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Post by Shihab on Mar 4, 2011 11:00:04 GMT -5
Shihab's initial response, to continue laughing at the both of them, slowly shut down as Verin's response grew more serious and rather disturbing. He'd been joking - he knew full well that fire, mastered and controlled, was a hugely powerful discipline, very difficult to achieve, and considering the nature of his form, had a great respect for it. Thus, Verin's serious response was a bit more than he'd been prepared for, and he realized that this was beginning to get out of hand.
"Alright!" he shouted, stepping fowrard into the circle surrounding the bonfire. "All jokes aside, I'm thinking the majority of this crowd doesn't consider watching a bunch of hyped-up magic-types throwing passive-aggressive fireworks at each other. So! If you have a grudge match, debate, magical whining fit, or whatever else to get out of your system, we welcome your cooperation in heading up the beach, thataway," he called, pointing to another open spot up the beach, "And we'll find you a marshmallow gun, and anyone who likes can go laugh at you or bet or throw rocks or whatever!"
He smiled at Mari as she approached, tossing her a bag of marshmallows underhand.
"The rest of us will be here, enjoying the food and relative calm! And possibly non-lethal fireworks, if I can find them and everyone's in agreement! Alright? Now, enough!"
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Post by Wendigo on Mar 4, 2011 15:33:01 GMT -5
The Wendigo paused, the delicious scent of flesh momentarily lost in the shifting winds. But then it saw a flash of fire off to its left. It waited a moment and it happened again. Although higher reasoning had been subsumed by the eternal need to feed, it did remember that fire, despite the fact it loathed fire, often meant people. It started moving that way, creeping through the bushes, no more than a shadow.
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 4, 2011 17:12:35 GMT -5
Jean-Paul had been going over a retort to Verin in his head, but he nodded in agreement with Shihab when the other boy cut in. He had come to the bonfire to relax and get to know his new classmates, not to get into a fight with another mage. Besides, although he'd never admit it, with the scarcity of available plants to manipulate on the beach he wasn't 100% sure he could win a battle with Verin unscathed. "Sounds like a good idea to me. Hey, Verin, why don't you go ahead? I'll catch up with you later." He dismissed the pale boy with a wave as he sat back down.
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Post by Verin Vetis Malphus on Mar 4, 2011 18:32:36 GMT -5
"Heh. Alright. I was just having fun, though. A party is a delicate interplay of insults and aggression. From what I've seen it's exactly the same here... you just mask it all under a facade of civility." Verin started walking away. "I thought maybe I'd learn something about you guys by coming here. Past glories, that sort of thing. It seems all you do is eat while you cower from the darkness."
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Post by Mari Yamaneko on Mar 4, 2011 18:41:51 GMT -5
Mari couldn't help but stare as the boys continued to make fire appear out of nowhere. She had seen a fair deal f magic since coming to St. Dymphna's, but nothing this... Open. She let out an audible sigh of relief when one of them decided to break it up.
Hm. She chewed a marshmallow thoughtfully,. Tastes a bit like mochi.
Mari furrowed her brow as the pale boy with the morbid personality gave his spiel.
"U-um, excuse me?" She called after him, cocking her head to one side in confusion. "I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand what you are trying to say. Wouldn't it be easier to learn about others if you stopped being a... What's the word..." She searched her mental dictionary for an appropriate description. "Jerkwad?"
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Post by Shihab on Mar 4, 2011 19:22:08 GMT -5
Shihab laughed uproariously at Mari's choice of words, grinning across the fire at Verin. "Dude, listen to the girl!" He paused to look at her questioningly - "What's your name?"
"Parties are a delicate interplay of insults and aggression if you're fifty, too rich to have anything better to do, and too bored to have any real friends. I'll do you lot the courtesy of assuming we're all better than that. But," he continued, grinning at Verin, "If we're going to talk past glories and interesting stories... who's first? Not you or Amazing Cornfield Lad, you've done enough bragging for now."
He looked from one party-goer to the next, somewhere between invitation and challenge.
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 4, 2011 19:31:43 GMT -5
"I'm sorry, just out of curiosity, and with all due respect, who put you in charge here?" he asked. Shihab seemed like a fairly nice guy, but Jean-Paul was rather thin-skinned at the best of times, and the dark-skinned young man was getting on his nerves...
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Post by Shihab on Mar 4, 2011 19:40:51 GMT -5
Shihab snorted. "Well, someone should be," he said. "I was hoping the whole thing would go over without my needing to step in and get all authoritarian, but that plan went out the window when you and Verin decided to go all hormonal-lizard-in-mating-season on us. And I'm not going to just cower in the shadows while you two throw flowers and coals at each other, so you might as well just back down."
He glanced around, making sure Less, Anonymous Stranger Who Just Happens to Speak Arabic, and Damien were awake and at least somewhat paying attention, and inwardly cursing the fact that Susan had taken a leave from the school.
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 4, 2011 20:19:49 GMT -5
"I'm not the one who said...ah, what was it? Oh, yes, that 'tree mages are the weaklings of the life spectrum' and calling me 'The Amazing Cornfield Lad', whatever the hell that means. For someone stepping into the impartial, authoritative role, sheerly out of neccesity, mind you, in order to stop us from ticking off each other and everyone else and slinging spells, you seem to be very good at taking sides and pushing people's buttons..." Jean-Paul shrugged and grinned. "I'm just sayin'."
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Post by Verin Vetis Malphus on Mar 4, 2011 20:24:49 GMT -5
Fire danced around twitching fingers, but quickly died. He couldn't work up the enthusiasm. All of a sudden, all his energy was gone. "Whatever. I thought maybe, just maybe, this was something we shared in common. Teaches me to get my hopes up." He wandered down onto the beach, stretching his wings a bit. "I'm going now. For the record, I wouldn't build a pathetic flicker like that for any reason."
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Post by Mari Yamaneko on Mar 4, 2011 20:30:31 GMT -5
Mari grimaced as the arguing started up again, occupying herself with eating marshmallows as she watched the boys bicker back and forth.
"I-I'm a ninja." She said for no apparent reason, glancing around. "W-what? I thought the idea of this gathering was to make friends. So... Yes. My name is Mari Yamaneko and I'm a ninja." She popped another marshmallow in her mouth, staring at the ground and waiting for a response.
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Post by Less Than Beta East Tundra on Mar 4, 2011 20:46:10 GMT -5
Less happily sniffed Derek's hand, ears perked up. Like many of the other students of the school, he had the sharp scent of magic about him. The werewolf would have liked to have introduced himself to the new boy, but it seemed that Verin and Shihab were about to have it off. He was tempted to distract them somehow, maybe by shaking off on them.
Just in case things got out of hand, he signaled 'tell me if I need to get involved.' It was directed at Shihab, but anyone who knew werespeak would have no trouble understanding him.
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Post by Shihab on Mar 4, 2011 20:50:24 GMT -5
Shihab, finally getting irritated, rolled his eyes at Jean-Paul. "I would absolutely love to get into it with you, but this is neither the time, nor the place. If you want to go show off, Verin went that way. If not, cut the attitude. I doubt I'm the only one you're bothering."
Some impulse made him reluctant to point out that he had largely put the bonfire together, with some help from others - it would feel too much like bragging, and he'd rather it just remain a gathering without any particular purpose. He smiled at Less and signaled back 'fine for now, thanks. this should peter out.'
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 4, 2011 20:53:30 GMT -5
With Shihab annoyed successfully, Jean-Paul ignored him and decided, rather uncharacteristically, to take pity on the obviously shy newcomer. "Hello, Mari. My name's Jean-Paul, Jean-Paul de Chêne, and I'm here because my mother was an oak tree. The guy who just left," he said, jabbing a thumb towards the retreating half-demon, "Is named Verin, but I'm not sure what his deal is." He glanced around at the other students gathered around the campfire. "And I think it would be best if I just let everyone else introduce themselves."
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Post by Derek Galen Wright on Mar 4, 2011 21:03:14 GMT -5
Derek let out a breath of relief; the wolf was, at worst, non-hostile, and at best quite friendly. The boy levered himself out of the sand and walked back to the fire. he caught the last comment of a girl whom he was pretty sure he had met at some point.
"A ninja? I thought ninjas were all... sneaky... like, all the time."
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Post by Mari Yamaneko on Mar 4, 2011 21:11:46 GMT -5
"Note that you didn't notice me until I said something." Mari smiled sheepishly. "I'm joking. Mostly. But... Yes... Um, what are your names?" She glanced at the boys who had yet to introduce themselves, trying to resist the urge to pet the wolf. A man in her village had tamed a wolf once, rescued it as a pup. They had both died since then, but Mari had liked the animal. He was fluffy.
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Post by Tumult on Mar 4, 2011 21:15:38 GMT -5
"I'm Tumult", Tumult said, offering the bag of marshmallows. "Marshmallow?"
"Oh," she said, noticing belatedly that Mari already had a bag. "Nevermind. The wolf is Less, he's friendly."
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Post by Derek Galen Wright on Mar 4, 2011 21:20:44 GMT -5
Derek held up a hand. "I could go for a marshmallow." he looked back at Mari. "I'm Derek... didn't I run into you at the bus stop?"
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Post by Shihab on Mar 4, 2011 21:22:59 GMT -5
Shihab grinned cheerfully and sat down, a foot or so away from the fire. "Quite cool! My name's Shihab. I'm here because I have various supernatural powers - mostly on the elemental spectrum," he said. The less his fellow students knew about his powers, the less likely they were to connect the dots - though it wasn't as if pop-culture knew anything about 'genies' besides that they apparently resided in lamps an bottles. And, in the case of a few, the less able they would be to accurately predict his range of attack and defense.
He nodded at Derek and Mari. "Nice to meet you both! There's more decent fare over by the cooler, if air-and-sugar isn't as filling as you'd like. Less even made jerky."
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Post by Tumult on Mar 4, 2011 21:23:02 GMT -5
Tumult wound up and threw, lobbing a single marshmallow at Derek.
"No flying sticks, I don't think," she added, reaching around the fire to hand one to him.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Mar 4, 2011 21:25:50 GMT -5
"I'm Kahlen," Kahlen said, waving at Mari. "Sounds interesting to be a ninja."
She pulled her ridiculously burnt marshmallows out of the fire and stuck the stick in the ground. After digging around in Mikhail's blanket to get the graham crackers and chocolate, she made herself a s'more.
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Post by Derek Galen Wright on Mar 4, 2011 21:29:10 GMT -5
Derek reached up and caught the flying marshmallow. Given the lighting, the brief flash of silver in his eyes as he did so probably went unnoticed, even by him. He accepted the proffered stick and carefully placed the marshmallow on the end.
"Thank you. I'm Derek. Derek Wright."
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Post by Damien Griffiths on Mar 5, 2011 20:13:26 GMT -5
"Damien Griffiths." He stared angrily after Verin who was walking down the beach. Also, Less... we call him Less, but his full name is Less Than Beta East Tundra. Anyway, at least Verin's gone now. He's a jerkwad, like you said, who thinks everybody should just listen to him and die horribly for his amusement. He's a half-demon, he started out at the beginning of the year here. Apparently he's stuck here, and he's spending his time annoying people and trying to get back, from what I've gathered so far."
He turned to Jean-Paul. "Don't let anyone get to you, people say a lot of things without knowing what's going on and make enemies out of eachother for stupid reasons. Plant life is plenty important, and if you're something similar to a tree-spirit, you're far from being bottom of the ladder anywhere. Trees may grow slow, but they grow straight through rocks and concrete."
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Post by Derek Galen Wright on Mar 5, 2011 21:13:17 GMT -5
Derek lowered the marshmallow until it was resting down near the coals of the fire. Echoes poked his head out of the boy's shirt to see what was going on.
"Plus trees are excellent for reading books in."
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 5, 2011 22:51:04 GMT -5
Jean-Paul smiled wryly. "Aww, shucks. Thanks, guys, but I don't really need cheering up that badly. Verin just ticked me off, is all." He turned to Damien. "Oh, and, out of curiosity, who would be on the bottom of the ladder?"
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Post by Shihab on Mar 5, 2011 23:18:05 GMT -5
"Old people," Shihab put in as he headed back to the fire, hot dog in hand. "Especially old mages." With a wicked grin, he speared it and leaned back against a boulder, holding the stick in a convenient bout of flame. "Everybody knows the spirit of youth is the core of power; anyone over fifty has just lost it."
He grinned at no one in particular and bounced the hot dog a bit where it rested on his knee.
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 6, 2011 13:32:37 GMT -5
Jean-Paul winced, but very slightly; only someone looking directly at him would have noticed. "Well, you might want to revise that definition a little, given the sheer variety of species in this school. There's probably a few people here that're pretty damn old by human standards, but still teenagers based on the scale of whatever they are. But that aside, I know what you're talking about. It's especially bad for the longer-lived races; I once made the mistake of asking a redwood spirit how he was doing. He hemmed and hawwed his way through various anecdotes for over a week before he noticed I'd left." He shook his head sadly.
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Post by Damien Griffiths on Mar 6, 2011 18:48:14 GMT -5
"Eh, old people are definitely not powerless. I know someone... buit I probably shouldn't be talking about that. No, on the bottom of the list are people that uh... how to put it. People who immediately assume they will fail at things. People who never make an effort. That's to say... even if such a person or being has power, if they have no drive to use it, they'll end up on the bottom of the ladder. Kind of sad, really."
He looked into the fire, which reflected in his eyes. An observant person would notice that there was a flicker more than the reflected fire, somewhere deep down. "Along with them, people who are too confident of themselves. They get themselves in a bind rather quickly, and find they have no way out. "But, isn't this a bit too heavy? Verin's gone now, let's just enjoy the bonfire and have fun."
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Post by Shihab on Mar 6, 2011 20:22:00 GMT -5
Shihab, who had just begun to laugh, inexplicably choked as Jean-Paul began talking, and coughed hard for a few minutes before regaining his breath.
"Ah, didn't mean to insult you or your dear mother there, Saul," he gasped, when he'd finished coughing. "I'll try to remember for the future that we're not all vibrant youth and vigorous spirit.
"I don't know if I'd agree with that either, Damien, but you are right - this is getting a tad heavy. Anyone up for fireworks?"
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Post by Jean-Paul de Chêne on Mar 6, 2011 21:37:52 GMT -5
Jean-Paul made a concious effort to keep from rolling his eyes and failed miserably. The boy simply refused to stop. "If you're going to insult me, at least get my damn name right, Shibab. Also, nobody mentioned anybody's mother, so I have no idea where you got that from. Oh, and for your information, I'm taking comfort from the thought that you'll wither and die before I reach middle-age."
"But, on a lighter note, fireworks sound okay. Who'll be providing?"
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