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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jun 13, 2010 18:24:11 GMT -5
Fredericks glared at Aurora and then suddenly laughed a long mocking laugh.
"Something is chasing you. Look!"
He gestured to the small ball of water that came floating up behind her. With a flick of his hand he sent a dart of solidifed air hurtling towards the center of the ball.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 13, 2010 18:43:01 GMT -5
The splash of water got Kahlen to stop her rambling. "Okay. Thanks, I guess I was getting a little freaked out."
She saw Mellianne make a ball of water, which promptly floated in the direction that Aurora ran. "Oh, good idea! Perhaps we can find her that way."
Kahlen set down her bag and sat on the branch. "Well, I hate waiting. I hope a bear hasn't gotten her!"
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 13, 2010 19:09:08 GMT -5
The ball of water sorta popped and fell to the ground when the air hit it.
Back at the trail, Mellianne put a hand on her head and had to sit down before she fell down. Luckily, the shield didn't collapse as well. "Oh dear, I don't feel so well. I think something destroyed the ball just as I found Aurora." She quickly laid down, as sitting wasn't helping with her dizziness. She was having trouble concentrating on anything.
Good thing she had made Kahlen able to move through the shield before this happened, cause she wouldn't be able to control her powers for a while, so Mellianne and anyone else wouldn't be able to move through the thin barrier of water, unless someone destroyed that too, but that would make her feel even worse, maybe even faint and that wasn't even the worst that could happen.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 13, 2010 19:32:19 GMT -5
"Are you alright?" Kahlen asked quickly as Mellianne sat down. Kahlen reached for a bottle of water in her bag and found Mellianne laying down as she turned around.
"Here's some water," she said. "Think you should drink some?" Kahlen was worried. She figured Mellianne had expended a lot of her energy creating the ball. She also wasn't sure what she should do to help Mellianne.
"Well, at least you tried with the ball thing," Kahlen reassured her. "I'm sure Aurora's fine. I mean, we haven't heard any blood curdling screaming, have we?" The last bit came out a bit hysterical. Kahlen cleared her throat and concentrated on breathing deeply.
"I probably should go get help, but I don't want to leave you here alone with so little energy. Please don't die."
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 13, 2010 19:42:34 GMT -5
Mellianne raised her head and drank a bit. Shakily, she explained. "I'm not dying. When that ball was destroyed, I got backlash.
"And nothing is going through that shield cept you. No one else, even me, can get through that shield til I take it down, which won't happen til I feel better, unless they break or destroy it. That will give me the same effect of the ball being destroyed. If I'm lucky, the worst that will happen is that I faint."
She put her head back down to help stop the ringing.
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on Jun 13, 2010 19:46:33 GMT -5
Aravind had silently cursed as Aurora ran off. This presented several problems. First, it appeared his students had -no- idea how to conduct themselves in an alarming situation, and were foolhardy enough to panic and split off from the group without a plan. This... was something that he'd have to correct, he thought, frowning darkly.
Second, although from all the crashing noises, he knew she'd be easy to track (crashing noises = broken, obvious, blatant trail), and he'd find her very quickly, a split group meant he'd have to reveal himself to keep the panic down. If Mellianne and Kahlen were stupid enough to run off in different directions (though he thought, and hoped rather desperately, that they weren't), it would make things a lot more complicated.
...kind of like scaring ten different kinds of hell into your students, instead of just facing them with the stupidity of their choices, made things a lot more complicated. He rolled his eyes at himself, then shrugged, figuring at least they'd remember this, and maybe take their professors more seriously when they said things like "Don't do this / that / the other thing, it's dangerous." He heard Kahlen tell Mellianne not to die, and was initially worried-- then recognized the panic in her voice and figured there was no inherent danger. Nonetheless...
"Oi! Mellianne!" He dropped out of the tree, landing in a crouch, right next to the fallen branch, and stood, walking towards the two. "And-- ah-- you!" He drew a breath of relief on seeing Aurora's plain and obvious trail. She'd be -very- easy to track, and unless she injured herself, things should work out just fine. He stopped just short of the water shield and looked, concern showing a bit on his face, at Mellianne.
"Are you alright?"
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 13, 2010 19:57:27 GMT -5
Mellianne looked over at Professor Shiyal, a little surprised that he was there. Feeling a little better by then already. "I'm fine sir. Just suffering from backlash when something destroyed the thing I sent to go look for Aurora. I think I had just found her. Only problem with me is the shield I have up is stuck til I can concentrate enough to take it down. Though Kahlen already is keyed in to come and go through it when she wants.
"I'm more worried about Aurora cause I think I had just found her when the ball of water I had used to look for her was destroyed."
((and was there a rule of not entering the forest alone or in small groups or something?))
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 13, 2010 19:57:48 GMT -5
Kahlen sighed in relief as she saw Professor Shiyal drop down next to the branch she was sitting on.
"I think she's fine," Kahlen said to the professor. "She's probably more tired than anything else."
Kahlen poked Mellianne after some subconscious thought that she should check if Mellianne was alright. She turned back to Shiyal. "You can find Aurora, right? We thought it would be bad if we ran after her."
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on Jun 13, 2010 20:27:48 GMT -5
((Heh, I just realized he never did tell them not to go into the forest without checking or telling a professor-- it's just something he assumed they'd do, common sense. I mean... I dunno, it's not exactly fair of him, but yeah.))
Aravind realized, almost guiltily, that they hadn't yet realized he was the one who put them in this situation. He reached out to the water shield, careful not to actually -touch- it, in case he inadvertently hurt Mellianne. He frowned. "Alright, then. As long as you're not in any danger."
A moment of thought, and then he nodded. "No, you did the right thing, sticking together. Next class, we'll cover, well... safety. In fact--" he stopped, shaking his head. Time for that later. "Stay here, both of you," he told them. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
He moved quickly through the underbrush, virtually silent, following Aurora's trail and keeping an eye out for what lay ahead-- the last thing he wanted to do was run into a bear, though they probably wouldn't be giving trouble this time of year.
The first thing he saw was Aurora, on the ground. He was about to call out, but a split second later, he saw Fredericks' feet, and a clay bowl behind them. ...and blood. You didn't have to be all that genre-savvy to know that a clay bowl (especially rough-hewn), plus blood, plus uncalculably old people (especially gardeners)... well. It meant Something, and while a small part of his mind was frantically drawing lines between a clay bowl and blood, and the occasional signs of struggle he'd seen with no explanation, the rest of him was thinking "OhshitohshitohshitohshitohSHIT," and he remained where he was, mostly camoflaughed by the surrounding bushes, body tensed to leap into the clearing, one hand casually towards the knife at his belt, just in case.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 13, 2010 20:48:27 GMT -5
Kahlen was more than happy to stay where she was. She wanted to make sure Mellianne was okay and if Aurora would be fine.
"Well, I wonder if he'll let us continue with our outing... Eh, you two probably will want to go back. Perhaps we can persuade him to take us another time."
Kahlen propped her elbow up on her knee and was tapping her chin. She was glad Professor Shiyal had found them, although she wondered why he showed up after all the screaming.
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 13, 2010 21:24:19 GMT -5
Mellianne was feeling better and could sit up now, her head just hurt way too much for her to concentrate on messing with her shield. "Hmm. I have a feeling it would be better for us all to go back and to get a bigger group and then ask a teacher to go with us."
She opened her bag and got out an extra bottle of water and held it to her head. "I bet there are gonna be a little stricter rules on coming in here, specially after this. Least that's how it happens in all the books and movies." Wincing at the thought, she added. "I just hope that Aurora doesn't get into much trouble for this cause she already has detentions after this afternoon."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jun 14, 2010 2:58:30 GMT -5
Aurora was still partially hysterical, as she had no idea what the water bubble was, nor what Fredericks had done to it.
"Was that what made the noise? Did you get it?"
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jun 14, 2010 8:18:36 GMT -5
Fredericks chuckled. "Got it, she says...babes in the woods."
He gestured to the small puddle that was left of the water bubble "I doubt tha' it was making any noise, bein' made a water and all. Though I s'pose it could with a bit a work." For a second he seemed lost in thought and his face seemed to have almost a bit of grudging respect. "Clever, but crude, so I s'pose it must be one a yer little classmates."
He breathed in deeply through his nose and then licked his lips. The corner of his mouth rose in a crooked grin. "Interesting."
"I think yer bein' pranked girl. So just turn yer little arse around and head back to yer friends and stay out of tha forest until ya know what yer doin'".
He turned around and crouched down to check on his bowl.
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jun 14, 2010 12:11:23 GMT -5
The immediate danger apparently averted, the critical thinking processes of Aurora's brain began to reawaken, and she suddenly found the Groundskeeper as the most unsettling thing in her presence, particularly with the impaled mammal in the tree that became visible when he crouched down.
Suppressing a shudder, she looked around, noticing the water puddle, then her own tattered and in some places bloody clothing, and then the forest break around her. "Ow..." she mumbled as she gingerly touched a gash on her left ribs. She'd have to wait untill she got back to the school to clean it, as she didn't tend to bring any supplies with her, and cleaning injuries was one of the few things that she couldn't really do with her liquid metal.
She rose shakily and altered her dress to the shorts and T-Shirt that she had used in her last forestry lesson, changes she berrated herself for not making when she first entered the forest, and then formed bright lights on her forearms to start heading back the way she came - if she could find them.
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on Jun 14, 2010 12:25:17 GMT -5
Aravind shrugged, inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, and stepped forward into the clearing. "Are you alright, Aurora?" He glanced at Fredericks with a nod, curious, but still rather wary.
"So that's been you, eh?" He took a step closer to the impaled badger. "I had a feeling something a bit off was going on, 'round here."
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jun 14, 2010 12:51:39 GMT -5
Fredericks dipped his middle finger into the bowl up to the first knuckle and swirled it around in a couple lazy circles before standing and turning to face Shiyal.
"Something off, eh? S'pose that depends on how you define 'on'." A thick drop of the cooling blood started to form on the underside of his finger and without looking he stuck his arm behind him and it dripped into the clay bowl.
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jun 14, 2010 12:54:47 GMT -5
"Oh, professor!" The sudden relief suddenly made her start crying again. She rushed forward to give him an awkward hug. "We were out in the woods going to the clearing but then there was this crash and we all got scared and then there was this terrible sound like a cry or scream but way worser and I got separated from Melliane and Kahlen..." her voice started trailing into indecipherable murmers after that.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 14, 2010 13:03:33 GMT -5
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," Kahlen commented as Mellianne sat up.
She noticed the shield was still up. "I don't think any of us will get into -too- much trouble. I mean, I'm not in Professor Shiyal's class because I'm not in group A, so how was I supposed to know any rules regarding the woods?"
Kahlen began to move her hand in and out of the shield for lack of anything to do. She belatedly hoped it didn't affect Mellianne.
"I just hope he won't be really mad at us. I wouldn't want to get on his bad side."
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on Jun 14, 2010 22:07:21 GMT -5
Aravind, somewhat taken aback by Aurora's tears, babbling, and most of all the hug, kind of stood there rather awkwardly, unsure what to do, torn between awkwardly calming her down (how?!) and awkwardly pushing her away, which might cause problems; as a result, he didn't really do... anything. Except feel guilty that apparently she hadn't connected the dots between Fredericks telling her there was a prank, and him popping up right after.
"Uh."
He gave up on dealing with Aurora before she'd calmed down, and just looked across the clearing (and her) at Fredericks. "On," he said drily, "Generally doesn't include animals disappearing in their tracks, with no predator traces left." He paused. "At least, not in my experience. But who knows? I wouldn't want to be accused of close-mindedness towards reformed reclusive vampires, or anything."
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 14, 2010 22:24:17 GMT -5
Mellianne would have nodded, but the headache would have made that a bad idea. "Yeah, I just have a headache left, which means I can't concentrate on taking the shield down. And, yeah, the professor never did say not to come in here, it's just that Aurora already got in trouble today, and I don't know if what we did was against the rules she was supposed to be following cause I don't know what her punishment is."
She giggled at Kahlen's playing at the shields. It wasn't every day she saw someone doing that, though that would be because she never had anyone keyed into a shield she couldn't take down before, besides herself. Stupid of her to have forgotten it this time.
"And yeah, I feel that getting on the bad side of a teacher how knows a bunch about the forest wouldn't be a good idea."
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jun 15, 2010 8:21:29 GMT -5
"Everything in nature dies..." Fredericks cocked his head to the side just slightly "...eventually. Frank 'ere..." he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the badger pinned to the tree "...was old. 'e knew 'is time was up soon."
"Of course...not really Frank...too long to explain."
"So if not the wolf or mountain lion, why not me?" He chuckled. "After all, man in the dominant predator, is 'e not? Though most o' them don't deserve the name."
"But vampire....'aven't seen...coronation of Joseph II...Frankfurt..."
Fredericks stopped and laughed again, a gut wrenching laugh. "You think...I drink...the blood?" He continued to chuckle for several seconds until he got himself under control. "Well, I can't lie, I 'ave in the past, just like the wolf or the mountain lion does. Course, my needs are a bit more varied. I might have a nip a Franks to be 'onest. Resiliant creatures, badgers, and Frank was one tough bugger in 'is day. But with Mars ascending most a this will be used to steep wood anemone and coriander...."
He blinked and suddenly cut himself off as if he realized he was about to say too much. His eyes narrowed. "Well never you mind what I'm going to do with it. That's my business. I haven't hurt yer precious student, leastwise no more than anyone else has today."
As if speaking about her reminded him of something, he addressed Aurora, his tone still harsh. "Girl, if you'll quit yer blubbering for a second I want you to take a message back to your friend with the water."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jun 15, 2010 11:40:13 GMT -5
Comfort not exactly forthcoming, Aurora had steadily calmed down herself. She had plenty of time with Fredericks' extended mumbling tirade.
Wiping some tears from her cheek, she responded, "A message?"
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jun 15, 2010 11:57:53 GMT -5
"Yeah. Tell 'er next time to make two spheres. One to send and one to keep, a receiver if you will. Also, a drop of hare's blood in both improve reception...But namby-pamby kids probably don't have the stomach for that sort of thing."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jun 15, 2010 12:04:45 GMT -5
"O..okay." Most of her energy was going to trying to keep her shivering under control.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 15, 2010 19:42:30 GMT -5
Kahlen got bored with playing with the water shield. She began to shake her leg up and down.
"Do you think he's found her by now? I wonder what's taking so long," Kahlen asked Mellianne in what could be construed as a whiny voice, but was more concerned.
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 15, 2010 19:45:41 GMT -5
Mellianne's headache was slowly getting better. "She might still be scared so he's trying to calm Aurora down. Or she might have gotten further away from the trail than it seemed. Or she could have small straches and stuff like that, so he might be patching her up."
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jun 15, 2010 19:52:19 GMT -5
"You're right," Kahlen said, not really feeling any calmer. "I just feel bad that she ran away like that. I wish I could have stopped her."
Kahlen stood up and began to pace inside the shield. She didn't move out of it because Mellianne couldn't and she didn't want to unknowingly tease her.
"That would be bad if she got hurt. Then I'd really feel terrible. I feel terrible because you don't feel well." Kahlen gave a weak grin. She hated when other people couldn't heal themselves like she could.
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Post by Mellianne Joss on Jun 15, 2010 21:30:25 GMT -5
Mellianne waved a hand at her. "It's no big deal about me. I should have thought of a way to disconnect the ball from me enough that it wouldn't hurt if it got destroyed. Plus I got to learn a new technique. Now Aurora, I do feel sorry for her, but she should have realized that she's not supposed to leave the trail as she is in Survival with me. I wish I could have stopped her too, but I didn't have confidence in doing that and protecting us from whatever might have made that sound."
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on Jun 15, 2010 23:27:22 GMT -5
Aravind shrugged a shoulder at Fredericks' amusement, quirking one side of his mouth in return. He'd mostly been sarcastic, but... okay. He remained quiet for the exchange, then nodded and reached a hand around Aurora's shoulders to steady her, now that she wasn't actively clinging to him.
"Well, thank you. For," gesturing, "Helping her out."
He nearly flinched at the 'more than anyone else has' comment, looking a bit guilty. "Yeah, fair enough. You're-- a ritualist, then? That's not all that sinister."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jun 16, 2010 2:42:50 GMT -5
"Can we go back now?" Aurora insistently tugged on Shiyal's vest. Whether her unease was mostly attributed to the forest, her being still shaken up, the creepy groundskeeper, or her growing want to go home and take a bath was open to interpretation.
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