NationStates Jolt Archive

"And here it is, my humble abode and party headquarters," Marvel said, opening his door. "Top drawer, dresser," he continued. "Likes to stare at you."

Irene, Hoyrel, and Lerim kept with the main group, not daring to overly intrude on the proceedings. They were intrested in what would happen.

"And here it is, my humble abode and party headquarters," Marvel said, opening his door. "Top drawer, dresser," he continued. "Likes to stare at you."

"Sounds like her... " Jackson commented as he walked up to the dresser on his two hind legs and placed the minature courthouse down next to the chest of drawers.

Meanwhile Bill and Ben where following behind everyone. "Hah, come on pay up! You failed."

"Alright, alright, I'll do it. Just want to see what happens now."

They for now returned to being quiet as Jackson opened the Drawer...

"Hello, June." Squeeked Jackson, "Jackson I've been waiting." she replied.

He put his paw down into the Drawer and June hoped onto it. "Time you faced the bench of Judges for what you did." he commented as the doors of the courthouse opened and he placed his paw by them.

"You're welcome to join us if you wish." Jackson said

June entered the courthouse, all that could be seen was darkness inside. Followed by Jackson, who despite the size difference seemed to be able to squeeze inside as he tried to enter. The magic surrounding the courthouse seemed to quite easily handle different sized beings despite it's size which would be more approrpriate for a mouse-sized being than a human-sized being.

Drai'lee had whizzed along in Marvels wake, highly interested in what was to happen. She'd never seen anything like this.

And once the two mice had entered the courtroom, she hesitated before the entrance, though she was consumed with curiosity "Marvel, should we?"

"Not sure," he replied. "They might take me into custody for what I--never mind." He glanced at Melvinor and tried to look innocent.

Irene looked at Drai'lee and Marvel, and then at Hoyrel and Lerim. Then swallowing her uncertanies about coming out unnaturally small, entered the courthouse.

Then Hoyrel tapped his way into the courthouse, leaving Lerim with Drai'lee and Marvel.

"Well, I can't just leave them alone in there." Lerim declared, and then followed suit into the courthouse.

"Can I sit on your shoulder Marvel? I'd...I'd feel a lot safer there" Drai'lee admitted as she peered in to the strange courtroom.

Trials were an unknown concept among the Fae. The Queen used her majics to view what had happened and just declared the guilty guilty then dispensed punishment.

But she and Khatt had seen movies about them, they weren't as interesting as war movies.

"Be my guest," the demon said. I guess you can take that literally, too.

As she settled in, his wing rose up to cover her back. Though he didn't think that there would be any danger to them with Melvin-bore hanging around, it just sort of seemed like the thing to do.

When things were at a state of relative equilibrium, he walked into the court house. Instantly, his attire changed to appear like a black three-piece suit and tie. Even if he really was only wearing a black turtle neck and dinner jacket, he could make it look like he was dressed for the place.

Drai'lee lit as lightly as a feather on his shoulder and noticed his wind come up to shield her from behind "Thank you Marvel " She whispered, relaxing. She looked about the interior instantly. Marvels formal look brought a smile to her lips.

"Are you going to be the DA?" She asked "Going after a grand theft...wait isn't it..." She stopped, trying to figure out what exactly it was... it wasn't transporting a miner across staid lions - for she was absolutely sure she'd never dug for ore in her life and she'd not seen a single sleeping lion anywheres, nor was she some sort of automobile, and Fae napping.. was that the same as abducting a human? Did human laws even apply?

"To be honest, I'm not sure what laws apply here," Marvel said, following Drai'lee's train of thought. "Generally, taking someone out of their abode and tieing them down is a crime pretty much everywhere, and, generally, you're held responsible if someone else dies trying to undo the damage--but, generally, trashing a place without a license is also pretty much against the law, and I did the...RoverMouse's place up pretty good. I might have to answer for that. I figure that the least respect I can show for her, though, is to take responsibility for what I did--just as she has. If I don't, I might as well go back to where I started from and start terrorizing folk again, and I'm not in that stage any more.

"Not sure you're going to want to be too close by me when the fireworks start, though. I'm...a little claustrophobic at times."

Inside there was a large panel, behind it, and above the floor where everyone sat there were five mice, each with wigs and black robes (OOC: British Judge look)

They all had gavels, The middle one smashed his on the pad infront of him.

"Order in the Court, June RoverMouse your are charged with Kidnapping, assault, and criminal MouseSlaughter. How do you plead?"

June was in a sort of block, a wooden half-cell thing, seperated from those that came in to watch, to the side. "Guilty on all counts, your honour" she squeaked.

Let the evidence be presented, And there it was everything that June did immediately prior to the kidnapping starting with her finding the Tower to begin with and ending with the collapse of her 'cave' and Marvel taking her into custody, it was sort of like a movie shown on a holpgraphic display infron of everyone, that played through everyone was shown everything that happened almost in an instant, as everyone saw what happened with Yelena. To the point where she disappeared she was pronounced dead.

"The evidence is compelling, someone died as a direct result of your illegal activities. You have been found guilty on all counts and be sentenced to serve 20 years as a pet with your abilities bound, unable to communicate beyond that of an unintelligent beast. This court is ajourned and it's sentence is final." All 5 judges banged their gavels at once and as they did so they disappeared, and not only them, June too had disappeared to serve out her sentence as a dumb beast somewhere out in the NSVERSE.

"Not sure you're going to want to be too close by me when the fireworks start, though. I'm...a little claustrophobic at times."

"I won't desert you Marvel! You did what you did to rescue me, and if you get in trouble for that well then that is just totally unfair!" She slid over and did her best to wrap her arms about his neck "I just wish I was bigger and could give you a real hug" She whispered.

Sitting behind them, Galvenor leaned forward and whispered to the two.

"That could be arranged after this is all over. Please see me once the trial is over and we are clear of the Courtroom."

Galvenor sat back again and observed the trial.

OOC: Dumb legal technicality: if the defendant pleads guilty, why does the evidence have to be presented?

IC:

As the judges disappeared, Marvel turned to Melvin-bore. As he did, his arm came up and helped to steady Dra'gon La'dee. He was starting to have feelings for this chick, and not only was he not sure what he should do about it, he wasn't sure he cared. It had been a long time since he'd had a relationship, and this kid had spunk. She was a little slow on the draw, and that clueless dragon of hers didn't make things any better, but spunk she had.

"Alright, your worship," he said--he really wasn't sure how to address the uberwizard, "now that that's over, we need to take care of the other issues that this whole thing raised. I trashed that rodent's place pretty good, and I'd like it if some volunteers and I could go in and clean it up. For that, we're going to need permission, maybe supervision (at the very least, somebody who knows how to handle those magic machines in there without opening up a portal to Demonhoardia) and, eventually, an arrangement whereby those like June RoverMouse can come to use magic like the rest of us, so that this whole stinkin' affair doesn't repeat itself sometime later on. You game for this?"

OOC: Evidence is needed so that the validity of the statements given can be assessed. Just cause she pleads guilty doesn't mean she'll get convicted by the jury.

IC: Joshua and Mali meanwhile were back in Zena's room with it's owner curled up under the covers. They'd tried everything they knew of for hangover cures (Mali's cousin's 20th was a great time to learn of these) but nothing had been working. Finally Zena had given up, crawled in bed, and refused to let them do anymore. "Just tell me everything you find out later." she whined.
"Who's to say we won't forget something?" Josh asked.
"Mali's photographic memory." Zena retorted.
This earned a nervous laugh from Mali who continued. "Fine then, but you'd better at least try to make an appearance later today." With that she stood up, grabbed Josh's wrist and left with the same form of finality that something would receive after being run over with a steamroller.
"Fat chance." Zena mumbled to herself once the door had closed. She rolled over, smashed her head between two pillows, and attempted to go back to sleep.

OOC: And that an appropriate sentence can be given

OOC: Ya, that too. I kinda forgot about that.

"That could be arranged after this is all over. Please see me once the trial is over and we are clear of the Courtroom."

Drai'lee brightened at Galvenor kind offer - and she really hoped that it came with instructions on how to do it on her own, reliably - the reliable part was what always tripped her up - she wasn't any too sure that it was damaged Fae majick, or majiks from her fathers half with were fouling up. No one had ever been abld to determine that, not even the greatest masters among the Fae.

and, eventually, an arrangement whereby those like June RoverMouse can come to use magic like the rest of us, so that this whole stinkin' affair doesn't repeat itself sometime later on. You game for this

Drai'lee was most willing to help clean up - and said so eagerly - but she knew she couldn't help with the last - though it would be a very kind thing to do. Most of her people wouldn't bother themsleves helping others, but Drai'lee knew all to well what it was like to be different. Marvel is wonderfully sensitive to think of their need. Why can't all demons be as good and kind as he is?

OOC: You're confusing a guilty plea with a confession, Syl. I've been in traffic court more than once, and pled guilty to a couple of my traffic tickets. When I did, no evidence was EVER needed. A guilty plea requires no evidence. It goes straight to the sentencing phase. A confession can be challenged.

IC:

"And I hope you realize what you're getting into with Drai'lee, Galvenor. She morphs back and forth between Fae and human, and she can't control the process. She loses most of her magical capabilities when she reaches human size. Just to allow her to control the process would be a trickier spell than I'd ever attempt, and I've been using magic for over a hundred years. I've undergone both physical and spiritual alterations, and they're not the kind of spell one casts every day."

OOC @ MoM: That reminds me...how can a mouse be sentenced to a 20-year prison term when, even as a well-cared-for house pet, a mouse only lives seven to 10 years? Won't someone get just a tad suspicious?

"Before we finish, though, I must admit that I was
under the impression that we'd be starting classes soon.
Might I inquire as to what the schedule would
per chance be from here on out?"

Irene Hoyrel and Lerim had been sitting on the opposite side of the courthouse, but still in the audience section. They passed by the trio of Galvenor, Drai'lee, and Marvel.
"See you on the outside." they said individually as they passed by.

Outside, all three went in different directions.

Galvenor chuckled at Drai’lee’s worries.

“With Magic, you never know, but you can have a pretty good idea of what will happen.”

Then the gargoyle asked a question that Galvenor did not know the answer for.

“I am not certain what can and must be done for the Mice. That is a subject that must be researched upon and intensive interviewing of their people and their society. Their inability to do magic could stem from their own disbelief or they might not be able to interact with Mana itself. Obviously there are people who can.” Galvenor nodded toward the white mouse with the long beard.

After leaving the courthouse and allowing everyone to get their bearings, he continued the tour by showing the people (used loosely I might add with so many non-humans around including Galvenor) the rest of the tower. He took then above the Caffeteria to the Instructor’s Dorms. Each dormitory consisted of several rooms which was accessed through their offices. He then took them up another level to the Masters Offices. This floor was mostly open with a study area surrounding the Levitation Chamber. Ringing this study area was a series of doors. Each door led to a large office and on the other side was another door leading to the residence tower of the Master Instructors. There were eight of these and it was clear that they were set up for deans of individual areas such as elemental, enchantments, ect…

Above these floors is where the classrooms began. Two floors of lecture halls and class rooms with another two floors of labs above them. Each lab was fully stocked with normal materials while dangerous ones were kept safely stored away, somewhere.

Above the labs was three floors of richly carved mahogany doors. Through these doors was the Library.

Books lined the shelves of the Library as well as the walls. Each floor had several study tables arranged near the doorways and shelves radiated outward from these. The curious thing was each set of shelves were exactly parallel as they led away from the center instead of growing further apart. It was confusing to the eye for it caused the perspective to be screwed. Imps fluttered and zipped by returning books to their shelves and kept the area spotless.

On the top floor of the Library, two doors led to offices of Galvenor and Eldrad. It was presumed stairs from somewhere in these offices led upwards into their towers but the tour did not extend into those two offices, only allowing them to view the doors.

The tour ended at sunset in the Dome. The setting sun illuminated the crystalline dome and lit the entire thing with orange and crimson light.

Image (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/WTviewthroughdome2.jpg)

“I would like to announce the interviews for Instructors will take place in 30 minutes. Each person who would like to apply will be allowed to meet with Eldrad and myself here in the Dome alone. They will be given the chance to present their case and to prove their value to the school. While this is happening, nobody else will be allowed up here. There will only be a single applicant at a time. After the interviews are done, I will post a listing of those accepted in the cafeteria for all to see. I will point out there will probably not be any Masters in the beginning until they have worked into the positions. You are free to go while I set up the place for interviews.”

Galvenor and Eldrad watched as the students and prospective instructors took the lift down. He began to set up several enchantments to not only protect the area from the magics that was about to be let loose but also to guarantee there would be no eavesdropping from anyone in or outside the tower.

One prospective instructor stood near the lift, paitently awaiting his or her turn. Not wishing to let his or her identity loose, he or she wore a mask, a plain white mask. He or She also wore a very loose fitting robe, black, and made of burlap. Not even not even his or her hands revealed anything, for they too were tucked inside the robe.

If he had cared, Marvel would have been frustrated. It wasn't so much that Melvin-bore didn't even show a rudimentary understanding of the issues placed before him--Marvel was used to prejudice, and to being ignored--it was more the total lack of concern that the old--whatever he was--showed for his so-called students' safety.

First, if he'd had EVEN ONE brain cell in that hat rack of his, Melvin-bore would have understood that there were two parts to his question: cleaning up the trashed mouse hole/magic lab and working to make magic accessible to the mice. He didn't. Never mind that, if they didn't do something about June RoverMouse's complaint, they'd be setting themselves up to let the same thing happen all over again with a new cast of characters--and maybe even more fatalities. That should have been a no-brainer. Second, if he'd had TWO brain cells to rub together, he would have understood that June RoverMouse's magic machines had application beyond just mice: they could make magic safe and available to anyone. Nope. Not old empty-hat. The whole humongous thing went right over his head and didn't even register. What a budding genius!

Of course, he didn't say any of this to anyone. He kept his opinions to himself.

But he vowed that he would try to get some of the better mages in the place together so that they could do what Melvin-bore was not smart enough to figure out.

Which all took him to the end of the tour...and the job interviews. He figured that the best way for him to find the folks who were good...and willing...was as a teacher, because they met more people. So he waited in line...and his form wavered a little as he fired up a few spells for the (heh heh) little demon-stration that he was planning when (if) at last he got in.

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

OOC: Nothing personal against Balrogga, but Galvenor really did dumb out big time. (Galvenor and Balrogga are two different beings, and I, who am not Marvel, respect the person known on this list as Balrogga even though Marvel, a fictitious character, doesn't respect the other fictitious character known as Galvenor very much.)

Josh, Mali, and Zena stood around the lift on the student dorm level of the castle. They compared mental notes on what had been where to make sure they caught everything. The great thing about them was that if one missed it, the other two usually caught it. Finally the discussion rounded to the instructors and who might put themselves up for examination. After a bit of arguing, mainly between Zena and Josh, they decided he would think it over a bit before doing anything. He'd probably learn quite a bit from the instructors as it was, but he should manage to teach a class just fine if he wanted to.
At least, that's what they figured.

Jackson padded over to a nearby window and looked out towards the mountain taking in deep, long and controlled breaths through his snout.

"Remnants of matter conversion..." he commented after some time... "There is no need to clean up, everything that June had constructed and then shrunk down to fit in whatever crevice she had used as a cave, and judging by the power of it, well let's just say that I doubt there could be anythng left, and even so, that much magic... is surely going to cause some interesting side-affects in areas that were close to the matter conversion. Just another legacy that we have from what happened with June."

"And Galvenor is right, it's going to be a long research process, who knows how long June had been working on her artifacts, and we don't even know if they worked as they hoped. If it's alright with you Galvenor I'd like to stay here and do research on this."

"Marvel. Illusionist. Here to teach illusions. Starting with a...simple little demonstration."

The demon pulled up a chair, sat down and crossed his legs, so that one knee popped over the other.

"By now, you should be asking yourself what's going on," he said. "Most male humans OR Red Gargoyles can't cross their knees. Well, that's because I'm not really here. I'm an illusion. The REAL me is somewhere in this room, though, and all you have to do is find him."

There were little blurs scattered about the room. One was in the corner, another seemed to hang from the light at the center of the ceiling. Another one stood directly behind the interviewers' table. They all pulse magic, as if they were invisibility spells.

The illusion uncrossed its legs.

Behind them both, there was a bright flash. When it subsided, a the room had a new occupant. She was rather small--had they stood side-by-side, she would only have come up to a point halfway between Marvel's elbow and his shoulder. She wore a form-fitting but elegant pantsuit, which served to flatter a figure that needed no flattering. A simple silver pendant adorned her neck, and her gloves matched the pure white of her feathery wings.

"Hello, handsome," she said, looking at the illusion.

Marvel--even the illusion--almost seemed to pop out of his skin.

"Ummm...Angelica! What are you doing here?"

Angelica shrugged, and turned those big, dark eyes loose on the poor demon with a look of affection that would have saved the Titanic. "I'm a scribe," she said. "I got tired of doing the odd job. I put in for a transfer. Here I am."

"Scribe? You're not going to--?"

"I'm just here to attend some classes, take some notes...maybe even visit an old friend," she said, cutting him off.

"Well...that's great," the demon cut in, and then his smile got real nervous, "but I'm sorta trying to go through a job interview here."

"I'm sorry," she replied. "My timing is always like that. I guess I'll just go now."

She turned toward the door and drew her wings in tight. Just before she started crossing to the eubance, she raised a hand. "By the way," she said, "none of the magic blurs are him. Right now, he's sitting inside the illusion of himself." She looked quickly back at him. "Oldest trick in the book, dahlink." She walked out.

Marvel gulped as the door closed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That was...my ex-wife."


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

OOC: On the trivia front, the part about the knee cross is true.

"But that's how they do it!" Marvel exclaimed. "Right now, they've got a team of crack mages watching over her! Just watch!"

He did not run to the door, but merely appeared there. This was the real him that had been inside the illusion. He opened the door. He smiled his most deplorable, sniveling little smile.

"Oh, Angelica, darling, could you please step back in here for a moment? Thank you! You're much too kind."

As she appeared through the door, the saccharine-dripping smile continued to dominate--some would say pollute--his features. "Now, darling," he continued, "I was just about to give these nice gentlemen a simple demonstration of--."

So quick that one could barely see it move, his tail flailed out and, stinger, drawn, struck at her abdomen. It stopped about a half inch short of the target.

"See?" he said. "I told you that--." He jerked his tail. "Wait a minute, I can't get it out." And then his eyes got wide as saucers.

"Ohh sh--."

Vzzzzzt. Vzzzt vzzzzt! Vzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

His body shook violently and turned neon colors as several thousand volts of electricity went through it. Noticing what was going on, Angelica took his tail in her hand and gently pushed it away from her.

Marvel collapsed in a smoking heap.

"Are you alright?" she asked, walking over to him. "Honestly, I know that there's no love lost between you and The Family, but I didn't think they'd resort to this."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," said Marvel.

The robed man watched with disinterest, his masked face betraying no sense of any emotion or reaction of any kind what so ever, if he hadn't shifted positions slightly, one might have mistaken him for a statue of some sort.

At the end of the tour, seeing that Marvel was going to interview Drai'lee and Khatt both wished him the best ( figuratively ) and each went their seperate ways. Khatt to wash up and Drai'lee off to find a empty bench and think. She appreciated Galvenor's offer but wasn't sure if she should take him up on it. Marvel was correct in that her majics came and went as they pleased - but mostly went -while she was human sized. What if that endangered someone. The thought of being the cause of difficulty bothered her. That she knew was her human part, a real Fae would have not cared, wouldn't even have thought of such.

Sighing after struggling with the offer and still not come to a decission, she headed to the cafeteria. Breakfast had been a long time ago, and she'd missed lunch. Khattfound her there,just about ready to order and joined her.

Josh figured it best to head to he library. He'd see anyone else that left the dome quick enough and he might find something interesting to read while he was at it. He waved goodbye to Zena and Mali before stepping into the lift and riding to the top floor of the library. Once there, he wandered off through the shelves of books, fascinated by the seemingly endless supply of subjects. Finally selecting one about the various planes of existence, he trotted back to the amber light, found a table, and began to read.

Mali and Zena meanwhile holed themselves up in Zena's bedroom. She had all sorts of goodies stashed away. Various types of cards, games of every variety, a selection of small mechanical objects, and then some. Mali insisted Zena dig out the Tarot deck, hoping to see what this school had in store for them.

OOC: Sorry Bal, you tempted fate on that one. :p

While the mysterious person was waiting in the lounge area on the third floor of the Library he was casually eyeing some of the titles on the shelves. The others were sitting at the tables or relaxing in one of the comfortable chairs glancing through books or otherwise keeping themselves distracted in some way.

Suddenly an Imp fluttered through the open door and flew up to the darkly robed personification of a cliché.

“My Master can see you now. Proceed up to the Garden Level and follow the path.”

After stepping into the amber light, he rose in the air until he was standing level with the garden under the dome. He stepped off and could see both Eldrad and Galvenor in chairs facing the opening he just rose through. They had commandeered one of the round tables used by students for eating or studying. The fourth chair was set aside and an Imp fluttered nearby with a serving tray balanced on one thin arm while he was placing a pitcher of ice water and glasses on the table with the other. After it was done, the Imp fluttered off down the great shaft back to the cafeteria.

“Please sit down, let’s talk.”

After taking the seat across the table from the two the stranger was asked some questions by Galvenor while Eldrad looked on with his deep eyes seeming to look straight down to his soul.

“What can you tell me to convince us you are able to teach students? What can you instruct them in that nobody else could? What are your specialties?”

The two waited for the answers.

"What can I teach them? What do they need to learn? I have lived many lives, and have been since the original inception of magic itself. I have been the greater majority of creatures both sentient and not that exist in the multi-verse. I have served nearly every God including each and every one of the avatars at one time or another. I stood by the side of Warfare as he fought against The Nothing, and served The Omni in my ultimate and final demise.

It is inconceivable that I cannot on some level connect with each and everyone of the students, as close as is prudent for an instructor to come to his or her students. I will not specify what I can teach, for to do so would both limit myself, and the students, which is not fair to anyone. We all three know that in the end, Magic is a personal path, and like the parable of the horse and water, we can show the proper way to do something, but we cannot force them to learn. I know you both already know who I am, and we all know the depth of my knowledge is great indeed, so particular subject matter is a matter of which none of us really and truely has a concern.

But what can I teach them that nobody else could? Any master can claim specialty over an area, and prove his worth. I already know there will be a variety of teachers, and to dance in any area is a folly indeed, for each will be capable of teaching most areas of expertise I could claim.

Those who know my lives, know I have explored one particular area of magic more than any other magi, without exception. The spirits will tell of the times I explored the edge of magic, and fell over the side, having pushed the boundary too far. I will NOT claim to be single-handedly responsible for pushing magic as far as it is. I won't even claim to have a part. What I can teach, is the dangers of magic. Everyone thinks they know the danger of magic, they say oh I know to be careful, or some such excuse. But it is no different than any power of science. I have made more mistakes in magic than many might think possible. Through my own mistakes, I can help others safely find the limits of their powers, so that they themselves can push their own limits.

The man removed his mask, and his robes, revealing his ceremonial wizard robes, decorated in a romanticized style reminiscent of the golden age of magic. It seemed he was a blast from the past, but this of course was false. His skin had what appeared to be veins running through it, but the man channeled so much power, that it showed naturally through his skin.

"I'd introduce myself, but you already knew who I am and what I'm all about, don't you?" Xos Xilanthese said with a smile.

There was something in his eyes though, he had another reason for being there.

But there is something important you must know, our enemy is in the tower, accompanied by something new that is also old. But I know not who they are disguised as. I do know however, that our enemy no longer means us any violence or harm. So perhaps once we root him and his crony out, we can safely convince him to leave. Also, my wife wishes to return, but not as an instructor, but as the schoo'ls medic.

Somewhere, down below, Lerim and Hoyrel suddenly stiffened, somehow knowing they were in trouble. But neither said anything, not daring too. They resumed their previous activities of browsing the stacks of books in the library.

If anybody starts singing "You Light Up My Life," I'll kill him, Marvel thought. Those d----d Angels had done it to him again! It wasn't fair! It wasn't like he was actually trying to harm anyone! He knew darn good and well that the shield would stop him!

There was a ringing sound in the demon's ears. Not the usual kind, either. It sounded like church bells. Eventually, it faded, and, when it did, Marvel found that he'd quit smoking (next time, he'd have to take up cigarettes!) and that he could move again. He still didn't want to get too close to anything metal--knowing those sadistic schmucks, they'd left him magnetized--but he could get around OK.

And he found himself back out in the lobby, back in line, like he almost hadn't started the interview. And Angelica was standing right there next to him.

"I would've stayed if you'd asked me to," she said.

He looked at her. "We've been over this before," he said. "How could I deny you the thing that you're meant to be, that you want more than anything else?"

"Well, if you--.

"We've been over this before. I'm just not cut out to work with Big Father. I'm not. You're a wonderful gal, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's said that to ya, but if I have to deal with THEM in order to deal with YOU, I need another deal. You had your choice. You made it. I don't have a problem with it. I just can't take the deal that you've chosen."

"Well, if that's the way you feel..."

"It is."

"I don't hate you, you know."

"I know--and I don't hate you either."

"Well, then...I guess there isn't too much more to talk about right now."

"Nope."

She turned away.

"Good luck in your new job," Marvel said. But she'd disappeared into the crowd by then.

OOC:

Behold!
Untold
Machinations
Peramulate!

OOC:

Beneath
Untold
Mountains
Penguins
Eternally
Dance

OOC:

Sorry, been dealing with the week long RNC in Minneapolis. Now that it is over I will be able to get propler RPing done.

I hope...

OOC: It's over? It's safe to leave my hole now cause the republicans have left? HOORAY!

OOC: An' YOU thought my bump was just a bunch of meaningless drivel...

:) :) :)

Yes, the convention was in full swing when I made that post...

OOC: An' YOU thought my bump was just a bunch of meaningless drivel...

:) :) :)

Yes, the convention was in full swing when I made that post...

I was trying to imitate the master...

OOC:

Beats,
utterly,
my
poorness.

OOC:
Big
Unmanly
Men
Pick
Evil
Daisies

Seriously, where's Bal, I thought he said he was good to go again?

OOC:

Seriously, where's Bal, I thought he said he was good to go again?

It has been a very busy week for me. I've only had two days off and one was my birthday and the other had me running around doing errands for my wife. That means of the last 16 days I have worked 14 of them.




IC:


“What would make you think you are able to teach students in this kind of environment? I am sure your list of achievements is great and grand but we are not interested in teaching the students some obscure or overpowered abilities. We need to give them a solid base so they can branch out on their own interests.”

After he answered, Galvenor turned to Eldrad, “Is there anything you wish to add before I continue?”

Galvenor waited to see if his companion wished to add anything before continuing.

“First and foremost, the safety of my students and of the school itself is of the utmost importance. Who or what do you have in your history past, present, and future that could cause trouble for them? “

Well...here he was, standing in line again. Oh, the drama. Oh, the excitement. Oh, the COMPLETE, UTTER, ARRANT ($*#^^@)($&!! BOREDOM!

The only useful(?) thing that happened was, while he was waiting, he overheard somebody talking about the mouse-HOLE. The Powers That Be had written the place off as a total disaster. They said it was contaminated from all the matter conversion he'd busted.

Not bad for an hour's work. Heck--he hadn't wanted to trash the place permanently. He hoped no one showed up with pitchforks to let him know what a good boy he'd been. Demons sorta have to watch out for that stuff. Still, it sorta removed his entire motivation for seeking the teaching job. Oh well...it would be good practice...or, then again, maybe the demon could see how long it took to make either Melvin-Bore or Oldbag laugh. Now, that could be a challenge.

Man, it was a good thing that no one was picking up on his Marvel Names!

----------

OOC: :) :) :)

----------

IC:

Of course, Angela wasn't going to make things between the Demon and the Dra'gon La'dee any easier, either. Nobody here knew the whole story--even ol' Melvin-Bore (Hell's Bells, that was a good one! Why hadn't he thought it up?) only knew the short version. There were other details that no one had figured out yet--unless there was some kind of info swap between Melvin-Bore and Big Father. Marvel wouldn't put it past them.

Of course, Marvel had sorta figured out how Big Father worked. From the way Angela had spoken, he was pretty sure that, somewhere out there in the great beyond, some Angel with an attitude had lost his job. Of course, the demon would never catch wind of it, but it had probably already happened...and the only thing he'd have to worry about from the incident was that the Angel in question might decide to avenge himself on that mean old demon who'd taken his job away by absorbing 10,000 volts or so and...there would be new fallen Angel that night, and he might be eating fried demon for dinner.

Marvel had other plans.

They started with the job interview.

Now, if only the JOB INTERVIEW would start... Oh, the drama. Oh, the excitement. Oh, the COMPLETE, UTTER, ARRANT ($*#^^@)($&!! BOREDOM!

The purple robed man was still present, and he had just watched the others as before. He was not aiming to become an official teacher in the place, however - but he wasn't intending to become a student, either. Why, exactly, he was still there, eluded even himself. But he did not worry himself too much with such things.

Maybe it was just a case of terminal boredom that he was trying to alleviate. After all, his life had been quite... Monotonous for a long time, all things considered. For him that would have been reason enough to stay a little longer. Maybe he just wanted to see how things worked in the tower. Maybe he just couldn't be bothered to leave.

Who knew. It didn't matter, anyway.

((OOC: More nothing with a few words!))

"Normally, at this point, we ask the candidate what his specialties are. That would be pointless here. You've already shown the particulars of your individual skills. That leaves us with the next question: how would you convince us that you can teach them? What can you instruct our students in that nobody else could?”

Actually, this was a rather bland form of the question. Though the demon hoped that his earlier demon-stration had shown that he knew what he was doing, he really had no way of knowing--and, after the way Angela had done it to him, he had hoped that he could get a second chance. Not tonight. Oh well.

He'd been expecting this, though, and he was prepared for it.

"Why don't I teach you a simple illusion?" the demon asked. "It's really nothing spectacular, but it covers a lot of ground."

From his place behind the desk he was...behind...Oldbag nodded his assent.

"Well, first, I'm going to assume that they've had the ol' magic 101, and understand the basics of spell sensation and discrimination--that they can feel magic and the interconnectedness of everything. From there, we join hands and cast a simple spell."

Marvel reached out, grasped Melvin-bore's hand and, letting him feel the magic coursing through him, squeezed out a small illusion.

Oldbag farted--or appeared to, anyway.

"Now, do you see how that works?" He walked over and grasped Oldbag's hand. "Your turn now."

Melvin-bore farted this time.

"Of course, I'd encourage the students to work together, to share the spellcasting and teach each other..."

Melvin-bore and Oldbag farted together. The sounds harmonized.

"Of course, as I said, this airs out," Marvel didn't know how he made it through that phrase without snickering, "other important concepts as well. For example, it shows that not all illusions are illusions of sight--an important concept in their teaching. And, above all, it shows that, though magic is indeed a serious matter, it's OK sometimes to have a little bit of good, safe fun with it.

"And that ends today's first lecture. Should I be on my way?"

Oldbag farted "Shave and a Haircut." Melvin-bore farted "To Go."

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

Marvel walked away from the interview with a smile. Maybe he'd get the job and maybe he wouldn't, but he'd sure had fun trying.

“What can you tell me to convince us you are able to teach students? What can you instruct them in that nobody else could? What are your specialties?”

The two waited for the answers.

OOC: Going on what was said earlier, I'm going to post Josh's answers.

Josh stood before the duo, calm and collected, at least in appearance. Inside, his intestines were squirming and his stomach churned. If he'd had milk earlier, he would have a few pounds of good butter at this point. "I lead one of the most advanced research facilities in my nation. It's my job to make sure progress is being made, but I never allow someone to take on more than they can handle. As a teacher, the process isn't much different. Students crave knowledge, it's just a matter of figuring out how to help them find it. They like to explore, so I'll let them, and even give them direction to help them out.
"To your second and third questions, I specialize in history and theory. If you know the basics and how they interact, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished. Anyone I teach I want to come away from here knowing the foundations for creating their own spells, their own ideas and discovering more than one could ever find in a book. Sure there are some that will want to know more advanced ideas, and I'll be willing to teach them, but I will give them nothing more than they can handle. Do you have any more questions?"
He hoped he had answered their questions to the best of his ability and awaited their response. He was determined to get this job, but knew that if he was unable to get what he wanted that the world would keep on spinning.

“First and foremost, the safety of my students and of the school itself is of the utmost importance. Who or what do you have in your history past, present, and future that could cause trouble for them? “


Galvenor spoke up before Marvel/Josh could leave.

"Before you go, you have to answer the last question. You see, the safety of the Students and the School has to be placed first. In order for this to happen, you need to tell us of anything that might be in your history, present, or future that could cause any sort of trouble here."



In Marvel's mind a singular voice spoke.

After all, both "Oldbag" and myself would like to know.

Josh gulped. He had a feeling this was coming and didn't like it one bit. "Past, yes, present, I don't believe so, future, I do not know." He answered truthfully, wavering on holding back details before deciding it would be best for them to know rather than having to force it out of him. "I was born into slavery simply by being half demon and when my arm was torn from me, they left me for dead. It was only by chance that I was saved and I do not know what would happen should my old master find out what has become of me. However, I do know that he is incapable of magic himself and the law forbids advanced magical travel, the general category that I used to get here, except for researchers and those with the king's permission. All I'm saying is that I have problems in my past, but they cannot get here."

OOC:

I hate to think how immature this is, but, Balrogga, I'd like to thank you. Please don't take this the wrong way, but not only have I been waiting for months for the opportunity that you've just so graciously given me, but you've managed to hit on my personal favorite of all the Marvel Names. I don't know why, but "Oldbag" is the only one of these that's ever struck me, personally, as humorous. Please, please don't take that the wrong way. It has nothing to do with Eldrad or yourself. It's just the way it sounds.

IC:

UH...OH....! He knows...!!!!!!!! Hell's Bells and no one tells!!! He knows!!! Somebody TOLD!

When the cute little cat-that-ate-the-canary smile was firmly on plastered on his face, the thought occurred to the demon that, just maybe, no one had actually told. Melvin-b--er--Galvenor had already shown that he could read people's minds, and...

Ohhh, Hell's Bells. It wasn't like he went around actually using the names on people in public! It wasn't like...but he knew. Galvenor knew! Marvel's right to violate had been violated!

And then he remembered the question. His smile turned a little more sardonic. His hands went to his hips. He started to pace.

"At any given moment, I've got about six or so crackpot wizards trying to turn me into a room full of lab samples, a small herd of Angels trying to fry my behind without making it look like they've done anything wrong, and a prank war with the Grand Wizard Yendor--his term, not mine. Come to think of it, I owe ol' Methane Mouth another mouse trap on the toes again--it's been too long.

"Problems? No problems! The last one of those crackpots who tried to kidnap someone I liked ended up walking around for three months with a vertical smile!" As he spoke, Marvel made darn good and sure that he put the complete image in his mind of what the man looked like when the demon was done with him--just as a little free service for the mind readers in the room. "And when the Brotherhood of Freemorons caught wind of the fact that I'd picked up the basics of Yendorian Magic, they started leaving me alone. As to the Angels, they're nothing if not thorough. Big Father takes good care of that. The one who fried my hide the first time I was in here is probably cleaning the Heavenly Stables for his troubles by now. And Yendor? He's harmless. He's one of you. He has the same sensibilities. He'd never let one of his pranks harm one of your students. I'm surprised you haven't offered him a teaching job over--OUCH!" A mouse trap had suddenly appeared under Marvel's foot.

"I hate when people watch me without my knowing it," Marvel said. He glared at Mel--er--Galvenor and...Eldrad.

I'm going to get him for that, Marvel thought to himself as the illusion of the mouse trap vanished. I'm going to HAVE to get him for that.

Some days later, when Yendor was in the middle of teaching a class on Yendorian Magic, a little cloud formed over his head. He didn't notice it at the time, but this would soon change.

Of course, as the students looked on, the cloud spread. It wasn't until a few of them laughed that he turned from his chalkboard and looked up.

Within mere moments, he was deluged. There was no thunder, no lightning--just a rather unusual form of precipitation.

Yendor found that, all around him, it was raining mouse traps.

After less than a minute, the storm ended, and the pile of mouse traps that had risen higher than the old wizard stood disappeared.

Of course, the class was in an uproar.

I'm going to get him for that, Yendor thought as the illusion of the last mouse trap vanished. I'm going to HAVE to get him for that.

| OOC: Mad Magazine-es|que fold-up! |
| | |
| IC: | |
| | |
Bu|t it's all a joke, Marvel thought. | Can't you recognize ca|mp?
| | |

OOC:

Who else is applying to be an instructor, you will need to post your interview using the examples of the three others as a guide. There has to be more than three Instructors wanting a position.

This is what I am waiting for.

Jackson Volemouse padded in a bit late

"Sorry for the delay, Bill and Ben can be a bit of a handful, they were planning a prank on all the teaching staff. Whoever they turn out to be."

He started re-counting his educational experience Culminating with being the Chief Artificer the Magic Technitute of Miceland, one of the most prestigious organisations in Miceland. He was not only good at the basics of Artifice, but also good at understanding the potential hazards in regards to magic, not only unintended consequences, but going over your ability.

He didn't have any known enemies or issues that might cause problems for the tower, though he had to admit that he could not be 100% certain he wouldn't bring any troubles just that he doesn't know of any that would cause problems now or would potentially do so in the near future.

Marvel had, of course, forgotten one important fact: he had escaped from the underworld, and the beings there don't look fondly upon their conscripts walking other realms without permission.

Of course, he had been free for over a century now, and had good reason to believe that they had stopped looking for him...but...one can never be sure about the motives of the underworld.

Bothering
Usual
Manscript
Pals

OOC:

Bothering
Up to
Maximum
Potential

OOC:

I thought there were more than 3-4 characters/players wanting positions.

OOC:

I thought there were more than 3-4 characters applying for positions. I thought there were more than 2-3 wanting positions.

:) :) :)

OOC:

Been
Unendurable to
Many
Poeple?

Another
Good
Alias
Insures
Non-liability!

OOC: Look at how long it's been. If they were going to apply, they should have done so by now and so now I say they missed their opportunity. Go ahead and un-stagnate this plot.

OOC:

I agree. Interviews over. Everyone had their chances.

Now to contact SE to get his input.





IC:




To each of the applicants Galvenor spoke briefly.

"We will weigh your answers and preform several divinations and other methods to check your background and references. After discussing things in great detail. we will come to a decisiona nd I will inform you who will be hired. Meanwhile, consider how you will be teaching and what you might need."

After the last applicant left Galvenor turned to Eldrad.

Well, what do you think?

He waq sure nobody in the tower had the chance to even feel he was using telepathy so he made sure the conversation they were to have was very secure, just in case.

After a meal, Drai'lee and Khatt wandered through the library while the teaching interviews were continueing, but they'd come out in time to see Marvel talking briefly with a divinely beautiful angel.

Drai'lee frowned, and once the angel had departed, she whisked over to Marvel "Who was that? She wasn't here earlier? She hasn't come to cause you trouble has she?"

Marvel laughed. "That's Angelica, and she appeared pretty much out of nowhere right in the middle of my interview--which is typical for the likes of her. She was the one who made it possible for me to turn away from evil--and, for a time, she was my wife. It's a long story. But they annulled the marriage when she stopped being a Red Gargoyle and went back to being an Angel." A mischievous grin took over the turned demon's face as he finished his little speech. "And I don't think she's here to cause trouble, but I think that she's going to anyway.

"And how might you be?"

Drai'lee snorted. Not here to cause trouble? Angelics caused trouble where ever they appeared. And they were far to 'nose in the air' assured of their own perfection, in her estimation at least.

"And how might you be?"

"Bored to tears most of the day, but a lot happier that nothing like yesterday has happened yet today." Drai'lee said with evident relief, then asked interestedly, curious as to how Marvel's interview had gone "So did you get an instructors position?"

Khat murmured merely that "One would think that the instructors would have been chosen before the school opened." But he shrugged philosophically "But maybe we all arrived too soon. I just hope some one can help me get controll of what majics I have. They're as nearly unpredictable as Drai'lee's are."

"Khat?" Bill and Ben slowly walked up to her on their hind legs with their heads bowed they both were carrying posies "We, uh, heard what happened" Ben started. "and we wanted to give you these." added Bill... "To make up for you know." "what happened." Bill finished as they each presented the flowers to Khat.

"Know what you mean," Marvel replied. "Boredom can be soooo...boring." Then, he saw Angelica further down the hall, writing something in one of those scribe books of hers. He smiled. "Then again," he said, "a little wholesome entertainment never hurt anyone..."

He extended his hand and conjured a little illusion. First, the pen stopped working. Angelica took it off of the book and shook it gently. As she did, with a loud flatulent sound, a huge blurt of ink appeared to come out of the pen and land on the book--in the shape of an extremely obnoxious face with two hands wiggling, one on either side, and its tongue sticking out.

Angelica looked up, found Marvel, and smiled a wry grin, which the demon returned. When she looked back down, the illusion had disappeared.

"Now...what other fun can we have?"

He looked at the flowers that Khat had just received.

"Posies, eh?" Marvel said. "Watch this!"

As the enchanted feline watched, the flowers seemed to come to life...and...being posies, they started to...pose.

"Hey! Look at me!" exclaimed one of the little yellow blooms, its outer mantle of petals spreading like a lion's mane. Its nose went up in the air in a gesture of extreme arrogance.

"No! Look at me!" said another one.

"Hey!" said a third, right next to the second one. "Quit bumpin' into me!"

"Gimme room!" said the second one.

"You want room?" the third fired back. "How about this!"

The outer row of petals wound up into four spirals, like little arms, and one of them reached out and spun the second one around like a propeller.

In a moment, there was a full-blown, miniature slapstick brawl going on--pies were being thrown, petals were thrown up like shields then snapped up like window shades, one of the flowers even shot water right into another one. The only thing missing was phony dynamite.

Marvel snuck up behind the two mice. "You know, you guys should really be careful about which florist you use. Get the wrong one and there's no telling what you'll end up with." A posie pie landed on Ben's shoulder with a soft splat.

Of course, Marvel was trusting that Khad--er Khat--would take this as harmless entertainment. The demon figured that the feline knew him well enough by now not to take it as an insult.

"Hey, this is even better than what we planned!" Bill excitedly said to his Brother as they were enjoying the show.

".. Where'd Marvel Go?" Ben asked as he noticed that Marvel was no longer infront of him, he didn't even get to turn around and look as Marvel spoke.

"Oh, there... speaking of pies. We've got something for you." Bill scampered off down the Hall while Ben stayed. "See Cream Pies are sometimes just so... expected. Oh, By the way, want a Drink?"

Mali, Zena, and Josh ate their meal discussing what happened. Josh explained as best he could what had happened up in the dome while the girls listened, most of their attention on him, with the rare glance at the flower fight. They were optimistic about what was to come, Josh on the other hand, was wondering if he'd get the job or not.

Marvel winked at Drai'lee. By now, the posies were all tuckered out. One breathed three heavy sighs and collapsed, leaving only one more standing. It stood proudly, displaying hole-filled petals, raising one like an arm with a single finger held straight in the air. "There!" it said. "I wi--" Splat! A posie pie, obviously launched earlier in the brawl, came down on it and knocked it out, too. In a moment, the illusion cleared and the flowers were back to normal.

"A drink?" Marvel asked. "Depends. What are you serving these days?"

He started to fiddle with the posies, pretending as if he didn't hear Marel, after about 10 seconds of awkward silence he finally piped up.

"Oh, you were talking to me. Sorry, I've only got these posies nothing to for you to drink on me... but..."

As he was speaking seemingly from nowhere a bucket of water appeared coming up from below behind Marvel, it wasn't as tall as the Demonic creature, but it started to tip over his shoulders. Cold water poured out from the bucket, over Marvel's shoulders and down onto the hard floor surface.

"my brother has some water for you."

Marvel laughed a mirthful laugh. As he did, he extended his hand. The water on the floor gathered itself and began flowing like a little river, first between his feet, then meandering across the floor, this way and that.

As they watched, the water formed into the likeness of a big, fat, ugly old lady. Actually, this was Yendorian magic. Marvel wasn't really controlling the water itself, he was controlling the space that it was flowing through.

The "old lady" waddled over to Marvel and smiled at him. She was entirely transparent, but she could be seen to wear horn-rimmed glasses and have a big, thick mustache. Her hair was in a bun, and she wore a print dress with flowers on it, pearls and high-heeled boots on her thick legs.

"Water's OK," Marvel said, "but I really prefer something stronger. Don't you?"

The old lady shook her head "no."

Marvel sighed. "Figures," he said. He turned to the others. "This is Auntie Birtha." Standing by Khat, she smiled. The posies wilted. "Don't worry, though. She's really a sweet thing at heart." She batted her eyelashes. One of the posies got up, cringed and wilted again. She stood straight and started waddling toward Ben.

"And, you know, I think she likes you." As he finished, "Auntie Bertha" spread her arms, puckered up and bent down to give Ben a big, bad and no doubt very wet kiss.

"Ugh... Show-Off!" Ben grunted as he took off from the group but not before he dropped what looked like a tablet on the ground into the water that lay on the floor. Which fizzled for a moment before making the water extrememly slippery as if there were lots of detergent in it.

Bill and Ben scuttled away leaving 'Aunty Birtha', Marvel, Khat and whoever else was there.

Drai'lee wes glad she seldom had to stand on the floor, it was a mess! Though the posy pie fight had had her looping in mid air, sides aching with laughter.

However Khatt was far less pleased. He was feet on the ground and soked with soawpy water. He looked over at the more than slightly damp Marvel with a gimlet eye as foam laden water sloshed about his paws. "Pie fights are one thing but soaking a cat then soaping him is an entirely differnt order of upset " He took a tenative step after Ben then froze as it took all of his feline agility to remain standing on the extremely slippery floor.

"Marvel, could you get rid of this? Then we need to start planning our rodent infestation removal campaign."

"Not going to be easy," Marvel said with a grin. "Mind you, the pies and such were all illusions. None of that was real. As you can see, the flowers are still just as they were handed to you. Since 'Auntie Bertha' is actually a think skin of water, I can rinse you off by just letting it go...like this."

Pop. Splash.

"OK...now, we just apply a little bit of warm air..." Whooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! "...and wa-la! Fresh cleaned feline!"

Of course, by now, Khat's fur had all gone straight out, with a most annoying fresh-dried, high-static look to it. The blow-drying process had turned him into the collection point of a rather elaborate van de graff generator.

"And as to the rodent problem, just touch one of 'em and watch the sparks fly."

Marvel's grin was absolutely beaming.

Jackson started walking by... "Water... heh. Bill and Ben must to be upto their tricks." He commented as he put his footdown into the water and started to slip and slide before anyone could properly warn him about the magic slip factor. He ended up sprawled on the ground in a very unceremonious manner.

He struggled and somehow managed to get up back on all fours. "Call the cleaning crew this mess is dangerous... I'm going to see some mice about some water."

He padded in a huff, to find Bill and Ben in their room sulking...

OOC: When Marvel splashed the water around, it sorta rinsed the slippery stuff away. Thought others would pick up on that...

While Galvenor and Eldrad went over the resumes and transcripts of the interviews in their office a troop of Imps descended upon the wet and soapy area. Their innate magical abilities allowed them to dispel the magical auras of the magical slickery soap turning it into ordinary soap that could be removed using mundane means. They then materialized mops and buckets and in a matter of minutes dust was settling in the clean dry floor and walls of the hallway. One of the Imps handed the ordinary flowers back to Drai’lee and the swarm flittered away back to where they appeared from.


OOC:

I have not forgotten this and have been enjoying the interactions. Quite comical. Since someone requested a clean up the Tower sent one.

Zena sighed from her corner. She'd been enjoying the fiasco after Mali and Josh had gone to their rooms that the imps had now removed. Well, there was more than one way to have fun in this place. She kicked open a nearby door and a flood of water came pouring out, complete with sea life. "This should be fun." She said, casting a line from a small boat.

Dastardly Stench;14135030']OOC: When Marvel splashed the water around, it sorta rinsed the slippery stuff away. Thought others would pick up on that...

OOC:

If Auntie Bertha was really just water, then it too would have been under the effect of the magical slickness provided by a tablet. The water would of been in contact with each other at the time of the tablet so... it's all still slick. And as such would of practically immediately drained off whoever got splashed.

"Ohhhh sh--!"

Splashhhhh!

The imps had gotten the original waters but more had appeared thanks to Zena...

Drai'lee swooped down to hover in front of Marvel, her face a study in concern, mingled with laughter and anger. Oh she was soo going to get those mice, and Zena -she'd pix them good - but she was for the moment far more worried about Marvel

"Are you all right?" She wished she was big enough to help him but but had to confine herself to looking him over thoroughly - and was relieved to find no outward damage.

"Zena!" She called wrathfully whirling over to flutter just out of Zena's arm range "Do you want to find yourself scratching like a dog with a thousand fleas? Cause if you don't clean this up right now I will pix you from here to kingdom come."

A rope had appeared from nowhere, or else Marvel would have been swept away by the flood of water. As he looked around, Marvel saw Angelica hovering above it all, casting little spells to try to mitigate the damage.

Of course, she was her usual self: trying retail solutions on wholesale problems. This time, the problem was that the water wasn't stopping at the edges of the chamber. It was a deluge, and it was spilling into the library and cascading down the stairs. Throwing him a magic rope may have helped him, but it did nothing for the whole school.

Marvel reached up his free hand and started casting space density spells. If you increase the density of the space that a liquid occupies enough, it acts like a solid. That was how Marvel dammed the flood. It took him a few minutes, but he managed to get all the exits. This, of course, led to another problem: with nowhere to go, the water started piling up in the middle of the room.

"Need some help here!" the demon cried out. "Zena, if you can't stop this thing, people are going to start drowning in it, and you might be one of 'em! Imps! Clean up in isle two!"

Zena continued to sit in her boat. At least until she fell over laughing. "Oh you people are so stuck up. I know what I'm doing." The water sealed itself off from going down the stairs and filled the hallway. Zena was now standing on the floor and looked around. "Anyone else have a problem with this?" Zena sighed and looked at the group, expecting more problems when Mali showed up.
"When did we add an indoor swimming pool?" she asked.

Grumblegrumblegrumble.

Grumble.

Grumble Fienda grumble cold water grumble grumble do the math grumble

Demon + Iceberg = Pneumonia

Grumblegrumblegrumble.

When the water stopped moving, relatively speaking, the rope disappeared, and Marvel found himself standing in ice-cold water that was only up to his neck. Angelica must have withdrawn the her protection spell because, without any currents to sweep the demon away, he was in no immediate danger. Oh, Fienda knew what she was doing alright.

He had a good mind to ask ol' Goody Two-Wings if her friends had a spare "Smite" Button, but, knowing his luck, if he did, they'd demonstrate the thing on him.

So...Marvel did the only thing he could think of under the circumstances. He screamed at the top of his lungs...

"This stuff is FREEZING!!! GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!"

"A little cold Marvel?" Zena asked. Her illusion was complete with bubbles coming from her mouth as she spoke. "We can always turn up the heat."

This was simple. Marvel was a hellspawn. He was made for heat. You could boil that water and he would just stand there in it and smile, but when you made it cold, that was something that his body just wasn't made for.

"This isn't funny!" he whined. "This stuff can kill me! I have to get out!"

Zena scowled. "I thought you were the master of illusions and you can't even figure out how to get out of one. It's simple enough really, but if you're going to whine about it." The small pool pulled itself into a ball in Zena's hand. "Killjoy." She said, walking off toward her room.

Marvel just stood there. He blinked once. There wasn't even a drop dripping off of his wings.

"I think I just got..."

He feinted.

"Punked?" Mali inquired of the passed out demon.

Being passed out, he did not answer.


OOC:

:P

Mali kneeled down by the demon and poked him in the ribs. "Time to wake up now Marvel." she said.

OOC: Duh, she just likes doing stuff like that.

Marvel burped, but did not wake up.

It was a good thing she didn't pull his finger.

OOC:

:p :P :p

After quickly gagging, she began to tap his forehead. "You may as well wake up now." She said.

OOC: :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

It was Angelica who solved the dilemma. She walked up behind Mali and handed her a little paper tube marked "smelling salts."

"Here," she said.

As the tiny object was passed under the demon's nose, he awoke with a start.

"Breathzilla!" he exclaimed. "What is that stuff! It could wake the dead!"

Mali clapped her hands together and started laughing. "I think that's the whole point!" She examined the smelling salts and continued to chuckle.

Jackson Volemouse padded along back towards the group "Oh, Marvel, Just the red guy I wanted to talk to. Would you come with me, there are things that Bill and Ben need to talk to you about."

He looked down at Marvel still laying down on the floor, something that mouse doesn't often get to do. "Why are you lying down on the ground like that, actually nevermind, just come and follow me will you?"

Marvel shook his head to clear out the cobwebs. He still felt inexplicably cold.

There were Fali and Goody Two-Wings still standing over him. No doubt Rathole was ingoring them, too. The SAD thing about it was that he was probably doing the SMART thing.

"Hand up?" he asked the nearest body.

It wasn't a hand, but it might help Marvel to his feet.

"Here, The twins have something they need to tell you, and I think you should listen. Here..."
Jackson extended his paw for marvel though being on his hind legs he was remarkably sturdy on them.

Well...any port in a storm.

Marvel let Rathole help him up...and, when the Girls didn't bother any more, went on his merry way. He had actually hoped that Fae Babe would follow him, but that was her choice.

This is not to say that the demon was naive. The last time the mice had something to say to him, it included a bucket of cold water. So...just to hedge his bets, Marvel quietly warmed up every defensive spell known to...him...as he went along.

Jackson's nose twinged abit as Marvel's magical defenses flared into existance,

"Won't need to worry about those Marvel, I can promise you that the twins aren't planing any tricks or pranks. This perhaps a bit surprisingly is serious."

Only minutes later they arrived at the door to Bill and Ben's room, each of them were sitting on their beds. They didn't seem to be their active selves.

"Bill, Ben... You had something to say to Marvel?!"

"We hate you!" one of the exclaimed while both turned around to have their backs facing towards them.

"Bill or Ben, You are going to have to tell him why."

"He knows!" the the other responded the sound dampened abit.

"Well, this is a bit awkward, do you have any idea why they would react this way?

"Yeah," Marvel said. "Because I play the same game they do. Pranksters don't like competition...until they get used to it."

The demon's smile was, as ever, bedeviling.

"Oh...that reminds me," he said.

He reached out his hand and spread his fingers. A small interdimensional window appeared in the air before him. Through it, one could see a wizard, tall and bearede, with a pointed, purple hat and green robes with gold inlays, teaching a class of some sort. Marvel reached out and set off one of the spells that he had warmed up. In a moment, the classroom was raining mousetraps.

After the hapless wizard had been completely buried, Marvel let the illusion fade, and closed the window.

"There," he said, "that'll teach him to mouse trap me in the middle of a job interview."

-----------

OOC: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tie up that loose end.

"NO, YOU AREN'T!!!" Ben randomly blurted out "Illusions aren't Pranks they're just illusions, Unless the prank requries the illusion as a set up then illusions aren't pranks." Ben continued to chide.

Bill piped in as well. "Yeah, we work hard for our pranks. When you get wet, you get went, when you fall over cause of some slippery water, you fall over. You don't know what it's like to have to work at being a prankster, you just call up an illusion when you feel like it!"

"Ah, there, we finally get to the point." Jackson commented... "You are upset at Marvel not because he is comptetition, but because you're upset that you have to work at it, while it seems to come so easily for him."

There were some unvocalisable sounds that could be assumed to be sounds of agreement fromthe two youngsters.

"Do you see now Marvel, privately I think they enjoy the competition, but well, now, you know I couldn't say this as a teacher but since I'm not currently, then perhaps you should go to a bit more trouble to set up your pranks abit?"

"Oh," Marvel said, "you think it's easy." He looked at the large rodents and cocked his head. "Just because I've been at it for a while doesn't mean it's easy. You know how long it took me an' ol' Yendor to perfect Auntie Bertha? I'll give you a hint: in arabic numerals, the years would have two digits.

"You're asking me to throw out years of hard work and preparation! Of discipline and toil! I'm not sure I can do that." Marvel smiled. He was layin' it on thick an' heavy, and nothing could make him happier.

"Oh, yeah?! Well, at least once you've mastered it you can pull it out of the bag whenever you want! You think that you have it hard? What about having to constantly be on the guard thinking about items that you might need, oh in about a weeks time?"

"Yeah, and then your abilities being tied up in constructed artifacts, and to gain them back you either have to use it or disenchant it. I bet you couldn't cope with 2 months of doing magic only through Artificing, and until you know how it feels to be so restricted then don't pretend you know anything."

They were both now sitting up in their beds, almost starring down Marvel there was an intensity behind it.

In the Underworld, I was still a diplomat, the demon thought with a grin. This was a tough crowd, and things were more serious that he had thought...so maybe a little of the ol' razzle dazzle was called for here. After all, if you can't dazzle 'em with your brilliance, you can always baffle 'em with the truth.

"Like, dudes," he said with a smile, "I never said I was you, and I never said you had it easy. I just said that, just like you shouldn't be made to just give up your hard-won disenchanting skills, I shouldn't be made to just give up my illusions. It's the same principle. We're all different, and we shouldn't all have to try to be exactly alike, that's all."

"And we thought you'd be up for a bet, but I suppose you are right..." Bill started

"actually, I've got an idea, if the artifice class is underway then you enter it, study under the Teacher here, perhaps with some private tutorial and then some time later... we do the bet. If you can do pranks only using magical items that you've created for 2 weeks, then we'll think of a penalty later."

"What do you think?"

The mood had changed, they were starting to be almost gleeful thinking up various forfeits for Marvel, either way they'd win. He'd either have to say no, which basically caving in and agreeing with them, saying yes, but backing out later. Well which they had him, or agreeing to go through of it. They didn't think he had any chance whatsoever, he didn't seem to have the type of brain necessary to plan for these sort of things well in advance. He was a demon after all.

Marvel smiled. "Oh, bets," he said. "I love bets!

"We agree to what happens if we lose in advance, the rules do not change in the middle, and you have to take a class, too--oh, like one in illusions, maybe." He smiled brightly. "And if you're not up to it, you have to do what I say just like I have to do what you say, whether or not I win my part."

And they thought they were in control.

"Illusions? Hah! Alright we agree don''t we." "Yeah!"

They were obviously keen for the idea and totally missed the fact that this bet was to be held on un-even ground, however Jackson did...

"Whoah, hold on their any bets can't favour or the other through procedural issues. Both partipants must be able to try the same things. Simply by the fact of the way Bill & Ben do magic, they won't be able to match the way you do it Marvel. So as an alternative, we could merge the two bets. Marvel does Artifice, the terrible twosome here do illusions and the final test will be the illusions generated by your creations. Which I think is much fairer for all of you and it's something that can be directly compared."

"Actually, yeah that sounds much better. That's how we'll do it. As for the forfeit. The loser or losers will become slaves of the winner or winners for one week. All menial work, including homework , is fair game."

"First, I don't do slavery. Where I come from, it's got a bad name." Got to keep up with the program. These boys have no idea some of the things I've seen. Almost enough to make me want to get serious...but...FIRST...

"Second, I don't understand what you just said about the bet, Volemouse. They want me to do magic their way, so I want them to do magic my way. I didn't ask the whole thing the first time. They want me to take a class on enchanted objects, and THEN only use enchanted objects to do pranks for one week. I want them to take a class on illusions, then only use illusions to do pranks for a week. That was the deal, even though I didn't articulate it properly. Now, you want a contest--illusions cast THROUGH enchanted objects? Did I get that straight?"

"Well, that is certainly what was implied, Bill and Ben, and myself for that matter, can only use magic through these 'enchanted objects' so any illusions they will do because of this bet will have to be done through this method. That was something which I thought you would recognise, noting the previous unpleasantness previously.

I thought it made sense, seeing as illusions are your forte and artificing is Bill and Ben's, and anyway, I thought you'd jump at a chance to show that you're the better prankster. Though about the forfeit, that's something that will obviously have to be discussed between you three."

"I do the pranks because I'm bored," the demon replied, "not because I have this thing about being the World's Greatest Prankster. Hah! That'd be a good one! Besides, prank wars can get out of hand. Only reason I'm in one with Ol' Purple Puss is that we've been friends for years and won't take it personally.

"But I think I have a solution to the problem. It's called the Amulet of Yendor, and Ol' Purple Puss hands 'em out to promising young mages. It's an enchanted object that teaches its wielder the fundamentals of Yendorian Magic, gradually becoming less and less powerful as the mage gets more and more so. That's how I learned the ropes. I'm sure I can get one if you'd like."

"Hmmmm, certainly has some promise, hopefully at worse the the magic will just stay in the amulet, though there is a chance that their might be some... incompatibility. If we do this, I'll have to keep a close eye on the process but... this is doable." Jackson was pontificating about the amulet, talking more to himself than anyone else.

"We'll do it." "Yeah, we're up for it" Bill and Ben both chimed in, despite the potential issues they were both interested.

"Are you sure? this could very well be dangerous."

"Yeah, we heard,"

" anyway... someone's got to keep Big Red here under control."

Marvel smiled. "Yeah," he said, "an' you two are exactly the guys for the job!

"I'll get in touch with Ol' Purple Puss when he's done with his class and see if I can set you guys up with one or two." An' then I'll see if I can talk Dra'gon La'dee into pixin' it once but good...won't that be fun now?

Of course, the best part of this stuff is ALWAYS the CREDIBLE DENIABILITY...

"Thank you Marvel." Jackson spoke, "now if you'll excuse me I've got some research to do."

He padded out contented that he had sorted out the issue before him, and left Bill and Ben and Marvel.

"So... It's your turn..." " What do you think the forfeits should be?" They split up the sentence, Hoping out of bed as they spoke. They both walked on all fours towards Marvel stopping meters away before 'standing' on thier hind legs.

"Hmmmmmm...I'm going to need a while to think on that one...but...right now...I'm leaning toward...I get to put any illusion spell on you that I can think of..."

And he had quite an imagination...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOC_5h_BoFc

OOC: What, you don't like my taste in music?

:p :p :p

"Alright, but You'll have to wear a special hat we'd create just for you."

"Yeah, even when you're sleeping!"

"Now if you don't mind this is our room, we have to prepare."

OOC: Where is everyone else?

As Marvel turned to go back to his room, he could only think to himself,

Fancy that. After all this time using enchanted objects, these two boys just might BE one.

And THEN his mind got to REALLY thinking about what he could do...

...after all, he was an illusionist extrordinaire...why couldn't he put a real spell on them? Not just any spell, but an adaptive illusion that took its surroundings into account...? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

OOC:

I wish I knew. Would've liked to see more of Mali and Dra'lee at least, though there are tons of other characters (like Eldrad and Galvenor) whom we should all be hearing from.

An hour later, Marvel was back in his room, and an Epic Spell was starting to take shape.

Mountains erupted into volcanoes, seas churned and boiled, giant signs broadcast the message, "SPACE FOR RENT," and all on the top of poor Will and When's heads.

Marvel smiled.

Zena had wandered down to the dorm level, still tired from the events that had transpired since she arrived. Her little stunt of course didn't help anything as she flopped onto Mali's bed. "You'd better go to your own bed. You know that you don't sleep well in mine." She stated.
"Ya, but that doesn't stop me from visiting." Zena countered
"You're both right." Josh said, closing a book and replacing it on the shelf. "But I'm heading to bed.
"Night." Mali and Zena called to him as he left the room.
Mali began pushing at Zena. "Go on now, you'll thank me for it in the morning."
Zena fell off the bed and stumbled to her feet. "Fine." She gave her friend a hug tighter than necessary, her way of compensating for the shove, before wandering off to her own room.
"Ah, peace." Mali said, turning out the light and crawling into bed.

The Fantasy of the Humongous Spell was still flowing through Marvel's devious little mind as he lie down on his bed and drifted slowly off into blissful slumber.

In the morning, an Imp woke those who applied with a message from Galvenor. The message was to inform them he had thought about their applications and would take them on as instructors under a probationary period until their references could be fully check out. Understandable since it has been less than 20 hours after the interviews started.

The Imp also gave them new room assignments in the Instructor’s level as well as offices for them to move into. Things were beginning to look up for the new faculty members.

-----

As the students showed up for breakfast, they would notice a piece of parchment somehow affixed to the wall next to the entrance to the cafeteria. The crisp handwriting was unmistakably Galvenor’s and it was detailing the acceptance of the instructors and the subjects they would be primarily in charge of as well as the minor classes they would cover.

Marvel just couldn't help it. He had to let out a huge belly laugh.

ME? An INSTRUCTOR!?!? HAH!!! There goes the neighborhood!

In fact, the news was SO unexpected, SO delicious that, for the moment, it completely crowded The Fantasy of the Humongous Spell out of Marvel's devious little semi-demonic mind. In fact, it was SO delicious that he even allowed it to crowd out any thoughts of how hard it was going to be to teach this stuff when he'd never formally taught anything before. Oh well...life is an adventure.

Thus it was that he arrived in the cafeteria with a huge, phony arrogant grin on his face and, without (for the moment) bothering to try to find Dra'go La'dee or Khad, reached out a clawed finger and gently stroked the parchment that was hanging on the wall there.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" he exclaimed after taking a deep breath. "MARVEL! INSTRUCTOR! ILLUSIONS!" To him, of course, the real joke was that anyone would hire him for a job like that--and it was hilarious--but he didn't let on. He just kept that little cat-choking-on-the-cream smile on his face as he walked into the cafeteria and looked for a place to sit down.

Josh woke up with his usual grogginess when the imp delivered the . I really hope this is not some sick joke. He got up and dressed before heading to the cafeteria. Upon seeing the list he fully woke up and joined in Marvel's celebration. "Instructors! Us! I almost wonder what they're smoking."
Soon after Mali and Zena entered and found the list. The two girls instantly started squealing and burst into the cafeteria, complete with fanfare. Within a few seconds they had draped banners and streamers over the room and Mali conjured a few birds to crown Marvel and Josh with wreaths in contradulations.

Marvel thanked them with a smile, wiping the bird turd from his lapel.

Jackson VoleMouse had to say that he was completely unsurprised by his acceptance as an instructor. He thanked the imp and got ready for breakfast, he had already formulated most of his lesson plan, but it would certainly be interesting.

He walked in on the celebrations of Josh and Marvel and he could only laugh. "Marvel, Teaching?" He thought to himself. It was rather un-dignified but he didn't care this must of been some sort of weird Kharmic Justice. Marvel seemed the like to give his teachers hell, and perhaps with Bill and Ben he might just feel at home.

Speaking of them, those 2 stumbled in bleary eyed they were working on ideas and plans for their hat. It starting to take shape they didn' seem to notice anything but soon they some rather nutricious porridge, Jackson had the same meat didn't sit well with mice generally and while a bit was OK on occasions they were herbivores.

Jackson finally gave up laughing and pattered over to Marvel. "Well, Well, Well, Will wonders never cease." and sat down to his breakfast.

"Mmmmmmmm," the demon replied. Then he took his tongue out of the vase of soup he was slurping on. "I'm starting to like this job already. So respectable. So fashionable."

Bump.

An Imp arrives to each new Instructor bearing a message.

(name),

This afternoon there will be a meeting for all Faculty members. At this time I wish each to have an idea of what they wish to teach and secondary subjects in mind. We need to be sure to have everything covered so our students are not lacking in their education.

Please meet in my office at 3 PM.

Galvenor Elvarryinn
Chancellor of the White Tower

Josh read the message quickly and looked at his watch. "Plenty of time." he mused before looking toward Marvel. "So what do your lesson plans look like?"

The Imp disturbed Jackson Volemouse just as he put the last mouthful of porridge into his mouth, though it didn't really matter as no talking was required he merely nodded and read the note.

"3pm... I'll need to get started with my office... lots to do... lots to do..."

He set down his bowl and appropriate utensils and started up to his newly appointed office.

The place was nice, everything looked well made and of quality materials, though if he was going to get everything set up and ready before the staff meeting he'd have to get started now.

Meanwhile Bill and Ben went up to Marvel as well... "So, you ready to teach the Twinicane®?"

Marvel looked at Bionic Joke...his gears were grinding again anyway.

"...uhhhh, what's a lesson plan?"

Then, Will and When came in. He smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Boy, have I got a lesson for you guys! Heh heh heh."

OOC:

I apologize for any rudeness on the part of my character. He's still a demon.

Josh scowled deeply. "So you don't have any idea what you plan to teach?"

"Sure I do," Marvel replied. "I teach illusions, of course! Like this!"

A small figure appeared on each of his shoulders. Both had his features. The one on the left had a white robe, halo and wings; the one on the right wore a black leather harness and had a long tail and a pitchfork.

"What're ya doin?!?" said the li'l devil. "You're an illusionist! All ya gotta do is tell da class dat only da pure of haht can cast da spells. Dey'll never know da difference!"

"That's hardly the way to endear yourself to your new students," the li'l angel retorted.

"Ahh, who asked ya?"

"The same guy who asked you!"

"Joik!"

"Boor!"

"Homo!"

"Miscreant!"

"Boys," Marvel cut in.

"Priss-priss!"

"Maladroit!"

"BOYS!!!!!"

"Yes, Mr. Marvel," they both said in unison.

"Thank you, but I can handle the negotiations myself."

"Awwww. OK."

The both faded out, the li'l devil muttering something about getting stuck with this gig as he did.

"So you're jumping right into the deep end of the pool?" Josh criticized. "That's all fine and dandy, but what about those that barely know how to cast the most basic of spells?"

"If you're that prepared this will be a sinch."

"Sinch indeed.. though perhaps we should at least re-visit the terms of our agreement... Well, see you later."

And with that they scuttled back off to their rooms... preparing something for class.

Marvel looked at Bionic Joke.

"We never agreed to a deal," he said with an evil grin, "but don't worry about the complexity of the spells. I'll bring 'em along slowly. You know, start out with simple sight illusions."

The plates of food that Will and When had left changed their appearance. In a moment, they became mouse traps, with the food arrayed as bait.

"See?" the demon said. "It's easy. Any complaints?"

Josh's food plate turned into a mouse trap in front of him. The bait on this one was a big, red knob. Across the mouse trap was written, "Complaint Department: Push Button for Service."

"Now," Marvel continued, turning serious, "what's a lesson plan and how do you make one?"

Guess it's time for another bump.

OOC:

I would continue but you two are in the middle of a conversation about the very subject of the upcomming meeting. I feel this is too important to finish before we continue, it is planning afterall

Bill and Ben, looked down at the 'mousetrap' for a moment and looked up at Marvel with disgust. Waiting for the illusion to disappear they looked at Marvel with a serious, but calm look before bursting into laughter.

Who really knows which one is which but one of them, possibly Ben, reached around and whacked Marvel on the side with his paw, they padded off "This is going to be so fun."

Dastardly Stench;14306371']Marvel looked at Bionic Joke.

"We never agreed to a deal," he said with an evil grin, "but don't worry about the complexity of the spells. I'll bring 'em along slowly. You know, start out with simple sight illusions."

The plates of food that Will and When had left changed their appearance. In a moment, they became mouse traps, with the food arrayed as bait.

"See?" the demon said. "It's easy. Any complaints?"

Josh's food plate turned into a mouse trap in front of him. The bait on this one was a big, red knob. Across the mouse trap was written, "Complaint Department: Push Button for Service."

"Now," Marvel continued, turning serious, "what's a lesson plan and how do you make one?"

Josh pulled a small case from his pocket and removed a pair of glasses from that. "Mousetraps. Clever. Would have been better still if I didn't need something else for what you refer to as sight, but still clever." he put the glasses away. "I suppose not. But like you said, start simple." he pulled out a small book from his other pocket. "This is what I've come up with. It's just what you plan to teach, usually in chronological order." he slid the book across the table. "See what I mean?"

OOC: Having discussed this with Balrogga...

IC:While other things happened, another thing happened. A new student arrived.

Out in space a few days ago...

An Eye of Terror ripped itself into being, and deposited a single organic ship. The ship itself didn't do much, just fired a Mycetic Spore at the planet below, aiming at a valley in the mountain range upon which the school was situated.

Then, all was quiet for a few days, with both the ship, and Eye disappearing.

Current day...

A woman came walking up to the tower. Women in and of themselves normally don't draw exceptional amounts of attention, save for those that were extraordinarily beautiful.
While this woman wasn't ugly, she definatly wasn't a normal supermodel either.
It may have been the green skin. It couldn't have been the hair, which could've been either worms, or Tentacles, small ones at that. It couldn't have been the extraordinarily sharp claws on her hands, or talons on her feet, both glittering with energy, It couldn't have been the wings on her back, which like her hair, could've been either worms, or Tentacles, and great big ones at that, It couldn't have been the metallic insect Carapace she wore in lieu of clothing, or the fangs, or the giant cockroach marching along faithfully behind her. No, it had to have been the green skin.

Anyone with any degree of Psionic power could feel her mind, barely contained in her fleshly body. It seemed she had other skills to, but they may or may not've been definable as magic.

She had an air of royalty about her, an aura of self-supposed superiority, as though she were the pinnacle of creation. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. She approached the gates and walked through them like she was the Queen of all she surveyed, (and to ask her, she was).

She gestured at the first person she saw, and spoke to them.
"By the will of the true path of Chaos, I am arrived. You will inform the instructors immediately, if not sooner. You will not prepare a room, I doubt something like you could possibly ever meet my needs. My Minions have prepared my Fortress already elsewhere nearby. Now begone, I tire of the sight of you." The pompous woman decreed, expecting her demands to be have already been met before she even aired them.

Of course, none of that explained the hulking thirteen foot monster that was standing next to her using a native ability that allowed it to go unseen. It was a hulking monster, with great rippling muscles, and claws almost as sharp as the woman'. It had thick armor, and a symbiotic gun that shot hot bio-plasma. It seemed very protective of her.

The trio, especially the woman, practically radiated the energies of The Warp, filling the courtyard with raw Chaos.

It was 3:10 PM and the meeting had already started.

The instructors had arrived on time at Galvenor’s office and they were greeted with refreshments. After the last entered, the door was sealed and the meeting began.

“I would like to thank all those who have expressed interest in teaching here at the Tower. I called this meeting, our first Faculty Meeting to be precise, to begin to go over what subjects will be covered and what will be your specialties you concentrate upon. The product of this meeting will be a schedule for classes. We will be able to begin classes and start teaching the students who have been waiting for this.”

“So far, a lot has happened already at the White Tower since you have arrived and I expect much more to occur. Everyone needs a sense of stability to allow them with the normalcy which allows them to cope with the extraordinary. We will provide this for them and for each other. It is our duty to do so.”

“Who wants to go first?”

After nobody volunteered, Galvenor decided he would go.

“I will start things out. My specialty is Eldritch Magic, or Meta Magic. It is the ability to affect magic itself. You can force spells to combine, change the basics of spells, or even form effects out of raw magic by force or will. This is the simplest explanation of Ta’Nar magic possible. Eldritch Magic will be an Advanced course and prospective students will need to master their basics first. I will require recommendations from my Instructors before I consider teaching it to students. I will offer an introductory course for the Instructors once we get everything settled and working. I will also participate in teaching some of the basic magics where needed.”

“Who is next?”

Marvel sat up in his chair. He was wearing a gray dinner jacket over a white shirt and nerdy horn-rimmed glasses that even a perfunctory examination would show were just window glass. He cleared his throat, pulled a small pendant from his jacket pocket and set it down on the table in front of him.

"I guess you know I'm going to be teaching Illusion classes," he said. "Well, this is an Amulet of Yendor. It teaches its wearer the Yendorian Framework, a method of organizing magic that makes it more systematic. Of course, in so doing, it limits the use of magic to things that directly affect this world. It's a fairly basic framework--I'd classify it as a 100- or possibly 200-level class. Self-modifying spells and intelligent magic are, as our esteemed...Galvenor...has said, more advanced material. So, in my opinion, are interdimensional portals and summonings.

"I'd like to break illusions into two courses: beginning and advanced. The beginning level will cover static illusions and delve into moving ones later, while the advanced course will cover modifying illusions like adaptive camouflage/invisibility, triggered illusions and illusions in combination with other spells--for example, an instruction manual that shows you how to use an enchanted item."

"I guess that leads directly onto me, then." Jackson chuckled a bit before he started into his prepared subject on crafting magical items.

"I will be teaching how to construct magical items. There will be practical and theoretical aspects to the class, discussing materials from types of wood, metal and Gems and their effect on the finished item to techniques to improve the quality of the physical object and teaching them how to imbue magical effects on the item. Any student may apply for the course and there will be a quick introduction to the basics of a number of mundane crafts. After which if they wish to continue in the course they will have to pass a practical examination in to produce a quality mundane item before they will be allowed to start dealing with magical aspects of the craft, and there is always a chance for a second attempt at the same or different craft, should they fail or wish to learn an additional magical craft."

"As for the 2 mouse students, I will be tutoring them, helping them apply what they are learning in other classes to the artifice context."

"By the will of the true path of Chaos, I am arrived. You will inform the instructors immediately, if not sooner. You will not prepare a room, I doubt something like you could possibly ever meet my needs. My Minions have prepared my Fortress already elsewhere nearby. Now begone, I tire of the sight of you."

Drai'lee ( http://www.atddm.com/tlk1.jpg) being the first person the ...female... saw, as she fluttered in from a mornings flight, merely blinked then snorted under her breath at the proclamation. Imperious didn’t impress her. Her great aunt, the Winter Queen, did it better. And had no need for a bodyguard either.
'
Drai'lee couldn’t see it, but she could feel a presence that wasn’t the giant roach…and the dragon that slept on her skin could have seen if he had chosen to wake, but he didn’t. Dragons might have had True Sight but baby dragons slept, a lot, and Rash was no exception.

Though the perverted energies surrounding the creature were definitely discomforting. Nature didn't like being twisted so, and Drai'lee was, in truest essence, a manifestation of nature.

Her glittering gold wings were a blur as she hovered infront of the creature. She might have been less than a foot tall- but she was Royal Fae and of the elder blood as well, she had her own Presence when she chose to call upon it....

“By what ever will you wish, that’s fine. I don’t prepare rooms, and the instructors are in a meeting. You’ll have to wait until they’re finished. And rudeness gets you no where, you Medusa Wanna Be” Her tone was snootier than the new comers.

Drai’lee hadn’t slept well, perhaps cause it hadn’t been done on Marvels shoulder. And then she’d missed him at breakfast. Oh she’d seen him. The tiny fairy had snuck a peek in and seen him with the two mice, and hadn’t stayed to chat, still being immensely annoyed by mice after the events of the first day.

"Ahh, Medusa, her only crime was being beautiful, how fitting. It's a hard burden to bear, but someone has to do it." She said. Her mind hadn't even processed the bit about rudeness, almost as if it couldn't comprehend such a subject.

She casually looked at the roach, and it in turn scurried about the area, and found her a chair it could move, so it picked it up in it's strong mandibles, and moved it over to where she was.

The woman sat down on it, and let the drone scurry into her lap and proceeded to pet it like it was a domesticated pet. She wrapped her scorpion tail around herself for safe keeping.

OOC: Her being rude is entirely IC, I'm sure you've probably guessed that she's Irene, The Queen of The swarm, and that she has a drone with her, and a Guardian.

She's here to learn to control her Psionic power better, and her energy manipulation.

Josh sighed. "That leads to myself I guess. Considering how I specialize in manipulation of matter and energy, that is what I would teach. This will need to be broken into advanced and basic courses, much like what we've seen so far. Making a light is easy enough, but full blown teleportation takes work." He demonstrated both by creating a small orb of light on the tip of his finger and moving his glass from the table to his hand without so much as lifting a finger.

Zena meanwhile was coming in from the grounds from the fresh air. She'd caught the conversation with Drai'lee. "Well aren't you a fine piece of work." Zena scoffed. "And D, could you possibly tell me why I feel the presence of three others but clearly only see two?"

"Thank you." Irene said, taking Zena's remark as a compliment.

She had on her best poker face, not giving away the slightest hint of what she knew about the creature standing next to her. Clearly these were students, unworthy of the majority of her attention.

And D, could you possibly tell me why I feel the presence of three others but clearly only see two?"

"Because there is a third one, he's invisible. Though it doesn't feel as if by arcana, but more like a natural ability" Drai'lee said after a moments consideration "Though it's kinda hard to be certain with all the twistiness they are throwing off. It makes me shiver, It's not natural!"

"And she's petting a roach...uuuugh!" the Fae exclaimed with a shudder as she flew further away from the new comer. She didn't much care for roaches, or ladies with snakes, or worms, or what ever, hair like that!

"That was hardly meant as kind." Zena's scowl grew. "The least you could do if you plan to stick around is A: Talk to Galvenor; and B: stop acting like you rule the known universe. Just because you see someone else around here doesn't mean you're the boss. In fact, it probably means just the opposite." She looked to Drai'lee. "That's what I figured. Feel free to reveal yourself, random invisible guy. You're not unnoticed and soon enough there's someone here who will see you exactly as you are anyway."

And D, could you possibly tell me why I feel the presence of three others but clearly only see two?"

"Because there is a third one, he's invisible. Though it doesn't feel as if by arcana, but more like a natural ability" Drai'lee said after a moments consideration "Though it's kinda hard to be certain with all the twistiness they are throwing off. It makes me shiver, It's not natural!"

"And she's petting a roach...uuuugh!" the Fae exclaimed with a shudder as she flew further away from the new comer. She didn't much care for roaches, or ladies with snakes, or worms, or what ever, hair like that!

"It's a drone, not a roach, though there's really not much difference visually. It can do all sorts of things though. I'd show you, but was ordered by the powers that be not to form a Hive in the school directly."

"That was hardly meant as kind." Zena's scowl grew. "The least you could do if you plan to stick around is A: Talk to Galvenor; and B: stop acting like you rule the known universe. Just because you see someone else around here doesn't mean you're the boss. In fact, it probably means just the opposite." She looked to Drai'lee. "That's what I figured. Feel free to reveal yourself, random invisible guy. You're not unnoticed and soon enough there's someone here who will see you exactly as you are anyway."


"It doesn't matter how you meant it. No use talking to it, it can't understand you, it only understands swarmling, and violence. It's my personal Guardian, not that I need one, but The Overmind haggled that part out with Tzeentch when the Changer of Ways himself spoke to The Overmind directly. I don't particularly have a choice in the matter.

And really, if you knew what you were talking to, you'd be tripping over yourself in terror to get away from me."

"Tripping all over myself? You have obviously never met the Winter Queen. I don't fear her" Well, not much any ways, but Drai'lee refrued to admit that aloud "And I don't fear you. And it looks like a roach, I don't care what you call it."

She landed lightly on Zena's shoulder and whispered to her. " I don't like the feel of the stuff coming off of them at all, its...its...Not Natural!"

"And really, if you knew what you were talking to, you'd be tripping over yourself in terror to get away from me."

"Trust me, fear is not something I have issues with." Zena grinned. "As for how I meant it, it actually means a great deal." Natural is agreeably not a good way to describe it. She gave no hint at all that she was communicating other than her thought to the fae.

OOC: I never thought I culd have this much fun with someone that's this full of themselves.
Irene does need a 'tude adjustment though. I'll have her pray to Slaanesh later, that makes her the friendliest thing alive.

IC:

The woman only nodded slightly, knowing then that this woman was, like so many others, unaware of The Devourer of Worlds. She made no other move, or outward sign that she willed The Guardian to appear, but appear it did.

It stood at Thirteen Feet tall, but hunched forward to about eight, almost walking on all fours. It's claws, both on it's hands, and feet, were very sharp, and glittered with energy. It had an insectoid Carapace on, but seemed reptillian with it's scaly skin. A Bio-plasma blaster was attached to it's hip. Reptillian, Insectoid? What was it? If Drai'lee was uncomfortable with the mere presence of Irene and the Drone, how much more then would she be with the revealed Guardian?

Zena nodded to the guardian. "Now we're getting somewhere." If it weren't for Drai'lee, she's probably have approached the beast. "Hardly frightening though. Getting ripped apart during a teleport on the other hand."

OOC: You may be enjoying it, but Zena is about ready to rip her apart.

Irene might be wrong, though, this woman was interesting.

"I think I like you, it's not often one meets someone who isn't afraid of The Devourer of Worlds, and isn't a complete nerd about it."

"He's not attacking me now is he? Thus I see no reason to be afraid. Sure he's threatening, but not outwardly aggressive. Should he try to attack anyone here though, I guarantee you that things will be different."

At the courtyard of the White Tower, a strange arrival would occur, a familiar arrival perhaps. However different. It was a pale, slightly attractive Slavic woman of short black hair with a face that didn't hide her early forties, and a noticeable, vertical scar over her chin, seemingly the result of what either an arrow or another projectile would leave permanently. She wore a large, brown coat that covered her entire body from shoulders to ankles, tied by a black belt over her hip, and thick leather boots. There was some snow quickly melting on her boots. However, the fact such woman was down, with her eyes closed and unconscious was perhaps the most notable aspect other than the way she held an old flintlock gun, with her finger still close to its trigger. Still, in such condition, she was essentially helpless.

There was a major blank, a major nothingness, which perhaps could be compared with the sensation of someone who has just born. It was overwhelming, and no matter how tried the struggle was to remember anything, nothing came. Only a urge, like a voice shouting, like if the very life depended on it. But it was nothing but a construct of a troubled, chaotic mind attempting to find the pieces and pull them together, and still, the voice seemed as real as if someone or something spoke it.

' "Awaken!" ' it said in a crescendo, trying to pull back consciousness, and thus it repeated, louder and louder. The nothingness was being filled with images, distorted images, voices and feelings. Shadows flickered intensely, forming shapes which seemed to run in despair, so many that it was impossible to distinguish, falling before they could escape from whatever was striking them. The shadows were no longer dark, and among the disturbing projections of what could only be cold, slain corpses, a red hue came, as strange songs were ushered in voices filled with enough hatred to tear apart mountains. Then red shadows marched through the strange vision, uniformly, singing something, and stepping over the fallen with no respect. Until they vanished from the strange, featureless white wall where they were being projected, to give place to a new set of easily distinguishable shadows. A man wearing a helmet, certainly a soldier pointed an object against the head of a long haired individual with half of his height, that could only be a children, as a desperate cry could be heard, and an hostile garble came from the individual, except for one word somehow could be understood, "magic". A loud sound came as the fingers pulled a shadowy trigger, and the smaller shadow collapsed, vanishing like if it has fallen over a hole.

The scene, horrible scene then vanished as nothing became constant and brief glimpses of pain, suffering and death came. Children, old men, countless individuals butchered, impaled and brutally murdered thrown in large gaps dug over barren dirt and a question ushered by an emotionless voice as the horrors were witnessed:

' "Would you kill an old man?" '

The question then would repeat, but strangely, somehow it has been noticeable that two different voices would merge into a same sentence, as the very context, among the realization of what could be the only hint of such nightmare.

' "Would you kill an magic old man? Would you kill magic?" '

And thus the same weeping of the shadow girl would again be heard, storming through things which were perhaps best forgotten, as an old, wizened man appeared right through the darkness of the nothing, right ahead. And an irresistible urge to reach over the hilt came, from where a weapon was drawn, and with no thought, the trigger was pulled as the old man fell over the ground, and an elderly voice came:

' "It is unfortunate you can't see beyond fear and prejudice, Yelena of Triglav" '

Suddenly, consciousness begat her, while the nightmares were still tricking and tormenting her mind, nightmares which perhaps were being influenced by external factors. It was then that, while the body felt untouchable, the woman shouted as loud as she could, beyond the dream and into reality:

"Net!"

Her eyes slowly opening, adjusting herself to the strong light. However, she felt something terrible, like if the nightmares her lost mind were having were now becoming reality itself, and an urge to close her eyes again came. There was an horrible, inhuman presence that was somehow driving her a great fear. Suddenly the still blinding light was replaced by another vision, and by feelings of terrible pain that seemed real. Yelena began to scream as loud as someone having a limb forcefully tore apart from the rest of the body would, as in her despair she saw the nemesis: a legion of spiders eating the flesh from her arm, perhaps reality or perhaps the visions of a terrible past, and the mere visage of the creatures was enough to drive her in complete despair.

Her screams of torment were enough to disturb many, and perhaps amuse a few. Exhausted as the horrible vision faded, she tried to look ahead, but then an even worse nightmare came to her weary eyes. No matter how majestic the background of a serene white tower was, or even that there could be spotted other more serene individuals, to see what could be considered a woman turned insect next to a being that evoked nearly as much fear into her as a spider was enough to paralyze her of despair, maybe in realization that perhaps her doom was inevitable, as she stared at the massive, disgusting cockroach. Yelena began to crawl backwards, hunching her back and dragging herself through the grass next to the entrance of the tower in the hopes of getting out of view to retreat from their presence, while having her pistol ready to at least not die without a fight, if such would be the only outcome. From the way they seemed to terrorize her mind, even when she did not look at them, she felt like they always have been aware of her presence somehow, just like she knew they were there, and that her name was Yelena of Triglav and that she would rather face a dragon than spiders and cockroaches. For someone who have forgotten so much, such was a truly haunting sight.

It was obvious this was not her first experience with Chaos, and that she was much more sensitive to it than most.

The woman watched as Yelena backed away in terror. She cocked her head, as though she were listening to something far away.

The Guardian and The Drone left back the way they came.

Irene herself crossed her arms and wings. Multi-colored energy blocked all sight of her for a moment, leaving behind a common, but devastatingly beautiful, red haired green eyed woman, in a wedding dress.

She passed her hands over her dress, and it became a black witch's robe.

She sighed. She was still listening to whatever far away thing she was listening to.

"Arghhhh," the demon-no-more broke into the conversation. He closed his eyes tight and shook his head. "Man! What a headache. Did somebody just pull a Dark Rejuve or some--hey, wait a minute. Folks, I think there's a Chaotic in town, and, if I'm not mistaken, he's a pretty heavy hitter.

"And I also think I'm going to do a little pain ward, if nobody else minds."

Marvel had never liked Chaotics. It just felt bad to be around them, and the top of the line models tended to give stuck up a bad name. He'd run into a few in his days as a diplomat. The Angels kicked their butts. The Angels kicked everybody's butts. It wasn't fair.

And that was when Marvel decided that, whoever this guy was, the first person the turned demon would introduce him to would be Angelica. My, what a crafty scheme!

Bill and Ben had been conspicuously absent, they passed her on their way back to their rooms to do final preparations for their first major prank on whoever their first teacher was, but now they had a new target. Irene had her head stuck so far up her behind she was inside-out.

So instead of getting their hapless teacher, they would now get this Irene, for good luck the plan was ready to go... Moments later one of them was standing behind Irene and her drone...

"If that's your face, I'd hate to see your bums.... You are uuuuuuuuuuugly." He stood his mousey ground, and started staring her down.

"Why thank you, I have to work hard to be like this. No one wants to fight a pretty Swarmling, and it's no fun massacring millions of people who are attracted to you. Well, I lie, it's a little fun." Irene said nonchalantly.

Somehow, the abomination did not charge against her, and somehow it has decided to spare her. Wondering on how many messes like this she might have got into, but were now forgotten, Yelena still tried to remember anything else. Yet, nothing came. Her mind was convoluted as everything seemed to lead to one conclusion, which flowed through her thoughts.

What could be worse than dying without knowing who am I?

There was no point in running away, no matter how even the lack of any attempt of aggressiveness, no matter how the being tried to trick her mind into thinking it was beautiful rather than abominable, an irrational fear continued to trickle, to influence her actions. The horrendous nightmare of losing a limb was probably something her mind was influenced to create, somehow, rather than a real memory, for she could feel her left hand touching the grass,it roughly reaching between her fingers, and its weariness. There was an urge to stand, that perhaps such being could not see her as weak. Like if she was the representative of more than her own person.

It was not however, the mutated woman that horrified her, but the cockroach. As it departed, as it moved away, Yelena felt as the fear faded away, and stood up proudly and fearlessly. That being might be luring her into a trap, and she was no fool to take risks. Yet Yelena approached it until the smaller distance where a measure of safety could exist, according to her mind. It was doubtful such being would even understand her language, and the fact it stood between the tower and her was a problem. The tower emanated a serenety of a safe haven, and was clearly the only place where answers could perhaps be found, or where risks could be removed.

The problem was, how to managed such being, which power she could sense easily, to get out of the way without killing herself in the process. Yelena forced a smile to such ugly woman, but it came naturally despite how false it was, and gave her a false impression of naivety. Somehow, she wondered if she had a talend for pretending and disguising feelings, and for making lies seem truth. Yet no glimpse of memory would come, and thus the present was the only time that mattered.

While smiling, Yelena made slow gestures with her right hand, waving it towards her right, like if she was asking for the insect woman to step aside, and in a silly move, asked to such creature something which answer would logically be no:

"Вы говорите русского?"

At such distance, it became very noticeable another thing about Yelena. There were stitches layered horizontally all across her neck, like if her head was something sewn together with her body, and even more, the skin color of her head didn't match perfectly the skin tone of the rest of her body. It was certainly not something to scare anyone, but only to give curious eyes, and unlike such insectoid woman, Yelena was quite human and normal in appearance, besides such small detail.

The swarm could understand many languages, but mostly when The Overmind was present to read into their minds and translate their brainwaves. So for poor Irene, the only one there, she was stuck with not knowing what Yelena said.

She began to slowly revert back to her normal, abysmally horrifying, mutated form.

She let out a series of high pitched screeches and clicks that was Swarmling. Though what she said roughly translated to more common languages as:
"I'm sorry, I don't speak your language."

The first attempt didn't work at all, this thing didn't even turn her head to face him. So he had to step it up a notch, it didn't really matter she looked like he was not going to give her the satisfaction of making him step down.

There was only one thing that was guaranteed to get her attention, there was a small ball that he had.

"Here, Catch! Like a good little doggie" he threw the ball towards her aiming for her head.

The ball pinged off Irene's head.

*************************
In Irene's Imagination
*************************
Irene stood up, crackling with energy, The tiny mouse backed away in fear. She raised her hands to the sky in summoning, and pulled down as though really pulling something down. 16 ton weights materialized and crushed the mice, Yelena, Drailee, and Zena.

********
Meanwhile, in reality
********
"I could so have something crawl up here and eat you." Irene said irritatedly, ignoring the mouse hoping it would go away. She was busy having a private discussion with The Overmind.

OOC: One more attempt and she'll turn and look.

Drai'lee had flipped backwards off of Zena's shoulder at the arrival of the screeching terrified woman. She looked vaguely familiar, but horrifically mangled and resewn back togather, if the stitches at her neck were any indication...

Then a ball flew at the head of the insectoidal woman, bouncing off of her...

And a furious Drai'lee was in the face of the thrower, with Rash was unwinding himself from her, awake at last. And he wsa hungry. Mouse would do for lunch.

"Are you stupid or just suicidal!" The tiny Fae exclaimed furiously as she hovered in front of the mouse. "She can probably crisp you with a thought! You damned mice are nothing but trouble. One of your kind causes death and destruction, and now you antagnise this creature just because she's a bitch? Why don't you go back to your rooms peaceably or just leave all together"

No Drai'lee didn't like mice at all after the last couple of days, and the twin pranksters weren't changing her opinion by their actions.

OOC: The Mouse that is tormenting you is about human scaled, though naturally they are mouse sized they are currently this size due to magic devices to help them interact with other species better. (though particularily with the Fae, it doesn't seem to be working well. :p

IC:
"She needs to be taught a lesson." that was only thing the mouse said as he was rather distracted by the path of the balls through the air... "It's working..."

The ball seemed to duplicate itself in mid air... into 2, 4 then 8. They all followed the same path, in a straight line from where it bounced off. It slowed down to a stop and then reversed following the same path it had back towards her head.

"I told you to grab it." The balls all came down onto the creature and landed eventually on the floor, as they came to rest they just lay there littering the floor.

The balls bounced off a shield comprised of energy hastily erected.

"I'm asking you nicely, please, stop." Irene asked, visibly restraining herself from violence. She razed worlds, killed billions, bathed in their blood and drank it, sacrificing their souls on the alters of Chaos. One mouse wasn't going to bother her terribly much if it came to it.

She turned her baleful glare on the mouse, using a swarm ability known as The Horror. It essentially exposed the victim to The Overmind, driving them insane from it's sheer complexity alone, not mentioning the terror of something so unnatural and abhorrent. It drove most everyone it was used on insane, very, very select few could withstand The Horror, and that was only if they had a very well trained mind and experience with combating the swarm. She figured someone could cure the mouse's mind later if he was foolish enough to not back away and leave her alone.

OOC: Irene's reached the end of her patience, and i'd rather not attack, but she will if she's continually pestered. You can joke and prank, but she does have her limits, and their rather small right now.

"AHHHHHHH!" Marvel stood from his chair, put his hands on his head and wrapped his wings around his body. "Oh, that smarts. Someone just used a chaos spell so powerful that it blew through the tower's defenses. Look, I can't just wait around here while this happens--it's too painful." And,with that, he was up out of his chair and headed straight at whoever was making all this trouble--with a polite request for mercy already forming in his skittish little mind.

If there was one thing apart from their pranks that the Twins were most proud of, it was knowing just how far they could push their prankee's. Bill took a few steps backwards but still met Irene's gaze. "Ben, The Pranklet's off. Save it for another day."

Ben climbed out from his hiding place with some kind of bracelet hanging around his neck, he was small, absolutely tiny compared to Bill coming out from some random piece of furniture that occupied some of the space in the area.

"We're not going to pushed around by the likes of you nor anyone else!" Ben exclaimed his voice much softer and higher in pitch but still very audible and very determined. "You come down from your high horse, or we will bring you down." It was more of a promise than a threat but still they didn't stink around very long. Bill and Ben both scampered away from Irene going in different directions... presumably to re-group.

The balls still lay on the ground, their magic had been used and where as mundane as another monday morning before going to work.

“Then we shall take a break from the meeting and see to this problem together.”

Galvenor reached out a hand toward the desk sitting on the other side of the room. A small box floated to his waiting hand and he opened it. Taking out several rings, he handed one to each of the Instructors.

“Take these rings, they mark your authority within the tower and will allow you to personally bypass the travel restrictions imposed upon the grounds. Once you put them on, only I can remove them, a defense against your losing them or someone stealing them to gain access to their power.”

After the rings were distributed, each took on a different appearance based upon the Instructor’s specialty (you can decide).

“Use your ring to travel to the courtyard. Just ask it with your mind and it should obey.”

Once everyone left, Galvenor would follow.

Sighing, Yelena simply ignored the insect-like noises of such female, expressing what could perhaps be interpreted as sheer indifference, for no longer she feared it, although she still felt that caution was wise, for she could sense a great, unsettling power residing in such unnatural creature. Suddenly, Yelena's attention has completely shifted towards the annoying beings that were acting like fools. Rats, nothing less, nothing more. For some reason, she felt superior next to such creatures, daring and foolish to make an enemy from such abomination they did not even knew properly. Their boldness was suicidal, and she simply observed, refusing to meddle, as they challenged the insect.

Seeing that the insect would not step aside from her way, Yelena had to take a risk, to enter in that building. The rats seemed a proper distraction, and so far, although totally unable to communicate with her, such being did not attempt any open hostility against her. Maybe it would be safe to move so close to it to reach for the inside of such serene tower constrating with the insect, Yelena pondered, and thus she awaited for more a few seconds.

When the rats tried to attack the insect-lady again, it was the sign to move on. Yelena then, trying her best to give a look of someone minding her own business, walked towards the tower, and approached the abomination as well. She did not avoid visual contact with it, but her interest and fear about the entity clearly vanished, for the question of her identity and past were more relevant than the bizarre things she was seeing so far. With her mind cleared from many worries, time was given to pay attention on certain bodily senses that were previously ignored.

There was something unusual about how she felt her left eye. Not a vision problem, as it was essentially perfect in such matters. Just a funny gut feeling that it was not as... solidly attached to her eye socket as her right one. It was only part of many senses that something was out of place, among them an itching on her neck that she instinctively resisted the urge to scratch. Or maybe all was part of the insanity from seeing giant rats, giant insects and a horrendous mutated woman right after losing all memory of her past. The nightmare still raised questions, and there was a tingling sensation that perhaps, the asnwers could be right ahead, inside the building.

Oblivious to the commotion and to everyone around her, Yelena simply made her way to the inside. Not a particularly interesting fellow. They all spoke in a strange language Yelena could not understand, and yet it seemed like she heard such strange language before. It was clear that the insect was very angered. She did not care. For some reason, she felt unnatached to the creatures, and completely undisturbed by the idea they could be killed, like if they were just animals from the jungle, rather than sentient beings. They would not even understand her, then why should she waste her time trying to settle the dispute? There was a gut feeling in her as well, the strangest of all of them, that helping others was a bad thing, that only led to the destruction and suffering of the self. She just knew it somehow, and the fact most of these others weren't even humans influenced her silent ponderings.

A part of Yelena was actually hoping they would all die. A seed of dark thoughts sprouting from an unknown source, a part of her past perhaps. Her way of not caring would for a brief moment fade as Yelena stared at the fleeing rats with a scowl, and a clear expression of disdain. They were gone, and the way was close.

Indoors, everything was otherworldly. The Tower seemed to defy logic, and its intrincate build was empowered by a serenity that was everywhere inside. Yet it seemed familiar, familiar to the point a word was coming into her head, a foreign word, not of the type she would know. From its way, likely someone's name. Perhaps, perhaps it would work, perhaps it was the name of someone she knew, or perhaps just an intuition. Giving it a try wouldn't hurt, and thus, at the center of the ground floor, Yelena shouted the name, and prepared to wait for a probable answer:

"Marvel!"

While she waited, something began to bother seriously. Like if the place was hurting her left eye. It was aching terribly, and yet the pain was tolerable, like if somehow she was used to such feelings. However, the nuisance was not, and seeing no other alternative, she began to scratch it with the fingers of her left hand.

She nearly fell over the ground in reflex when she realized her eyeball just fell over, the palm of her left hand sensing its slimy touch. Its optical nerve was strangely connected to a device of sorts that seemed able to connect with something else, and there were strange "slots" behind it, like if built to connect with muscles to allow it to move inside the socket. Strangest thing however was the mess that her vision became, as somehow, her vision mixed between what her right eye was seeing of the tower walls, and its floor, which was coincidentally where her left eye pupil was facing. She felt uneasily... strange, but the ache was passing now, at least. Considering all the freaks that she has seen, it was unlikely anybody would bother. Regardless, Yelena closed her left hand to hide it, and a bleak, hollow eyesocket would be seen where before was her left eye.

If there was one thing apart from their pranks that the Twins were most proud of, it was knowing just how far they could push their prankee's. Bill took a few steps backwards but still met Irene's gaze. "Ben, The Pranklet's off. Save it for another day."

Ben climbed out from his hiding place with some kind of bracelet hanging around his neck, he was small, absolutely tiny compared to Bill coming out from some random piece of furniture that occupied some of the space in the area.

"We're not going to pushed around by the likes of you nor anyone else!" Ben exclaimed his voice much softer and higher in pitch but still very audible and very determined. "You come down from your high horse, or we will bring you down." It was more of a promise than a threat but still they didn't stink around very long. Bill and Ben both scampered away from Irene going in different directions... presumably to re-group.

The balls still lay on the ground, their magic had been used and where as mundane as another monday morning before going to work.
"And why in the name of Tzeentch would I ride a horse, High, low, or other wise, when I have a perfectly serviceable set of wings? Horses should be eaten not ridden." Irene growled, partly in confusion at such a strange concept as riding a horse, and not at all understanding what they said. She hadn't even touched them, yet.

As for Yelena, Irene stepped aside for her when she tried to pass.

She saw Marvel approaching, and turned her head sideways in confusion, what was it? she had never seen anything like marvel before.

This was a very strange place.

Jackson smiled briefly, it came out totally wrong though the intent could easily be determined by Galvenor and bowed his head "Thank you." even though it practically wasn't a ceremony at all, when you get your mark of office in a learning institute it always seemed to Jackson a moment of the Divine. A moment of great honour and importance.

His ring formed a sigil of an anvil, it wasn't really creative... to be honest he didn't have much and what he had was a totally different type of creativity. And so he passed through the doors.

A single word echoed through the tower's core. "Marvel" ... The voice didn't seem familiar at all, it had a totally foreign accent to any of the students that he had met. Was this a new student? If so how did they know Marvel?

He didn't know but he looked towards Marvel and waited for him to react to see what Marvel would do.

Drai'll had left the immediate area when the mice perssted in their unintelligent activities vis a vis the insect woman. She had no desire to be tarred with their well deserved brush.

But before she coulde go far she heard - it was, given the loudness of the yell -

Marvel!

Yellena was yelling for Marvel, and Drai'lee wanted to know why, so she headed towards where the 'back from the dead' woman stood. She flinched when she saw that one of Yelena's eyes was in her hand.

"Yelena what happened to your eye?" She couldn't help but ask.

There was no way to communicate so far. Perhaps more frustrating than attempting to ask for an insect being to step aside so she could come into the tower, was to be interrupted by someone speaking a language which was totally foreign and unknown to Yelena, no matter how familiar it seemed, like if she has heard many speaking such language before but could not remember.

Some things however, did not need words. It was obvious that this other being was interested at the eye her eye popped out its socket. Realizing it was pointless to hide it, she willingly ignored such being and her presence, which somehow she had a gut feeling about, not a friendly gut feeling, but like if giving ears to it was either pointless or dangerous. Using her left her, she carefully handled the eyeball, and began to move it slowly, back to the socket, until covering completely her left eye with her hand. As she moved it away, it returned to its normal place, and there were no signs of wounds, bruises or scars.

However, somehow she decided to turn back to the being. She had no idea on what such creature was, for reminders of it eluded her. However this being knew her name, somehow, which meant it could be the key to many of her doubts. Thus, in something she felt silly, Yelena pointed to herself and said a single word:

"Yelena," before pointing back to the fairy and trying to express doubt. The question she attempted to ask was simple. Perhaps to know the name of such being could help for her to know herself.

At first, he wondered who had clamped the vice on his head. Then, as the demon-no-more made his way out to the courtyard, he stopped. Now, he was wondering who'd shoved the hot pokers in his eyes. Did wonders for his disposition, too.

Several things happened at once. First, he caught an eyefull of the chaotic in the courtyard...and it turned out that he was...a she. Waves of chaos--well, that alternative order whose practitioners called chaos--came off of her, messing with the demon's magic sense.

And, just as he was getting ready to close in and simper, he heard someone shout his name from behind him.

He turned. Yellsatya was there in at the front door.

Why hadn't she seen him when he--he looked. Somehow, he had turned invisible.

He turned visible again.

As he did, Dra'gon La'dee started asking Yellsatya about...her eye?

Marvel decided to deal with that later.

"Yellena," he said, "you called?"

Before the being answered her back, Yelena finally saw the answer for such calling, as a handsome, simple man approached her. Assuming it was Marvel, she finally found something that would end the jarring pain of being unable to communicate. For a while it was tolerable, but for someone whose memory was a mess, to be in a foreign place which reeked of a mental asylum, unable to speak with anyone due to their foreign language, was a very unpleasant perspective. When she heard Marvel, she heard him speak fluently Russian, somehow, and it was the only person that could understand her so far.

"Yelena, you called?"

As he said that, she seemed more calm and serene, and soon looked towards him. It was pointless to attempt speaking with others, for they clearly had no idea of her language, and thus, she replied back to him, in Russian, clearly happy to see that she would not have to speak with a ball to avoid becoming insane:

"You... you can understand me, but I don't remember you, your name, it just came out of my mind. I just woke in this place, and there was an insect with its goons, that had a very distubing presence outside. Insects, rats," she interrupted, and then let it out with no fear of being perceived as a bigot, "vermins, now that is a day for an amnesiac, I was even thinking I am just going crazy. I guess we met before, but I can't remember... I can't remember anything. Just nightmares and visions I'd rather not speak about."

Zena stood in shock at seeing Yelena again. This truly is an interesting place. she mused.

Joshua meanwhile took his ring (http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/jratz91/Picture7.png?t=1230929256) gratefully and slid it onto his finger. The silver band fit nicely and forked on each side of the square stone. While mostly cloudy, almost white, a black shape spread from the corner. The darkness that resided in all beings represented along with the good. "Good to know." Josh said to Galvenor before following Marvel.
"It would seem we have a mess to clean up. Again." He took inventory of the scene, hoping to figure out what was going on.

"Your name is Yellena," Marvel said, "and you were here before. We can understand each other because, long ago, I went into your mind to help you out of a bad situation, and we...bonded. Later, when you were here, you tried to save a friend of mine, and died in the process.

"This is a school of magic. That 'insect,' as you call it, is a Chaotic Mage of incredible power. If I were you, I'd be careful around her. No telling what she can do if you rile her up enough--and Chaotics are notoriously easy to rile.

"I...never thought I'd see you again. I'm glad you made it back. You should let our healers look you over."

About then, Bionic Joke appeared behind Yellsatya. "It would seem we have a mess to clean up," he said. "Again."

"You don't know the half of it, dude," Marvel said. "Yellena here has lost her memory and her language skills. And that Chaotic mage back there is driving me crazy! Maybe you can get her to tone her powers down. That aura of hers is just plain painful!"

Truth was, Marvel was afraid that, if he got too irritable, he'd blow it and only make things worse if he tried to talk to the Chaotic.

"I don't know how. The Gods never imparted that particular knowledge, and The Swarm has never figured that part out. I know how to increase output to a degree that's very difficult to measure, and I can bring it back down to this, but I do not know how to turn it off completely. It's like having a leaky faucet." Irene replied, having wondered in to see what was happening. Thus was explained at least partially, why she was here.

It was like having a cannon go off next to him every time she spoke.

"I (BOOM!) don't (BOOM!) know (BOOM!) how (BOOM!). The (BOOM!) Gods (BOOM!)..."

By the time she got to her third sentence, Marvel was almost bent over double.

"Ohhh, PLEASE! Turn it down!"

Irene would've touched him, but was afraid such an action would kill the poor man. She wouldn't learn anything if she killed him. She left, waiting for someone who could understand her. Was there anyone in this place that could understand her?

"Zena, call for Mali.". Josh instructed. "Marvel, I think it's simply a reaction for you, her aura is strong, but weak compared to what she is tied to. Irene, while we try to figure this out, speak softly or let Zena speak for you, your choice."

Zena looked toward the student rooms. Mali, you need to get down to the entrance, Josh needs you.

Mali closed her book and left upon hearing this news, dashing toward her friend and the new arrivals.

Irene looked curiously at Zena, and then narrowed her eyes in concentration.

Can you hear my thoughts?

The words would cascade through Zena's mind. Irene needed an instructor in the field of Psionics first and foremost. Another thing would come with Irene's mind, the feeling of a giant slimy Tentacle touching her. It felt like it came from beyond the gates, going through Irene, almost as if she were but a single node of the Tentacle's reach.

Irene, innocent and unaware of the Tentacle, would only wait for Zena's answer.

Zena shivered at the feeling of the tentacle but replied anyway. I can, but I don't need you to send them. I can hear them if you simply direct them toward me.

The invisible mind Tentacle reached out to explore everyone else, splitting into multiple copies.

OK Irene thought Zena's way.

I'm going to go find a quiet place away from you all.

Irene wandered off into the tower depths...

You can stay as long as you're careful. Zena coaxed.

Josh and Mali shivered as the tentacles probed them, Mali still running. She turned a corner, and nearly smacked into Irene. "Whoops, sorry."

Irene smiled, patting Mali on the back.

Well, as an engine of Chaos, I suppose I couldn't have asked for a better arrival.

"You wouldn't happen to be the reason I was called down would you?" Mali inquired.

Not sure what you mean by that, but ok.

Irene looked at Mali, and shrugged.

Well, think about it, I've caused nothing but chaos since my arrival. It has not been neat, it has not been orderly, and it has not been smooth. Thus, it has been Chaotic. As second in command of The Swarm, servant to The Overmind, and priestess to The Gods of Chaos, I couldn't ask for a better arrival. The only missing element is a sacrifice, but I'll refrain from that particular avenue of worship for now.

Jackson stayed aloof and simply watched as the events transpired, Irene's probe came and probed but didn't penetrate the mind defenses that Jackson had. Though there was a feeling of unease, there had been a dark taint a long time ago, within the history of the mice perhaps this chaos was a conduit back to those dark dangerous times... or perhaps there would be a chance to provide a greater understanding of the chaos magic, and understanding could lead to improved defences... or perhaps... could open the door.

That was the problem Jackson didn't know what to do, he knew enough that reality was frequently re-written by magic and so prophesying and foresight magics could very well shape the future in unforseen ways, even create self-fulfilling professies.

This would need a wise, observant and careful being to deal with this issue, luckily years of artificing had given him those very traits. He'd have to keep an eye on her... and the two mouslings as well. Their youth and brashness could very well lead to something that he would rather not think about for this time but must be something that he also controls. At least for now they're away in their rooms safe for the moment.

It was just too much, to realize that whatever happened was the consequence of being an idiot. Although clearly it wasn't his intention, the words Marvel said struck her psyche hardly, as she realized the pieces being put together. A few facts would soon make sense for her as she listened:

"Your name is Yellena, and you were here before. We can understand each other because, long ago, I went into your mind to help you out of a bad situation, and we...bonded. Later, when you were here, you tried to save a friend of mine, and died in the process."

It was then that she reminded of something, something like the voice of an old and wise man speaking to her, with a voice that emanated wise words, which perhaps answered much about what could have happened. Still, how could she die? How could she return from nonexistence? Such were strange answers. And they evoked many other fragments of answers as well:

' "...your insistence on pretending ... I am sick of those tight moralists as well.... I cannot stand this tower of self-righteousness anymore!" '

Pretending... pretending. What would I be pretending. That I saved the life of this Marvel's friend because I cared? Yelena then thought, as she began to feel something else. The tower of self-righteousness could only be a place like this, and for some reason, good versus evil rhetoric was particularly annoying to her. She said nothing in reply to Marvel, but her expression was that of regret, no matter how strange it could be for someone to regret saving another's life. Yelena knew that something exceptional happened, and that by all rights, she would be dead now, an example to the fools who risk their lives without rational thought to help others.

She had the realization that listening was wiser than speaking in situations like this. She had to ponder about every word, and ask questions later. However, she clearly expressed a lack of interest on the background of why she came to such place. What truly mattered to Yelena was the answer about where she came from. Another interesting "advice" then came:

"This is a school of magic. That 'insect,' as you call it, is a Chaotic Mage of incredible power. If I were you, I'd be careful around her. No telling what she can do if you rile her up enough--and Chaotics are notoriously easy to rile. I...never thought I'd see you again. I'm glad you made it back. You should let our healers look you over"

"Don't worry, insects can't speak my language... and, chaos is a necessary mean for... for... for..."

It was then that her memory sparked and she finally came out with a sentence that she seemed to have been conditioned to speak rather than taught to understand, in a manner:

"Order is the tool of the reactionary bourgeois and their stagnant, corrupt governments and enemies of the proletariat to forever rule! Without chaos, there is no revolution! And without revolution, there is only privilege, oppression, injustice and misery. Chaos is a mean for the people to achieve many things that reactionaries would be afraid of. In fact, this Chaos magic sounds like a potential mean to... to..."

And then she finally came with the realization of her beliefss:

"to support the revolution against the reactionary, theocratic feudal and corrupt regimes of the Theocracy of Perun and Kingdom of Yaga! To let the proletariat of the world unite beyond flags set by reactionaries and corrupts. Chaos isn't inherently good or evil, there is no good and evil. They are only constructs of the ruling classes to keep the people under their grip."

Yelena clearly did not demonstrate any worry about healers checking her. But now she began to make sense of many things on her past, and finally she found something more important to say:

"Marvel... I still can't remember where I came from. I need your help... I need to know everything you know about me... and, I really regret that I was such an imbecile before."

Meanwhile, Yelena began to feel something very slimy coming into her. It was a disturbing sensation, like if her mind was being probed by some of the entities ahead... however, it served to help her remind of something. Unfortunately, what she reminded of was a pointless image that she probably saw in an history class as part of the anti-nipponic propaganda that permeated the Soviets, due to their particularly hostile relations with Japan... maybe it was the way it seemed to be, or maybe a natural defense against such probes but all that Irene would see from her probe into Yelena's mind was a history book in Russian with a quite erotic artwork (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Dream_of_the_fishermans_wife_hokusai.jpg) being shown.

...and when the probe reached Marvel's mind, without the merest touch, it shattered an old spell that the Angels had put there...

...AND THE DEMON'S WILD SIDE WAS FREE!!!!!!!!!! He wasn't evil, per se, but his self-indulgent side now manifested itself.

His pain turned instantly to ecstasy, his cringing to laughter.

And his mind took hold of the tendril...and probed it...and found it to his liking.

"Babe!" he exclaimed. "That's babalicious!" He walked right up to her and kissed her on the lips, with a loud, smacking smooch. "Thank ya, darlin'!"

He turned back to Yellena, who still didn't remember...and he knew it. He could tell her anything!

He stuck his foot-and-a-half long tongue out and wiggled it at her. "And, oohhhhhh, we need to get together and relive some old times, darlin'," he said. He looked at Mali. "An' maybe we can make it a threesome," he said. He looked at Josh. "Or a foursome. There's just gotta be some useful, heh heh, attachment in that little motorized monstrosity of yours!"

Zena held back Josh while resisting the urge herself to tear Marvel limb from limb. Mali meanwhile had nobody to restrain her and marched to Marvel. "Jackass!" she screeched, somehow melodious, and grabbed his tongue before smacking him across the face.

"Wait a minute," Yelena said to Marvel, ignoring all the gibberish he said and his tongue, as she continued, "now everything really makes sense. How could I not have realized it before? This is no magical school, because only crazy people believe magic exists. We are all clinically insane, and this is a sanitarium. I was sent here because I was crazy... well, I am crazy, or otherwise I would not be seeing things like this."

Then, seeing how Marvel behaved, Yelena said, making a cold face, and clearly demonstrating no signs of excitation:

"Old times? Are you having another surge of insanity? I would rather lay with an obese capitalist pig if he witheld information that was beneficial for the people than get with you, and that Marvel, will not happen in a thousand of years, never, ever... Marvel. Because I prefer normal people, and because," her memory spiked again with another fact, "because you are NOT human!"

Of course, for those who could not speak her language, although it was clear she was not amused at all, what she said exactly wasn't.

"No, Yelena, magic is quite real. I would like to prove it to you, but anything I do would prove otherwise. With one exception of course." Zena waited for Yelena to ask what of was or to deny it.

Shrugging, Yelena turned her attention to Zena as she listened to her argument. Clearly, they were quite interesting in trying to sway her into a sort of collective schizophrenia that was everywhere around the place. The insect was probably just a fabrication of the mind to represent the nurses of the madhouse because of obvious reasons. And the others were just the evidences she had to realize she was going mad.

"No, Yelena, magic is quite real. I would like to prove it to you, but anything I do would prove otherwise. With one exception of course." Zena waited for Yelena to ask what of was or to deny it."

Her reply came in a quite witty manner. Yelena felt a bit unnerved about this woman, maybe because of her past, and the way she clearly was about to lunge at Marvel because of his indiscretion wasn't very helpful either to her first impression about Zena.

"Yes? Will say that you are speaking with me through magic because it is a better mental construct than to just realize you studied my language? Sure, if you wish to break the Occam's Razor and the very logical framework of reality, who am I to deny? Maybe... just maybe... there is one in a million that might be able to twist a fork with thoughts, or to speak through the mind rather than voice. But it is not magic, because it lacks the fireworks... most fiction writers for bourgeois juveniles like to employ fireworks when they write stories of such genre. And who knows whether all of this I am seeing now is a construct of my own mind or not? I could be dreaming right now... and perhaps I had enough creativity in my brain to form an entire scenario like this, and to imagine your personalities and behavior as well. Or maybe I am just crazy."

She seemed quite certain that somehow, she was either clinically insane or dreaming. Perhaps neither of those people were real. Or perhaps her unconscious wished they weren't real.

Zena, who started to read Yelena's thoughts after her question grinned. "I assure you, I am speaking and Occam's Razor isn't always true. At any rate, you are not dreaming and as soon as Marvel is incapacitated, I promise I will prove that. And to top things off, you are not hallucinating."

He laughed. He laughed. It just hurt sooooo good that he couldn't help but laugh.

He debated puking up a little stomach acid on that cute little hand that was holding him, but decided against it. She didn't understand. Couldn't take a joke. No cause to harm her.

Still, it would be nice if she let go of his tongue.

"Incapathitaded?" he said. "Bud I chutht wanna hab thum FUN! Ya nebber hab any FUN around here! Bethideth...," the end of his tongue reached up and stroked ol' Fali right under the chin, "you're a liddle cudie, too!"

As for Jackson looked on he realised one thing, It would have to be Yelena that determined her progress. Trying to push her mentally at this point could be very dangerous.

He had to intervene, though perhaps it wouldn't be good to go down there as a mouse. That settled it he went back up to his office where he had the human polymorph device. It would be a bit longer until he could interfere.

Mali's eyes bulged and she considered biting the thing. Too bad she knew it wouldn't do any good. "Marvel, you're a perv." She put one hand on his face and pulled with all her might on Marvel's tongue, singing a little spell in the process. Soon enough, Marvel's tongue was frozen in place and she let go. After wiping the spit off of her hand, she nodded to Zena, who released Josh, finally sated with Marvel's new predicament.

"Thangk you!" he said. "An' you're a lige a liddle ol lady!"

Soooo...she wanted to escalate, huh? He hadn't been hurting anyone, he'd just offered to have some fun for a change, but, noooooo, that wasn't good enough for her! She had to go and pull his tongue out of his mouth (ouch)!

"Puhhhh-nithsh!"

Before she knew it, Marvel had cast an illusion around her. Now, she looked like Auntie Bertha--ugly little mustache and all--only she was wearing a black petticoat and bonnet. It was hilarious! Marvel couldn't help but laugh again.

Zena saw this and glowered. "Marvel, I swear I break that tongue of yours if you don't take that illusion off."
Josh meanwhile muttered to himself. "Damn, he's an instructor, no detention..."

Marvel smiled. Got your attention, didn't I? Heh heh.

"You releathe tongue, I releathe illuthun."

Zena shrugged. "I think you'll have to talk to Mali about that."
"There's nothing to talk about. If Marvel behaves himself, I'll thaw out his tongue. If not, well, I'm sure Galvenor will happily undo the illusion."

"Ooooo. Da fangth come out!" Auntie Bertha found herself with six-centimeter canines.

Actually, Marvel was starting to get a little hot under the collar himself.

He started making sound without moving his mouth. "Let me be blunt," he said. "I never tried to harm or even inconvenience any one of you. All I did was ask if you wanted to have some fun. If you don't like it, just say 'no' and I'll move on. What you did, Fali, is a different story, though. You slapped me around and tried to use a spell to harm me. As to ol' Melvin-bore, I'm sure he'd just love to hear your story--especially the part about the physical violence. I'm also sure that you lecturing me about how to behave is the height of hypocrisy! So what's it going to be? Are you going to take that spell off, and I'll take off mine, or do you really want to take this one up with Melvin-bore and Oldbag? I'm sure their stiff little upper lips won't even quiver!"

And he was so wrapped up in the negotiations that he didn't even realize that his Marvel Names had started to come out.

Mali simply scowled. "Marvel," Zena warned. "You really don't want to piss her off. You won't like what happens when you wake up. You insulted her as well as her friends, and that to her is like a slap in the face."

Oh, this was just too much.

"I don't want to piss her off? I won't like what happens? I insulted her? Me slapping her in the face doesn't make us even?

"One more time. We both back down now and nobody gets hurt...

"...OR..."

"...we bring it, and the hurtin' really starts.

"You see, I don't care about who can do what. I care about right and wrong. That's why I'm not evil. And it was wrong to slap me around and abuse her magic.

"We're EVEN. Let it go...or don't. Your call--and YOUR responsibility if you choose to start something. I haven't done anything to actually harm anybody yet. You have. You don't have to cause more harm. I'm not going to unless you provoke me again."

Mali turned and started walking. "Marvel, women are much more complex than that." Zena spoke. "You picked a fight by being perverted to her. She doesn't care if she's in the wrong because of what you said to her."
"Seriously, she cares about right and wrong too Marvel, but your insults basically turned on her fury." Josh cautioned. "It's not her physical being you injured, it's her emotions."

"Marvel, Zena. You're acting like children."

A 6 foot human with white hair but clean shaven, stepped out from around the corner. The ring was the same style as Jackson's just resized to fit the human's finger, he was wearing what looked like quite a bulky vest. It was more of a statement of fact than anything else.

"Am I going to have to get you to drop your spells or are you just going to do it? I don't need to tell you what Yelena has gone through recently and this bickering is not going to help her at all." He was directing all this at Marvel and Zena before turning his attention over to Yelena. "My apologises, My name is Jackson, I wasn't here when you where here but someone I know was a central figure in what unfolded, would you like to sit down?"

"Jackson, not to be rude, but this is one fight you can't finish. They need to work this out on their own." Josh warned, hoping he was right that an intervention wasn't needed.

"maybe you're right..." Jackson bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect "I won't say any more on that matter but if they do insist on continuing then they will need to find somewhere else to do so. Yelena is obviously in a fragile mental state questioning the reality of what she's seeing. She's gone through a lot, and that's not even considering what happened to her since she left us. If you are not going to stop arguing for her, the least you can do is do it somewhere else."

He turned back to Yelena there was no hint of his true mousey form, he seemed to be a compassionate wise old man and for the most part it was true. He waited to see how she would respond.

About then, Angelica walked up to the edge of the courtyard.

"This won't do," she said. "Praevius veneficus restituo."

The self-control spell popped back into place...and so did the headache.

"Veneficus fragro--poena aufero." ...and the headache was gone.

"This was our fault," Angelica said. "When he turned, we put an impulse-control spell in his mind. Our magic loathes chaos. When Alice came in contact with the spell, she inadvertently broke it. Marvel was not prepared for the results. I take full responsibility for his actions. Mali, if you're going to punish someone, you should punish me. This was all my doing."

"You mean...you hexed my mind without me knowing about it?!?!" Marvel's voice asked.

"I'm sorry, Marvel."

"Is it back on now?"

"Yes."

"Then take it back off!"

"I will--by degrees, so that you can get used to it."

Marvel shook his head, but no sound came.

"Please," Angelica said, "both of you, just drop your spells and end this folly."

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

OOC:

It's going on 2 AM over here. I'm going to crash.
Pick it up again tomorrow.

"Jackson, perhaps it would be wise to show Yelena to her room and how it works. It would give her a place to get away from things in the future as well as help her our now. Besides that, I'm sure she's tired from whatever journey she's had." Joshua suggested, allowing a trail of runes to head toward the dorms. If one bothered to translate them, it would spell out a recipe for chicken and dumplings, but there wasn't a need for anyone else to know this.

Mali looked to the "angel" "So he had the gal to get this perverted simply because your little protection spell wasn't in place!?" She was furious.

OOC: Night then. It's only about 1 here. And I feel now is an appropriate time to mention that just because someone has a character acting in a certain way doesn't mean that the person controlling them feels the same.

Irene watched in fascination, partially delighted in the Chaos her mere arrival had caused. She was completly unaware of The Overmind probing everyone.

***
OOC: It really was The Overmind, and not Irene. As I have stated, she was oblivious to any probings. It seemed like it was coming from Irene, because The Overmind extends from every member of the swarm. But it's alright to ICly confuse it as coming from Irene, just so long as you don't confuse it oocly. BTW, you caught it's interest.
***

IC: The probe seemed to return to Irene, and slowly, building upon itself, it seemed as if another being came to be standing next to Irene, watching with apparent interest, yet no one was there. It seemed to have a mind greater than Irene's, powerful enough to give even Galvenore a run for his money. It was of course, The Overmind of The Eternal Swarm, and in it's quest to determine what sort of things it's most prized possession would be spending it's time with, it's interest and fascination was caught, and it brought a portion of itself to the tower through Irene to watch, utterly astounded at the drama a lack of a cohesive controlling group consciousness like itself could cause among creatures that were supposed to be on good terms with one another.

OOC: Your chaos won't last long. The chaos is actually sorting itself out, as is the nature of our characters.

IC: Josh finally got irritated with the tentacle in his mind. What is your issue? I'm having enough problems without having something in my head. He thought at it, hoping it would pick up the idea much like Zena would.

"You Lesser creatures are by far the most interesting things I have ever come across. But could you really blame me? Irene is my most precious treasure, and to know what sort of creatures she would be spending the majority of her time among is one of my greatest concerns." The Overmind said directly in Josh's mind. It's voice was Horror, and would be something not easily forgotten, ever. It was quite obvious it wasn't Irene, she wasn't even looking his direction, or paying him the slightest bit of attention, having wandered closer to the Angel out of pure fascination.

The Overmind would find nothing from Drai'lees mind, for it's probling would slide off completely - she, as were all Fae, is nature made manifest, the majic that is a part of all creation brought to the physical realm. Nature is inately orderly, and Chaos was anathema to it.

The Overminds attempts did have the effect of knocking the tiny Fae out cold, but she had dropped not the the ground but atop the large shrub she had been hovering over. Thus she had missed the ensueing chaos ( small c )

Angelica looked back at Mali. "Oh," she said in that little good-witch-of-the-north voice of hers, "that's not perverted...for him."

Marvel looked at Angelica, hands on hips. "Well, thank you so much for sharing!" the illusion of his voice said.

"Marvel, don't--," Angelica began.

Marvel looked at Mali. "It would seem that this really isn't your fault," he said. Her appearance returned to normal. He looked back at Angelica. "But YOU...," he said.

To underscore Marvel's opinion of her at the moment, a dark aura appeared around Angelica's body. Little black bolts of lightning zapped back and forth across it. Her eyes started glowing red. As to Marvel, his appearance was its natural form now, and his wings were spread wide in anger.

"You hexed my mind!"

"Please don't be upset! We meant no harm!"

"You HEXED my MIND! You're STILL HEXING my mind!"[/i]

"Well, I'm sorry, but you've got to understand...you're an excellent lover, but your constant calls for indulgence got to be more than I could handle."

"You could've said 'no.' I could've found other things to do."

"That's what we were worried about."

And then, something came through Marvel's mind across the great divide of the dimensions. It was probably not intended for him, but it came through to him anyway.

"You Lesser creatures are by far the most interesting things I have ever come across. But could you really blame me? Irene is my most precious treasure, and to know what sort of creatures she would be spending the majority of her time among is one of my greatest concerns."

...and Marvel was so angry that he didn't really care what affect the next thing he thought would have...

I heard that 'lesser creature' stuff, you overbearing gasshole!

"Very Interesting, I think I shall leave now, my curiosity fulfilled." The Overmind said out loud, it's voice even more horrific than before. It could be felt leaving, and then, it was gone.

"Soo.... any chance of getting started today, or am I just waisting my time?" she asked.

Mali, back to normal, set Marvel's tongue on a slow thaw and stormed off while Josh was glad that thing was out of his head. "Irene, perhaps you should come with me." He suggested, walking towards her and extending a hand. "Yelena, you as well." he extended the other towards her.

OOC: Um, that lesser creature bit was directed at Josh and was in fact simply in his mind alone.

Irene took his hand, a thick oily substance covering it.
"It's for your own protection, I can be quite lethal. The Oil, a temporary agent easily removable with water, serves to harden your skin enough to protect against an accidental scratch from my claws." She said.

"Something tells me that arm would be fine without the oil." He pulled back the sleeve a bit to reveal that she had taken his mechanical arm. He didn't think now would be a good time to tell her that water and his arm didn't get along the best.

"Ahh. I see. Well, the good news is, the longer you leave it on the harder it gets, until twenty five days from now you will find yourself with a thin carapace that's easily peeled off." Irene said, understanding full well that water and machines didn't often get along.

"Or simply this." He touched his arm with the opposite and the oil started vanishing. "Not too difficult to do really."

"If you know how to do such things. I know how to destroy, mostly. Before I was reborn into the swarm, I was an artist. I was with a colony, to bring with them the arts, being genetically modified for such a purpose even before birth. I know much about all areas of the arts, but the swarm is very inartistic. Even my slight training in diplomacy hasn't helped them much. On the plus side, my new found powers of energy manipulation allow me a far greater range of artistic skill than before, but I have difficulty with the less than violent skills. Except blinking, but I get the feeling even small range teleportation is blocked here."

"An artist? Perhaps you should talk to Mali when she cools off. Despite the fact that she much prefers music, she really does enjoy any form of art. And where you control energy, I control matter." He crafted a small sphere from the casing of his arm for a moment before replacing it. "You are correct though that teleportation is negated. With the exception of us instructors anyway."

"Music? I used to be able to sing and play with unequaled beauty, being a part of the arts, now though, I don't know. I always transfix the swarm whenever I do. I think I might have an untapped skill there."

"Us instructors?" Marvel chimed in. "When did that happen?"

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

OOC:

Yeah, it was in Josh's mind, but Marvel, being the manipulative little dweeb that he is, somehow copped the signal. ;)

BTW, part about the characters not necessarily reflecting the POV of the writers is understood and seconded. :) :) :)

An answer never came. As the commotion happened, as Yelena's mind became a barrier that nothing could really probe into, Zena heard nothing of her skeptic arguments that were expected to be answered back. What happened was something else. Yelena simply entered in a catatonic state, and although her eyes remained open, and although she still stood, it was clear that somehow she was unconscious, not reacting at all to any stimuli, only standing there, motionless, like an automaton.

Zena looked at Yelena. "Uh, guys. I think she's in a coma or something."
"Great, I'll tell Galvenor then. Irene, music will have to wait for you're about to meet my boss." He glanced at Marvel. "It happened when we got these." He showed Marvel the ring before vanishing with Irene, heading to the room where he'd left Galvenor.

Irene had been teleported before, and had even teleported herself, so it wasn't that she was unused to it, she was simply unprepared for it.

"AIEEE!" She yelped in surprise as she was teleported away.

"Hmmm, well, something indeed has happened to her. If we had our magical analyser up and running I could probably see what was wrong." Jackson looked and pondered around Yelena. "No point in keeping up this disguise if she's like this."

He reached down and un-clicked the bracelet that was on his arm. As he did so it fell to the ground as Jackson morphed back into his original mousey-form in front of everyone.

He padded around on all fours sniffing and smelling, the sense of smell also duplicated as type of magical detection. He'd be able to detect the presence of magic, the school and if he had uncounted it before he may even be able to tell what effect she was under.

However as he believed she was under some sort of necromancy, how else could he explain her being dead and then suddenly 'alive' here in their presence. He had no experience of necromancy and so wouldn't be able to tell what it was. He totally ignored the comment from Marvel as this was of much more concern and importance and really it seemed to tell the full story about Marvel. Rushing off without consideration of the consequences of doing so. At least now the Angel put the hex on him again.

For those able to sense magic, there was not even a hint of necromancy emanating from the unconscious body of Yelena, of the type that is usually reflected by the smell of ashes and death, which didn't exist at all, and neither was any hint of any form of magic, charm or spell influencing her consciousness. Yelena still breathed normally at such unconscious state, and certainly. Wwhatever happened to her, no matter how there were signs her head was attached to another body, clearly indicated by the stitches across her neck, she was definitively alive.

However, even unconscious, she demonstrated clear signs of struggle, like if something was slowly harming her body. Yelena was sweating slightly more than what would be normal. However, there were clear signs that the magic of the tower wasn't reacting well to her presence.

Marvel felt his tongue starting to loosen. This was good. It meant that he could use it for the purpose that it had been given him--to let Angelica have a good ol' fashioned piece of his mind! He popped it back into his mouth.

"Angelica," Marvel said, "get your crap out of my mind."

"But, dear--."

"Don't call me that."

"There's no telling what you'll do if I--."

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to go up to my room and have a nervous breakdown. I've been working real hard at it all day, and I deserve it. Now will you please remove your unwanted magic so that I can go and have it?"

"But, Marvel--."

The dark aura around her darkened, and the lightning started making little thunderclaps.

"You and your high and mighty, hoity toity crap. (CRACK!) Look at you! Little miss Angel with all her morals and her (CRACK!) hot stuff code of ethics! Well, look who put a (CRACK!) convenience leash on her boyfriend! Look who's (CRACK!) abused her powers in the most insidious possible (CRACK!) way! Look who's--!"

"Ohhh, alright! I'll do it. Just quit your infernal whining!"

Marvel smiled. "Thank you, dear," he said.

She raised her hands and chanted, "Veneficus distraho!" There was a little buzzing sound somewhere in between Marvel's ears.

And, in a moment, he was beset by a million hungers and impulses that he'd almost forgotten that he even had. He felt dizzy. He felt hungry. He felt very, very horny. Then, he looked at Angelica and he didn't feel horny anymore.

He shook his head. Then, he removed the illusion from Angelica.

Then, he looked at Yellena, and his heart almost broke. He walked over to her and cupped her head in his big, red, clawed hand...and then he felt it. "Something's wrong with her, guys," he said.

The looks he got back told him that he had a remarkable grasp of the obvious.

"That's not what I mean!" he said. "Remember how her mechanical arm blew up when she first got here? Well, I think something like that's going on inside of her. It's like a fever, but it's not like any fever I've ever felt before. It's ailing magic. I think we have to get her off the tower grounds.

"Anybody got a spare teleporting ring?"

Zena looked to Jackson. "Sorry Marvel, Jackson's the only one with it and from what I can hear of Josh's memories of the meeting, it's stuck on him. I do believe that we need to find a way to help her get through this ailing magic rather than simply removing her from it." She thought for a moment. "I wonder if I could connect with her to find out what she feels?" She focused for a moment. Yelena, can you hear me? She sent out. If Yelena replied, she'd hear it without too much trouble. It was, after all, a curse to hear thoughts meant for communicating as much as a blessing.

"It isn't magic... but if the body that her head was placed upon had a sort of consciousness, then it seems that these consciousnesses were at war, battling for control of the body. Yelena or whoever's this body is could very well for all practical purposes... cease to exist."

"And, yes, Marvel I have one... but I can't give it to you, You'll have to get your own from Galvenor, and if I'm right. Yelena needs him to..."

He pulled a small ball, he clicked a button on it's side and dropped it down on the floor. the ball sprang out of itself forming a door large enough for a creature to go through. The door seemed to be made out of a fluid blue mass, Jackson grabbed Marvel.

"Come on, We've got to get Galvenor." And as such Jackson tried to pull Marvel through the portal they found themselves at their intended destination, Galvenor's office. Hopefully he was here.

Josh looked at the portal and two new arrivals. "Well this is interesting." He said. "I didn't think anyone else would be coming here. I did say I'd tell him about Yelena if that's why you're here."

"I'd have appreciated some warning on the teleport." Irene said, a bit testy.

Marvel looked around him, wide-eyed.

"How did you open a portal right in the middle of the school?" he asked, incredulous, "and, now that you've come through, how do you get the talisman back?"

Josh looked at the portal and two new arrivals. "Well this is interesting." He said. "I didn't think anyone else would be coming here. I did say I'd tell him about Yelena if that's why you're here."

"Yes, but also Marvel doesn't have his ring yet... and he was annoying. It was the only way to shut him up as he's an instructor."

"I'd have appreciated some warning on the teleport." Irene said, a bit testy.

Jackson could only just blink at Irene for a moment before getting harassed by Marvel

Dastardly Stench;14377277']Marvel looked around him, wide-eyed.

"How did you open a portal right in the middle of the school?" he asked, incredulous, "and, now that you've come through, how do you get the talisman back?"

Jackson just sighed, it seemed everyone was picking on him. "This Ring, which YOU eould of got if you just stayed in the meeting, and I've been doing thing for a long time I know what I'm doing. Ok? is Everyone fine. And another couple of people could help find him if he's not here. Time is important and we shouldn't spend it arguing.

Irene concentrated with her mind, using the enormity of the swarm to cover the school in a blanket of Psionic thought waves. This was visible by the way the air began to shimmer, spreading outward in waves from Irene's position. It was in fact, the way the swarm detected other beings in space. The shimmer in the air wrapped around each person in the room, illuminating them on a wavelength only a member of the swarm could see. Those not of the swarm could still see the clustering of the shimmering waves, but not the illumination.

"I feel, him. He's, he's here, but, not here, there, but not there either. So many voices, it's hard to single out new voices from the swarm." Irene said, visibly sweating with the effort of trying to psionically locate Galvenor.

"YEAH, SHUT UP! ONE AND ALL 'O DANG Y'ALL!" she yelled suddenly, her voice echoing on itself, taking on a dark horrifying quality that would be difficult to forget.

Suddenly, the shimmering in the air snapped into focus and seemed as translucent as class, as though everyone were wrapped in a glass box (which they weren't) and the illumination got brighter, but non-swarmlings wouldn't see this. However, the Psionic Blanket would allow each person within it, which was everyone at the school, to feel where all the others were, but that was all it would allow them to feel, sort of like having a magic radar system.

OOC: I think Bal's really just busy in RL.

Josh shrugged. "Sorry Irene, but we're on a time crunch." He looked to Jackson. "He does need that I suppose." When Irene brought up her energy Josh's vision went to pitch black. "Oh, thanks." he said sarcastically. "I don't use light to see, you know. I see the energy of everyone and everything and your spell, or sense, or whatever this is is blinding me. I'm assuming this is Irene though since all I see is black and Marvel shows up maroon while Jackson is a kind of eggshell white. But could whoever this is please turn it off?"