Heavenly ★ Branches [IC]

[padfoot]

Frustration flashed across Flyn's face amd he tried to quell it. He scrached his forehead, "Oh...Uh, my name is Flyn", he said, making sure to give him his nickname, "Good to meet you both". Great. He met someone, now what? That wasn't even a fraction of what this weekend's homework was. He didn't know that there wasn't anything written on their powers, He just thought he grabbed the unpopular volumes and all the others were checked out. Could it be that all the school's liturature about what was going on was in his backpack.He needed more help than what a few grey beards could jot down on cocktail napkins.

 

Flyn looked the kid with glasses over along with his friend. sooo, the editor of the school's blog and a hotshot intellectual with a vendetta against the student president. Perfect A small smile flickered at the corners of his mouth. He looked from one boy to the next and finally spoke again, "thank you for your offer but I was thinking of something a litttle more...hands on", he said, hoping his point was getting across,"oh, and what happens if two stems of the same element link?"

[Clown_of_God]

Aiden had grown rather bored, sitting at the desk starting at a pile of papers provided by his teachers to be completed for weekend homework. Was this his punishment for making average grades in middle school? With a deep sigh, Aiden turned to look at the clock. An hour had passed since classes ended. Looking back at the pile, Aiden decided he had had enough for the evening and needed something to refresh his mind. Figuring club activities were still going on, he decided to roam the school grounds and see if he'd stumble on anything interesting.

 

Gathering up his papers, Aiden quickly packed them away into his bag and tossed it into his bed upon completing his intended task. Making his way towards the exit, Aiden stopped momentarily and took a glance back at both the desk and his bed, to ensure he hadn't forgotten anything. Once he had mentally confirmed everything was good, Aiden proceeded out the door and down the hall, making his way towards the entrance hall. Why? Rather than roam aimlessly, at least he could get a sense of his bearings and where everything was at. Plus, they might have a club listing of available clubs to join. During his journey, sounds of cracking echoed through the empty halls as Auliden snapped his fingers, creating small sparks of fire and every so often he'd create a small ball of flame that would dissipate a few moments later.

 

Once he was at the front, Aiden peered around, searching for some kind of display or board where the list of clubs might be posted. Sure enough, towards the right side of the hall, a board had various flyers and requests displayed, along with an entire list of active clubs that we're available to join. Unfortunately, as he scrolled through this list, nothing of major interest came up and his hopes were starting to fall. Not even, at a minimal, was there an archery club available. As a marksman, Aiden had been hoping for some form of a sharpshooter club, something where he could continue to hone his skills. If it wasn't so late already, Aiden would've brought the matter up with the teachers and even put in a request himself to start up a club, but now that would have to wait until the following week.

 

Still, as Aiden was coming to an end of his scan, he came across one club that piqued his interest. A sort of sparring club, or a fight club in simpler terms, was actually a highly advertised establishment. It even had a full pamphlet and a poster requesting new initiates. (Something he only realized after looking over the board completely) Deciding he had nothing better to do, Aiden began making his way towards the back field, hoping this would be enough to ease his mind and allow him to carry on with his weekend assignment. If anything, at least it would be a small source of entertainment. On his walk, Aiden passed by several classrooms, some of them occupied by students who were either practicing home ec or fiddling with electronic devices.

 

Now, what he hadn't been expecting upon his arrival, was a full on battle between multiple opponents. Originally, he had only anticipated a club whose focus was honing their form or basic abilities, not a full on battle between separate contenders to see who was better.

 

"Uhm... can someone explain to me what it is that's going on here? Please?"

 

Despite how evident it might seem, with what was going on in front of him, Aiden was certain there was more to it than just straight up fighting. At least, he intended to verify all the conditions first. Not that he was completely engulfed in the idea of joining, but the thought of being able to test his progress on an intelligent opponent over an inanimate object was certainly enticing. Of course, he still intended to talk with a teacher about a shooter's club later, for now he intended to get more details on the activities occurring here.

[halfsourpickle]

((WELL it certainly took me a ridiculously long time to write this.))

 

Chi laughed. "I was born ready," they laughed, grinning at Harcourt. "You ready to go?" Harcourt responded by offering his hand to Chi. The two walked off the bleachers, pausing to do their overly complicated handshake, rocking their palms back and forth against each other's, switching hands in the middle, and ending with a handshake.

 

A blast of hot, dry air cycloned around Chi, pulling their hair loose and elongating it. A red ribbon materialized and twisted the hair into a sleek ponytail. Pants and a shirt formed easily, the dragon on Chi's sleeve sprouted from the shoulder and swirled around the arm to the wrist. Air around Chi's neck and collarbones darkened and formed a row of Chinese knot buttons. A metal gauntlet and a pair of black gloves formed in much the same way. The wind wrapped around their body, solidifying into a heavy, fur-lined robe. Gold embroidery gusted into view on the front and back of the robe, the strands forming into a snarling face, the fifth son of the dragon. A red scarf tornadoed around Chi's waist, cinching the robe in. Boots came easily, and Chi was more focused on materializing their mask. They made a motion as if they were pulling something out of thin air, and by the time their hand was over their face, the mask was securely fastened to their head.

 

On the contrary, a refreshing swirl of water surged around Harcourt, wrapping him in cool, navy blue silk and melting into the gold filigree on his half-robe and pants. His abs tingled a little after the water evaporated, but he was used to it at that point. The remaining water droplets solidified into his buttons. Another splash looped around his head and waist, misting into wide swathes of translucent silk. A few drops slid down his forehead and over his eyes, giving him red eyeliner wings. One final drop melted into the red flower on his forehead. The tweed at his waist sloshed down in a waterfall, and his shoes formed with a quick tap of his toes on the ground. Harcourt stretched his arms above his head and hummed, heading towards the Cadmus twins.

 

Chi followed.

[TehUltimateMage]

((Sorry Flyn, you just engaged the master of lengthy exposition that no one cares about. I've broken it up so it's a little easier to read.))

 

Felix @ Flyn -- Back Field//Saturday Afternoon

 

Felix caught the hint immediately. "You wish to link with me? Very well." Obviously enthralled that someone asked him for explanations, he continued, "You know from your introductory lessons that different elements combine in different ways. Earth and Water makes grass. Fire and Air makes lightning, and so on. But they haven't yet mentioned what happens when a pair forms of the same element."

 

While his friend was giving his explanation, Harold slowly shuffled backwards until he was several feet away. "The short answer: nothing special. I speculate this is the reason why they group us by element in the dorms, so our destructive potential is limited. The true answer is much more complex, and Dr. Robinson has surely noticed the benefits of same element pairs in training.

 

"The main advantage of these pairings is an augmented awareness of your element, meaning that it is much easier to draw upon it and it comes in greater strength. Working with your partner, the resulting control over the element -- in our case, fire -- is greater than what either of us could do alone. If linking with a partner is like turning a tap to release magic potential, same element pairs are like opening the floodgates."

 

His glasses were slipping again, so Felix raised a hand to his face to adjust them. "Again, this is speculation, but I theorize that they made it deliberately hard to draw on magic in normal circumstances to limit our destructive potential while out of battle."

 

"So, you wanted to try a link?" The tall boy still looked a little tired from his off-kilter posture, but he extended the offer anyway.

 

~~~

 

Vale @ Aria and Aiden

 

"Just in time for round two," Aria said to the boy who asked what was going on. Her eyes were still trained on the field, watching the new challengers get ready, and so she didn't even look at the newcomer with the red scarf. "The girl with the scythe is the student prez, and this looks like it's a regular thing. I mean, I'm new to this too, but it looks like a no-holds-barred beatdown until you're forcefully unlinked."

 

"Well, Sparring Club isn't usually this brutal," came a softer voice. "The President just wants to put on a show for the newbies, like always." When Aria realized it was Vale who had spoken, she turned around completely, though still unsure what to say to her about her performance and the dozens of questions she wanted to ask her. The dark-skinned girl with auburn hair was fumbling through her jacket pockets, looking for something to light the cigarette between her teeth. "Could either of you lend me a spark?"

 

~~~

 

Cadmus @ Chi and Harcourt

 

With a whining groan, Lucy waved her hand and dismissed her weapon. The scythe turned into a collection of pink particles that faded into nothingness. She'd be summoning it immediately anyway, but for the sake of keeping a level playing field the ref wouldn't start until it was gone.

 

Stanley nodded. She nodded back. They might as well have been hearing each other's thoughts, even though no words were exchanged through the link, only feelings and instincts.

 

Once everyone was in place, the whistle signaled the beginning of the match. Atypical of their usual strategy, Lucy started off with a sustained stream of fire which she handled recklessly like a flamethrower that she waved back and forth, trying to burn both Harcourt and Chi or at least get them to scatter so Stanley -- who already had summoned as many knives as he could hold between his fingers -- could pick them off.

[Clown_of_God]

Glancing over at the first female, Aiden listened to her explanation, and then turned his attention back to the field. Of course, two things drew his attention away again, as yet another female approached. One was her frantic and slightly rattled demeanor, the swaying of her hair and the slight fidgeting as she dug into her pockets in search of something. As for the other detail that drew his attention was the faint smell of iron, a scent he was all too familiar with from his experiences both in school and while out hunting. Simply, this new girl smelled of blood.

 

"I got your light," Aiden responded as he walked up to the girl, snapping his fingers and creating a small flame. Leaning in closer, the stench had grown stronger, his nostrils flaring while his eyes narrowed. "Did you just get done with a hunt of some sort? You seem... nervous."

 

It had been during his first hunt, Aiden was out with his father with the intent of hunting boar. As normal, they sat in their perch for hours on end, watching the bait stations they set up in hopes good game would appear and it would seem luck was on their side. A rather large boar, along with a fairly size able group had approached one of the stations and picking a target seemed all too obvious. With a little coaching from his father, Aiden took the shot and the beast toppled like a sack of meat. Waiting for the others to clear the area, they eventually made their way down to the boar to gauge their kill. Events went south from that point, as the boar was still breathing and the moment Aiden drew his knife to finish it off, it surged back into action and practically tackled him. A scuffle ensued and the boar had managed to tear into Aiden's side with one of its tusks and broke his wrist before his father was able to kill it.

[Clown_of_God]

(( Bump? ))

[Esko]

Awfully casual, for a boy who got choked in his sleep. She curiously thought, though a small thread of satisfaction appeared when she successfully slapped him while he was wheezing chuckles. "Two in the morning?" She repeated, forgetting how damn early it was. It was hard to keep a snarl on her face, possibly because she was tired or some other reason. She took a breath in -this would be hard to explain.

 

"Look...I need your help." She forced herself to say. No turning back now; he was already awake and tonight was the night to spy. "See that bed over there?" She pointed to the empty bunk that should've held a petite girl. "The bed's owner seems to cause quite the fuss, as far as I can tell. She's not here most nights. I'm determined to find out." Maybe determined wasn't the right word, but she wouldn't let the boy know of her doubts. "However, I...can't do it alone. Can you help? Please?" At this point, she hoped with all her luck that he'd agree.

 

"Oh, uh, yeah, the name's Jess. You are?" She sheepishly added that last line, looking down at her feet, then him.

[Clown_of_God]

((In tandem with Jess' excursion))

 

Erika yawned, leaning back in her chair and stretching her arms high over her head. Aside from the light coming off the various monitors around the room, the area itself was dimly lit. One monitor in particular had drawn her attention earlier that evening and she had been traversing between it and her research.

 

"AIRIS, any updates on the target's whereabouts?"

 

"No, Miss Newman, I'm still scanning through all the recent databases, but have not been able to locate another sighting. Shall I expand my search?"

 

"No, put your focus on monitoring all surveillance camera footage. Anything that resembles our target, I want you to mark it with a DTG. That should assist in our tracking efforts."

 

"Yes, ma'am."

 

Picking up a nearby thermos, Erika sipped on its contents before returning her attention to the contents displayed on a separate monitor. Some of the visible contents had details for each student, from their birth date to what grades they made in whatever school system they had attended prior. Another screen had the various branches and their current shape, side, density, etc. Rubbing her forehead with her thumb and forefinger, Erika seemed to be focused on one screen in particular.

 

"I wonder if it's possible to capture one alive... better yet... I wonder if the academy already has one somewhere."

Edited December 18, 2016 by zakku_uchiha

[TehUltimateMage]

((Updates will trickle in tomorrow/monday. This show is back on the road. Let's start it off with an event, shall we?))

 

Panic! At the Dancefloor -- Alistair/Sienna/Inari/Winter

 

"...what's that sound?" Winter cut in suddenly. She thought she imagined it at first, as attuned to the air as she was. Her Focus was on sound waves, and she felt the minute vibrations of the air on her skin, tingling. It was a low droning that started, then stopped abruptly. "...Something's definitely coming." The droning began again, louder, until the ground itself began to shake and dislodge some pebbles from the cave ceilling and the sound rocked through her very core like the feeling of standing beside a speaker during a dance party.

 

It sounded really big.

 

The pink haired girl's eyes were wide as saucers and she backed away several steps. Her gaze darted between the three people present, first Alistair, then Sienna, then lingering on Inari. At least the latter was a top ranking hunter, and all of them had experience. Still, she was weighing the option of heading back out and calling for reinforcements. Robinson could take care of it, right? Or any of the top fighters from third year? How did this manage to slip through security? Demons never got this close to campus -- it had to be a demon, everybody here knew now that it was close. Closer. Are there more? Panic raced through her mind, then her veins. Everybody already knew what was coming. It was already here. She flexed her fingers, willing them to relax. If only she could pinpoint where it was...

 

"Look out!" Winter shouted. Her frozen limbs burst into action and she slammed her shoulder into Alistair to push him out of the way. The ground they stood on only moments ago exploded outward, tossing dust into the air and the droning turned into a roar that echoed off the cavern walls now that it was in open air.

 

The creature, like most demons, was an unsettling chimera of several beasts from land and sea. It was long -- as long as ten people laying head to toe, and was as thick as a large barrel. It had ridges defining many pink fleshy segments like a giant earthworm, but on closer inspection it had hundreds of tiny clawed appendages defining its underside. Its face was almost comical, with big balloon eyes which didn't look functional, a circular mouth of teeth that dominated most of its front end, and a smooth oversized forehead that resembled a beluga's. It wasn't the biggest demon they'd faced off against, but it was the first that caught them so very, very underprepared.

[Clown_of_God]

Sienna, for the first time in a while, felt tension in her chest as a wave of nervousness and anxiety crept through her system. Neither Violet nor Karna were present and facing against a demon without being Linked was like pitting an apprentice in martial arts against a black belt. Retreating back to her initial perch, the most she could think of at the moment was to scan over her foe and see what she might be capable of doing in her current state. In the meantime, she had started making contact with Violet, activating her beacon so she knew where to go.

 

"Pair up! If we just fumble about as we are now, we won't last long and this thing will make a beeline for the school. Be wary, as it might burrow back underground. If it does, Winter, you keep track of it, Alistair and myself will act as Vanguard. Inari, protect Winter."

 

Continuing to look around, Sienna came up with an idea that could possibly deal with this situation if her timing was correct. Being in a sort of dome, bouncing from wall-to-wall and gaining momentum, she could use said momentum to spear the beast, but with it moving about so frantically, there was a large possibility she'd miss entirely. Now, the biggest she had was... should she take the risk?

[Coryn02]

((Demon-hunter is back, baby!))

 

Inari had immediately assessed the situation.

 

Four individuals in a room with a demon. In the school. The demon had to die, both to protect themselves and to rid the earth of its foul nature. Of that much, she was certain.

 

Sienna called out for organization: Winter was to keep track of the creature with her keen senses, while she and Alistair took the fight to it and Inari protected Winter.

 

Rushing forward, Inari held out a hand to Sienna, to establish a Link. Sparing little time, Sienna slapped her open palm, activating their Branches.

 

Inari's school outfit turned into a resplendent red, blue and yellow dress, shawl, and cape. Her hair now untied, she held a war-hammer in her right hand.

 

Ready for battle, Inari thought.

 

Sienna was an Air stem, meaning she now had it, fire and electricity to use. While this was a potent combination, Inari forced herself to remember that she was not to directly engage the demon. Instead, she had to protect one of her fellow students. But what if that meant doing so regardless?

 

Don't suppose that means I'll do nothing, though.

 

Inari focused her Branch's power on Snowfall and swung at the hideous monstrosity. The head of the hammer was immolated as it hit the demon, which rattled and hissed in pain at this attack and attempted to strike her.

 

The girl didn't have enough time to react to it ramming her and was knocked several meters onto a pile of rubble nearby. For something that looked like a worm, this demon was far stronger than it looked.

 

The monster rattled and hissed from its tooth-filled mouth and dove into the ground again, sinking just beneath the floor. Inari could feel the very earth shake from its movements.

 

"So... A burrowing demon. Looks like we're just getting started, then! Inari said with a hint of a grin as she picked herself up and began to think of all the ways she was going to make this beast wish it were never born.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Coryn02