst she deemed it as unnecessary she also figured it would be best not to get into too much trouble around this place. Some of the punishments could be most unpleasant.

"I'm not really sure what it is. I doubt it's something of our world but that doesn't mean demon."

"Come in," Professor Bräck said from within the classroom.

"Whatever it is, it'll probably want to get back at us for locking it up in the academy dungeons," Robin then said.

He pushed open the door and headed inside.

"Glad to see you have all returned in one piece," the professor smirked.

Alice nodded at Robin's comment as they entered the classroom.

"Most likely, whatever was in there seemed smarter than your average dog."

That said she moved back to her seat and gave the teacher a brief nod. She didn't grin at his comment and simply replied with a mildly sarcastic comment.

"I don't think the little ghost girl was going to cut us up..."

"Oh don't mind Mary," Professor Bräck told her. "She can be a little immature sometimes but she's completely harmless."

Robin sat back down in his seat, ready to take on the rest of the lesson.

Professor Bräck looked around the classroom. "Here ends the lesson," he said. "Now you have a half hour break before Vampire Studies, use your time wisely, I don't want any explosions, deaths or strange spirits in animals."

And with that the professor left the classroom. While the other students left, Robin turned to Alice.

"I think he was talking to you there about the animals," he grinned.

Alice looked up to Robin with her calm face.

"You think so?"

Obviously she was being sarcastic yet her expression wouldn't say it. Getting up and gathering her gear, Aliced decided her room would be the best place to spend the break. So far this Robin guy was anoying her a bit and she was feeling kind of hungry.

"I think I'll head off and get a drink..."

Alice displayed her fangs at that point, making Robin fully aware that his classmate was a vampire.

"No biting students," Robin told her and sighed. "There are rules meaning we can't intentionally harm another student, bit of a bummer really."

Elrohir and a bunch of other students came out of the classroom laughing and headed off down the hallway. Robin wondered what they were up to.

Mierin had been resting when they got back. She could be a very quiet girl when she chose. Her mind became alert when Alice mentioned feeding. "That might violate a few school rules," she looked at Robin, "do the rules say anything about harming non-students? Or are we too far away from anywhere for that to matter?"

Alice nodded in reluctance and understanding as Robin carried on about school regulations.

"Of course but there may be a few students that end up harmed unless they change their snotty attitudes. I've got enough blood lying about to take care of myself as it is. So where is the room for vampire studies?"

"Theres a fair few villages in the area," Robin replied, placing his hands behind his head. "Though it is noticable if too many people from one village turn up dead." He looked around briefly as the hallway emptied. "The trick is to randomly select a village every time you want fresh blood, but don't do it too often."

He then looked over at Alice.

"The Vampire Studies room is this way, right down in the deepest part of the dungeons," he then said. "Just not in the same one where we left that dog."

"I don't know how you foreigners manage to drink enough to kill someone. Our stomachs don't hold that much. My aunt sometimes kills people anyway, though." Mierin spoke quite casually. "Not within our borders, of course, in the anarchy next to us."

Following Robin's directions, Mierin got up, with the intention of going down to the vampire studies classroom.

"Theres a certain amount of blood that you drink before it starts to kill the victim," Robin explained. "As a vampire you have to learn when that limit is and it's different for each victim."

They soon arrived at the Vampire Studies classroom. The door however was locked.

Alice didn't really care for the particulars of feeding. As far as she saw things it was just a meal and didn't treat it any differently from when she was human. Whilst Alice didn't usually kill people it was simply because she didn't want to attract the attention.

"I have to wonder at the wisdom of making vampires do Vampire Studies."

Alice faced the locked door for a moment before turning around again.

"How about the lunch room then?"

Robin shrugged as he knelt down by the door. "Nothing wrong with studying other vampires I guess," he said and took a piece of metal from his pocket.

He fed it into a keylock and there was the sound of it clicking. The white haired boy stood up and opened the door. The classroom was dark, there were no windows at all.

"Unless you're too chicken," Robin said heading inside.

Alice simply leaned against the door frame as she watched Robin move into the classroom. She had no reason or desire to be in the room before the lesson and wasn't compelled to follow the young man in the slightest.

"Why the hell do I want to walk into another classroom? We have a break and I intend to use it, not bugger around in here for no reason at all. You're free to walk around for whatever obscure purpose you have but I'd rather go get something to eat."

Turning to Mierin, Alice's face softened slightly. She liked this vampire much more than Robin and noted that she had more of a brain between her ears.

"I would assume you want no part of this?"

Robin just shrugged as he walked across the classroom. "We have twenty-five minutes," he said.

He looked around as a dark shape shuffled in the corner.

"Eager to get to this lesson are we?" the dark shape asked.

"Break sounds nice to me," Mierin said, looking around a bit. "Especially after the events of last period." She liked the other two, though their opinions of humans were even stranger than hers were deemed to be inside Callisdrun.

"Do they have any snacks in the lunch room at this ungodly hour?" For Mierin, it was still intolerably early. She had made it clear, however, that she did not wish to go to class until it was time.

Immediately Alice's attention was grabbed by the figure hiding in the shadows. Her vampiric sight allowed perfect vision within darkness and once words had been spoken Alice was fully prepared to defend, attack or simply reply. Despite being in a school she was not about to let her guard down.

"No, I was just leaving."

The shape moved forward, it was a Nosferatu. "Not planning to steal blood were you?" he asked.

Robin rolled his eyes. "No Professor Kvapil," he replied. "You know I pay for mine."

The Professor raised a clawed hand and pointed at him. "Don't forget, you only get premium class blood from me," he warned. "You don't want to lose that now do you?"

"No Professor."

"You can buy blood?" Mierin said, incredibly surprised. "I've never heard of such a thing. Is it expensive?"

Alice wasn't all that surprised that it was possible to buy blood. If it weren't the case then she figured a lot more citizens from nearby towns or even students would go missing and wouldn't return.

"It seems practical enough. Unless you want blood being taken forcibly, why not sell it to those that need it?"

Professor Kvapil chuckled, "Of course," he said. "Some students here don't have the time to go out hunting and I have the means to supply them with blood. It does cost money to suply the blood after all."

Robin rolled his eyes. "And I hear you get a tidy profit out of it too," he remarked.

The nosferatu raised a clawed hand. "So what if I do."

Aecheron got up slowly. He had tried as hard as he could to get himself engrossed in the book, but it hadn't worked. With a sigh, he put it back onto the shelf where he had found it. Walking back to the seat, he picked up his backpack and slung it over his back. He staggered under the weight for a second, then set off out of the library, pausing only to glance at the retreating back of the girl he had talked to earlier. Although he still had some time before Vampire Studies, he thought it wise to set off as quickly as possible to give himself more time to find it.

He wondered what Vampire Studies was. The Studies part was obvious, but vampires? He had never heard of them. Vampires had never been mentioned at home. He supposed it must be some kind of local thing. Perhaps it was some kind of history class: he didn't know the name of the region, it could easily be called Vampire. Still, he would find out soon enough.

Soon more and more first year students began arriving. Some took their seats while others hung around talking to each other. Robin looked up at them.

"You'll want to watch Elrohir," he quietly told the professor.

Professor Kvapil quietly nodded. "I know, I can smell class clown on him," the nosferatu replied.

Mierin sat down fairly close to Alice and Robin, and got out her book. She wondered what she would learn in this class, probably a lot about foreign vampires, as she already knew most of what their was to know about her own kind.

Aecheron walked into the classroom on time. He had found the classroom by pure chance, having flipped a coin for the last direction change. He sat down in the row behind Mierin and dumped his bag onto the table. He did not look at the teacher- after all, it was rude to scare. He did not know what could account for the teacher's strange appearance, and he did not expect to find out.

Professor Kvapil looked up. He could tell that a few students had yet to arrive, like Arpad for instance. Once the last few were in he would start the class. From the back of the class, a few students were laughing at one of Elrohir's jokes.

"Weren't you here with someone else?" Robin asked Mierin.

Just then, Arpad came quickly, frantically into the room. "Sorry I was late," he said, sitting down near Mierin, because he knew her. He didn't know the boy next to her, but he didn't really care. Mierin seemed to have an attitude that nobody was allowed to pick on him other than herself.

"Yes, I was," Mierin said, smiling, which was an intimidating sight. "Arpad, this is Robin. Robin, this is Arpad."

"Thought so," Robin replied. "Hi Arpad, pleased to meet you."

As the last few stragglers came in, Professor Kvapil disappeared into a sideroom. He later came out with a mug and set it down on his desk before leaning against it.

"Settle down," he told the class.

Alice was rather irritated about being forced into a vampire studies class when she was a vampire herself and in no need of instruction. In her opinion she was simply wasting time and the scowl upon her pale face conveyed such.

Not wanting to meet the others, Alice waited quietly for the class to start.

Professor Kvapil took a sip from the mug as the class settled down and all the students were in their seats. He eyed up his new students, slowly taking in their auras.

"Now I know some of you are upset at being forced to do vampire studies," he said, he briefly looked at Alice as he said that since he'd picked that up from her. "Now I know you will find this class of some benefit to yourself as not every vampire is the same."

He paused to take another sip from hrom his mug. "Now I know there are some vampires here," he then said looking at various students. "Hands up those of you whom are vampires."

A few hands went up, including Robins.

Mierin raised her hand quickly, but somehow also casually, and after nudging Arpad, his hand went up as well. She didn't understand why Alice was so displeased to be here, as Mierin knew next to nothing about Alice's breed. She also doubted that Alice knew much about her and Arpad's. And Mierin knew even less about Robin's.

Professor Kvapil smiled. "And as you can probably tell from my horribly disfigured form, that I am a vampire myself," he said. "A nosferatu to be exact." He took a sip from his mug. "A nosferatu is one of many different types of vampire and from what I see, I am the only nosferatu in this room." His eyes turned to Arpad. "Tell us, what is your name and what kind of vampire are you?"

"My name is Arpad Kereshtur, sir." Arpad said quietly. Though he was shy, his voice was steady at least. "I'm a Callisdrunian Moroii. Mierin is, too." Unlike Professor Kvapil, nobody would be able to tell for sure he was a vampire until he opened his mouth. Sure, he was pale and had dark hair, as did Mierin, but they could easily be mistaken for 'goths,' at least, until they revealed their large, non-retractable fangs.

Professor Kvapil smiled. "Interesting," he said. "A first for even myself, I have never met one of your kind before, then again I have never set foot off this planet. So what can you tell the class about Callisdrunian Moroii?"

Alice met the eyes of the professor cooly without changing her expression. She was not the kind of person to change her opinions or actions just because they were brought under scrutiny and would challenge anyone that challenged her.

She didn't bother to raise her hand upon request as Alice figured if the others couldn't tell then it was their problem, a problem that was potentially fatal in the outside world. For the moment she would listen yet Alice was expecting to be questioned soon enough.

So, a vampire was some sort of person. How odd. Aecheron decided that he probably should have read up more on the planet before he arrived. As it was, he had flicked through a map briefly to find out how to get to the school. Still, deciding that if he was one someone would have told him, he kept his hand firmly down.

Arpad began nervously. He had heard rumors that foreign vampires sometimes refused to acknowledge Moroii as also being vampires. He didn't know if this was true, but it still made him uneasy. "Well, we aren't immortal. We do live longer than regular humans though." Callisdrunian vampires were technically of the human species, since moroii/normal human couples, which were common, did produce fertile offspring. "We can get really bad sunburns from being in bright sunlight very long at all, not a problem in my country," Callisdrun was famously dark most of the time, "and our eyes are partially blinded by really bright light. It's very difficult to become one of us if you weren't born as such. We can't survive just on blood, but must eat normal food as well. We're divided up into clans, which are basically really big families. I'm from the Kereshtur clan, Mierin here is from the Darvul clan, which is a branch of the Batory clan. That's why her fangs are barbed. Oh, and we can't retract our fangs, either." It was odd describing Moroii, since most of the facts about his sub-species he'd always taken for granted.

Professor Kvapil placed his mug down. "The ability to go out in sunlight and not burn right away is someone Draconian vampires like myself can only dream about," he said. "I see more differences as well, while we can survive only on blood most vampires do tend to keep their mortal habits of eating and drinking mortal food." He looked down at his mug. "That's coffee in there if you're wondering."

His eyes crossed the room back to Alice.

"I notice that you didn't raise your hand yet you are a vampire, am I correct?"

Alice nodded, showing no particular reaction to her lack of participation being spotted. She could be quite a difficult girl to deal with at times, especially when she was in a bad mood.

"Indeed."

Professor Kvapil raised a clawed finger to his chin, he could tell that she was going to be rather difficult. No matter, he like a good challange.

"Tell us then, what is your name and what kind of vampire are you?" he asked.

"My name is Alice and I'm of the Assingtonian breed of vampire. Similar to many others out there yet also different in some fundamental ways. We have quite strong mental abilities and our blood holds vast healing properties, even outside our own bodies."

Alice wasn't about to go into full details regarding her kind, she didn't want others to know her weaknesses yet it could be assumed she was wary of fire and sunlight like most other vampires.

"Oh, and we don't worry over trivial things such as crucifixes and others such symbols."

Professor Kvapil nodded. "Crucifixes and holy water and the like have no effect on Draconian vampires either, but you'll learn all about that later in the year," he said. "Perhaps in time you'll tell us a little more about Assingtonian vampires, I can tell you are a little reluctant as it stands."

"Perhaps... there is not a great deal to know. As far as our history, it's essentially unknown. Some say it died with the original ancients."

Alice had always been curious about the history of Assingtonian vampires and just what had brought them into existence yet everyone she asked seemed to have no idea whatsover. There was no official records of course and the ancient vampires tended to keep to themselves, not willing to speak of such things with the one youngs like Alice.

"I doubt we'll ever know..."

Professor Kvapil scratched his chin. "There is always info out there just waiting to be discovered, it's how you go about finding it," he said looking over Alice. "I get the feeling you that you wish to know more but is unwilling to search for yourself."

A boy stood up, hurriedly, and swore under his breath.

"Damnit. I wasn't meant to be here...."

Suddenly, a small flash of light enveloped him, and a blue flash heralded his departure, as he left the classroom...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now in his room, Tyar swore again. Everyone would be laughing at him, he was sure. He lay back, and wondered where he was meant to be now... He had only wished to learn more about magic, and, it seemed, his talents had accomodated him. His memories of the past few days were fading, and being replaced with memories of the acadamy, where he was meant to be, and the people he had met. Of course, this form of time-manipulation wasn't always safe, but he was sure no-one would end up hurt, or dead because of it. Besides, it wasn't his fault, was it? He knew next to nothing about his talents..

OOC: You are meant to be in this class.

Alice was silent as she stared at the teacher. He didn't get it and in her eyes was simply attempting to sound wise with some meaningless dribble.

"I have searched enough to know that what I say is most plausible. The originals are dead, gone, their secrets with them. Anyway, the origins of my kind are of no vital concern, I'd rather worry about where I'm going."

Alice's tone was bordering on angry yet she kept her emotions under control for everyone's sake.

OOC: You are meant to be in this class.

OOC: No, no, I signed up for everything but Vampire Studies. What interest are vampires to a farmer's son?

OOC: No, no, I signed up for everything but Vampire Studies. What interest are vampires to a farmer's son?

OOC: Read the OOC thread, don't make me regret letting you in.

Proessor Kvapil raised an eyebrow. "And where do you plan on going?" he asked.

Way, way up the back of the class, doing his best to blend with the wall, the desk, his chair, anything, was The Biggest Challenge Findhorn Has Ever Faced.

He was also known as He Must Have Got It From Your Side, My Folk Were Decent People. Not to mention what they called him at the Abbey when his parents took him there to see what was the matter -- An Amazing Throwback, A Walking Fossil and Do You Realise The Implications Of This were just some of the names they came up with.

When the Abbey shunted him off to be poked and probed, taped and tested at the University of Ardrigh in the distant nation of Ardchoille, the doctors and professors and such had been less wordy: The Sport, they'd called him there, or The Mutant.

By this time he'd taken to calling himself different names, too. A Mistake was the one he used most.

But right now, realising that he was sitting in a room among a bunch of people who really, sincerely believed that they were vampires (like, people who drank blood! Lived forever! Were bad guys!), the boy was calling himself by the newest name of all.

Doomed.

Alice didn't like where this was going. The teacher was being too inquisitive about her business. She was here to learn about necromancy, not answer questions to some deformed looking vampire in a class she shouldn't even be in.

"Let's just say I know where I am going and it isn't a concern of yours."

There wasn't much patience left in the young vampire and hopefully it wouldn't be pushed. Alice had a tendency to push back.

"Fiesty, a good trait in a vampire," Professor Kvapil replied with a smirk. His eyes turned to Robin. "Now then, tell the class your name and what kind of vampire are you."

"My name... is Robin Graves," Robin mentioned with a slight grin. "Yea I know what it sounds like, it's a family past time. I am of the Ravnos Clan, I am what you would call a gypsy."

Professor Kvapil nodded. "And explain to the rest of the class the Ravnos Clan," he asked.

"Well the Ravnos are sired from gypsy bloodlines, my family is one such bloodline. The Ravnos rarely sire a childer and when they do it is because the childer they sire is the most promising members of their family. I was sired by me great great, several more greats I think, grandfather. Since Ravnos are gysies we are into cons and other trickeries alongside thievery, so watch your pockets when I'm around."

"And you do know that thievery is against the academy rules," Professor Kvapil pointed out.

Robin just shrugged, he didn't really care and it was only breaking rules if you got caught. Before the professor could carry on with the lesson, the room began shaking like it was in an earthquake.

Alice watched the teacher in silence as he shifted his attention. She didn't like him one bit, there was just something about his manner that irritated her to no end and it didn't help that his class was utterly pointless in her opinion.

Upon hearing of Robin's dishonest habits, Alice noted to herself to keep an eye out for him. She didn't appreciate thieves at all and wouldn't hesitate to dish out her own punishment as she saw appropriate if he dared to steal from her.

At that point the room began to shake violently, causing Alice to jump to her feet and look around for a source of the disturbance.

Arpad looked somewhat concerned, his head darting towards Alice's sudden movement as the room began to shake. He did not get up though. He had noted the mention of thievery, but knew his wallet was fairly safe. It hardly had any money anyway.

In contrast, Mierin seemed more concerned by the mention of stealing than by the room shaking, which appeared not to affect her at all. She looked around casually. "Not used to quakes?" she asked Alice. Callisdrun wasn't exactly plagued by them, but they happened from time to time.

Ruarri dived beneath his desk the minute the shaking began. The same thing had happened in Findhorn a week before he left and, although no-one on the island had been hurt, the nearby nation of Zamundaland had been pretty much wiped out. So he wasn't going to be clobbered by any falling beams, like the kids in that school on the news, the one that got flattened. He was staying under the desk, where it was safe.

After a few seconds he noticed that nobody else seemed to be following his example. Well, tough cheddar! All these show-offs in this weird class probably thought it couldn't happen to them. Hah! They'd find out. He hoped that snarky girl got squished first.

Actually, Ruari found, he was liking being underneath the desk. Maybe he could just stay there, even when the shaking stopped. Nobody had noticed him anyway. It was a nice change from the way things had been ever since Mum found him talking to his grandmother. Fancy making such a fuss just because a kid talks to his Nan. Sending him off everywhere and then dumping him at this stupid school! He had every right to chat to her!

It wasn't his fault she'd been 14 years dead.

Professor Kvapil looked rather calm once the shaking stopped. "Not an earthquake, a spell," he explained. The nosferatu looked down at his watch. "Hmm ten minutes early, Professor Psyren who teaches alchemy like to blow things up to prove a point." He shook his head at the few students who had dived under their desks. "You may emerge now."

Alice turned to Mierin at the sound of her voice, still concerned about the shaking room.

"No, I've never been in one..."

Assington was fortunate enough to be in the centre of a tectonic plate and therefore rarely ever experienced earthquakes or even after shocks. This was Alice's first experience and it was certainly disturbing for the young vampire.

Finally it stopped and yet Alice continued to stand. In a school of magic it wasn't wise to assume something simply happened because of nature. Fortunately the professor explained everything, leading to Alice taking her seat.

"That must have been a big explosion..."

Mierin's eyes and Arpad's both widened about the "blowing things up" comment.

Mierin recovered first. "Well... I would think that he would have made his point fairly clear with all that..." An explosion big enough to be mistaken for an earthquake was pretty serious business.

Robin leaned over. "Well once you get to the advanced alchemy lessons, mistakes usually cause bigger explosions," he stated. "At least that's what I heard."

Professor Kvapil cleared his throat, "Now if I could continue the lesson," he said.

Ruari would have preferred to stay under the desk, but the teacher's "You may emerge now" forced him out. He didn't want to risk disobeying. This teacher was scary, not in the least like Miss Pryce at Town North Primary, who'd taught him in Year Six last year.

Of course, Rurari didn't really know what high-school teachers were supposed to be like. He hadn't had a chance to meet any of the ones at Town Central High, because he'd been rushed off before he could start Year Seven. The only high school teachers -- and certainly the only Professors -- he'd ever seen were the ones in movies, like Harry Potter... Hey!

Suddenly Rurari felt excited. When Miss Pryce had taken the Year Sixes to see Harry Potter, she'd dressed up in academic robes, just like the Hogwarts teachers. She'd got all the kids to make witch hats and wear cloaks if they could find them, too. She called it "getting in character".

So maybe this weird teacher was actually quite a normal person who was just "getting in character". Now that'd explain why he kept going on about vampires! Maybe he was going to get them to study books or movies or something about vampires -- maybe even Dracula, which would be cool, because Ruari had already read it. He and Dad had taken it turnabout to read a chapter aloud each night before the fire last winter, after they'd got the goats in.

The thought made Ruari feel much happier. Probably all these kids who'd come before he arrived knew what was going on, and that's why they weren't worried about this, "I'm a vampire!" stuff.

He sat up straighter in his chair and waited to find out what they were really going to learn.

Professor Kvapil looked towards Alice and Mierin. "So in your nations, are there any other kinds of vampires there?" he then asked.

Mierin stopped slouching when Professor Kvapil turned his attention to her. "We are the only ones," she said, her barbed fangs clearly visible to any paying attention. Callisdrunian Moroii generally had enormous fangs, as far as vampires went, and almost none could retract them. "There are a few communities of what historians think are the remnants of Altar Rangian Moroii, though, in the mountains."

Seeing some movement in the corner of her eye, she looked over and saw the student who had scrambled under his seat when the shaking started. He was For no discernable reason, she grinned chillingly at him. Staring into her black eyes, it would be hard to realize that those razor sharp, elongated upper canines were not entirely human.

Now that he'd worked out what was going on, Ruari was able to relax and size up the classroom a little better. He was trying to sneak a glance or two at the bonny girl in the next seat when, to his amazement, she turned and smiled straight at him.

A tentative grin had just begun to travel across his face when he realised what he was doing. The grin stayed pasted crookedly in place while thirteen years of being nagged about his manners did battle with thirteen seconds of total shock.

"Don't look at her teeth!" Ruari told himself, desperately. "Stop staring at her teeth!"

But, of course, he couldn't stop. He'd never seen anything like it. Perhaps it was some sort of custom in her homeland -- he'd read of people who filed their teeth, but he didn't see how you could make them longer -- or maybe it was some genetic thing, or perhaps it was just that her country didn't have any decent orthodontists.

Whatever, the girl's grin was the first friendly gesture anyone had made towards him in a very, very long time. Trying to fix his gaze on her nose or her hairline or anywhere else that wouldn't be offensive, Ruari straightened up his own grin and did his best to seem friendly in return. He even managed to stretch the muscles at the corner of his mouth so more of his own teeth would show.

"Hi!" he whispered, hoping the teacher wouldn't notice. "I'm Ruari."

Not waiting to see how the girl took this information, he ploughed on, "You're very good at that vampire thing. You must have spent hours practising. Did you know we were going to do it today?"

Alice replied with in an off handed tone, obviously losing what small amount of interest she may have had in the class.

"We do get foreigners travelling through the nation but there is only one breed that actually originated in Assington."

No attention was given to other students as Alice appeared to be starring off into nothing, hardly paying attention to anything in the room.

"Very different to Draconis Nightcrawlis then," Professor Kvapil then said. "Here, there are several different clans whom are split into two different, often warring, groups."

"There are also neutral clans," Robin interupted. "Like us Ravnos, we couldn't give a fuck if they destroy each other. Then theres the Malkavians whom are too fucking insane to actually care."

The professor chuckled at Robins comments.

Turning back to the Professor, Mierin listened as Alice described the Assingtonian situation, and then Professor Kvapil mentioned what things were like here. Oddly similar to relations back home, she thought. Of course, there hadn't been open warfare between the clans for quite some time now, but when there had been, it had been brutal.

She turned back to look at Ruari, this time more scrutinizing. Doesn't he get it? she thought. However, he might be open to being a donor, especially if he didn't exactly know what that meant. She chuckled at how little he'd been informed. Most people would have said her laugh was at least a little malevolent sounding. "Oh,I don't practice anything," she said to him in a whisper. The hissing sound her voice made was even more prominant when she spoke softly. It was eerie, sounding almost like more than one voice. She poked him. Though, unlike Strigoii, Moroii did have a body temperature, it was enough lower than a normal human's for her touch to feel unnaturally cold.