NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Keep all OOC to the OOC thread, only those signed up with a character may post.

Second year students

Alice Darkmoor (Assington)
Mierin Darvul (Callisdrun)
Arpad Kereshtur (Callisdrun)
Ruari Dhurig (Findhorn)
Iris Darhaven (Dri vel)

First year students

Kaden Ramses (Steel Butterfly)
Alexavier “Alex” Venedict (Steel Butterfly)
Adrian Landros (Kulikovia)
Mercedes L'Ajis (Kesshite)
Bella of The House of Finarfin (Theodra)
Dimitri Vauhn (Wandering Vagabonds)
Sivv'Raxis (Godular)

IC:

The mansion, in which the Nocturne Academy of Dark Arts was based, was set in a thousand acres of land in Dark Valley, far from the hustle and bustle of the Draconian cities. The surrounding countryside and woodlands also helped keep it out of the eyes of the Draconian authorities. What's more was that it meant there was plenty of room, inside and out, for the students to practice their magic.

The headmaster of the academy was Professor Elend Bräck, he was stood on the steps outside the front door as always, watching as the new and returning students arrived. First they would settle in, then lessons would begin. It was night so that the students who happened to be vampires could arrive without fear of being burnt by the sun. The headmaster looked up at once such vampire student, Robin Graves, as he approached the front door of the mansion.

“I trust you will not be killing any teachers this year,” said with a wry smile, recalling last years incident. “We do now have a proper replacement for Professor Psyren this year, I do expect you to give them a much better reception.”

Robin narrowed his eyes. “Hmph…” he replied.

“And I don’t want to hear about missing villagers again,” the headmaster warned.

“Hey that wasn’t me,” he protested.

Professor Bräck smirked at him. “I am in fact warning every vampire that,” he replied. “Not to mention last year you did kill a teacher and a rival vampire.”

Robin placed his hands behind his head. “They had it coming,” he replied. “Enemies of my clan need to be eliminated especially those who make threats against me and for the alchemy teacher? She had it coming as she hated us vampire’s, you don’t mess with the vampires.”

“And you obey academy rules,” the headmaster replied. His eyes flashed at the young vampire.

Robin sighed. “Yes I know, Sir,” he replied.

“Don’t worry Sir I’ll keep an eye on him,” came the voice of Cassandra, the schools student seer. “I can see when he is about to do something potentially breaking the rules.”

“Thank you Miss Lacuna,” Professor Bräck smiled.

“I hate you,” Robin growled.

Cassandra didn’t reply, instead she spaced out. Her eyes clouded over and her head rolled back.

“A coming storm, blood shall be spilt,” she then announced. “This is the year that rivalry becomes deadly.”

“Nothing to do with me,” Robin said, keeping his heads behind his head and looking to the sky just as lightning flashed overhead. “Nice touch.”

Cassandra snapped back to the world of the living. “Not again,” she groaned. Over the last year she had become more annoyed with every passing vision. Always true they just got on her nerves as some visions were completely pointless.

Robin meanwhile had taken that as a quick opportunity to get away from Cassandra and the headmaster. He quickly made his way to his room, his was a single room as he didn’t want to share with anyone else. Students at the academy were given the choice of having a single room or having a shared room with another student. Zero Utada was one student who had a shared room, he fully expected to be sharing once again with the vampire Arpad. His suitcase was open on his bed and he was busy putting his clothes away in the draws and wardrobe, as he did so a small skeleton cat leapt out and curled up on his pillow before going to sleep. All returning students had a skeleton cat of their own, from a lesson they had in Necromancy and part of that lesson was to continue looking after it for the rest of the time they were at the academy. Failure to do so meant they failed that specific lesson. Zero continued to unpack, keeping one eye on the door awaiting the arrival of his roommate.

Rivalries were common within the mansion, often between already warring families and vampire clans. Perhaps the biggest rivalry was between Aaron Blackheart and Diego Mejía, both from highly notable necromancer families. And as last year they were about to have their first big battle of the year. Aaron was alone as usual while Diego had his usual goons with him. Like always it started with a stand off, this time in the hallway of the boys floor. Other students had come to watch before the inevitable breaking up of any fighting by the headmaster who would always appear from out of nowhere.

“You take that back Blackheart,” Diego growled.

Aaron raised an eyebrow, his black eyes flashing for a moment. “Let me think… no.”

Diego scowled at him. He said nothing and instead held his hand up, a swirling mass of black light that looked just like a rasengan appeared. Aaron did likewise and the two teens ran at each other. A puff of smoke and Professor Bräck appeared between them holding onto their wrists.

“This ends now, detention both of you,” the headmaster told them. “And that goes for the rest of you as well, any fighting and there will be detentions handed out.”

He let go of their wrists and their spells poofed out of existence.

“Welcome to a new academy year.”

"Tis most ominous," said Mercedes, as she looked out the carriage's window. Blue bolts of lightning forked through the sky, as a stiff wind picked up. The sunset was lost in dreary clouds that tumbled in from the northwest, and each bolt had a black velvet background to shine against.

Sibia made a sound in her throat. Mercedes glanced at the older woman, whose lips were pressed together so hard as to be almost bloodless. Sibia disapproved of Mercedes' decision to study at the Nocturne Academy. As Mercedes' nurse, she was used to a certain amount of power over the girl, power she was rapidly losing as Mercedes approached adulthood.

Mercedes turned back to the open carriage window and stuck her face out. The gravel path under them caused the carriage to constantly bump and shutter as the sorrel Clydesdales pulled it along. The wind continued to pick up, pushed her black hair from her face, and she spotted light edging the tall rise of pines. As they crested the rise, there it was: the Nocturne Academy, lurking before her like a panther stalking the surrounding forest.

The light of a hundred or more fires peered from its many windows and balconies. The style was far from what Mercedes was used to. Though few spires thrust toward the sky, there was something heavy about the stonework. Ponderous and ancient. The grand buildings of Kesshite all rose upwards like trees reaching for the sun, their stone often whitewashed and painted brilliant colors.

Mercedes spine tingled as she looked on that structure. The carriage carefully wound its way forward, and the Academy grew in her vision. It soon dwarfed the landscape, swallowing up her view of the surrounding countryside.

Finally, they were at its steps. The Clydesdales took a few more halting steps, then stopped before the well lit grounds of the courtyard.

Alice remained silent as the taxi turned down the long private road leading to the academy grounds. Whilst this place had been the closest thing Alice was able to call a home since she abandoned her father, no one lived dorms over the break between years and so Alice had returned to her home nation of Assington.

Upon her arrival she'd discovered a new President had been elected and had declared a holy crusade upon all vampires, thus making life in one of the large cities somewhat undesirable. Despite such she was able to get along in a small village, doing the night shift at a local supermarket in order to get by. Whilst many would have suspected Alice a vampire, the fact she walked freely under the sun immediately destroyed anyone's suspicions.

Putting thoughts of Assington to the back of her mind, Alice stepped out of the car as it stopped and flung more than enough money at the driver. Money wasn't particularly significant to her and she found it wasn't the only way of getting what one wanted. Retrieving her backpack and large travel bag, Alice made a note to learn how to teleport as it would have made things much easier. Moving towards the front entrance, Alice noted the headmaster disappear, probably off to prevent trouble already.

Already familiar with the layout, Alice moved directly for the female level and into one of the rooms marked as unoccupied. Whilst she had spent the majority of her year in a room by herself last time, Alice had agreed to share with another student in an attempt to somewhat 'lighten up'.

Not giving too much thought as to who would be her room mate, Alice began unpacking her gear into the left corner of the room, taking advantage of the provided desk and cuboard. Muttering a few words under her breath, a small skeleton appeared upon her bed, obviously once being a feline of some description. Alice found taking care of the cat rather easy as it didn't need to eat anything, it was merely a matter of keeping the energies that contained its life, in order.

Flopping onto the bed herself, the cat pounced onto Alice's stomach and she began stroking it's smooth head whilst brushing her long black hair out of her face. The vampiress' skin was nearly as white as the skeleton before her, yet she didn't mind being pale. Despite not burning to ash under the sun, Alice prefered to avoid it as it wasn't comfortable. The gem hanging around her neck created a shield that prevented the rays of the sun from ever coming into contact with her and thus she survived, yet also remained pale.

Continuing to stroke the cat, Alice couldn't help but wonder what this year would bring.

Mercedes stepped lightly from the carriage steps, her linen skirt falling to her ankles and trying its best to keep the breeze out.

"Brr," she murmured as she slipped on black, leather gloves. After the warmth of the heated carriage, the autumn air felt unpleasant. It chilled the light sweat on the back of her neck. This was much cooler than Kesshite; that balmy, tropical paradise always had warm, wet air swirling off the ocean, keeping the jungles green and lush throughout the 'winter' season. Before the age of sixteen, and a trip north to the mountains, Mercedes had never seen the white powder of snowfall.

"Good thing we packed your warm clothes," snipped Sibia. Mercedes offered a hand to help her from the carriage, which Sibia promptly waved off. "Not that old, yet," she said as she hefted herself onto the gravel.

"Rivyyah, Eimin, where are those bags? Come on you two, we're already late," Sibia said the carriage-driver and carriage-hand. The two men were untying the large travel chests hitched to the top of the vehicle. Rivyyah, easily slung one across his shoulder, his bare chest was dark chestnut save were white knife scars trailed the skin. He stepped down from the carriage, towering over the two women, then accepted the other chest, and tucked it under his left arm.

"I'm ready," he said in a soft voice.

Eimin scuttled down, "I'll be waiting for you."

Mercedes glanced around the driveway, wondering if anyone could help her find her boarding room.

A grotesque looking creature came toward Mercedes. He looked rather deformed and his hands were claws but there was something human about him.

"Ah new blood," he said in a hoarse voice. "Welcome, I am Professor Kvapil, teacher of Vampire Studies."

His dark eyes looked over at the carriage and at the two with her.

"Do you need help getting to your room?"

Mercedes had spotted the grotesque man as he lumbered toward their carriage, and suspected that he was heading toward them. She had assumed he was a servant, and wondered if such disfigurements were common among the lower classes. After all, some experimentation required unwilling subjects, and this place had a rather unsavory reputation.

Her dark eyes had studied him unabashedly, taking in his skewed frame, and animalistic hands. Her gaze might have been impolite, but it was honest, for he was a specimen of the unknown and therefore of great interest.

Yes, she was surprised, shocked even, to find this was a professor who had chosen to greeted her. Pleasure flickered across her face.

"Vampirism studies. Then I look forward to spending time with you," Mercedes replied. Had he called her 'new blood?' Never mind that, she suddenly realized that she had not answered his question.

"Yes ahpaulchi... Pardon me; yes, Master Kahv-ah-pil," she said, her eyebrows coming together unconsciously as she tried to force the odd phonology across her tongue. "I am Mercedes from Kesshite, this is my nurse Sibia, who has been kind enough to escort me to this fine Academy. This is my first year. I believe I am sharing a room."

She glanced behind her to the seat of the carriage and picked up a vine covered, potted plant. "If you would be kind enough to help me locate my accommodations," she continued," I would be appreciative."

"Almost there street trash."

The Agent gave Dimitri a sarcastic pat on the head and a slap on the cheek. Dimitri growled under the duct tape and struggeld against the chains around his wrists for what must have been the thousandth time since the van had started. There where 2 agents in the back with him and one up front driving. The agents had only spoken to each other in code, so Dimitri had no idea where he was going or what the names of the men in the suits where. He couldn't even pick up their sent because of the overwhelming scent of the cologne the three had used. The van took a turn and slowed a bit. The Van's door opened and the cold night air rushed in. The noise was deafening to Dimitri. The two agent moved simultaniously, one placing the key in the lock around his back, the second doing likewise to the one in front. Together they turned the keys and, before Dimitri could fight back, they kicked him out the door. He landed hard and rolled on the gravel road as the van sped off. By the time Dimitri struggeled his way out of the chains and got to his feet the van was out of sight. All he could do was snarl and pull the tape off his mouth. He ran a hand through his hair and felt blood on his forehead.

Damnit. Sodding bastards.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings. He surrounded by trees on all sides, save for the road he was standing on. He sighed and took to walking. After a short while the forest thinned a bit and he saw a large mansion through a break in the trees, and a bit ahead of him was what appeared to be a drive leading up to the house. He contenued up to the drive and turned on to it. A moment later he reached the building.

@Kesshite

Professor Kvapil chuckled an almost inhuman sounding chuckle. "Everyone looks forward to Vampire Studies, we are interesting creatures," he replied.

He cast a glance at the nurse before turning in the direction of the main doors.

"If you'll follow me I'll show you."

@Wandering Vagabonds

A black-haired boy crossed the path of Dimitri as he headed up to the mention. His eyes looked to the blood on Dimitri's forehead and laughed.

"Hey you look new," he said. "Getting into fights already, Bräck'll have you in the dungeons for doing that."

A group of students walked past ignoring them. The boy, perhaps fourteen raised his hand.

"I'm Elrohir Drake by the way, Dark Valley's number one prankster."

Dimitri sized up the other boy, then smirked slightly and shook his hand.

"Dimitri Vauhn."

He looked past Elrohir at the mansion. There was a girl being escorted through the large doors by a rather grotesque looking man. Dimitri quirked an eyebrow.

"So what is this place?"

Elrohir laughed, "You came here and you don't know?" he laughed. "That's fucking hilarious."

The black-haired continued laughing as he looked toward the mansion to see what Dimitri was looking at. Professor Kvapil and another new student were heading inside.

"This, Dim, is The Nocturne Academy of Dark Arts."

@Assington

A raven began tapping at Alice's window with it's beak.

School again. Mierin sighed as she walked towards the building from the path where they had been dropped off, her and Arpad that is. Who, typically was lagging behind a little to look at the scenary. "Hurry up," she called back. It wasn't that she didn't like school, after all, she was an inquisitive girl, and enjoyed the subject matter, it was just that her vacation had been quite fun... and interesting. She had stayed with her aunt, Ilona Batory, who was an... odd woman.

"Oh come on, what's the rush?" Arpad shouted back as he scrambled to catch up. That was another unexpected development. The boy, who formerly had been quite submissive, had grown much less timid last year in school and she could no longer discount his opinion. They had grown apart, as well, though, to be fair, it always had been a rather lopsided friendship/relationship, whatever one wanted to call it, as they did not think of themselves as a couple.

"Hmph," Mierin grunted, shaking her head, which tossed the dozen or so braids that her hair was still tied in to and fro (it was a common hairstyle for the summer months in Callisdrun). For the most part, both of them were still adorned in their summer attire. For Mierin, that meant a grey tank-top that didn't go all the way down to her jeans, but for Arpad, it simply meant jeans and t-shirt. Both wore clunky boots, that being a Callisdrunian eccentricity.

I wonder if that boy Ruari will be back Mierin thought silently, a smile coming to her face. Somehow, the strange boy she had gotten together with last year had managed to bring some tenderness out of her.

Arpad didn't exactly know what was on his old friend's mind. He had no idea that her thoughts were relatively innocent, as in his mind, when she had that self-satisfied smile, it usually meant something bad was going to happen to someone. He clomped up the stairs after her, wondering if anyone was going to greet them.

"Hey Mierin!" yelled a familiar voice.

Raven had entered the academy after them and was climbing up the stairs behind them.

"Glad to see you back here this year."

Truth was she wasn't sure if either of them would be back, most non-Draconians never returned for a second year and even less for a third year and so on.

"Seen Zero yet?"

"Most assuredly," Mercedes replied.

Sibia followed, commenting on the architecture, weather, paintings, staircase, carpeting, chandelier, and occasionally making a low, murmured comment about another student that she spied. Rivyyah lumbered behind them carrying the chests, a dark and silent giant.

Professor Kvapil led Mercedes up the stairs and onto the girls floor. For a moment he raised a clawed hand and moved it along the doors before stopping.

"There's your room," he then said.

As they entered the girl's level, Sibia paused. "Nah auzh apo huatqatli talmahi," she said softly to Mercedes. Mercedes discreetly turned her head and spotted two girls and a boy talking in the hall, then turned her attention back to the Professor.

"Han atcic tlauqo qualpaci. Auzh itzcunha huatqatli," Mercedes casually remarked. Sibia scowled in response.

The professor had just stopped at the door.

"Thank you again, Master," she said with a well-practiced bow of her head. She pushed the door open and began to explore. It was bare now, but Mercedes had brought ample supplies to warm and color it. Sibia followed, clucking softly, running her finger across the window casing and frowning at the dust she found.

"It's so small Mercedes. Not at all what you're used to," Sibia said. "You know, you could still come back home and-"

"It's fine Sibia," Mercedes said. Her tone was bright, but there was a firmness in her voice that brooked little argument. "Yes, Rivyyah: one chest near in the closet, and the other at the foot of the bed." Mercedes scooped up the key lying on the bed, and returned to the professor.

"This is quite nice. Is there anything else I should know or do before I start settling in?"

Professor Kvapil shook his head. "No, just take the time to walk around the mansion find where your classes are and get to know people," he replied. "A warning, stay out of the forest there are dangerous creatures out there."

His eyes turned to the two whom had arrived with Mercedes.

"I guess this is where you say your goodbyes."

Sibia leaned down, and gave Mercedes a soft peck on the cheek. "Be good," she said, "I'll see you when you come home for summer break."

"Goodbye Sibia," she replied, "I always am."

Rivyyah bowed smoothly, and then followed Sibia as she left. Mercedes hovered at the doorframe as she watched them depart.

"Thank goodness, they're gone," she finally said. "In Kesshite, my family has dozens of servants, and there's always someone hovering over me when I sleep, eat, even bathe. Being here will be such a nice change."

"I'll go exploring as soon as I confirm my classes. Also, do you know the name of my roommate? I want to start decorating the room, maybe uncork my scented oils, but I don't want to step on any toes."

"I have no idea I am afraid," Professor Kvapil admitted. "I must head out now and will see you in Vampire Studies."

While the professor turned to head down the stairs a group of girls walked past them. A black-haired girl stopped and looked at Mercedes.

"So you are my room-mate huh?" she said.

Mercedes cocked her head to the side, "I am if this is your room."

"Mercedes, titled Mercedes L'axis from Kesshite," her brown eyes flickered over the other girl, then she stepped closer, a slight cinnamon smell came off of her olive colored skin. "And you are?"

"Yes it is my room," she coldly said.

Her eyes stared at Mercedes, they were of a different colour. Her right eye looked golden, her left, black.

"I am Amoro of the Dwin'anea family, you'll do best not to piss me off."

Surly, wasn't she? Possibly ill-bred.

"Piss... you... off?" she said, rolling the foreign phrase around her head. "Do people often urinate on you? Not to worry, I'm certain they don't allow that brand of misbehavior here."

Mercedes watched as the girl stomped into the room, "Amoro. A lovely name." She left the door open incase a neighbor decided to visit them, then began to unpack the chest near the bed.

"Do you like scented oils? The smell of dust and mold isn't the most pleasant to live in. I have ambergris, rosemary, lilac, vanilla and honeysuckle, and rainfall. Which would you prefer?"

As she waited for Amoro's reply, Mercedes pulled a large Persian rug from her chest. Kesshite magic was rarely flashy, but usually useful. A chest that held far more than it ought to was practical magic of the finest sort. She unrolled it onto the bare floor then smoothed it down; the thick fabric carried a bold design of gold flowers and crowns on a black background. [1] ( http://www.kazempourusa.com/graphics/rugfield.jpg)

Next to come out of the chest was a silk hanging with the greatest of Kesshite divinities: the Emerald mother. [2] (http://img506.imageshack.us/my.php?image=emeraldkj7.gif)

"Amoro, which direction do you think is east?"

Guess this is what they meant by 'almost there.'

Dimitri cocked his head to the side slightly and grinned again, then looked back at the other boy.

"Dark arts huh? I think I can live with that."

He winked at Elrohir and started up towards the house.

Alice was immediately distracted from her own thoughts when the raven decided it had to tap against her window. The cat had spotted the bird before Alice and eyed it within interest, if that were possible for a creature with no eyes. Holding the animated skeleton back, Alice sat up and turned around to lay her eyes upon the black bird that seemed intent on getting her attention.

The previous year had taught Alice never to shrug off such events and so she opened the window, allowing a clear path for the bird to enter. Noting the interest of her cat, Alice took hold of it in both hands before addressing the raven.

"What do you want?"

A faint suspicion within the back of Alice's mind spoke of perhaps the most significant teacher she'd had last year, Gahlagæer. Perhaps the raven was one of his messengers? Whilst not an official teacher, Gahlagæer had taken Alice on as his apprentice and she was keen to learn more under his guidance.

Waiting for the bird to do something further, Alice sat quietly in anticipation.

"Hey Mierin!" yelled a familiar voice.

Raven had entered the academy after them and was climbing up the stairs behind them.

"Glad to see you back here this year."

Truth was she wasn't sure if either of them would be back, most non-Draconians never returned for a second year and even less for a third year and so on.

"Seen Zero yet?"

"Oh hello," Mierin said with a smile. Her roommate from last year, would of course be used to her odd accent and the strange hissing sound that accompanied her voice. "No, we just arrived ourselves, I haven't seen him."

"Speaking of which," Arpad interjected, "How are living arrangements done for second years? Do we just keep the same roommates or are different ones assigned?"

Meanwhilst, out in the courtyard a great shimmering light materialized some thirty feet above the ground, announcing its presence with a snap-crackle-hiss of electricity and a loud thrumming noise like some form of massive engine.

A mysterious and mystical voice sounded forth from the cacophanous display, tenderly caressing the ears of all within earshot with the loving phrase of "GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND BLOODY WELL HAUL!"

"We're goin', we're goin'!"

"GOING GOING GONE, YA BRAT!"

A loud screaming ensued, as a human-shaped frenzy of flailing limbs sailed out of the light and towards the ground. Just as the clump of limbs was about to impact rather solidly with the ground, it straightened out, and with a loud PAPF, the boy landed on both feet in a manner that seemed to suggest he had never been in the air.

With a sigh of exasperation, he began a quick straightening-out of his pinstripe zoot suit, then turned back to the great thrumming light. With no small amount of flourish, he flipped the middle finger at the portal, and mouthed a curse that would cause a lich to wither... more. Then, amplifying his voice slightly, he shouted back.

"ITS A LITTLE LOUD ON THIS END, YA BASTARD."

"WHAT?"

"WE SAID ITS A LITTLE LOUD ON THIS END!"

The loud thrumming suddenly stopped, replaced with a pleasant humming more akin to a kitten's purr. The light also receded to a dim outline of a portal to what appeared to be a rather spartan room, though the view was blocked by a grinning figure with blazing green eyes.

"WHAT?" This time the shout issued forth like a sonic boom.

"WE SAID... We said it was a little loud on this end."

"Hey, you said you wanted a flashy entrance."

"Did you have to pitch us through the portal like that though? What the hell, man?"

"Oh quit yer bitchin'. You stuck the landing. Now haul ass and get to work. We'll be wanting weekly reports from you on what you've learned, and don't skimp on the details like you did on your engineering final. Sivv'Raxis my ass... more like Skar'Kis."

"Half-ass? Screw you man, we still got first in the class!"

"Well then, 'Angel of the Arts', go and learn about the arts! Get! Begone! Vamoose! Egress! And don't even think about asking to return until you've scored tops in everything!"

The figure withdrew into the portal and the portal vanished, leaving the courtyard surprisingly quiet, save for one Godulan Avatar's harsh mumbling as he turned and walked towards the 'Academy'.

@Kesshite

Amoro glared at her, her anger already rising at her room-mate. She kicked closed the door.

"I prefer the smell of death," she replied, pulling a rotten head from her own chest. "Make me made and you'll regret it."

She walked over to the window and looked out briefly before shutting the curtains.

"Our window faces south, you do the math," she then said.

@Wandering Vagabonds

Elrohir shrugged his shoulders and followed.

"Are you even enrolled here?" he asked.

@Assington

The raven flew inside her room and landed somewhere safe from the skeleton cat.

"Nevermore," said the raven. "Heh always wanted to say that as one of my raven messengers. I see you've arrived safely at the academy, how was your summer? Looking forward to learning more this year I take it."

@Callisdrun

"Oh," Raven replied. "Guess that means he's either not here yet or in his room unpacking." She rubbed the back of her neck as she felt like something had bitten her. "Yeah if both room-mates choose a shared room again they'll be room-mates again so I hope you've chosen to share again Mierin."

@Godular

Incidentally Professor Bräck had watched that particular arrival. He had felt something about to happen soon after the boys floor incident and quickly made his way out to investigate. A rather spectacular entry, he thought quietly to himself and watched the new student head up toward the academy.

"I can see that you are going to be rather interesting," he told the new arrival.

"How should I..."

There was a thunderous crack and flash somewhere above him.

What the hell?

Another boy fell from what looked like a tear in reality as the booming voice screamed after him. The noise was enough to knock Dimitri off balance and he fell to one knee. Even after the voices had lowered his ears where still ringing. The boy and whatever had produced him finished speaking and the tear disappeared. Dimirti got back to his feet.

"Whoa."

"That's pretty much normal around here, Dim," Elrohir remarked about the new arrival.

He looked toward Dimitri, rubbing his right ear.

"So are you?"

The mumbling halted almost instantly, and the boy snapped to attention and gave Professor Bräck a bow of mechanical precision.

"Sivv'Raxis, reporting as arranged. I am afraid that apart from enrollment and the class schedule, details regarding living quarters or required textbooks were not made known to me. I trust that such will be made known during orientation?"

His mouth did not move as he spoke, his entire body instead vibrating to create the necessary voice.

Professor Bräck tapped his chin as he looked over the boy in front of him.

"Accommodation is either shared or single, that is the choice you will be given now," he said.

The headmaster raised his eyebrow at the sight of the boys mouth not moving while speaking.

"Textbooks will be given when needed."

Sivv'Raxis seemed to withdraw into himself for a moment, a slight mumbling breaking out with five separate voices audible in the conversation. After a few moments, the boy straightened back up and announced in a firm voice:

"A single will do. Our... lack of sleep habits might prove disruptive to other tenants."

Mercedes watched as the girl handled the rotting meat with her bare hands, an act only slightly more hygienic than rubbing fresh excrement on one's face. Better yet, the head had been rolling around with the rest of her belongings. The other girl was undead, possible given the environment, or she was just stupid. Either way, Mercedes suspected a trip to the infirmary was in her future.

"The scent of necrosis? I was wondering about the particular odor you were emitting, but figured you just stepped in something on the way in. Good to know it's a personal choice," Mercedes said as she pinned the silk cloth to her wall.

"And it's not math, it's geography." She stepped back for a moment. The brilliant hues of the emerald silk print focused her. She felt her consciousness being tugged downward to rooting itself in the fertile earth of this place, then it branched outward toward the wild forests, filled with spirit of nature. The droma was here as it was everywhere life flourished, and while this place was nothing like the lush jungles of her homeland, it invigorated and refreshed her.

Mercedes smiled happily, " Now, if you're finished with the idle threats for today, I have housekeeping to attend to."

She hung her clothing for the year, all designed to keep her warm in this climate, in the closet and dresser provided. The basic alchemist set - mortar and pedestal, alembic, crucible, and reverberatory furnace - made of polished brass and hand blown glass tinted light cobalt. Mercedes had experimented in spagyrics previously, and wondered how many of the methods were similar. She dressed her bed in buttercream silk sheets and comforter, then removed a black cord hung with what looked like miniature Chinese lanterns in the same butter color from her chest and began to string them through her side of the room. Then came the martial necessities, unstrung bow, three daggers, and a half-sword. The nobility of Kesshite were expected to be warriors. Mercedes was not a warrior, but no one asked for her opinion. She would have to train when she found time. How they expected her to practice horseback was beyond her. Her parents had assumed that any proper school would have horses to ride, but that did not appear to be the case.

Finished for now, Mercedes opened the door and stood in the doorway, eyeing the spectacle and trying to decide if it needed an extra touch. Sibia was correct in that this was not what she was used to. It would be more than enough, however.

Mercedes wrinkled her nose as the scent of rotting flesh assaulted it. Amoro's head was bloated slightly from the buildup of gasses in its flesh. The cheeks were swollen obscenely and damp from the fluids being pressed out the skin. Hydrogen sulphide, she thought. That was what she was smelling. The well known byproduct of bad eggs, such as her roommate.

She left the room, and went to the registrar. There she filled a complaint in her large, flowing script: decomposing head in dorm room - disease hazard for living student. Probably against national health statues.
She then began wandering the grounds.

Sivv'Raxis seemed to withdraw into himself for a moment, a slight mumbling breaking out with five separate voices audible in the conversation. After a few moments, the boy straightened back up and announced in a firm voice:

"A single will do. Our... lack of sleep habits might prove disruptive to other tenants."

Professor Bräck nodded. He raised his hand and clicked his fingers.

"A single room awaits you."

@Kesshite

Amoro hated her room-mate already. Annoying, worrying about cleanliness and just plain out to piss her off. The black-haired girl decided she should have known not to have gone for a shared room and instead headed out to find out if it wasn't too late to change.

OOC: It's rotten but not bloated. It's actually a little dry like the animal heads you find a butchers.

"Indeed... we thank you," Sivv'Raxis replied before heading into the academy. He had to call up a previously-provided map of the building to figure out where he needed to go. He took a scenic route, however, after deciding it would be more useful to inspect the accomodations before looking into the nature of his dormroom-to-be. He had no luggage, after all, so there would be no harm in taking a leisurely stroll.

Besides, the whole walking thing was still a tad new. Any practice was good practice.

"Up the stairs, second floor," Professor Bräck added. "You'll be drawn to your room."

@Callisdrun
"Oh," Raven replied. "Guess that means he's either not here yet or in his room unpacking." She rubbed the back of her neck as she felt like something had bitten her. "Yeah if both room-mates choose a shared room again they'll be room-mates again so I hope you've chosen to share again Mierin."


"Indeed I have, as has Arpad I think, we're not anti-social" she said, looking to her friend, who nodded. "Lovely," she added smiling. The idea of a single room hadn't actually even been considered by either. Though sometimes seen as glamorous, Callisdrunian moroii were not very private creatures, and generally grew up in large communal family arrangements. "You wouldn't happen to have seen Ruari, would you?" she asked, trying not to let her voice get emotionally charged.

Arpad muttered under his breath "let the cradle robbing begin anew..."

The vampiress' black eyes darted right over to fix on him. "What did you say?" Mierin demanded, one eyebrow arched.

"Nothing," Arpad said, looking at the sky. "We should probably get up to our rooms."

OOC: Wasn't Raven's hair some unusual color in the last one? And is it still?

Raven nodded. "If you see Zero, tell him I'm waiting for him," she asked.

She then looked at Mierin, "Yeah we should, but I haven't seen Ruari though."

She picked up her trunk and headed to their room.

"I will," Arpad said, assuming that Raven had been talking to him, since he would probably see Zero soonest. "I'll see you later," he said to both girls as he made his way up to the boys rooms.

Once there, he was not surprised to see his old roomie. "Well here we are again, it seems," he said as he plopped his luggage down and started putting things away. "How was your vacation?" After putting his socks in one of the drawers, he remembered something. "Oh, Raven's here, she said to tell you she's waiting for you."

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

"Have you been well?" Mierin asked her once again roommate as she followed her up to their room. "I see you still favor blue," she laughed. It did not take long of course, to reach their room. Once their, Mierin looked around for a second before unpacking, folding her shirts and pants and putting them in drawers and hanging up her dresses.

Zero sighed, "I guessed she would be," he replied. "I'll see her later anyway."

Zero took out a large growling book from his trunk and placed it inside his wardrobe.

"It was fine, saw Raven alot went to undead raising parties with our families," he then said replying to the first part of the question. "Quite fun actually, what about you?"

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

Raven laughed. "Yeah well I hate dying my hair so I keep it my natural colour," she replied.

Once inside their room she started unpacking, including taking the same growling book and putting it in her bedside cabinet.

"That'll bite come the first necromancy lesson," she joked.

Dimitri shrugged.

"They didn't tell me much when they tossed me out."

He nodded at the man standing at the door speaking to the boy who fell from nowhere.

"I take it he's the big hancho around here?"

"Yep, he's the headmaster," Elrohir grinned. "He's very weird too."

He found this boy to be too strange even for his liking.

"They?"

Arpad was a bit unsettled by the growling book, though he'd seen stranger here of course. "Oh I spent most of it wasting time I suppose, boating, swimming, dates, a few parties. Went to a couple hosted by members of the Batory clan that Mierin invited me to, those were almost too intense though. Other than that nothing too unusual."

"Can we still get textbooks? You can't really get books from other planets in Callisdrun," he asked.
----------------------------------------

"Well that explains things," the moroii said when she got over her initial shock, her black eyes still staring slightly. "No wonder I never noticed you ever dyeing it. Nobody has blue hair naturally where I'm from."

She hung a few wall decorations, one a sort of small tapestry depicting Ithtyr, a Callisdrunian goddess (of lust, vengeance, the earth and moroii to be precise). In many countries, it would be considered someone graphic, but Mierin didn't think it would be a problem at such an institution. "What's that book? I don't have mine yet."

"Then he's the one I need to see."

Dimitri looked back over his shoulder at Elrohir.

"Thanks pal. And in case I do wind up staying, don't call me Dim."

With that he started towards the headmaster. Even if Dimitri wasn't technically 'enrolled' here, he didn't feel like walking around busted open all night. And this place looked like as good as any to crash.

After some time spent wandering the general area, Sivv'Raxis made his way to his dormroom-to-be, though during his short tour, passerby could here muted 'stop screaming you idiot, we'll get there eventually...'

Finally allowing the poor mind that had felt the summoning effect to take control, Sivv'Raxis nearly crashed into several other newcomer students as he ran full-tilt at an ungodly speed towards his room screaming repeatedly about "You can't stop me anymore you bastards!"

Curiously, just as he touched the doornob, he straightened up and regained his composure, even fixing his zoot-suit to rectify whatever rumpling his desperate flight had caused. He opened the door, and stepped through, mumbling something about summoning effects.

The room itself was relatively sparsely furnished, apparently expecting that the student would provide the majority of the accessorization. After giving the room a quick once over, he said aloud:

"Right... drop the cargo. Time for me to set up shop."

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

Outside the room, it would have doubtless caught others' attention as the light beneath the door suddenly flashed in intensity, followed by several horrendous thuds... further followed by the sounds of furniture being rearranged... and even further followed by the sounds of what appeared to be heavy construction.

A few minutes later, the cacophony halted abruptly, then the door opened issuing forth a disturbing amount of smoke and dust. Sivv'Raxis poked his head out and looked suspiciously down towards one end of the hall, then towards the other. Pleased with the results of his survey, he stepped out into the hall and set down a welcome mat with a bull's-eye on it. He then straightened up and put up a few stickers on the door.

"Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again."

"Electrocution Hazard, Knock before Opening."

"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here."

He then took one last look inside, shrugged in satisfaction at his work, closed the door, and wandered off to 'mingle'.

The last few hours seemed a blur to me, but that is probably better than anything.

Now I am forced to go to this school just because I look like her.

Her was her mother. Her father’s first and last love. Bella looked like a twin of her mother, but years younger. Shiny ebony hair framed ivory complexions. Her own cut short at chin length and her mother wearing hers long down her back.

Her eyes seemed a softer hue of gray, while her mother’s seemed cold granite. Under their button noses were rosy pink lips that always pout. Both women’s statures were tall, slim, and graceful, with subtle curves.

Now it was only her. Her mother murdered. Her father in shock. Now she is on her way to the school her mother had attended at her age.

I told myself I wouldn’t cry. A slender fingered wiped at her cheek, smearing the crystalline tear.

Whispers in the night…
“I cannot bear to even look at her.”
“But, sire, she is your daughter.”
“I…I have no wife. I have no daughter.”

Her eyes blinked and all that surrounded her was lost in a blur in her old memories.

Again she blinked her eyes and now she had arrived to the Academy, but late.

The elders had written to the headmaster begging them to allow Bella to attend this year, although, she would be late to arrive and to have a single room.

She sighed and heaved the strap to her book bag around her slim shoulder. She had several luggages with her and more would be sent later.

So here I am. Here is my new beginning.

So do I just go in?

Behind her stood a servant, she did not know his name, nor did she want to. She motioned with her right hand for him to grab the luggage and she straightened her black dress. As her stiletto heels dug into the yielding ground she prowled her way into the hallway.

She waited a moment while her eyes adjusted and said, “Uh, Hello?”

Mercedes was getting used to the cold and calming down somewhat. She stood outside the main doorway, sucking on a small, tightly rolled black cigarro. The hand blended tobacco, marijuana, and incaiqi relaxed her; she had not realized the amount of tension knotting in her gut. She breathed the fragrant, bluish smoke into the night air and marveled at the delicate curls that rose and then vanished into the night sky.

A girl in stilettos walked passed Mercedes. Mercedes listened as the sharp click of her heals was lost in the hallway's carpeting.

Maybe she should try to be nicer to her roommate. Amoro had practically tossed a gauntlet at Mercedes' feet. The girl was attractive, however, and perhaps she simply needed warming up to.

"Hello?" she heard someone call. The woman who had just walked by most likely.

Classes were in two day. Mercedes had never studied necromancy or any of the other 'dark arts' before. If she couldn't take a rotten head, she wouldn't make much of a dark lord of evil darkness. Heh, dark lady of leather dress and stiletto heals.

Mercedes sucked the last of the minty smelling smoke across her tongue before she ground the butt into the stone wall then tossed it in the trash.

"I can help you find your room," she called, as she wiped her hands absently on her handkerchief while wandering into the hall.

@Callisdrun

"Sounds intersting," Zero smirked. "You'll be given the books you need this year so don't worry about it."

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

Raven laughed. "You'll be surprised at the colours that are natural on this planet," she replied. "Something about sex with elves."

She walked over and looked at the tapestry Mierin had put up.

"That looks good," she commented. "Oh the book? You'll be given one at the end of the year."

@Wandering Vagabonds

"As you wish Dim," Elrohir said with a mock salute.

Just because he had told him not to say that didn't mean he would comply, that just wasn't in Elrohir's nature. Professor Bräck meanwhile noted Dimitri heading towards him.

"In the wars already Master Vauhn," he remarked.

@Godular

The strange noises coming from Sivv'Raxis' room had in fact drawn a small crowd of first years. They had no idea what to expect from the academy and the strange noises weren't expected. They however said nothing when he emerged from his room.

Sivv'Raxis took a momentary look around at the crowd that had gathered, then nodded in acknowledgement of them all. "'Sup?"

The room behind him made a couple rapid beeps, as if a car alarm had just been turned on. One boy who seemed a tad more brave than the others stepped closer to see what the beep meant, and was immediately repulsed by a rather loud growl that seemed to come from several directions at once.

"You're weird," one of the boys remarked.

There were murmurs of agreement from the other boys that had gathered. Across the hallway from his doorways stood a white-haired boy casually leaning against the doorframe of his own room.

"You're Godulan right?" he asked. "Should have figured you're all strange."

Dimitri shrugged and stopped in front of the professor.

"It's a living. I take it that since you know my name then this is where I was suppose to go."

He cross his his arms and once again surveyed the courtyard and house before his eyes came to rest on the professor.

Professor Bräck smirked. "Evidently they failed to tell you that you were enrolled here, strange as that may be to some it does happen here more often then people think," he said.

A loud explosion hit the nearby forest, sending birds flying into the air."

"Now that you have been welcomed to the Nocturne Academy of Dark Arts, would you like a single or double room?"

"I'll just take whatever's left. And is there somewhere where I can get this..."

Dimitri rolled his eyes towards his forehead. The cut had since stopped bleeding, but it would make a rather stark first impression on the other students or teachers or whatever the people here called themselves.

"... patched up?"

Sivv'Raxis grinned at the first comment, a wide and toothy grin that only widened further at the second comment, turning into an unnatural grin of almost demonic glee. With something of a flourish, he indicated his arms, pulling back the cuffs to reveal his wrists.

"Nothing up our sleeve, nothing up our sleeve... and now we shall make us... disappear!"

Then, with a grandiose pose and a snap of his fingers, he vanished. No noise, no fanfare, not even a momentary warping of light around his former position remained to imply Sivv'Raxis' presence. One boy even walked up and waved a hand through the space the Godulan had previously occupied.

"Bloody Godulans. Nutcases every damn one of 'em." Came a voice from right next to the boy who had made the second comment. As heads turned to regard the speaker, they saw an exact physical clone of the boy leaning against the opposite door, completely identical save for the blazing emerald eyes. "The only thing consistent about a Godulan is his inconsistency, if you ask me! I wouldn't be surprised if he has some kind of multiple personality disorder!"

Sudden change of voice:

"I would."

Another shift:

"There's a perfectly logical explanation for that!"

Another shift:

"That's what your mom said."

Another shift:

"A-ha-ha! Sly wit as always! Jolly good! 'Your Mom' indeed!"

Shift back to the original, and another flourish:

"And now we shall make us... reappear!"

And with another snap of his fingers, he vanished, save this time was punctuated with a cloud of emerald smoke and a fading voice saying: "Oh bloody hell, we forgot to carry the two."

Another moment of silence, and Sivv'Raxis' door opened, and Sivv'Raxis stepped out into the hall as if nothing at all had occurred. He shut the door, then turned around to look at the crowd, giving them a once-over with a confused look.

"What? Did something just happen? Dammit we miss all the fun!"

The raven flew inside her room and landed somewhere safe from the skeleton cat.

"Nevermore," said the raven. "Heh always wanted to say that as one of my raven messengers. I see you've arrived safely at the academy, how was your summer? Looking forward to learning more this year I take it."

Alice watched the raven as it flew across her room and perched itself safely atop a bookshelf. She was sure a talking bird would probably strike her roomate has odd, thankfully she hadn't arrived yet.

"Yeh, it wasn't too difficult reach your little corner of the galaxy. Summer wasn't particularly eventful, just killed some time back home. And what of yourself, nothing too extravagent?"

Over the last year Alice had come to appreciate the wisdom of her mentor, despite his somewhat odd manner. Although having known the man for some time she'd learned very little of his past or what exactly it was that he did when he wasn't instructing her.

"There are a few things I'd like to work on. You wouldn't happen to know much about teleportation, would you?"

Whilst it was common knowledge that Assingtonian vampires could fly, Alice still wasn't old enough to enjoy such abilities. Generally one was at least a hundred years before they could take flight and so Alice still had a long while to wait.

He was actually glad to be back here. Ruari couldn't believe it. But home had been, well, strange.

Like, Callum's big sister, f'rinstance. She'd gone all Goth while he was away. So over the holidays she'd come snaking up to him all the time, because he was a "Dark Prince". He'd tried to explain. He wasn't a dark anything, he'd just got sent to this school last year because he'd accidentally raised his dead Granny Dhurig.

Somebody had to teach him how to stop it doing that sort of thing, or at least control it. Findhorn didn't believe in magic. So Findhorn's educational authorities had found out about this place. Not that it'd done him all that much good, at least with that problem, but all the same, it wasn't necessarily all that Dark. Well, he wasn't, he amended, remembering some of his classmates. Not to mention the Forest.

As for being a Prince, somebody you've grown up with who hangs around with your little brother and was in Miss Rhys's class too and tried to sneak looks when you and the other girls went skinny-dipping and you'd all ganged up on him and bashed him up ... obviously couldn't be a prince. Or mysterious in any way. So what was she on about?

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have criticised her Goth outfit. Just because he knew some real vampires didn't mean she couldn't pretend whatever she wanted. But she'd looked so fake compared with, say, Mierin ...

His stomach sort of bumped. Mierin. My lover, he said to himself, trying the word out. We're lovers. Callum had been all bouncy over what had happened at Hogmanay: he and Tessa McKinnan had had a roll in the hay. That's what he'd said, and it was more or less what he'd meant, considering they'd picked the McKinnan barn to do it in.

But what he'd had with Mierin certainly wasn't a roll in the hay. In fact, he hadn't told Callum about it at all. Callum could be Big Fat Love Machine and boast all he liked, but Ruari wasn't going to say a word about Mierin. What she was, was his friend. More than Callum had ever been, in fact.

He'd always thought he and Callum were friends, and they were, but it was more that they did things together, like climb the cliffs and swim and stuff. So, fine, he and Mierin did things together, too, but they talked about things as well, things he'd never have talked about with Callum. What being a vampire was like; and what families' expectations did to you, and how religion came into it, which was weird to Ruari, who didn't bother about that sort of thing much -- anyway, all sorts of stuff like that.

Thinking about her was enough to make Ruari want to see her. To tell the truth, he'd spent the entire holiday wanting to see her.

Ruari snorted, laughing at himself. Stuffup took it as an invitation. The little, ah, reconstituted cat -- another of his failures, he'd been meant to animate the skeleton and instead he'd brought the whole animal back to life -- nudged her head against Ruari's knuckles, pushing them painfully onto the lock on his suitcase.

"Yeah, right, time to stop mucking around," he told the animal. He'd have to finish unpacking, get himself together and go looking for Mierin. But what if she didn't like him any more? She might have met somebody her own age, or even older, while she was away. She might slam her window if he went climbing into her room again. She might complain about how this kid was bothering her ...

Stuffup yowled and scratched the door. Well-trained by now, Ruari opened it.

Omiogodfirstyears!

There was a whole crowd of them out there in the corridor, standing outside someone else's door looking like a very young lynch mob. Very, very young. Some of them were probably the same age as he was (he'd been tacked on to the class that was now second year, so he'd been the youngest in it), but they all looked unbelievably fresh and clean and unworried. And predatory.

He didn't want anything to do with this, whatever it was. So he couldn't go back into his room and wait, in case some kind of chaos broke out. Edgily he picked his way through the mob, heading for the stairs. If Mierin was here yet, she'd probably be finished with her unpacking; he'd never met anyone who could handle the boring bits of life so efficiently. So she might very well be already ensconced in the dining hall. Maybe some of the others would be too. The Old Guard, eh? Anyway, he could do with a coffee.

A minor explosion caught his attention. Ah, of course, that's where they'd be! Changing tack, he headed for the sound.

@Wandering Vagabonds

"Ah yes that will be the infirmary," Professor Bräck said. "Go up the stairs to the third floor, down the hall, last door on your left. Easily noticed by the blood on the door and the screams of terror as the staffroom is the door opposite."

The headmaster then chuckled.

"But you do have a choice of rooms Master Vauhn, single or double."

@Godular

The white-haired boy narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't play me for a fool," he said. "I know the weirdness to expect from you, already dealt with a strange Godulan diplomat.

He looked at the gathered first years, they had all gone quiet.

"They should keep an eye out on you, you are trouble. Might even give Elrohir a run for his money but I warn you know I can see through any tricks you might play."

@Assington

The raven chuckled.

"Had a bit of fun involving a diplomat from another country and a group of very nasty necromancers, there were also ninja's involved," Gahlagæer replied. "A long story mind you."

The raven flapped it's wings.

"Teleportation, I do love the convenience of teleportation, shame that bloody headmasters blocked my ability to teleport into the academy. Not like I plan on coming to do anything deviant."

The raven chuckled once again.

"Of course I will be happy to teach you that ability, better to start sooner as it takes ages to learn how to teleport without leaving vital organs behind."

Sivv'Raxis smiled slightly at the mention of 'the diplomat', but one could easily tell there was an element of pain in the response. "Ah yes... we recognize you now. Robin, is it? The Wolf-Talker? Sevren would send his regards, but he is somewhat busy of late, what with his rather sudden and... undesired ascension to head of the family.

"You might have heard him mention the name of Sojun... turns out all our reverence was worth less than a crock of steaming shite for that one. Doubtless you might have heard the reports of our loss of Terivine. Home of the entire diplomatic corps, and more importantly of the Aktei family. Wiped clean in an instant... just like..."

Sivv'Raxis clapped his hands together so hard that the force of the sound rocked the closest folks in the crowd onto their heels.

"...That."

Sivv'Raxis' grin took on some of the mirth it had when he had first emerged, but only some. "But past is past. As for any 'tricks' we might play..." with a swirl of his hand he brought forth a magnificently intricate clockwork wolf which he offered to Robin with a flourish.

"No, we are not here to cause trouble. We are here to learn. We are here to understand. You would know yourself, however, that we are hardly the kind to allow any form of monotony to hold sway for overlong. We will not cause 'tricks'... we will cause... 'mischief.'"

Robin nodded, "I am that vampire who speaks to wolves," he replied.

There were murmurs amongst the first years, they couldn't believe that he could speak to wolves. It was after all only something spoken of in legend to most people. Robin took the clockwork wolf and looked at it with interest.

"Up until I met you, Sevren was the strangest person I had ever met."

"We shall take that as a compliment," Sivv'Raxis replied. "If we are strange, then we can make people think. And the more people think, the more they can learn. Take you for example... and your telepathic Wolf-Talking..."

This next sentence came not from Sivv'Raxis, but from within Robin's own head.

We would seek to learn of this method.

"We know of Telepathy, but it would seem that there is some form of fundamental difference between the two practices."

"Oh you would," Robin replied, rolling his eyes.

He then looked to the gathered first-years.

"Don't you have something better to do?" he remarked, baring his fangs. "Staying around means you're my next meal."

None of them wanted to and they quickly dispersed. Robin then returned his gaze to Sivv'Raxis, he didn't look pleased.

"And you stay out of my head," he then warned. "Of course it is different, you won't beable to speak to wolves in their tongue."

@Callisdrun

"Sounds intersting," Zero smirked. "You'll be given the books you need this year so don't worry about it."

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

Raven laughed. "You'll be surprised at the colours that are natural on this planet," she replied. "Something about sex with elves."

She walked over and looked at the tapestry Mierin had put up.

"That looks good," she commented. "Oh the book? You'll be given one at the end of the year."



"Okay, cool," Arpad said. He finished putting his things away and put up his view wall decorations. "So, what do we do until classes start? And what the hel am I supposed to do with this?" he pointed at the skeletal feline that apparently had been left in his room.

-----------------------------------------
"Yes, it's my favorite goddess," Mierin said reverantly, a tone that Raven was probably unused to hearing from her. Ithtyr of course was always depicted as a vampiress, and like her priestesses, always clothed only in her skin, though often with blood covering parts of it. In Mierin's wall hanging, the goddess was rising from a throne of tree roots.

Her eyes had widened at mention of sex with elves. "Are they good? The elves I mean?"

Until now she had ignored the little bone cat that was entrusted to her care, but now she waved her hand in front of it, causing it to move its head left and right like a real cat wondering what she was doing.

Alice nodded at the raven's last comment, having guessed as much.

"Whilst I don't necessarily need those organs... I think I'd prefer to keep them inside me."

Whilst the story about necromancers and ninjas sparked somewhat of an interest within Alice, she was never one to pry unless she felt it was necessary to know such information.

Alice found herself fingering one of the two chains around her neck. The ever present purple gem upon a gold chain now had company.The second chain was composed of some random metal, the specifics of which were not important to Alice. It was thin and longer than the gold, holding something much heavier than a small gem.

Remembering what was on the end of it, Alice pulled the chain out from under her grey t-shirt and held a white stone about the size of her fist. The stone appeared to polished marble with thin little veins of red running through it. Whilst it appeared solid, Alice had bitten into it many times and taken her feed.

"I managed to get my hands on a blood stone over the summer. It should be good to last for the next two hundred years or so... hopefully."

Sivv'Raxis shrugged concession to Robin's demand about not entering his head. "So it is merely a matter of linguistics then? That simplifies things immensely!"

"Fine, I'll take a single then."

Dimitri hadn't ever had the luxury of having his own room, other than the cell at the holding facility.

So long as those shithead back home are paying for it, why not live it up a little.

He smirked inwardly, then took a moment to recompose himself. He then nodded to the professor, pushed past the him and headed up towards the infirmary.

@Callisdrun

Zero shrugged. "Same thing we do every year," he replied, a grin crossed his face. "Cause trouble and avoid getting caught."

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

Raven looked up at it and smiled.

"I wouldn't know," she replied and laughed. "Doubt Zero would like me thinking about stuff like that."

@Assington

"Always, they're a part of you and you'd feel empty without them," Gahlagæer remarked. "Mind you Draconian vampires tend to suffer final death if they leave their hearts behind, that's the key to their unlife. Which is strange as they can take metal and plastic to the heart and not suffer final death, wooden stakes on the other hand."

The raven then looked toward Alice, eyeing the stone. A blood stone but not the type he had seen before, the ones he knew where all red in colour.

"A type of blood stone I have not seen before

@Godular

"Pretty much yeah," Robin replied, placing his hands behind his head. "Oh don't tell me you can easily pick up another language."

@Wandering Vagabonds

Professor Bräck clicked his fingers. "Done, a single room awaits you."

"It is simply a matter of pattern recognition. Once one gets the grammar and syntax set in place it all boils down to merely expanding one's vocabulary. It is not difficult to learn a language, it is simply contingent on wanting to devote the necessary time. Besides, once one gets High-Shirassi down, the other languages seem like a cakewalk in comparison."

Robin shook his head and looked directly at Sivv'Raxis.

"Not that simple, their language is very different from our own," he pointed out.

Dimitri waved back over his shoulder at the professor and headed up the stairs. He 'accidently' bumped into several others on his trip up, but none seemed to be carrying anything of value.

Just my luck.

He gave up on the pick-pocketing and descided to go straight for the infirmary.

The girl had apparently disappeared, so Mercedes headed back upstairs. On the way, a young man bumped into her.

"Pardon," Mercedes murmured thoughtlessly. She missed his fingers dipping into her pocket and finding nothing of interest. Only on reflection did she notice the odd bruises and scraps on his body. Obviously, his roommate was worse than hers.

"EVERY language is very different from our own. Shirassi-Militant and High-Shirassi are about as different as one can get from your standard blah blah blah. It is beyond human capability even to hear Shirassi-Militant, and High-Shirassi..."

Sivv'Raxis broke into a sequence of low hums, rapid clicks, and the occasional guttural cough, plunging that part of the hall into a mysteriously enthralling symphony of seemingly random yet melodic chanting. Despite the nature of the speech, somehow its meaning was known to Robin as if by instinct.

"...can only be understood if we WANT you to understand it. Considering the species is long extinct, initial understanding of the language was remarkably difficult to achieve."

Robin raised an eyebrow as a couple of older students walked past them.

"Of course anyone can just make up a language just like that," he remarked. "And they make no fucking sense just like that."

Dimtri arrived on the third floor. There was the distinct copper smell of blood, though he could not see any "smeared on the walls" as the headmaster had said.

Goofy old coot.

He sighed and started down the hallway.

Blood's not on the walls, maybe there's a stash inside.

He stopped in front of the door, opened it and slipped inside.

He may not have noticed the bloody hand print on the door as he entered, but the blood covered chair nearest the door should be easily spotted. In another chair was a young yellow haired girl clutching an arm. On closer inspection it was obvious that she was holding her own severed arm. She didn't look to shocked by it and looked up as Dimitri entered.

"Sit down I'll be with you in a minute," a fat black-haired woman said.

A nametag pinned to her clothes stated 'Nurse Doris', a cigarette was limply held between her lips as she bandaged the head of another girl.

Then again, maybe no stash.

The disapointment faded quickly though. The feeling was replaced by a fair bit of regret.

What the hell did I get myself into now?

Dimitri looked down at the bloody chair.

"I'll stand, thanks."

"Suit yourself," Nurse Doris replied.

She then stepped away from the girl having finished bandaging her up.

"You may go."

The girl nodded and left the infirmary. The nurse then turned to Dimitri.

"Now what do we have here?" She looked over Dimitri. "What in the name of dark gods happened to you? They do tell you to keep out of the forest."

"What can I say. Being pushed out of a speeding van has a way of taking a toll on the body."

Dimitri flicked his head so that his hair moved out of the way of the wound on his head.

"I think the bleeding's stopped, but he told me to come up here anyways."

The nurse looked over Dimitri. For a moment she thought about his injuries and took a long drag on her cigarette. She raised her hand over his chest and a yellow orb appeared. It was like that for several minutes until he was completely healed.

"You may go now."

"Uh... thanks."

He shook off the wierd feeling he had gotten while that yellow orb thing was in front of him. As the door shut behind him he smacked his forehead.

Son of a... forgot to ask about a blood bank.

He looked back at the door with the bloody hand print on it.

Yeah. Not worth it.

He started back down the stairs and started contemplating on how he was suppose to find his room.

"Made up?" Sivv'Raxis replied with a snort. "We think not. High-Shirassi has always been the marlin of the languages we have been able to decipher, just a step or two below full blown Caleshan. We were just lucky that High-Shirassi had a written form and two secondary languages to help give clues about the mindset of the originators.

"In our experience we have encountered a great many forms of language. Verbal, Tactile, Chromatic, spanning all sorts of frequencies. Of COURSE an alien language is going to be nothing like ours. Of COURSE a language developed by a creature with a different mouth structure is going to be nearly unspeakable by those with a humanoid mouth structure. You honestly speak as though it would stop us though, as if it would prove some form of impediment. Human vocal structures can't match High-Shirassi at all, it is simply impossible... it requires three separate sets of vocal cords just to make the basic sounds. Shirassi-Militant is based on skin pigmentation!

"How do we manage to understand it? How do we manage to speak it? The same way we can do this..."

Sivv'Raxis brought his left arm out, checking the hall to make sure that nobody was paying attention, and then flexed slightly. Drawing his right hand out, he ran it over his other arm. As the hand passed over, the left arm lengthened and reshaped itself into a jagged crystalline blade about four feet long from the elbow, then reverted back to its original shape without prompting by the other hand.

"We can take on any shape we wish. Our humanity was left behind long ago. However many times you might call us 'strange' or 'wierd,' do be so kind as to recall that we are not bound by the shape that we have taken."

@Callisdrun

Zero shrugged. "Same thing we do every year," he replied, a grin crossed his face. "Cause trouble and avoid getting caught."

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

Raven looked up at it and smiled.

"I wouldn't know," she replied and laughed. "Doubt Zero would like me thinking about stuff like that."


"Well," Arpad chuckled. "Got any ideas for how to get started on that?" Certainly, it was never too early to begin the fun. "What if we pulled something on one or both of those two rival guys. They'd probably blame each other."

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

Mierin couldn't keep from laughing, which was good, because there likely was no other way to move past the social faux-pas she had probably just made. "I'm sorry, I should have thought about what I was saying first." Monogamy wasn't something her clan was known for, and Raven's statement had somewhat begged some sort of question.

"I'm going to go down to the dining room, do you want to come or are you staying here?" the young vampiress asked, changing the subject. Hopefully, Ruari would be there.

Mercedes' noise led her to the dinning room, where a few of the students had already gathered. The food smelled... interesting. It wasn't Kesshite fare. She caught the scent of a number of herbs and spices that were unfamiliar to her.

She was used to sitting, and politely waiting in silence for her parents to arrive, at which point the food was served. Something told her that wasn't the case here. She hovered at the doorway, her toe digging a small hole in the plush, red carpet as she observed how the other students went about having supper.

@Godular

Robin didn't look too impressed. In fact he looked rather bored.

"No you are pretty much strange," he replied.

Robin thought for a moment.

"So you can take on the form of anyone?"

@Callisdrun

"Yeah but that'll probably get the academy blown up," Zero pointed out. "That happens and we're out of an academy until it's rebuilt."

Zero grinned at him.

"Besides, Elrohir would be a better bet."

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

Meirin looked at her watch. "It's nearly midnight," she said. "Kitchens closed."

"We took your form mere minutes ago," Sivv'Raxis replied in a tone somewhat akin to 'you forgot already?'. "No matter, we are not limited to humanoid forms..."

Sivv'Raxis dropped down as if about to do push-ups, and kicked his legs out behind him before drawing them back in towards his body. With a simple flowing redistribution of body mass, his form shifted to that of a decidedly enormous wolf sitting directly before Robin.

"Bark bark howl yip grr, and so forth."

The wolf then stood up and walked over to the wall, then onto the wall, and onto the ceiling... as if there had been no change in the relative orientation of his 'floor'. Sivv'Raxis sat down on the middle of the ceiling and looked at Robin for a moment.

"You seem to have come up with some form of 'idea'."

"Ah yes, true you did do that," Robin said. "And yes I do have an idea but I'd need to think how to use it."

The young vampire just smirked and looked up at the ceiling.

"Right now I just have to find out if those boys at the nearest village are looking for money again for this year."

As Dimitri stepped off the stairs onto the boys dorm level he felt drawn down one of the hallways. He turned the corner and came upon another boy standing on his own looking up at what appeared to be a wolf ornament on the ceiling. And what's more, he seemed to be talking to it.

This place keeps getting weirder and weirder.

His eyes fell on a door a little ways past the boy and he started towards it.

"Always, they're a part of you and you'd feel empty without them," Gahlagæer remarked. "Mind you Draconian vampires tend to suffer final death if they leave their hearts behind, that's the key to their unlife. Which is strange as they can take metal and plastic to the heart and not suffer final death, wooden stakes on the other hand."

The raven then looked toward Alice, eyeing the stone. A blood stone but not the type he had seen before, the ones he knew where all red in colour.

"A type of blood stone I have not seen before

Alice nodded. She had suffered wooden stakes to the heart before, of course they hadn't done anything as her heart no longer beat, hence such a wound could not harm her. Even a silver stake to the heart wouldn't kill her, although it would be extremely painful for any Assingtonian vampire, such as herself.

"I can't be sure of its origins, but the vampire I aquired it from claimed he purchased it in Tarlachia. Either way, the blood tastes good and it doesn't appear to be running out so I'm content."

Keeping her hand on the stone, Alice decided to change the subject.

"So, any idea Bräck has in store for us in necromancy this year?"

"Tarlachia, Tarlachia," Gahlagæer muttered to himself. "Can't say that place rings a bell. Good that you won't have to go to a local village or barter with Professor Kvapil."

The raven began to preen his feathers but Gahlagæer was still able to talk.

"Ah yes the headmasters necromancy lessons."

He paused.

"Sorry to say I don't know exactly what he has planned, he never tells me those things."

"This would not happen to be some form of scam, would it? Whatever mischief we intend, however spectacular it may be, we do wish to keep it honest. Any other form of mischief and deception however..."

Sivv'Raxis stopped to stare at a boy walking down the corridor who had given him more than a passing notice... then continued on in mock-wolf-speech, even taking on an old-english accent with his enunciation as he did so.

"Grr bark bark woof, bark woof yip howl grr, yip yip woof howl bark yip woof..."

Then he turned his seemingly undivided attention on the boy passing beneath him, even going so far as to sniff at the boy's hair as he passed, as if the boy had some amazingly unique scent before making a "PHEW!" noise and returning to his seat on the ceiling in front of Robin.

"Howl bark grr yip!"

"What a pity," Arpad sighed. "I was more hoping it'd get both of them in trouble. Their endless feud can be entertaining, but their egos get annoying." He thought about what Zero had said for a second. "Do you mean doing something with Elohir or to him?" After all, their classmate was likely to be the source of much mischief on his own.

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

"So?" Mierin responded. Of course, she hadn't figured on the kitchens being closed, as she was still operating on the time schedule of her native land, which was generally later than other places, especially for moroii. Of course, it was probably obvious to Raven that the reason Mierin wanted to go to the dining hall was that she reasoned it would be the best way to meet up with Ruari, or others.

"We can still socialize," she added.

Dimitri almost broke his stride as the 'ornament' began sniffing his hair. He ducked out from underneith it and looked back up at it with an expression that lay somewhere between shock and anger.

"Holy shit. That thing's real?"

"Oh no scam," Robin promised. "Just a little bit of payback."

He watched Sivv'Raxis in wolf form sniff at a passing student. There was something rather disturbing about that.

"Not only that," he said to the new student. "He's apparently a student too. Godulans, watch out for them, strange fuckers the lot of them."

@Callisdrun

"Yeah but if they do anything big and they find out it was us that caused it we may get thrown out," Zero warned.

He lay down on his bed and put his hands behind his head.

"Well depends, do you go with the best prankster around or do you prove yourself in your own way in beating him."

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

"Probably meet the boys down there as well," Raven replied. "Let's go."

She then made her way to the door.

"Strange, yes. Fuckers, why not. Strange Fuckers? Meh, we will try anything once."

"That is true, we'd be expelled even if we only indirectly caused the destruction of the building," the young Callisdrunian said regretfully, contemplating. "Well, pulling a prank on a known prankster carries a significant risk of retaliation if we are found out. Also, I'm interested to hear what Elohir has cooked up."

"So what do you want to do now?"

--------------------------------
Closing her drawer after putting the last item inside, Mierin followed her roommate out the door, her braids swaying slightly as she herself swayed a bit more. Perhaps it was late, but the dining hall still seemed to be the natural place for socializing.

Alice nodded, half expecting that the headmaster wouldn't have disclosed his lesson plans. She wasn't quite sure but she didn't think Gahlagæer even had an official position at the school. Either way, he knew a lot and that was what mattered to Alice.

"Anyway, I'm going to wander down and see if I can find any of the others from last year. It won't do me any good sitting in here all day talking to a bird."

Evidently Alice had developed a bit more of a sense of humour over the summer, seeming much less uptight than her first year.

"I assume I'll see you some time this week?"

Alice hid it well but she was anxious to get back to their private lessons. Out of anything at the academy she had enjoyed them most and definitely learned the most from them.

The cat within her grasp continued to eye the raven, despite having no ability to digest the bird, it was intent on devouring it.

"Perhaps next time you should choose a messenger less appealing to felines?"

It's tomato soap, Mercedes. But not as you know it.

Mercedes dipped her spoon into the dark red liquid, swirled it gently around the large bowl. Basil. Why were there basil floating on the top? She sipped it lightly, touching the liquid to her tongue to make sure it wasn't too hot before swallowing. No milk, no olive oil, but chopped onions, celery, and carrots to make up for it. She chewed the bit of onion in her mouth. There was something offensively mild about this food. It was designed to be palatable, but to leave no mark on the senses. Where was the chili pepper? The rosemary pork sausage? The freshly ground cheese?

Most pitifully, there appeared to be no tomatoes. It was just a red liquid with none of those diced, juicy chunks of tomato that made tomato soup worth eating. This was not tomato soup, but some abomination of tomato paste and carrots.

Around her, other student happily slurped down the foul brew, blissfully ignorant of their poor taste.

Mercedes sighed and then reached for a piece of French bread. Her fingers sunk into the soft, doughy center then she tore it in two. Bits of hard crust landed on the top of the soup, floating along with the basil on the surface.

She dipped her spoon in once more. It would be a long year.

@Godular

Robin looked toward Sivv'Raxis, but decided against replying to that remark.

@Callisdrun

"Go find Elrohir?" Zero suggested.

His skeleton cat let out a small meow before leaping up onto the windowsill.

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

In the dining hall there were already a couple of groups of students in there. One unfortunately consisted of Diego and his gang. They were sat around on the tables talking and listening to one of Diego's pointless stories about how he's better than Aaron.

Another group was a small study group. Already some students were busy studying for the coming year.

"Well I don't see any of our lot," Raven sighed.

@Assington

"People might think you were crazy," Gahlagæer chuckled.

The raven flew over to the window, keeping an eye on the cat.

"Ah don't worry about the cat, no cat could catch my raven's. I'll see you later this week, maybe tomorrow if schedules allow."

Dimitri's mouth opened as though he was going to make a response to the boy. Then the wolf spoke for itself and he stopped in mid thought, though his mouth just hung open. After a moment the look of confusion left his face and closed his mouth. He threw his arms up in the air.

"I give up."

He turned and went towards the door that he had been heading towards earlier, opened it and went in. Once inside, he crossed to the bed straight away and looked around the small room. It looked to have all the bare minimums for a school dorm; a bed, a small desk, wardrobe. The wardrobe probably wouldn't do Dimitri much good, as all he had where the clothes on his back. He sighed and lay back in the bed and reflected on the strange goings on he had observed so far.

Well, at least now I know why they sent me here. They're trying to drive me mad.

Sivv'Raxis snickered inwardly at the whole situation, then reverted into 'human' form. With a hop and a flip, he once again stood firmly on the floor.

"I will still be wanting to learn that language, though there is no rush. I am going to 'wander'"

With what could only be considered a 'curt' wave, he turned and walked away down the corridor and back towards the first floor. Instead of walking, however, he seemed to move as though dancing to some personal tune...

"Fine by me," Robin replied and turned to go inside his room.

Alice nodded and gave the small bird a wave as it departed. Using her mental abilities to close the window, she released the cat and watched as it pounced at the glass only to find that there was actually something blocking the way. By now the bird was long gone.

Leaving the cat to entertain itself, Alice closed the door of her room and strolled down the corridor. She had no idea whether anyone she knew would even be returning this year but there was no use in sitting around wondering about it. Whilst Alice hadn't been a particularly social student, she was slowly changing, at least she hoped.

Weaving her way down stairs and a number of passages, Alice finally found herself at the dining hall. Of course she wasn't there to eat as eating was not a luxury she possessed anymore, yet perhaps she could spot a few familiar faces as many people seemed to gather within the large hall.

Standing just to the side of the door, Alice began scanning the hall with her keen eyes, looking for any familiar faces. Standing at about five foot ten, Alice was reasonably tall compared to other girls her age and could be somewhat of an imposing figure when she wanted to be. She wore a simple grey t-shirt and black jeans, ending with a simple pair of runners.

Whilst she conciously made an effort to avoid the goth look, she couldn't help having jet black hair and being extremely pale due to her vampirism and so it wasn't surprising for people to assume she was a bloodsucker. Either way, it didn't bother her too much. Becoming a vampire was her choice in order to prolong her life. Anyone that held that against her would taste her fist.

As he 'danced' his way down the hall, Sivv'Raxis alternated between the floor, walls, and ceiling as smoothly as one would move between steps on a staircase. He displayed uncanny grace as he navigated groups of students heading towards their dormitories, then slid down the stair railings without effort.

Where to go, where to go... the cafeteria is always a good option.

Spinning his way past a tall, pale, and dark haired girl who seemed to radiate an aura of 'pay attention to me or die', he entered the dining hall and spared a glance to see what was on the menu.

NOTHING! NOTHING ON THE MENU WHATSOEVER! AH-HA-HA-HAAAA...

Bloody savages. Oh well, Godulans did not 'need' to eat at any time, and the entire process was more of an indulgence than anything, so it was no big loss. The same could be said for sleeping, breathing, and 'using the bathroom', though they all preferred to make it seem like a Godulan needed to breathe or rest in the event somebody thought to try something against him. Of course he could also make his crystalline 'flesh' as hard as steel, and that whole gravity thing could be used to enhance his weight to epic proportions, but that needn't be talked about until somebody felt the need to throw a punch at him.

He spent the next few minutes scanning the dining hall in general, looking for anybody he might recognize. Coredians, Woodians, randomized assortments of other folks the Godulans had reason to be happy happy with... looked like a big fat 'no dice' though... phooey.

No second-years, Ruari concluded sadly.

He had had no trouble in finding the site of the explosion, but the bunch who usually clustered round such random events had obviously moved on, and there was no interesting damage or infuriated staff to look at. So, okay, he'd go treat himself to some coffee, even if, given the time, he had to get it from a vending machine.

The dining hall was well lit, and Ruari's heart lifted. He'd forgotten how the Academy was geared to nocturnal students. Not that he was nocturnal, of course, he was as human as they came, he reminded himself ... all the same, nights were more comfortable, somehow, these days.

So it was a relaxed, calm, reasonably happy Ruari who walked through the dining room doors and was instantly struck by a misery so deep his knees began to buckle.

She was there!

But she was there with another girl. That Raven.

Well that wasn't so bad, was it? Better than with a guy. But he'd have to pry her away ... goddess, she was so beautiful! Look at her hair! She'd put it in braids. She knew how he loved to watch her do that, and how he liked even better to undo all her work and let her hair float down over her strange cool skin ...

Ruari's own skin was strangely hot. Hotter and hotter. He was blushing right through the roots of his red hair. And worse. Awkwardly, he re-positioned the box he'd been carrying behind his back. He knew it looked stupid to be carrying a box in front of him at that weird angle. She'd look at him and she'd know exactly why he had to hold it like that. She'd laugh and say something cutting about over-eager kids ...

"Hello, Mierin," he croaked, his voice breaking in a way it hadn't done for the past six months. "I thought you might be here. I, I brought you something. From Findhorn."

Oh, why had he given it to her here? He'd meant to do it when they were alone, somewhere romantic. He'd imagined it over and over while he was away. While he was watching old Mrs Finney spin the fine goat's-hair he brought her, while she was knitting it, while he was grubbing weeds and stones from every acre of her croft in payment for the work, and most of all when it was finished.

Mrs Finney had proudly shown him how it stood the test. A wedding-ring shawl is a shawl so fine it can be pulled without hindrance through a wedding-ring. Mrs Finney had taken off hers, worn thin after almost 60 years' marriage, but still smooth, and drawn the cobweb of ivory lace through the golden circle.That was when Ruari had seen so clearly how it would be, how he would drape it over her, how the shawl and her hair would both cover and reveal her, silver in the moonlight ...

"Ruari?"

He tried to look cool. Even dug up a smile from somewhere. He was going to be very adult about this, in front of all these people. Whatever she said, whatever she did, he wasn't going to do anything stupid.

OOC: Seems like I'm having to repeat myself, kitchens are CLOSED, no food is being served.

Raven saw Ruari and smiled. "Well I'll leave you two lovebirds to it then," she said and walked off.

As she did so, she spotted another familiar face.

"Alice, how was your summer?"

It had goten quiet out in the hall. Dimitri removed his hands from over his eyes and looked out the door at the door opposite his. It was closed and, thusly, provided no entertainment. He sighed and resigned himself to go see where everyone had gone. He slid off the bed and mussed the sheets up to show someone had already taken possesion of the room, then crossed to the door and poked his head out into the hall. He caught a glimps of a few boys walking down towards the stairs. Dimitri stepped out of the room and closed the door, then took to following the small pack ahead of him. They went down the stairs and went through a set of doors. Dimitri followed a few paces behind them. The doors opened up to a large room that he could only assume was the dining hall. The room was populated by a great many students, most of them talking in packs scattered around the room.

Well, looks like this is where the party is.

He took a few steps into the room, then thought better of it and looked around for a less well lit place along the wall. He found a spot that was satisfactory, so he went to it. He crossed his arms, leaned back against the wall and took to doing a bit of people watching.

How excrutiatingly dull. Not one explosion had occurred in the several minutes Sivv'Raxis had observed this conglomeration of conversing clumps of kids. Cliques out the wazoo.

No matter, after a while, an opening presented itself, in the form of the kid who had passed him by during his chat with the wolf-talker. He seemed hesitant enough to be noticed, and had he the capability would have found himself in the same corner of the ceiling as Sivv'Raxis presently sat, lounging and observing the rest of the room as well.

Moving over, he did a flip and landed in a chair at the same table as the boy without even making so much as a light thump.

"If you do not mind, we would like to apologize for the odd circumstances concerning our first meeting back in the corridor. We are Sivv'Raxis, though you would know us better as the gravity-defying dog. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for that, but you likely don't give a flying flip. In any event, we do hope my rather 'disturbing' ploy did not put you off TOO much."

Dimitri jumped inwardly as Sivv'Raxis did his flip and landed next to him, though his body didn't move. While he marveled at how the Godulan spoke without a mouth, he did his best not to be unnerved by it.

"That's alright. I get the feeling there's going to be a lot of strange things going on here."

He looked up at the cieling and quirked a brow.

"That gravity defying thing is quite a trick though."

"Indeed, it used to be restricted solely to Godulan Special Forces, but the boon eventually... made its way to the rest of us. It comes in remarkably handy in zero-gravity situations. Curious that it should overshadow our ability to shapechange, though. We suppose in a realm teeming with vampires that can turn into bats and whatnot, polymorphing becomes part and parcel of the daily tedium."

Dimitri shrugged.

"I wasn't aware that vampires could change too. Just one more thing to add to the list today."

He looked around the room again. Being only a half breed he could sense that there where vampires nearby, but he couldn't pinpoint any of them, or even tell you in which direction they where. That ability he had only learned a few days before being shipped off for here.

"So what do you know about this place?"

When she had seen Ruari, Mierin had immediately gone over to him. Awww, he's nervous she thought. For some reason, she had adored Ruari's comparative innocence last year, and found she still did. She laughed pleasantly, exposing her barbed fangs. "Well I missed you too, Ruari," she said, making it known to him that it was obvious that he had thought of her over the vacation. "That's really sweet of you," she said, giving him a peck.

The vampiress gave her roommate a nod of thanks for letting her have a little privacy. She turned back to her boyfriend. "Do you want to show me here or somewhere a bit more quiet?" Mierin said softly, putting her thin hands around Ruari's waist.

"Alice, how was your summer?"

Several minutes had passed and Alice still hadn't spotted anyone until finally a familiar face approached and began speaking to her. It took a moment to match a name to the face but eventually Alice got it, recognising the young girl as Raven. Having nothing against her at all, Alice responded kindly.

"Nothing too exciting, although I picked up a few bits and pieces that may come in useful. What about yourself?"

Naturally Alice had a pretty cold tone of voice, something she had developed as her father's daughter. Despite such, the summer had been a good experience as far as relating to people. The humans she worked with had all been friendly people that treated her with respect and in kind, Alice found it easier to relate to people.

Alice didn't know much about this Raven girl, but as she recalled she had been Mierin's roomate last year and she somewhat liked the Callisdrunian vampires, so perhaps Raven was alright as well.

"Precious little, but then that is the reason we are here. We are here to learn, which becomes relatively counter-intuitive if we know everything at the start."

Sivv'Raxis then leaned back slightly, stretching out in his chair as he looked around the cafeteria.

"The basics are that this 'Dark Valley' falls under the relatively uncontested purview of a necromancer named Gahlagæer... though we use the word 'relatively' because his control is not without its hearty selection of aggravating challengers, a fact of which the Godulans are only too acutely aware.

"The King / royal family of Draconis Nightcrawlis and Gahlagæer do not get along, but they seem to be relatively entrenched in a mutually-assured-destruction mindset which has enforced a tenuous peace that has held for longer than we are inclined to care about. Vampires, necromancers, and randomized other groups of dark magic users compose the majority of the area's population, if one does not count the fact that the wildlife bears a level of sentience as well... although it might be difficult to distinguish some forms of wildlife from some forms of vampire. AGAIN... a fact of which the Godulans are only too acutely aware.

"MOST of the vampires floating around are pale skinned simply because they can't get tans anymore, though we suspect there might be exceptions in terms of tanning booths or more likely those amusingly fake artificial tanning sprays. Their hair also tends to be darker than most for the same reason. Lack of exposure to sunlight darkens the hair. The only problem with this is that it is remarkably easy for some goth or vampire wannabe to emulate these exact same issues, so the only 100% certain indicator of vampiric capabilities is the fangs they show when they go for your neck... or barring that, the lack of a pulse, now that we think about it. Vampires tend to be overly self-conscious though, so if you go reaching around trying to check for a heartbeat you're liable to get face planted into the nearest stone surface.

"Necromancers, or those that have gone through the training at least, smell faintly of blood and bone, although we have detected traces of chalk as well... but that stands for any practitioner of any art. They also tend to be a tad thinner than most, likely a result of dealing with rotting flesh on a regular basis having a detrimental effect on appetite, though such is in no way true for ALL of them.

"Cartographic information shows a small village a small distance away from the academy. Basic amenities are provided for from the General Store and the Pub hosted within the little burg. From what we are aware, the staff 'discourage' the students from heading into town, though they do not go out of their way to block anything..."

Raven placed her hands behind her behind her back.

"Well had the usual family get togethers, spent time with Zero and a few other," she replied.

She picked up on Alice being slightly different, though her voice was still cold her personality was less so. Still she didn't know much about her, she was rather mysterious.

"I'd be mindful of Necromancy this year, the headmaster gets harsher in the second year and weirder."

"Mmmm. Sounds like a real friendly place."

Least it won't be hard to blend into the crowd.

Dimitri took to looking around the room again and took note of how many fit this description of vampires and nacromancers.

"So they teach mainly necromancy here?"

"Heh looks like Mierin found Ruari," Zero grinned at Arpad looking in at the dining hall. "Gah, Ravens talking to that Alice girl. She creeps me out and I think she hates me."

He stood back and placed his hands behind his head.

"Want to go somewhere else?"

"It would not be an 'Academy of the Dark Arts' if they taught restorative and healing magic, so our assumption would be that yes, Necromancy is the part of the curriculum that would dominate. Though, in the end, it also strikes that one can be a practitioner of the 'dark arts' and wander around flinging fireballs at people as easily as another might wander around animating the scorched remains and bringing them to heel. So we do not profess to be certain in such a consideration."

"I'd be mindful of Necromancy this year, the headmaster gets harsher in the second year and weirder."

Alice smiled slightly at this.

"I'll be looking forward to it. The main reason I'm here is for the necromancy class as besides my father, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of necromancers back in Assington. I'm actually learning something useful here, even if it is somewhat strange."

This was perhaps the first time Alice had opened up a little to another student about her reasoning to be at the academy. Whilst her father was somewhat of a sore subject, she was getting over it and didn't mind mentioning him, even if it led to further discussion.

"So do you have any idea what they've got waiting for you in third year?"

Alice was always interested to know what was before her. She could be one to concoct very precise plans and this usually required learning as much as possible about the likely future.

"Things get stranger," Raven smirked.

There was almost a twinkle in her eye as she said that. She couldn't remember a time that Alice had mentioned anything about what she wanted to do. Truth be known Raven couldn't recall her ever saying much at all, but then Alice was a year below her and so they never shared classes.

"You'll find many necromancers in Draconis Nightcrawlis, in Dark Valley mostly but the capital has it's fair share."

Of course Raven hardly knew what was in store for herself in her third year as the headmaster always changed things, he was always too random.

"Well we get longer necromancy lessons," she sighed. "More headmaster weirdness."

"Heh looks like Mierin found Ruari," Zero grinned at Arpad looking in at the dining hall. "Gah, Ravens talking to that Alice girl. She creeps me out and I think she hates me."

He stood back and placed his hands behind his head.

"Want to go somewhere else?"

Arpad chuckled at his fellow Callisdrunian's flirtations. At first he had been a bit jealous of Ruari, but now he realized it was better this way. "Sure, let's go," he said.

As they were leaving, he asked Zero "Why do you think Alice hates you?"

Zero turned to head back outside, placing his hands behind his head.

"She's always cold around me," he replied. "She's talking perfectly fine to Raven so it's not as if she hates everyone."

"She was really cold around everyone last year, if my memory serves" the Callisdrunian said thoughtfully as he pondered the fact. "Have you really talked to her at all since then? I suppose the only way to tell would be to talk to her again and see how she acts," he continued.

Arpad then looked over at his roommate, a question popping into his mind. "You don't fancy her, do you?" It might be preposterous, and he didn't think Zero had developed any feelings for the Assingtonian, but he could be wrong, and it certainly was relevant to the discussion in how important Alice's coldness was to them. Obviously, if the other boy had a crush on the vampiress, her attitude towards him was quite a priority. If not, then it was no more than a mildly interesting topic of conversation.

"Oh I suppose so," Zero remarked.

At Arpads next remark he stopped dead and stared at him. That was a joke, right?

"You're kidding right?" He shook his head. "I'm taken remember, I have feelings for no one other than Raven."

"Just making sure," Arpad replied as he threw his hands in the air, a universal gesture to signify that no offense was intended. "Some cultures allow for that sort of thing. I mean, you have to remember, I'm fairly inexperienced other than Mierin, and we weren't even in what you would call a relationship, nor was I the only boy she was with. Stranger things have happened."

To be fair, part of the reason he hadn't been thinking all too clearly and had asked Zero was that he himself found his eyes drifting to Alice every now and then, recently. Perhaps it was a subconscious acceptance that it was time to move past his old friend, who seemed to be committing herself exclusively for the first time since it had been an issue.

Zero just nodded, he decided to say nothing more about it.

"So where should we go?" he then asked instead.

Dimitri listened as the other 'boy' went on. As Sivv finished up, he looked around the room one last time.

"Well, I'd say this place is just about as interesting as watching a bum sleep right now. I'm gunna go exploring."

He stepped away from the wall and started back towards the double doors that he had used to ender the dining hall.

"I'm not going to complain if there's more focus on what I want to do."

Despite being a somewhat cold individual at times, Alice did have an open mind and felt she could most likely put up with whatever weird ideas and activities the headmaster had planned for her. Either way, Alice found it somewhat odd she'd probably been the happiest she ever had been within these academy walls. Or at least the most content, happy may not have been the best word.

"So what do you intend to do once you're done with the academy?

Alice asked the question because she didn't particularly know herself. There wasn't really much of anything back in Assington for her and the nation wasn't exactly welcoming to magic users, let alone vampires. Perhaps she could stay in Draconis Nightcrawlis for a while and learn under a number of other necromancers. The sad truth for the young vampire is that she didn't have anything else besides her quest for dark knowledge.

Of course she was still young, a lot can happen when you have an unlimited amount of years to live.

Raven smiled. "It's all fun and games until Professor Bräck summons a man-eating dodo," she said. "One student had to have a leg regrown a couple of years ago I heard."

Alice's question then caught her off guard. She'd never made plans for what to do after she left the academy as that was still some time away and she wasn't the plan far ahead type.

Instead she just shook her head and said. "I don't know actually, haven't really planned that far ahead. I suppose I'll study darker arts or something."

Zero just nodded, he decided to say nothing more about it.

"So where should we go?" he then asked instead.

Shrugging, Arpad merely replied "I dunno." It was getting a bit late, by the school's reckoning. "Is there anything much to do right now except wait to go to bed and classes to start?" Hopefully the awkwardness caused by his faux-pas could be left behind.

Zero shrugged. "We get tomorrow off because it's late as it is," he said. "So unless you're planning to spend all day in bed..."

It was at that moment that he noticed Robin disappearing down the hallway.

"Or we could spy on Robin."

Alice nodded at Raven's response, something very similar to what she would have said.

"I think I'm in the same boat as you."

Looking around, Alice thought she saw a few familiar faces in the distance but couldn't be sure as the hall was pretty crowded. So far it was just Raven and whilst Alice had nothing against her she did want to see some of the others, especialy Mierin.

"So, have you seen any of the others from our class lurking about?"

Not being familiar with the administrative habits of the Academy, Alice wasn't sure whether she'd end up in the same classes as that of last year. Either way, she'd find out tomorrow anyway.

Raven smiled.

"Well either way we have plenty of time to think about it," she then replied.

Raven was of course a year above Alice. Couldn't expect everyone to remember what year everyone else was in considering how many students there were. She shook her head.

"I'm the year above," she reminded Alice. "I've seen Mierin but since she's with Ruari right now it's best not to bug them. Which reminds me, you haven't seen Zero around have you?"

Dimitri stepped out of the dining hall and back into the dank hallway. As soon as the doors shut behind him, nearly all of the noise was cut off and he was left in a dead silence. It was kind of eerie. With a quick shudder, Dimitri took to walking around. There where quite a few other doors on this floor, but none looked especially interesting, so he pressed onward. Along the way he passed a clock, but it didn't seem to be keeping time in any conventional means. It had a few too many hands and numbers and seemed to be turning in the wrong direction.

Even the clocks here are wierd.

He shook his head and turned the corner.

Sivv'Raxis watched the other boy leave, then thought for a moment on his previous 'reflections'... the little town nearby had a bar, and despite the fact that the Godulans could no longer get drunk, there continued to be restrictions against underaged drinking. After a moment, he stood up and turned to leave the cafeteria and make his way to the bar. He was gonna try every damn liquor he could get his hands on.

Don't even think about it!

Hey! Screw you homeslice. You pitched my ass through the portal and you didn't even check that the vertical displacement was outside standard operating parameters! If I were still human I could've broken my frickin' neck from that fall! Besides, it ain't illegal here. I'm gonna go sample local customs and culture, and I'll thank you to show me where the party tricks directory is so I can have some fun while I'm at it.

Of course Sivv'Raxis wasn't the only student with thoughts of escaping the academy to go to the nearest village. There were far more villages beyond this village but the distance between them and the academy itself meant that those villages were less popular.

Several other students were also trying to make their way there, avoiding the staff and hopefully avoiding the headmaster most of all. While most would head for the pub, some went to the village for other reasons like shopping and in Robins case, a meal. The white-haired vampire noticed Sivv'Raxis as he headed out to the front door, he chose to ignore his presence.

Dimitri walked around the corner straight into another student. The green haired boy who looked around fifteen dropped the book he had been carrying and scowled at him.

"Fucks sake look where the fuck you're going newbie."

Sivv'Raxis likewise noted Robin's presence, but decided to ignore it as well. He was out for booze, not lessons about how to bark without offending any of the local wildlife. That would come in due time. Immortality afforded one a new degree of patience, and while Sivv's oldest constituent mind was only 17, he still realized that he had all the time in the universe to learn.

As he started his way out from the courtyard towards the closest village, his feet seemed to levitate but a few inches from the ground. With a pause, and a slight effort as though he was setting himself for some form of race, he pushed off. Like an olympic skater getting up to speed, his legs flew from left to right, accelerating him to the point that he seemed but a blur.

And off he went.

Alice shook her head in response.

"You're the first person I've recognised down here."

For a moment she had forgotten that Raven was actually a year abover her in the Academy since she seemed to know a lot of the people in Alice's year. At the mention of Ruari, Alice nodded her understanding.

"I guess things are getting pretty serious between them?"

Alice had had very little to do with Ruari over the last year besides speaking a few words. She knew her and Mierin were around the same age and he was two or so years younger. Whilst the age difference was of no concern to Alice, she did think it a little odd. Of course that was Mierin's choice, not hers.

"If you want we can go looking for Zero?"

"Ah," Raven nodded. "Alot of new faces again this year."

She then thought of Mierin and Ruari, theirs seemed much different to her relationship with Zero. Then again she wasn't a vampire like Mierin was.

"Yeah, they're very close."

Then her mind focused fully on Zero, she nodded at Alice's suggestion.

"He's probably gone to the nearest village, that or he's gone off with that weird group."

Zero shrugged. "We get tomorrow off because it's late as it is," he said. "So unless you're planning to spend all day in bed..."

It was at that moment that he noticed Robin disappearing down the hallway.

"Or we could spy on Robin."

Arpad had to laugh. "That's good, gives us a chance to settle in I suppose."

He wondered about the Draconian vampire. "Yeah, that's never boring."

Dimitri half-heartedly held his hands up. His violet eyes shimmered in the darkness, much as a cat's would.

"Easy slick. No harm meant."

He stepped aside to let the other boy collect his book.

Zero smirked. "I think he's out biting villagers again," he said. "As long as he or the other vampires don't actually kill anyone the headmasters fine with it."

He then made his way out to the front door of the academy. He could sense that Robin had already been this way.

"He's nearby, lets catch up."

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

The green-haired boy said nothing as he picked up his book, Necromancy Through The Ages. Only when he looked at Dimitri again did he speak.

"Watch yourself newbie, some wankers here get pretty nasty if you run into them."

"I'll keep that in mind."

He nodded a curt goodbye to the other boy, then contenued on his circut of the floor.

The green-haired boy just shook his head and headed off. There were still many students, particularly those new to the academy, who were wandering about exploring the mansion. Professor Bräck was also walking around making sure no-one was causing too much trouble.

The nearby village was known as Plessala, a small closely knit community with strong links to the academy. A few of the staff actually had family there and lived in the village when not at the academy. In the centre of village was the village green complete with statue of Gahlagæer. Around the outside of the village green were shops and a pub, popular with students from the academy.

Amongst the shops were a couple dark magic shops, selling all kinds of magical goods. There was also a joke shop, popular with certain pranksters at the academy. The rest of the village was taken up by houses, the local residents didn’t mind the influx of students as some of them had once been students at the academy themselves. As long as they didn’t start any fights the students were welcomed.

The inside of the pub was a little darker then most would expect, it was lit mainly by candles and a large roaring fireplace at one end. The place was very old fashioned and looked like a pub from centuries ago. Behind the bar itself was the landlord, a tall bald man who watched closely over everyone who came in.

"Ah. Well I don't need to eat anything so we can do whatever, just gotta kill some time until class tomorrow."

Whilst Alice did sleep, she didn't much feel like it as the excitement of returning to the academy had her fully awake and alert. Alice had found since her vampirism that she prefered to sleep during the day, for obvious reasons and since that was not practical she simply went without now and again.

"I've never been down into any of the villages. Anything interesting there?"

HURTS beautiful HURTS hurts oh glorious hurts GLORIOUS OHHH

Ruari smiled up into her grey eyes. "I'd forgotten," he said. "A chuisle mo chridhe. Pulse of my heart."

Sleepily he put one hand up to cradle her cheek. "I thought I must have been imagining things. Nothing could be that good. But it is." His hand fell back; he tucked it under the familiar pillow and burrowed his head in, trustingly asleep on the instant.

A quarter of an hour, no more; but when he woke up, centuries could have passed. He was alive again, the way he hadn't felt alive all the time he was away. Smiling, he replayed scenes in his mind, coming back always to the picture of her as he'd imagined ... no, so much more beautiful, the shawl and her hair and the moonlight ... he leaned up on one elbow, stroked the cool, cool skin, grinned at her.

"Did I mention it was a wedding-ring shawl? Like, only about fifty times, right? But look, I've got to show you."

Bouncing out of bed, he pulled off the old ring his father had found and drew the shawl through it with a showman's flourish, watching her watching him.

She was watching the ring.

Of course she wasn't. It wasn't worth watching. Dad had found it on the floor in the byre.

"Uncle Hector's old ring! So that's where he hid it," the older man had said, laughing. "Must've stashed it somewhere in the hayloft, and the storm shook it down last night."

He'd held it out on his palm, so Ruari could see the tarnished silver, the odd greyish stone.

"Well, it's no woman's ring," his father had said, running his thumb over the heavy circle. "Here, it's near enough to your birthday, son, you take it. A present from your Great-Uncle Hector, wherever he is."

Now here it was encircling his gift, the fine lace running through it like the froth on the burn in flood, and Mierin watching with her hair like the black on the silver that he could never clean off, somehow ...

His mouth went dry with the beauty of her. He was fourteen now, the double seven, the big deal birthday; he should be feeling all manly, in control. But sometimes he still felt like the dumb kid, Mierin's tag-along.

"Uh ... you wanna go do something?" he asked, gulping.

"I'm not hungry anyway," Raven said, looking in the direction of the kitchens. "Besides the kitchens are closed anyway, won't be open until breakfast."

While some students went to sleep, most stayed up too exited to sleep or were too nocturnal anyway. Raven tended to sleep less at the academy since most of the time she would be sneaking out somewhere with Zero. Perhaps if she did go to the village she would bump into him.

"Well in the nearest village which most people from here go to there's a pub and some magic shops, they tend to cater for dark magic," she explained. "Further out you'll find larger villages with more pubs, more magic shops and even cinemas."

Sivv'Raxis zeroed in on the bar first, but came to a skidding halt as he noted the Dark Magic and Joke shops. For but a moment he stood there, next to the statue of Gahlagæer, debating amongst himself whether he should inspect the booze first or go and explore the dark magic shop and make a side trip into the prank shop.

The magic shop had information relevant to his objectives, after all, so wandering in and perusing the merchandise might prove eminently productive. But he had originally come to inspect the bar. The voice of wisdom eventually made up their mind by saying that there was neither of the establishments were going anywhere, and checking out the various liquors was but a tertiary priority. Besides, it might be necessary to procure reagents in order to conduct homework assignments properly, and if nothing else, conduct independent research.

Mind made up, Sivv'Raxis turned and headed towards the magic shop.

Despite it being the middle of the night, the magic shop was opened. As Sivv'Raxis approached, a robed figure smelling of death left the shop and walked past him, taking no notice of the student.

Inside the shop, shelves were stacked high full of ingredients of seemingly every type. In one corner was a stack of cauldrons. The shopkeeper, an old looking woman in black robes, was stood in one corner. She appeared to be leafing through a large spellbook.

Sivv'Raxis likewise ignored the icky-smelling fellow on his way in, and gave the store an obligatory once-over before continuing on. It smelled like a spice rack and wet dirt, not at all unpleasant.

He scanned through the various materials as he made his way to the back of the store, noting every single batch of ingredients as they went by. Mandrake root, eye of newt, unlucky rabbit's foot (didn't help the rabbit, after all)... ah... the cauldrons. Somehow he knew these would be important. He inspected the cauldrons with disturbing thoroughness, stopping to examine the Boil-Bubble-Toil-and-Troublemaster 5000 (there was always something with a -master 5000 on it...) more than any of the others.

Satisfied, he turned and headed to the shopkeeper.

More robes. Geez!

Maybe its like people who wear big coats to quickdraw shootouts, throws off people's aim. Only in this case it isn't with bullets, its with disintegration spells.

Its probable there's a hazmat element to the attire as well. One does not want volatile potions getting on the skin.

Showing no outward sign of this internal debate, Sivv'Raxis approached the counter and asked:

"Got any books? Spells, potionmaking, randomized other arcane tomes?"

The shopowner stared at him. Her right eye seemed to move of it's own free will and kept looking in all directions while her left eye stayed on him.

"Areithia 'n hen? Na," she said raising a finger to some stairs near the front door. "Books that way."

The stairs led down into a cold dark basement.

"I will see you down there."

OO OO OO! A language we have not heard before!

Sivv'Raxis suppressed his internal glee at the whole "I have no damn clue what you just said" issue and made his way toward and subsequently down the stairs.

Even down in the basement one could feel the sense of being watched and it wasn't from the pink-haired girl down there. She was more into looking at the rows upon rows of books that filled the basement then to take notice of who came down to the basement.

Alice was certainly keen to explore one of the nearby villages as she'd never been down there before. Being of a reasonable hour, at least in her opinion, she figured it was the perfect time to wander around outside for a while.

"I'm up for it. Since I've never been there before you'll have to lead the way."

Unfortunately for Alice the pubs were pretty useless considering she could no longer process any foods or drink besides blood, yet perhaps they served it there considering the proximity to the academy. Either way, she'd find out soon enough and she always had her blood stone if it turned out they could not cater for her.

Following Raven out of the dining hall, Alice found herself thankful to be out of the crowded place.

"So does it take long to get down there?"

Betcha she has an eye down here to keep track of people.

Don't you mean a camera?

No... didja see that one eyeball of hers? If that ain't an arcane replacement I have no clue what is. I bet she has the one it replaced here in a jar somewhere, making sure nobody tries to gank a book 'when she ain't looking'.

Why would we need to shoplift? We have enough money to buy the store.

It ain't personal. We might be well-funded, but others might come in that attempt to teleport out after snapping up such and such a book.

Sivv'Raxis inspected several of the closest books, not to see whether the topics interested him, but to gauge the apparent difficulty of the subject matter. After a few moments he looked around and asked to anybody who might be able to answer, whether eavesdropping or standing a few feet away:

"Obligatory question: can we open these books up without getting exploded?"

Raven smiled and nodded.

"Come this way then," she said.

The headmaster was nowhere to be seen and neither were any other teacher. She lead Alice around the darkened parts of the academy so as to not be spotted too easily. The forest rose up above them as they walked along the outer edge.

"Would be quicker to short cut through the forest but that's too dangerous, especially at night," she explained. "By road it's a ten minute walk, but much less dangerous."

@Godular

The girl finally looked up from her book. Her eyes now looking at Sivv'Raxis.

"Depends on the book," she warned. "Some books here, especially those at the far end, do nasty stuff when opened. Watch out for the screamers."

She then looked back at her book.

"You're a first year at the academy right?"

"Indeed," Sivv'Raxis said as he took out a book and flipped through a few pages. It appeared to be something about lycanthropy. He slapped the book shut and put it under his arm as he went looking about for more books.

"We have not yet been assigned any textbooks, but we feel it both important and amusing to gather as many texts as possible for future reference... speaking of which..." Sivv'Raxis looked about again, this time looking for whatever might be causing the 'feeling of being watched'.

"Is there a wheelbarrow nearby? We suspect we will require something to carry our purchase..."

The girl shook her head.

"You'll be told what books you'll need when you need them," she said. "No wheelbarrow, why not just buy enough books to carry and come back another time."

From somewhere within the basement there was a deafening scream. The pink-haired girl looked up in another direction and shook her head.

The rest of the building, while potentially, was not so right now. Dimitri sighed and desided that there where other, more interesting things to be explored right now. Those woods that he had been so 'graciously' tossed into perhaps. He turned and started heading back towards the entryway.

Iris shivered and pulled her cloak tighter about herself.It's cold to night, the small bone kitten at her feet gave a silent meow of agreement, before standing and stretching.It walked a little ways away and sat,keeping its empty eyes on the school.
Iris sighed softly and reached up to brush her long hair out of her green eyes,cold and windy.She stood in the moon cast shadow of the school, some twenty odd feet from the small shrubs and trees that marked the outer edge of the forest. She knew that she could not go in to the trees, yet something about them pulled at her and they provided a good place to come and think. Her summer vacation had gone relatively well considering everything, but she was not ready to face another year. The classes she was looking forward to, the people she was not.It was simply that she was shy and new people, and a large groups of people took a lot out of her. That is why she found herself here.

Dimitri pushed through the big front door of the school and stepped back out into the cool night air. There where several other kids wandering around outside. Most where heading off in one direction in peticular.

Must be something to do over there.

He strugged. Dimitri had had his full of crowds for the day. He crossed the little courtyard that served as the driveway of the mansion and headed for the thicket on the edge of the forest.

"Not planning to go into the forest are you?" came Professor Kvapils voice.

Upon looking around Dimitri, or any other student for that matter, would have seen the Nosferatu calmly walking from the forest.

"The forest is dangerous and offlimits, particularly to new students."

Dimitri quirked a brow, sloowed to a stop, and looked between the person coming out of the woods and the forest itself.

Of course it is. Why am I not suprised?

He returned his attention to the person who had stepped out from the trees.

"I don't suppose it would do me any good to ask why?"

"Because that would give us less time to study the tomes," Sivv'Raxis replied, thumbing his way through a book on arcane herbalism before putting it under his arm with the rest of the collection of books he was accumulating. "We read fast enough that a mere armful will not suffice. We would prefer, however, to acquire a listing of all the unwarded tomes in stock, if such is permissible. We will also be acquiring a couple cauldrons from upstairs, so that will likely act as a limiting factor on how many books we can acquire at this particular point in time.

"We will, of course, also be returning at later dates to collect reagents. We intend to do some independent studying regarding potions."

Professor Kvapil chuckled. "Dark Valley is populated by dark creatures," he explained. "Those who do not know what they are dealing with are quickly overwhelmed within the forest."

The Nosferatu pointed off into the distance, somewhere deep within the forest.

"Just that way is a pack of wolves, bloodthirsty and ready to kill."

The pink-haired girl shook her head.

"You are strange," she said, continuing to flick through a book. "Theres no way you could read many in a day."

"Somehow I doubt that the entire forest would be closed off for a pack of wolves."

Dimitri crossed his arms a looked defiant for a moment. Then he sighed and uncrossed them.

"Whatever, I don't actually care. Just tell me that there's something more interesting to do around here than wander the halls in there."

"Of course not I was merely using the wolves as an example," Professor Kvapil explained.

He rubbed the back of his clawed hand over his mouth as he felt like there was blood in the corner of his mouth. Then came the typical new student remark, one that came from a number of students each year.

"Well there is the duelling club, the library, the games room and of course if you are really bored you could help me with a few things."

"We feel no need to sleep," Sivv'Raxis replied as he added another book to his collection, "and we can read a page in any book as swiftly as you can blink your eyes."

He reached for another book to add to his collection, adding "And our range of vision is not limited by any form of physical restraint, so it is possible for us to peruse multiple texts at once. We came here to learn, after all, same as all Godulans this day and age. It would be unproductive towards our collective purpose to have a body ill-suited to the task."

Then, in a perfect reproduction of the Pink-Haired girl's voice, but retaining his own enunciation and inflections, he added "We can mimic voices as well," before returning to his original voice and continuing. "But the need to do so is rare, though we do prefer to have the option available."

"You are indeed strange," the pink-haired girl replied.

She put the book back and instead pulled out a small notebook from inside her coat. She appeared to write something in it.

"And voice mimicking is just creepy, do I really sound like that?"

"Indeed. It is typical for one's voice to sound different when replayed to them. Internal acoustic vibrations within one's own body tend to alter how they hear their own voice as it is spoken."

Sivv'Raxis began to thumb through another book, but quickly shut it and returned it to its place when it responded to being opened with a bout of demonic laughter.

HURTS beautiful HURTS hurts oh glorious hurts GLORIOUS OHHH

Ruari smiled up into her grey eyes. "I'd forgotten," he said. "A chuisle mo chridhe. Pulse of my heart."

Sleepily he put one hand up to cradle her cheek. "I thought I must have been imagining things. Nothing could be that good. But it is." His hand fell back; he tucked it under the familiar pillow and burrowed his head in, trustingly asleep on the instant.

A quarter of an hour, no more; but when he woke up, centuries could have passed. He was alive again, the way he hadn't felt alive all the time he was away. Smiling, he replayed scenes in his mind, coming back always to the picture of her as he'd imagined ... no, so much more beautiful, the shawl and her hair and the moonlight ... he leaned up on one elbow, stroked the cool, cool skin, grinned at her.

"Did I mention it was a wedding-ring shawl? Like, only about fifty times, right? But look, I've got to show you."

Bouncing out of bed, he pulled off the old ring his father had found and drew the shawl through it with a showman's flourish, watching her watching him.

She was watching the ring.

Of course she wasn't. It wasn't worth watching. Dad had found it on the floor in the byre.

"Uncle Hector's old ring! So that's where he hid it," the older man had said, laughing. "Must've stashed it somewhere in the hayloft, and the storm shook it down last night."

He'd held it out on his palm, so Ruari could see the tarnished silver, the odd greyish stone.

"Well, it's no woman's ring," his father had said, running his thumb over the heavy circle. "Here, it's near enough to your birthday, son, you take it. A present from your Great-Uncle Hector, wherever he is."

Now here it was encircling his gift, the fine lace running through it like the froth on the burn in flood, and Mierin watching with her hair like the black on the silver that he could never clean off, somehow ...

His mouth went dry with the beauty of her. He was fourteen now, the double seven, the big deal birthday; he should be feeling all manly, in control. But sometimes he still felt like the dumb kid, Mierin's tag-along.

"Uh ... you wanna go do something?" he asked, gulping.

Sighing, both out of happiness and from being tired, Mierin looked down at her younger lover as he fell asleep. While he dozed, she had time to think on things. Ruari did seem to be very serious about their relationship. Am I, though? she thought, as she hadn't really been fully committed to any relationship before, regardless of its intensity. With some surprise, she realized that indeed she was serious about this one, or at least moreso than with any before. And there had been quite a few. It seemed to have happened without her noticing it. Last year, when she and Ruari had started, it had at first been just a little bedroom fun, but now it was something else entirely.

Odd, to say the least. She had never thought of herself as being able to be exclusively monogamous before. It was one of the reasons she had actually somewhat considered joining the priestesshood of Ithtyr. Her distant cousin Eszti was the high priestess in fact.

Mierin laughed. It was probably part of the reason her boyfriend woke up. The thought she had struck upon that she found humorous was that she had subconsciously been afraid that me might have grown averse to being bitten so. Luckily, that did not appear to have been the case, as in her lust, she had bitten him fairly hard (enough that even she felt a bit guilty about it) and he didn't seem to mind any more than he had last year, after a while.

"Did you have pleasant dreams in your nap" she said to him in her own language, in which the soft hissing behind her voice was more apparent but seemed more natural. The girl repeated it in a language they both understood. Of course, she knew he couldn't understand her native tongue any more than she could his, but she reasoned that since she liked to hear him speak his country's language, the same would apply in reverse.

It was a relief when Ruari demonstrated how the type of shawl he'd given her got its name, since she had been afraid that it accompanied an engagement ring, but fortunately, it was simply able to be pulled through finger jewelry. Mierin laughed, and told him so. "So that's why you call it that. I was concerned for a while that you were proposing to me, and Callisdrunian women generally don't marry until their early to mid twenties."

After the demonstration, Mierin took the shawl and draped it over her naked, pale body (now tattooed on her left shoulder with her clan's emblem, black in stark contrast to her ghostly white skin). The garment hid nothing, of course, and the vampiress loved it for that very reason. In Callisdrun, clothes were one of two things: protection or decoration. The shawl was clearly the latter. "Thank you, Ruari, it's very soft..." She smiled and then struck a pose, half joking, half serious. "How do I look? Hey, what's that ring made out of?"

Zero smirked. "I think he's out biting villagers again," he said. "As long as he or the other vampires don't actually kill anyone the headmasters fine with it."

He then made his way out to the front door of the academy. He could sense that Robin had already been this way.

"He's nearby, lets catch up."

"I've never been to town," Arpad said as he quickly followed Zero. "Mierin went with her toy, but I stayed at the academy grounds all of last year," he added regretfully. He didn't really hate Ruari, it was just that, though he would never admit it, he was a bit jealous, since Mierin's relationship with the boy had meant an end to his 'benefits.'

"Of course, we don't want to get the academy in too much trouble, though some people might not have enough scruples to pay attention to that condition," he joked about the remark on vampiric bitings.

"Indeed. It is typical for one's voice to sound different when replayed to them. Internal acoustic vibrations within one's own body tend to alter how they hear their own voice as it is spoken."

Sivv'Raxis began to thumb through another book, but quickly shut it and returned it to its place when it responded to being opened with a bout of demonic laughter.

The pink-haired girl looked over at him.

"By the way, what's your name?" she then asked.

She ignored the demonic laughter that emanated from the book he had just looked at.

"I've never been to town," Arpad said as he quickly followed Zero. "Mierin went with her toy, but I stayed at the academy grounds all of last year," he added regretfully. He didn't really hate Ruari, it was just that, though he would never admit it, he was a bit jealous, since Mierin's relationship with the boy had meant an end to his 'benefits.'

"Of course, we don't want to get the academy in too much trouble, though some people might not have enough scruples to pay attention to that condition," he joked about the remark on vampiric bitings.

"Don't know what you missed last year then," Zero smirked at him. "Don't suppose you heard of Robin starting a pub brawl."

He noticed a dark shape up ahead, it had stopped as was now walking towards them.

"I have rather good hearing you know," came Robins voice. "I suspected I was being followed." His eyes turned to Arpad. "If the victims are willing, nothings done."

Dueling club eh? That could be fun. Then again, dueling around here could mean something else entirely. Could just kids sicking corpses on one another.

Dimitri shuttered at the thought and realize that that tingling feeling in the back of his head had returned. The suits back home had told him that that was some sort of vampire senser that was inherent to half-breeds.

Guess this guy is a vampire. Cool.

As there didn't appear to be anything else going on, he descided to humor the man.

"What kind of 'things' did you have in mind?"

He bowed slightly as the question was asked, and smiled slightly as he came back to an erect posture. "We are known as Sivv'Raxis. Low-Shirassi for 'Angel of The Art', though in the particular usage of Sivv, it is more like 'Harbinger Angel' or 'Apocalyptic Herald', so a more accurate translation might be 'Bringer of the World-Rending Arts'. The Shirassi were apparently renowned for their preoccupation with big explosions. But we digress, for you only asked us our name."

Taking another book from the shelf and giving it an obligatory once-over, he placed it amongst his other acquired tomes, then glanced at the pink-haired girl again.

"Of course, now that we have given you our name, we would wish to know what yours is."

Raven smiled and nodded.

"Come this way then," she said.

The headmaster was nowhere to be seen and neither were any other teacher. She lead Alice around the darkened parts of the academy so as to not be spotted too easily. The forest rose up above them as they walked along the outer edge.

"Would be quicker to short cut through the forest but that's too dangerous, especially at night," she explained. "By road it's a ten minute walk, but much less dangerous."

Alice followed Raven in silence through the halls, using her vampiric nimbleness to barely make any noise at all, despite it being unlikely that anyone was within the halls to hear them in the first place. Soon enough they got outside and came into view of the forest. Alice eyed it with suspicion, she knew it was dangerous and yet for some reason she felt compelled to explore it, at least one day.

"Fair enough, we're in no huge hurry."

As they moved onto the road Alice couldn't help but look back at the forest. It was a mystery and she was a curious girl, always interested in getting to the truth of things.

"So have you ever been inside the forest?"

Alice didn't think Raven was the kind of girl to go roaming around places like that yet she didn't exactly know her very well.

"What kind of 'things' did you have in mind?"

"Well just helping me move some stuff from my crypt to the Vampire Studies classroom," Professor Kvapil told him.

"Of course, now that we have given you our name, we would wish to know what yours is."

"Right," the pink-haired girl remarked at the mention of the names meaning.

She didn't much care for name meanings. More often then not she found that the person was nothing like what their name suggested.

"I am Shari Flack, no meaning to my name."

"So have you ever been inside the forest?"



Raven nodded as they walked along the dirt track leading them away from the academy. She had been expecting Alice to enquire about the forest and yes she had been into it somewhat, not too far just a couple of trees in when hiding from people whilst with Zero. She of course wouldn't mention that part.

"I've had to hide behind trees near the roadside to avoid academy staff," she admitted. "But I've never been in further than that. I've heard all the rumours of students wandering into the forest and never being seen again."

Dimitri shrugged.

"Doesn't look like I've got anything better to do. Sure."

He turned halfway back towards the mansion and waited for the man, who he could only assume was another professor, to lead on. He cast another look into the row of trees and the darkness beyond and smirked to himself.

I don't suppose you're going anywhere either. I'll be back.

"Greetings, Shari Flack. We note a small amount of skepticism in the meaning of our name. Know that it is not any level of self-preoccupation that drove our selection of the name. When names are given in Old Shirassi, they are meant to convey our objective, not our actual quality or past deeds. We are here to learn about the dark arts, and in turn to teach the dark arts to our own people. There is no world-crushing in our future, simply learning and 'bringing' the arts back with us.

"That being said, we have spoken much about ourselves, we would seek to learn about you in turn. Do you work here, or are you a student at the academy like ourselves?"

"Doesn't look like I've got anything better to do. Sure."



Professor Kvapil nodded and turned to head around the side of the mansion. "Follow me then," he said. "My crypt is this way."

"Greetings, Shari Flack. We note a small amount of skepticism in the meaning of our name. Know that it is not any level of self-preoccupation that drove our selection of the name. When names are given in Old Shirassi, they are meant to convey our objective, not our actual quality or past deeds. We are here to learn about the dark arts, and in turn to teach the dark arts to our own people. There is no world-crushing in our future, simply learning and 'bringing' the arts back with us.

"That being said, we have spoken much about ourselves, we would seek to learn about you in turn. Do you work here, or are you a student at the academy like ourselves?"

Shari narrowed her eyes at him. "There will be no learning me, that makes you sound like a pervert," she said.

Having placed her notebook away again, she took another book from the shelf and started flicking through it. Obviously she wasn't going to let this little chat get in the way of her study.

"I'm a student."

Dimitri walked a pace or so behind the other man. It then occured to him that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get the name of the guy that he was blindly following into a 'crypt.'

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. Would I be wrong in assuming that you're one of the teachers here?"

"We apologize if our comment came across as some form of advance. We have enough data on anatomy that physical study should not be considered as a part of our 'objective'. That being said, are we to assume that you are not a first-year?"

Dimitri walked a pace or so behind the other man. It then occured to him that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get the name of the guy that he was blindly following into a 'crypt.'

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. Would I be wrong in assuming that you're one of the teachers here?"

"Ah yes I'm sorry," the grotesque looking Nosferatu said. "I am Professor Kvapil, the Vampire Studies teacher."

He led Dimitri into an overgrown cemetery that looked as though it had been untouched for years. Up ahead was a round crypt with a stone dragon on top.

"This is my crypt."

"We apologize if our comment came across as some form of advance. We have enough data on anatomy that physical study should not be considered as a part of our 'objective'. That being said, are we to assume that you are not a first-year?"

Shari shook her head. "No I'm a second year," she replied.

"Vampire studys. Cool."

As they staggered their way through the graveyard, Dimitri marveled at how at home he felt. Most of the people back home shyed away from cemetaries, and when they did venture onto one, they where always a bit jumpy. This was the first one that he had been in, and he didn't see much reason for fear. When the professor spoke again, they stood before a stone structure ornamented with a dragon.

"That's quite a gargoyle you've got there."

Professor Kvapil smiled, he noticed the tone in the boys voice and was glad that at least one of the new students appeared interested in Vampire Studies.

"Actually it's a dragon," he pointed out.

As he opened the door to the door to the crypt the smell of death filtered out.

"Don't mind the smell, you get used to it at the academy."

"Yes, I imagine I will."

That thought was a little disturbing in-and-of itself, but he put it from his mind and resolved to hold his breath as much as possible.

"Lead on Professor."

Iris whistled softly and the kitten trotted over to her. She watched as a few students headed off to one of the small villages, after pulling her cloak about herself she turned away and walked along the outer wall till she entered the back court yard of the school, after a quick glance around she walked through the arch and in to to the hallway. Seeing that there was no one around Iris set off to see if she could find anyone that she knew.

"Yes, I imagine I will."

That thought was a little disturbing in-and-of itself, but he put it from his mind and resolved to hold his breath as much as possible.

"Lead on Professor."

The Professor led him inside the crypt and pointed to some boxes next to an old settee.

"I just need those taken to the classrooms, they're a little heavy."

@Dri vel

"Ah Miss Darhaven," came the unmistakable voice of Professor Bräck. "Glad to see you have returned and that your cat has been well looked after."

"I've heard that before. No problem."

Dimitri winked at the professor, then went over to the boxes. He lifted one and though it did have some weight to it, it wasn't what he would have called heavy. He made sure he had a good grib on that box with hsi right hand, then lifted another with his left. Then he looked back over his shoulder at the professor.

"Where to?"

@Dri vel

"Ah Miss Darhaven," came the unmistakable voice of Professor Bräck. "Glad to see you have returned and that your cat has been well looked after."

"Hello Professor" Iris stopped walking and picked up the kitten," Did you have a good summer?"

"Don't know what you missed last year then," Zero smirked at him. "Don't suppose you heard of Robin starting a pub brawl."

He noticed a dark shape up ahead, it had stopped as was now walking towards them.

"I have rather good hearing you know," came Robins voice. "I suspected I was being followed." His eyes turned to Arpad. "If the victims are willing, nothings done."

"That would make them more donors than victims, being willing," Arpad mused, since in Callisdrun moroii were an accepted part of society, and it was common for friends to let themselves be fed from. It was nothing unusual to him, much less so than the idea of vampires maruading out of control and killing people at whim. It was what most disturbed him about Mierin and her strange aunt.

"I suppose we should be off," he said. "What's this I hear about getting into a pub fight?"

"I've heard that before. No problem."

Dimitri winked at the professor, then went over to the boxes. He lifted one and though it did have some weight to it, it wasn't what he would have called heavy. He made sure he had a good grib on that box with hsi right hand, then lifted another with his left. Then he looked back over his shoulder at the professor.

"Where to?"

Professor Kvapil hit one of the stones on the wall and a secret passageway opened up.

"My direct link between my lair and the Vampire Studies classrooms," he said. "Just in case I need to go between whilst the sun is up. Just drop the boxes in the room on the otherside, don't worry I will carry some myself."

"Hello Professor" Iris stopped walking and picked up the kitten," Did you have a good summer?"

Professor Bräck smiled and nodded. "Yes I did, thank you for asking," he replied. "Is there anything you may require."

"That would make them more donors than victims, being willing," Arpad mused, since in Callisdrun moroii were an accepted part of society, and it was common for friends to let themselves be fed from. It was nothing unusual to him, much less so than the idea of vampires maruading out of control and killing people at whim. It was what most disturbed him about Mierin and her strange aunt.

"I suppose we should be off," he said. "What's this I hear about getting into a pub fight?"

Robin shrugged. "You pay them, they still like to be called a victim," he replied.

Zero nodded at Arpad's suggestion and they began to walk along the road in the direction of the village once again. Robin was however glaring at Zero, annoyed that he had told Arpad of his pub fights.

"Sometimes you get wankers in the pubs," he explained. "They end up pissing me off to the point of punching them."

"So," Sivv'Raxis continued, "would you happen to recall what the professors are like in terms of general temperament and levels of assigned workload?"

"Well ever since Professor Psyren was killed last year, there aren't any teachers that hate any of the students," Shari said. "Professor Bräck is the one to look out for though, he's stranger and is most likely to give out alot of work."

"Will do."

Dimitri started off down the passage way. As he crossed into the darkness of the hallway his eyes started giving off the glowing illusion again and what Dimitri had perceved to be total darkness a moment earlier was now glowing a pale purple and he could once again see everything quite clearly. After walking for a ways the passage opened up to another room and the purple haze faded back to normal vision. He set down the boxes and waited for the professor to catch up to him.

Professor Kvapil appeared right behind him. He placed several boxes down beside what looked to be a fridge. Being a vampire meant he could carry alot more boxes then Dimitri could.

He pointed to one door. "On the otherside is the classroom you'll be in for Vampire Studies," he told him.

Raven nodded as they walked along the dirt track leading them away from the academy. She had been expecting Alice to enquire about the forest and yes she had been into it somewhat, not too far just a couple of trees in when hiding from people whilst with Zero. She of course wouldn't mention that part.

"I've had to hide behind trees near the roadside to avoid academy staff," she admitted. "But I've never been in further than that. I've heard all the rumours of students wandering into the forest and never being seen again."

Alice nodded her understanding.

"I've heard the rumours too, of course. Whilst I've never been in there, I can't help but wonder if there is more rumour than danger in there. I'm sure there is most likely a few things lurking about that could kill you if you weren't paying attention, but keep in mind most of us at the academy are more than able to defend ourselves in some manner..."

The nearby town was now in sight as the pair were about halfway into their journey. Alice wasn't sure if Raven could see it but her own vampiric sight made it rather easy to spot.

"So do you come down here often?"

Professor Bräck smiled and nodded. "Yes I did, thank you for asking," he replied. "Is there anything you may require."

Iris thought for a moment then shook her head," I cant think of anything at the moment." After bidding the Professor a good evening Iris headed up to her room,once again she had a room to her self.
The room was simple, located at the end of the hall, almost as if it had been added as after thought. Iris flicked on the light, using her foot to close the door behind her. She set the kitten on the bed and switched her cloak out for a gray hooded sweatshirt then headed back out flicking the light off, the kitten at her heels. Once Iris had reached the entrance of the school she turned and headed down the road that lead to one of the small villages. Before long she spotted a group of students up ahead, after hesitating for a moment she kept walking, "I wonder if its anyone that I know...

"Professor Bräck teaches necromancy, or some other course?"

Alice nodded her understanding.

"I've heard the rumours too, of course. Whilst I've never been in there, I can't help but wonder if there is more rumour than danger in there. I'm sure there is most likely a few things lurking about that could kill you if you weren't paying attention, but keep in mind most of us at the academy are more than able to defend ourselves in some manner..."

The nearby town was now in sight as the pair were about halfway into their journey. Alice wasn't sure if Raven could see it but her own vampiric sight made it rather easy to spot.

"So do you come down here often?"

"As much as you can be prepared," Raven said. "Deeper in the forest you can get some nasty high level Necromancers."

Raven really didn't want to meet those. They were particularly nasty towards other Necromancers, especially those only just learning the dark art.

"Every chance I get."

"Professor Bräck teaches necromancy, or some other course?"

Shari nodded. "Yes he teaches Necromancy," she replied.

Sivv'Raxis pulled another book out and thumbed through it for a moment before adding it to his tower of texts. "We thought as much, when we first met him we recognized an undercurrent of prominence. One of us thought he might have been the professor for Vampire studies, but we figured necromancy would be the most likely course."

Shari shook her head, he was still a very strange person. Sure the academy had its fair share of strange people but this kid was the strangest she had met.

"He is the headmaster after all," she then said.

Dimitri retraced his steps in his head, then turned to the professor and pointed upwards with a single finger.

"Are we under the main house?"

Professor Kvapil nodded. "Yes, the Vampire Studies classes are in what used to be the dungeons," he said. "So yes we are under the main building."

As Iris drew closer to the small group of students she did recognise a few of the faces and names but much to her dismay and frusteration could not link the two together. "oh the joys of being shy".

"Hm."

Dimitri looked from the professor back down the hallway, then to the pile of boxes. He quirked a brow and looked back to the professor.

"I hope I'm not being too forward professor, but you are a vampire, right?"

Professor Kvapil nodded, "Good observation," he said. "Most foreign would not recognise me grotesque features are because I am a vampire, most would stare blankly if I said I am Nosferatu."

"A few weeks ago i might have been one of those staring blankly. So do you... er..."

Dimitri hesitated for a moment as he stopped to think about how to phrase his question.

"How would one go about getting blood here? Apart from the obvious."

"We buy our blood here," Professor Kvapil told him. "Either from a blood bank or from donors, put it in a mug and zap it in a microwave."

He noted Dimitri's uneasiness, it wasn't all together surprising as most new students whom had never properly encountered a vampire reacted the same way.

"Biting an unwilling victim is against academy rules."

"Of course. Of course."

Dimitri swollowed and descided to just come out with it.

"How would I go about getting my hands on some?"

"True, but we did not know if he taught any classes at the academy. We had suspected that Necromancy would be the most prominent course in the curriculum, so it became something of an issue of matching faces to courses. Headmaster or not, we saw that particular connection coming.

"We are curious also about general figures regarding demographics. How many of the students are vampires on average, and whatnot."

@Wandering Vagabonds

Professor Kvapil eyed him. "Are you a vampire?"

@Godular

Shari looked at him and shook her head. "Of that I don't know," she admitted.

"No. And Yes."

He shook his head. Dimitri wasn't sure he even really understood it himself.

"They said I wasn't, but part of me was. Said I was a half-breed. They had a name for it. It started with a d..."

For the life of him he couldn't remember the word. He shook his head and contenued.

"They said that though I wasn't a true vampire, that i still had some vampiric qualities. Like the need for blood..."

Professor Kvapil's eyes widened, a rarity indeed.

"On this planet dhampir's are very rare," he said. "To meet one is often a miricle in itself."

His eyes turned to his fridge.

"Blood is not cheap, the blood I buy is £5 a pint."

"Uh..."

Dimitri rooted through his pockets and came up empty.

Cheap bastards. 'Sure, you get a free ride to the school, but you get to starve once you get there.'

"I don't supose there's any other odd jobs I could do in exchange for some?"

"I'm pretty sure the headmaster has links for the poorer vampire students so they aren't forced to kill for blood," Professor Kvapil told him. "He doesn't want it to come to that so I'd speak to him."

"Will do. Thanks Professor."

Dimitri gave a half-hearted wave and pushed through the door into the Vampire Studies classroom. He looked around for a moment, then poked his head back into the back room.

"I don't supose you can tell me how to get back upstair."

"Oh well," Sivv'Raxis replied as he reached for another book. "Such information is rarely looked at, so we cannot fault you for not knowing. Perhaps you could assist us with something else then. Would you happen to have any particular recommendations for beginner level arcane texts that might be in stock in this store or elsewhere?"

@Wandering Vagabonds

"Through the Vampire Studies classroom like I said through that door over there and go out into the corridor," Professor Kvapil told him. "The stairs aren't hard to find."

@Godular

Shari looked over at him. "Well theres more books that will interest you over there," she said pointing down to the darker part of the basement."

"Thanks."

He un-poked his head through the door and made his way back towards the stairs. A moment later he found himself in one of the coridors on the main floor that he had gone exploring earlier.

Well that's one class I don't have to worry about finding.

"As much as you can be prepared," Raven said. "Deeper in the forest you can get some nasty high level Necromancers."

Raven really didn't want to meet those. They were particularly nasty towards other Necromancers, especially those only just learning the dark art.

"Every chance I get."

Alice hadn't thought about that before. In her mind she was prepared for a number of troublesome creatures. She herself was considered a dangerous creature by most Assingtonians and that helped her come to terms with facing angry animals. She could most likely deal with them.

The idea that more adept necromancers were lurking about there to prey upon those unable to defend themselves troubled and yet didn't surprise her. If her father was any indication of the character of most necromancers then she assumed they did lurk out in forests and do unpleasant things to unsuspecting unfortunates.

About to speak, Alice's supernatural hearing picked up the patter of footsteps not far behind them, approaching at a reasonable pace.

"Someone is coming up behind us."

<snip>I was concerned for a while that you were proposing to me, and Callisdrunian women generally don't marry until their early to mid twenties."
<snip>
"How do I look? Hey, what's that ring made out of?"

"You look ... (like moonlight on the loch in the winter. Like deer grazing at dusk. Like an otter diving. Geese in flight. The light through the big stained-glass window at the Abbey. Like the Maiden Herself.) ... like a very beautiful girl in a very beautiful shawl," said Ruari prosaically. He couldn't bring himself to tell her his daft list of things she really did look like.

"Findhorn folk don't marry young, either," he added, not wanting to talk about how shocked he'd felt for a minute when she mentioned proposing. As if he were the sort of pond-scum who'd propose marriage before he was well able to take care of a child! While he was still not much more than a child himself! Goddess, what kind of family did she think he came from?

But then he'd realised she hadn't meant to be insulting. Put that aside for now. Better to concentrate on the things he could answer.

Though, in fact, this was one he couldn't.

"I don't know what it's made of," he said. "The setting is silver, and it's very old -- see how worn the edges are? You can barely make out some of the spirals, and I can't polish off that blackness, it's sort of fused on. But the stone -- it's weird. It looks greyish, but when you look into it it's all mottled. And it's always warm. Here, you feel."

He took it off to hand it to her. It wouldn't come off his finger properly, he had to really tug. And then, when he went to put it in her hand, he ... didn't want to. How dumb can you get? he asked himself impatiently; and, to prove he didn't mind, curled the ring into her palm. With his arms wrapped around her, holding her close against his body, he took her other hand and guided her index finger to the stone's smooth surface.

The power-surge threw them both to the floor. Ruari didn't see how it could have happened. Neither of them was touching anything electrical; Mierin didn't have an electric blanket and her bedside lamp was battery-operated. Besides, the rug they'd been standing on had a non-slip backing. He knew that because it had somehow landed on top of Mierin, covering her completely. She was very still.

"Mierin!"

Frantic, he scrambled over and dragged the rug off her. Her eyes were wide open, staring upward. But even as he began to panic, she blinked and looked at him.

"What was that?"

They both said it at the same time. Ruari laughed in relief and reached out a hand to smooth her tumbled hair away from her face.

And Uncle Hector's ring shone back at him, circling his finger neatly as if it had never left his hand.

"Someone is coming up behind us."

Raven just shrugged, "No doubt another student," she replied. "I don't think we really have to worry about it."

Sivv'Raxis directed his attention towards the darker end of the basement, though he showed no outward signs of doing so. Dark down there. Makes me wonder if that's where the demon-based stuff is.

"That would not happen to be randomized stuff like syndicated copies of the necronomicon and whatnot would it?"

Shari shook her head. "As far as I know, no," she told him, flicking through another book. "Copies of the Necromonicon isn't sold here, at least not in this shop anyway."

"ah its Raven and...Alice Iris smiled to herself, thankful that she had finally figured out who was who. Not wanting to be rude she walked till she was next to the other girls and they had a pause in their conversation,asking shyly," Did you both have a good summer?"

"That is refreshing to hear. The Necronomicon is a horribly boring read, and we would have been so disappointed if these dark arts utilized it as some form of building block."

Sivv'Raxis began to move towards the darkened side of the basement with his growing collection in hand.

@Dri vel[b]

Raven looked around at who had come up behind them. She had been right though, it was a student after all.

"Hey... Iris right?" she replied. "I had a good summer, you?"

[b]@Godular

"Becareful down that end, sometimes the nasty Necromancers lurk in the darkness there reading the more powerful books," Shari warned.

"What, the beginner texts are in the same area as the tomes of phenomenal cosmic power? And there is a reading area back here?"

"The books are all in this basement," Shari pointed out. "The further into the darkness you go the more powerful the books are."

@Dri vel

Raven looked around at who had come up behind them. She had been right though, it was a student after all.

"Hey... Iris right?" she replied. "I had a good summer, you?"


"Yep" Iris smiled,"I have no complaints,it was a good summer, but its good to be back here."

Raven smiled at her. "You'll enjoy your second year even more," she told Iris.

Sivv'Raxis shrugged and wandered into the darker areas of the basement, looking around for anything that might be of interest and adding anything that fit such a description to his significant collection.

After a few minutes of this randomized rooting around, he opened up one book and was greeted with a bloodcurdling shriek of what sounded like unsurpassed terror. Even the text of the book itself seemed to rattle and quiver in horror. By reflex he shut the book to end the screaming, then smiled slightly to himself.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--

He shut the book again, grinning wider now...

AAAAAAAAAA--

AAA--

A--

He leaned in close and opened the book by ever so slowly wedging a space between too pages...

aaaaa--

He then turned towards Shari with an amused grin. "How do we turn that off?"

"You can't," Shari said walking over two him. Several books were floating in front of her. "The books know that it is way too powerful for you to understand."

Sivv'Raxis looked back at the bookshelf and cocked an eyebrow. The book had been taken from between "Demonology-- What the Hell is It?" and "Divination-- See What the Fuss is About!"

Yet the book he held seemed to be written out in some form of arcane runes that shifted and warped the longer he looked at them.

"Someone did not put this text back where it was supposed to be. Oh well, we shall take it anyway. It will be a decent method to test our progress at the academy. We shall make it a point to figure out what it reads before the year is out."

He then removed another book from the case and opened it, this time to be greeted by a curious giggle. His eyes widened in what appeared to be surprise, then twisted into a cross between morbid fascination, confusion, disgust, and a slight tinge of amusement.

Shari shook her head, flicking through another book that had taken her interested.

"You are quite mad," she remarked and placed the book on top of the others that were floating in a pile infront of her. "Sometimes the assistant get a little muddled."

Sivv'Raxis closed the book and placed it on his own collection with an oddly protective look around, then returned to his search.

"OO! Disjunction!" He called out as he noticed a small text sitting in between two larger volumes. He opened up the book and flipped through a few of the early pages before checking to see how many pages were in the book total. "This book is positively critical for our purposes!"

Shari raised an eyebrow, "How so," she asked.

Elsewhere in the dark basement there was a loud screaming like that of a banshee. It was followed by the sound of a thud and running feet, more than one person it would seem.