Vitam et Mortem IC - Altsoba School of Sorcery

Eva kept pace with Nito, frowning a little. He seemed rather dependent upon his cousin, but it also ate at her a bit that Gregori knew how intense Nito could get and would leave him on his own. "I don't mind," She told him standing close enough to catch him if he did fall, wand ready. It would be easiest to catch him with magic and then just help him up.

"Oh, sure." Pulling around her backpack to her side she had an empty potion bottle... there! "It's clean, I promise." She told the other water sorcerer before filling up the bottle with water with a simple, whispered incantation. Handing it over she hesitated, unsure exactly how much help he would need, but she didn't want to offend him by presuming too much so it was simply offered for him to take.

"It was pretty amazing, what you were doing," she admitted as they walked. Despite her envy, she was incredibly impressed. Slowly the courtyard was coming into view and Klaus was waving them down. "Uh, make sure you get something to eat, yeah?" She sounded like a less certain version of her mother--always insisting that Eva eat more--and the dark haired woman cringed, a little. Deciding that Nito was not what most made him out to be, just super focused, the smile she offered next was more sure. "I'll see you around?" Despite his dedication to performing great magics, he needed friends outside his cousin who could pull him out when he got too deep. "Hey, Klaus." She greeted the other sorcerer and started on her way, not realizing that he was there to talk to her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Antony heading her way. He was part of Max's group of friends--though they didn't seem close--and they had met after Maxinique became a thing and now they were dating. His glare was hard and she automatically shifted away from both Klaus and Nito, mostly the latter as she'd been abnormally close to the ice specialist, putting an appropriate amount of space between them. He still didn't look pleased when he finally reached her and put a possessive arm around her waist. He placed a kiss on top of her head and she held her breath, "I was just on my way in," She explained.

----

Professor Hunt steepled her fingers and leveled her gaze with Sinclair. "It's a tad suspicious that you come waltzing back to school, in perfect health, and your first question is about a Professor who has shown up dead. Tell me, if you were in my position, would that not strike you as odd?"

His little display of fauna ability didn't phase her, but his robes did change, enchanted as they were. The ceremony wasn't a big deal, more of a formality, but it was a Big Day and most students hated to miss it. So why had he not shown up? "Tell me, you've been coming to this school going on your third year, how is it you managed to get lost?" At his insistence that he could make up the work whenever he wanted, she pursed her lips again. "It doesn't quite work that way; you will have to be meeting with each of your professors and myself to get these three weeks caught up. You have a full course load this semester and little time to catch up on the three weeks you've missed."
 
Nito would take the vial of offered water, drinking greedily. Already he was beginning to feel better, but he'd need something to eat to get back to his normal self. Ahead of them, he picked up on Klaus, and grimaced. While there was nothing wrong with his suitemate, indeed the ice mage couldn't think of a single reason to dislike him, Nito couldn't help but feel put off by the wind wizard's lack of focus. Of course, it was a trait that ran common with those who practiced the arts of the air. "Don't concern yourself with my well being, Klaus. I assure you, I'll be fine." The rate of his recovery was impressive. Already he was standing on his own confidently, though his body would still be wracked with the occasional spasm of exhaustion.

"This is hardly the worst I've let myself get. I didn't even need help walking up from the lake." True enough, he supposed. Nito wasn't about to admit that he had relied on Eva to get to his feet. Or that he'd almost blacked out not only once, but twice. "Now if you excuse me, I'll be needing to get some food. Please, don't try and impede me."

The ice sorcerer was about to move off, but he stopped himself at Antony's arrival. He'd note the red lining to his school robe. The strange, off-putting, almost dangerous look in his eyes. His need to make sure that he was the physically closest to Eva. The kiss to the forehead, as if marking territory rather than expressing genuine affection. The way his fellow water mage fidgeted and flinched. The tone of her voice shifting to one sounding almost scared.

Nito would stand there, unmoving now, his cobalt eyes fixing the fire specialist with a dead-eyed glare. There would be no emotion behind it, no, far from it. Those bright, blue eyes stared right into Antony's, seemingly piercing him with his gaze, and looking farther beyond. Through him. Like his existence was inconsequential. "Thank you, Eva. For your assistance. I believe I will be fine on my own, from here on out."
 
Anthony bristled. The type of stiffening by one who is accustomed to getting their way, to getting noticed, the attitude of a person who did not like his toys touched by others and clearly expected that rule to be understood and obeyed. The sorcerer was visibly offended that he had been ignored and he narrowed his eyes at the offender. "Eva, babe," he muttered into her ear, tightening his grip. "Whose your friend?"

As if he didn't know who the other student was. As if Nito was someone beneath him that didn't require acknowledging. Eva shuffled her feet, uncomfortable. She would be hearing about this, later. "Nito, he's in Grade 11, like me. Pretty sure you mentioned his declaration just the other..." His hand tightened on her waist and she trailed off, staring at Nito's feet rather than his face.

"Yeah, you're welcome." She did not mention seeing him around, again, because somehow she got the feeling that particular idea would be heavily discouraged.
 
Max gave a small bark of laughter, something he hadn't done for almost a week between classes, his morning training and sleep. See? Less than a minute in her presence and he was already feeling cheerful.

Leaning back at little, he looks at Monique. Shrugging, he gives a grin. "Oh, you know. Sleeping, training, coming up with increasingly unlikely excuses to see you, dealing with shitty jokes from Harrison. The usual." He says, enjoying her company far more than he had that hall filled with people he knew.

Reaching out, he casually plucks a small vial she had in her hand, using his hand to cover it before revealing it to have vanished. Waving his hand over where it had been again, the vial reappeared. A small smile made its way onto his face as he continued to do it. It only encouraged him when she seemed interested in it.

He looks at her bag, still hiding the vial from view and back again, careful not to jostle her rather comfortable position (He really liked the size difference, even though in terms of strength she far outclassed him) as he sits up a little more. "Guess you and Eva finally got it running then? Out here, giving mysterious vials filled with unknown drugs to your peers and juniors. Tsk tsk. What happened to be a good influence?"
 
Sin's eyes narrowed almost imperceptably as he heard Professor Hunt's explanation. "I got lost because my cat ran away. It took me nearly two weeks to catch it again." Sinclair nudged at the puca hiding in his cloak, urging it to change into a cat. Slowly, a small, feline head poked out from underneath his cloak. With a soft touch, Sin petted the feline, helping it to feel safe. The cat was small, small enough to fit in the palms of his hands, and black with deep green eyes. Funnily enough, the cat's eyes matched Sinclair's.

"As for my schoolwork, I'll just skip lunches and stay up late. Simple as that." Sinclair knew he could do it. He might be a bit flighty in the woods, Sinclair was spot on in the school itself. Thankfully, he wasn't that bad of a student either.

Finally, Sinclair spoke to the puca with his magic, urging it to hide underneath his cloak once more. With a slight whine and a sweet purr, the cat went to hide in a specialized pocket on the inside of the cloak's left breast.
 
Heinrich laughed slightly at the other student, not trying to be rude, "Well, normally i would agree with you about other fire mages in the forest, but I've done my Taichi for awhile down there. The Deer have never seemed to mind, but they do stay their distance, however i understand your stance on it."
Heinrich looked around for the clock, "I'll hangout for lunch again, but i really should get back to training before class, I'll catch you later then, Ishade." with that Heinrich left began to make his way out of the lunchroom, "The Offer is always there if you'd like to see them," He said in once final attempt to the other student,


-

Vivian quickly cleaned up the organs lying in the various tubs, discarding them appropriately. When she had reached for the heart, however, instead of tossing it away she put it into her bag careful not to break it. With class about to start in twenty minutes or so, she briskly put the Cadaver away in one of the wall slots that kept the bodies. It was quite in the Healing room, which Vivian had loved with the rest of the school being too noisy with the other students.

It all impeded her work terribly so, but she was determined to further her work, at All costs. Once she was finished cleaning she gathered all her things and moved to one of the back row seats of the class. Not soon after the other students would begin to file in from lunch, Loud as usual. Talking about who is going out with who, Which professors were the dreamiest, insignificant things that Vivian paid little attention to. However, some of the students were hushed, and whispering, talking about the Late Professor who had been murdered. Their whispers carried on the wind far, making listening to their conversations easy as she pulled the winded whispers to her.
 
Ishade simply waited until the other guy was gone. He didn't say anything else and focused on finishing his food before walking off to class. He didn't really have much else to do. Once there he stood by the window. A white barn owl landing on a tree branch near it, Ishade smiled at it but didn't say anything.

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

Klaus nodded at Nito's response and gave the guy a thumbs up. He also followed his glare towards Eva's boyfriend. Anthony. He wasn't a close friend with any of them, but Eva seemed a bit tense to be comfortable in the guy's grip. It reminded of something Joanna had mentioned a while ago about an ex of Anthony's. But it was really just a rumour and he couldn't do much anyways, it wasn't his business to get involved with them.

"Hey, Eva. I was actually looking for you. Joanna told me she'd seen you around earlier." He said, after clearing his throat.
 
Grateful for an excuse to do address something other than the weird staring contest between her boyfriend and Nito she directed her focus toward Klaus, "What can I do for you?" It was probably potions, but she didn't want to assume. As far as she could remember he'd never bought from them before.

---

"Do not forget curfew," Hummed the headmistress. She seemed content that Sinclair had nothing to do with the professor's murder and simply waved him toward her door to leave.

Right as he reached to open it, she called out, "If you think that I will not recognize the glowing eyes of a Púca then you have supremely underestimated me. Please make sure you meet with all of your professors by the end of the day." That was all.
 
Anna took the change and slipped it into the pocket of her cloak. "Thank you," she said quietly. Her eyes widened when Monique suggested ways to bring down the price, but by the time she mustered up what to say next, the potions seller was already in conversation with Max. Anna just muffled a sigh. She could ask either Monique or Eva in a class later. At least she didn't have to drink all of it at once. She could just take little sips before her worst classes. Judging by the size of it, she could probably make it last a couple weeks, maybe a month, if she could manage herself. By then she'd have enough money to buy another one.

"Thank you," she repeated quietly to Monique, then turned around and started to walk of. She had a plan; take a little sip of her new potion, and get a good bit of studying for her potions class in before she had to get to magical transportation. She didn't want to drink it out in the open, since any teacher could easily find out that she had nowhere near the expertise to make something even half resembling a good focus potion. She was just about to head inside, when a magnificent flash of red caught her eye.

She turned her head. A boy with ginger hair, wearing his fire sorcerer robes...inside out. Did he know? He must have. It wasn't exactly subtle. In any case, he looked like he was heading into the forest. To train, maybe? That all too familiar distracting curiosity took over Anna. No, she had to go study!

She didn't really resist for long. In seconds, she was off, following that great flash of red into the forest. She pulled her wand from her inside-cloak pocket - fourteen inches, made of pine wood with a mermaid scale core - and held it tightly in one hand. One spell muttered into her wrist later and a flick of her wrist towards her feet, and her footsteps were silenced. She continued to follow after the other person, since they were easy to find. Not much in the forest was bright red.


When Eden was reading the notes, Mia came to something of a half conclusion. If Professor Kenneth had been given the chance to fight back, then she would have, and the effects of her magic would likely be seen in the area. The newspaper didn't say anything about that, but they could easily have been withholding the information. She let out a tiny frustrated grunt, and wrote down that pathetic answer. Just as she was moving onto the next question, she heard someone slide a note across the desk.

She lifted her head and looked up at the note. Her eyes skimmed over the words, then she looked up to meet Eden's gaze. She took the note and wrote back.

"I didn't think it was Hunters when I first started looking. But there's a lot of similarities. From what I see, there's two possibilities. It was either hunters or another sorcerer that had very good knowledge of how Hunters go around doing things. Professor Kenneth likely would have been able to fend off a student, so I don't think it would be anyone in a History of Hunters class." She felt the need to add the last bit, just to clarify that she wasn't suspecting anyone in any of their classes. However, that only really left two options; a teacher - a History of Hunters one, maybe - or a real life hunter. She shuddered at the thought.
 
Nito continued to glare at the fire mage. Occasionally, his eyes would flicker, brief little flashes of arcane light. Almost unnoticeable, seeming to happen whenever focus left him, however so quick the swirling sparks came and went from his eyes. "I too will be requiring some potions..." He began, reaching into his robes for his wallet. "Sometimes they help me stay up. Late into the night. Getting quite a workout." Anyone who knew him, knew he was referring to his late-night study sessions.

"Endurance, and focus. Two of each. How much?"
 
The hairs on the back of SInclair's neck stood on end as he heard the last words of the Headmistress. She knew. She knew about the Puca. Hanging his head in shame, Sinclair made his way through the ancient school. Except, there was one problem.

"WHO ARE MY TEACHERS!!!!" Sinclair yelled this out in a seemingly abandoned area of the school. He had walked throughout several halls already, playing with Ceril, the puca, and dodging underclassmen. Unable to hold back his frustration, Sinclair determined that the best thing to do was to head towards the school's black market. Ok, he was just going to find some of his other classmates at the potions store.
 
Klaus smiled softly, not used to asking other students for potions.

"I need a couple of focus potions. All this theorizing and the accident... its waay too distracting." He said, scratching the back of his head.
 
"Oh! Sure," She was surprised that Nito would want the potions but figured he needed it to maintain that level of focus. Eva nodded understandingly at Klaus, "Yeah, it's been kind of crazy." She shifted away from Anthony to sift through her bag. Anthony was studying Nito with a raised brow, having taken his evening workout in an entirely different way.

"I have... six focus potions and one endurance."

"Focus potions are twenty two bucks, each." She pulled out four of the focus potions and the one endurance and handed two to each of the boys. "Is two okay or do you want another?" Turning to Nito, "The endurance is normally 25, but to make up for earlier you can have them both on the house." Anthony's eyes shifted to her but she was busy looking through her bag and didn't notice. "I can get you the second one by mastering spells, possibly after dinner?" Monique was bound to have a couple in their potions bag and if not she was sure they had a few stored away in their dorm.
 
Nito pulled out a note for fifty dollars and handed it over. "I think that'll be acceptable. If its after dinner, I'll be in my dorm room. Should I meet you somewhere, or will you deliver it there?" He'd ask this as he plucked each potion gently from her hands, avoiding skin-to-skin contact as best he could, each vial disappearing into his robes. "Normally I spend dinner the same way I spend lunch. My cousin normally drags me back inside by eight o'clock, sharp, forces me to eat a meal, then I start my homework for the night. If you could get it to me before then, I'd greatly appreciate it."

While Eva rummaged about, Nito would move his stare back towards Antony. For the briefest of moments, he wore a snarl on his features. A look of disgust. Anger. But just like the flashing lights coming from his eyes, it would be nearly impossible for the fire sorcerer to catch, unless he was lucky.

Aside from the fact that his robes were lined red, there was something about this boy that Nito didn't like. The proximity he shared with Antony made him want to puke. Made him angry. He could not explain why, but his instincts told him he was trouble. Bad news. Filth. "If thats all...? Then I believe I will be going." With a nod to the wind mage, "Klaus." and then to his fellow water practitioner "Ms. Eva." and no form of acknowledgement towards Antony whatsoever, he'd graciously spin on his heels, and walk away from the group, leaving them a trio.
 
Monique made a small, rather odd noise of protest when Max pulled a vial out of ghost banishing potion out of her hand, and reached out for it. She retracted her hand a second later when he made it disappear and her gray eyes flicked up to look into Max's with a mixture of amusement and annoyance flicking across her features. "Why do you always do that?" She grumbled, but she couldn't help but smile as he made it reappear and disappear again and again. It was just like those tricks that parents show their little babies.

"It's been running since grade 9, sort of," she said, pausing to pluck the vial back from his hands once he had made it reappear. She looked back up at him, shoving the potion back into the bag.

"But yeah, it's gotten a lot more popular this year. And when have I ever been a good influence?" Monique snorted and kicked her legs off of him to push herself up onto her feet. She picked up her bag with one hand and reached to Max with the other. "There's a higher chance of getting caught if you're in the same place for too long." She and Eva had learned that one the hard way half way through grade 10 when they both snagged a three week long detention that included them diving through Lake Louise to clean up the Caddy poop (it took a long time to break down, so if they didn't want the lake to go from bright blue to shitty brown, then they needed to clean it. Normally they used a quick cleansing spell, but giant fish nets and a swimming charm was for bad students).

She helped pull Max up onto his feet and rushed off toward the school, pulling him behind her.

~

Eden watched as Mia wrote back on the note. She took a moment when she read it over, pondering all the different possibilities. A lot of sorcerers knew how Hunters killed. History of Hunters was a common elective to take, and they never held back when it came to the details. But who would go through all the trouble to stage it like a Hunter killing? Maybe for the irony? She was chewing on the side of her cheek, a habit she had whenever she was trying to figure something out.

She also thought about the possibility of it being a teacher, but all teachers were meant to go through a psych analysis and a truth serum session to make sure that they wouldn't snap and kill everyone (or haven't snapped and killed people before). Altsoba put the rule into place in the 50s after an Advanced Potions professor tried to poison a bunch of people. But still, the thought of a murderous teacher running around the school made her shudder.

The only thing that managed to shake Eden from her thoughts was the old school bell that signaled the end of lunch. The Earth sorcerer was reluctant to get up and leave the mystery unsolved, but her professor would have her head, so Eden shuffled a few of the papers together and pushed them toward Mia to make her clean up earlier, and gave her a small wave. "We'll finish this later," she mouthed before turning and making her way out of the library.
 
Anthony tried to stare down the ice mage, but the other student was... intense and the fire sorcerer was the first to break off whatever staring contest that two were having. Instead he placed a confident smirk upon his features and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. He was about to suggest that he be the one to deliver it, instead, but Eva spoke up. "I can deliver it to you there," She murmured and Anthony's confident smirk turned into a slight frown for a fraction of a second.

Throwing her bag back on her shoulder she offered Nito and Klaus, both, a small smile. "I'll see you later," It was a general statement toward the wind sorcerer and specific toward Nito. She turned to go as he still needed to eat before it was time to get to class and Anthony was tugging on her hand.

She saw Max and Monique run off toward the school and smiled at the back of her best friend's hand. Monique would find Eva's lake encounter with Nito interesting. "What do you mean you're going to go drop it off at his dorm?" Anthony asked, his voice low.

"Can we just... talk about this later?" She pleaded and after a hard glare he nodded. She had seen it, the flash of anger in his eyes. She had magical transportation next and they were supposed to start learning traveling through the school which would make really help preventing being late from class. She hadn't finished her reading, though, and wanted to get in the last few pages before class started. Anthony took her to class and kissed her at the door, just like a boyfriend should, and then he went off to to his Healing elective which she found incredibly ironic.

For Grade 11 Magical Transportation had become an interesting class. The top half of Harrison had managed to transport himself to the other side of the classroom while the bottom half of himself had remained where he'd been standing. Several of the girls screamed while Eva just looked on in shock. He was still the only student to make any sort of real progress in transporting her person. Last week someone had managed to transport their clothes, they'd fallen in a heap on the other side of the room, but their body had remained behind. Eva had a feeling that, maybe, Marcus had done it on purpose.

While Professor Bones figured out the best way to get Harrison to the medical wing, Eva managed to whisper quietly to Monique about the events of her lunch time. Mainly a completely normal conversation with Nito and ending with a very nice sale to him and Klaus.

It wasn't until her last class (Elective - History for Hunters for Eva) that school wide the announcement was made about Professor Kenneth's death. Each professor handed it differently; a few even cried. The message was essentially the same: The death was tragic, the school is working on a memorial, and no one should believe the news reports that it might be hunters as it was simply intended to cause fear and gain readers.

Eva skipped out on dinner because as soon as Anthony saw her he nodded his head and she quietly followed him to the edge of the forest. After casting a bubble of silence around them and covered by the dark, the arguing began. He didn't want her anywhere near Nito, because the kid was probably a psychopath. "That's my business." She had stated.

"Like hell it is, your business is my business." There had been more yelling and by the end of dinner time she was crying and needed one of her own pain potions. Anthony had performed the concealer spell, not trusting her to do it properly, and it was as if it had never happened. "I'm sorry," he'd murmured, kissing her right on her bruised eye. She nodded, "I just worry about you." Again, she nodded.

And then she lied and told him she would not be delivering the potion but would ask an underclassmen to do it instead.

After dinner she went to her room, snagged the promised endurance potion, and shown up with only slightly red eyes and just crossed her fingers that it wouldn't get back to Anthony. Which is why she invited herself inside--a very rude request that she normally wouldn't do--and ended up staying a lot longer than she'd intended once they began talking. Before leaving, though, she had invited him to go into town with her, and possibly Monique depending on what her plans were with Max, the next school trip. They would be playing Harry Potter in the theater and she and Monique liked to go and laugh at how inaccurate everything is to how magic really works.

----

The boy simply shrugged, "That's what they're saying." Sophie rolled her eyes and gestured to Hazel.

"Let's go?" The other girl simply nodded and the two headed to their next class, Beginning Gifts, where they were overloaded about the science behind how gifts work. It made Sophie's brain hurt. In Sorcerer's History they learned about the death of Professor Kenneth and the young girl felt vindicated that her assertions had been correct; it was simply the newspaper trying to get people to read the article. Then they were quickly quizzed on the founders of the school and the grade 9 student was relatively sure she passed the quiz.
 
Sinclair heard the bell as it rang throughout the building. "oh crap..." he murmured, knowing that He would be late to whatever his next class was.Rummaging through his briefcase, he found what he was looking for. A crumpled up piece of paper that seemed to have a piss stain on it. Sinclair gave Ceril a dirty look before unfolding the note. On it was his class schedule. While the first half of the day had been destroyed by Ceril's antics, the second half was looking fine.

"Well...Transportation..." Sinclair looked up at the classrooms around him. "Of course, it's on the other side of the building." Like a madman, Sinclair ran through the entire school, especially since he didn't have a good track record. After arriving late and getting a glare of condemnation from his teacher, Sin was still unable to do anything in that class.

Afterwards he had Advanced Magic, And he was on that teacher's hit list as well. Not a good start for this mage.

Then, lastly, Sinclair had Ancient Runes with the notorious Professor Loray. The same thing happened. He was on the teacher's hit list, and he made it even worse. Though, Sinclair still had no idea how exactly he managed to do that.

As such, Sinclair's School day ended the same way it began. He was stuck in the Headmistress's office again.
 
Heinrich had taken a small path from the courtyard, it wasn't very traveled on but that's why he liked taking it so much. He cheerfully climbed the small perimeter fence that blocked the courtyard from the forest, hopping carefully down.

Not noticing the tail he had soon developed he delved deeper into the Woodlands, breathing in deeply as he loved the smells that it had to offer. He would frequently stop here and there if he saw any edible mushrooms on his way, putting them into his pack. Heinrich loved the forest, even if all the animals kept their distances from him, after all, he wasn't Gifted by Fauna. Even though that fact had never bothered him, he had always wished to talk with animals, as he found the various creatures to be fascinating.
----
Anna kept her distance from the boy in red, even though she wasn't likely to be heard thanks to her charm on her feet. Her short height was useful in that regard, since she was easy to pass over if the boy was to glance over his shoulder.

When it came to the fence, Anna let out a slight huff. She was too short, and didn't have that much upper body strength to get over it herself. She was pretty thankful for her gift now. She grabbed the fence with one hand and held her wand in the other. Carefully - not too confident in her powers - she pulled herself up with her hands and feet, using her gift to boost herself over, and then lower herself safely to the ground.

Returning her wand to her pocket, she continued to follow after the flash of red, her curiosity making her forget that she was breaking rules and that she didn't even know where she was being lead.
----
Heinrich walked for a good distance, getting as far from the school he felt was necessary. Creating lightning was Dangerous and taxing, he wouldn't feel comfortable doing this inside the training grounds at the school.

He managed to get to a small meadow clearing, with wildflowers in their final blooms before the first frost.
It was one he would frequent, it was big enough for him to do what he needed, but secluded enough to be away from prying eyes.

Once made his way to the center of the clearing, he began taking deep breaths, slowly moving his limbs in graceful and purposeful motions. Beginning his Taichi, he went into his normal beginning stances. Slowly the air began to build a palpable static.
-----
Anna was starting to get tired,having to take two steps for every one of the red-cloaked sorcerers. Why was this guy walking out so far? What if he was doing something shifty? Something illegal? Anna started to get a little anxious, but when she looked behind her, she found she didn't know the way back. She'd never been in the woods before.

She looked back to the red cape. All she could do was follow him, and hope that he was doing something reasonable. She kept on going.

She stopped just before the clearing, half hidden behind a tree. There wasn't much cover in a field, was there? She watched and waited. He didn't look like he was going to move, that he was just going to stand there, but eventually he did.

Anna watched, enraptured. She forgot that she was meant to be hidden. She sat down on the grass, legs crossed and cloak lying out behind her. She leant against the tree, staring at the boy and his slow movements
----
Heinrich continued his taichi for a few moments, feeling his muscles loosing up a bit. The air around him seemed to be alive with static now, his hair beginning to lift from his face and head. His bangs, which had always seemed to be over his eyes began standing up in the static. His hazels eyes now visible to the world, a Deep green with Golden edges, making all that see them feel like they were being sucked into a dark green void.

His movements began to pick up, not noticing the set of eyes watching him. Swinging his right foot out in a crescent moon in front of him he began to what looked like a martial arts dance. Swinging his arms around his body, his abnormally long sleeves would whoosh around him following his movements. The surrounding areas of the meadow would soon feel prickly
----
Anna let her head rest against the tree trunk as she watched the boy. She watched as his hair started to lift up, showing off his eyes which she hadn't really been able to see before. She couldn't help but gasp at the look of them. For the rest of the time, her focus constantly flickered between his eyes and his movements, not able to put her full attention on just one of them. They were both equally interesting, somehow.

She suddenly noticed the fizzing feeling on the surface of her skin. She looked down at her arms, rolling up her cloak and jumper sleeves to see her hairs standing on edge. Even though it was a little chilly, she wasn't cold enough for her hairs to stand. She could see her head hair starting to float away from her head too, lifted into the air by the fizzing static. She looked back to the boy. Red cloak lining, fizzing in the air like static, it looked like this boy was a fire sorcerer with some sort of specific inclination to electricity.

The wind sorceress felt like she should have left. She very slowly got to her feet, her eyes still firmly on the boy in the red cloak. As much as she wanted to turn around and walk away, she still didn't know the way back.
----
Heinrich's movements suddenly picked up speed, and became somewhat violent. he started punching the air in front of him, sending out small sparks from his fists with satisfying POP's. The static grew almost Unbearable as it build more and more. The surrounding air also feeling warm, or Hot in the cool fall month.

Quickly the punches would soon start Shooting off small Bolts of lightning, However the bolts were Green like they had been at the ceremony.

A small figure stood up in his peripherals, caught off guard he landed one punch in that direction. Sending a bolt of Lightning out and striking a tree about ten feet to the left of the small girl. Wide Eyed Heinrich stopped dead in his tracks.

He stood there scared, confused, and worn out, staring at the unknown visitor. His breathing somewhat labored, he spoke out, "Um, H-hello?" showing an awkwardness like none he has before.
----
Anna shuffled back from the clearing, wary of those big lightning bolts. Before she could consider maybe just trying to navigate her own way back, she was spotted. She shrieked, loudly, stumbling backwards a few steps. She was only saved from falling over by another tree behind her, which she put all of her weight on in a desperate attempt to keep herself standing.

She stared at the student, eyes big in fear. She stuttered for a few moments, the static seeming to tear her already barely-there focus away. "H-hi," she said quietly, just as awkward, or maybe even more so than the other person. They didn't seem angry, at least.
----
Heinrich rushed over to the girl, Not angry in the slightest, more concerned he almost killed a fellow student.
With zero regard to personal space he began inspecting her to make sure there wasn't any lasting damages.

"Oh my goddess, are you alright? I had no idea anyone was out here?" his concern showing, he then looked over at the tree to the left, which at this point was internally burning at its core, Crackling wood and the smell of burning pine starting to fill the air. "Can you stand?" Heinrich's hair still standing on end, his eyes Vibrantly shining from the tree burning.
----
Anna nodded just a little, a little bit dizzy from the shock "I'm fine," she mumbled, stumbling to her feet. She shook herself, clearing her head. She noticed some heat coming from off where the lightning bolt had hit, and let out a squeal. "Oh my god!" She shrieked. Her hand flew to the inside pocket of her cloak and she whipped out her wand. She pointed at the flame, and strong gusts of wind blew towards the fire. They chilled the two sorcerers as they passed.
----
Heinrich looked over to the tree as the girl made gusts of wind towards it. Outstretching his hand towards it he slowly closed his fingers into a fist, in doing so the heat started to die down until with Both of them the tree smoldered to a stop.

Standing there next to this unknown girl Heinrich looked at the now non burning tree. "Well, that could have been a lot worse, Where is a Water Gift when you need one." He calmly chuckled before looking at the startled girl, "U-Um, my name is Heinrich, I'm sorry i almost killed you, but what were you doing out here? No one should know of this spot."
----
Anna sighed in relief as the fire died out. She returned her wand to her pocket, and looked up at the mystery boy. Heinrich. Was that German, or something? "My name's Anna," she said. She looked off towards the smouldering tree, imagining what would have happened if that had been her. She almost gagged.

She looked over her shoulder, back into the forest. "I got lost." She wasn't lying, technically.
----
Heinrich's eyes glowed around their golden edges while the deep green seemed to spiral into an endless void towards the pupils. Staring intently at the girl, he was trying to decide to believe her on getting Lost, of all things. "Well, these woods can twist and turn if you are unfamiliar with them, I stumbled upon this spot last year when i got lost for an entire day."

"Well, either way we are going to miss class, maybe two if we don't get out in time," Heinrich's attention looking about the forest then back at her, "Well Anna, looks like we have a bit to walk," He smiled, a confident reassuring smile,he knew he almost just killed her, but he wanted to change the subject as fast as he could, what had happened, happened and he wanted to move forward.

"So you're a Wind Gifted? That's super neat, Um, can you walk? Do you need me to Carry you?" Oblivious to social cues he said the last part completely nonchalantly.
----
Anna's face became a mask of worry. "A whole day?!" She asked, wringing her hands together. Now she was nervous. What if they couldn't find the way out? The last thing she needed was to go missing!

"Oh, seriously?" She whined, tugging at her cloak sleeve. "Isn't there any way to get there faster? Are you any good at Magical Transportation?" She tried, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. She looked behind her, into the forest. They had walked for a while, and if it was going to take that much time to get back, then classes would have already begun and they'd still be walking.

She looked down at the grey lining inside her coat. "Yeah. I'm not amazing, though. I've only just started training with it properly," she mumbled. She raised an eyebrow. She still felt a little dizzy, and her legs were still (and were always going to be) pretty short. As much as she wanted to say yes, she'd feel pretty guilty. She shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said.
----
Heinrich looked at her concerned, "It would be faster if we ran, otherwise we have to just take My path back, Magical Transportation is the class i usually skip after lunch," he chuckled at that, Ironic as it were, "Its this way if you want to follow me, it'll take some time getting back," He looked about the Forest, "yup an entire day, but that was last year, i've had some practice navigating since then,"

Walking a few feet in front of her, he noticed she was a bit slower than him, she looked quite dazed. Showing his concern he began walking back to her he quickly lifted her above his head and rested her on his shoulders, "I know you said you were fine, but this really would be much faster," and he began walking his usual fast pace through the woods.

To an outsider who didn't know the way, it would look like a maze that they were going through, the thick trees making it seem like they were going in Circles, but Heinrich had taken this path many times since last year.
----
Anna sighed. "But I never miss a class," she mumbled, mostly to herself. If she was going to miss a class, she would need to take time off of either her lunch or her free time to catch up, and she lost focus ten times as much when she didn't have any sort of guidance. She would have to drink some of her potion just to catch up. She sighed a little, and started to walk after the ginger boy.

She couldn't help but squeal as she was lifted up, landing on Heinrich's shoulders with a slight 'oof'. She pouted, putting her chin and hands on the top of Heinrich's head, but didn't complain - she knew that he had a point. At least she could see where they were going better, now.

Eventually, she started to get worried. Everything looked the same from what they'd seen five or ten minutes ago. "Are you...are you sure we're going the right way?" She asked tentatively, not wanting to hear an answer that might give her bad news.
----
A grin would stretch across Heinrichs face after hearing her nervous question, "Absolutely, you see that fallen tree over to our right? That's the Halfway point." Pointing in the direction spoken, there was indeed a fallen tree, it was a rather large tree at that, it's roots all exposed in a mess of tangled tendrils. To be honest it looked like numerous fallen trees scattered about the forest, but Heinrich knee the difference. It grew fantastic oyster mushrooms when he first found it, and still did to this day.

He had foraged in this forest for quite some time before he even happened upon the meadow, he loved the various mushrooms he could find. Walking past the log, Heinrich stopped and looked at a tree that was in front of them. There hanging from an open cavity was a large white mass of Hericium erinaceus (lions mane), it was a bit higher up than Heinrich could reach, but not too high for the one on his shoulders. Smiling he looked up, "hey, really quick grab that mushroom, do that for me and I promise you won't regret having come out here. Besides, I miss classes all the time, as long as you understand the material passing it should be a breeze." Hoping his pun would go get a laugh at least.
----
Anna stretched herself up to her full height, peering towards where Heinrich was pointing. "Right," she mumbled, carefully eyeing the thing. It was almost like the aftermath of a (probably Grade 12) wind or earth sorcerer gone so mad with their training that they'd forgotten nature wasn't indestructible.

Anxiety crept up on her as the fire sorcerer stopped. "Is everything-" she started to ask, before he suddenly bursted out a request to grab some mushroom. She lifted her head to look at the thing. It looked like someone had planted a cauliflower seed into a tree trunk and then left it for years and years until it grew massive. It looked just as big as her head! She looked down at him, wondering for a moment about the irony of a fire sorcerer collecting things they could so easily burn. She nodded slowly. "Okay," she mumbled. She straightened her spine, grabbing the mushroom with her two hands.

She pulled back so harshly she nearly fell backwards. She just saved herself by leaning forward dramatically, holding the mushroom tightly. "Got it," she huffed, holding the white mass down to Heinrich.
----
"Fantastic, here ill put it in my bag." He kept his feet steadfast as she wobbled about on his shoulders, after all, the mushroom was as big as her. Carefully he shoved the mushroom into his pack that he had brought along, its insides having a spacial charm placed on it by a fair, or that is what Heinrich had been told.

They had traveled for another twenty of so minutes before the forest would becomes less dense and more navigable. Heinrich would ask Anna numerous questions, How she was enjoying school so far, Which one of her Professors were her, favorite, and so forth. He would answer any questions she had as well, filling the time by keeping conversation.
----
Anna didn't seem to have any reservations about answering the questions. She would answer one and end up on a big long tangent about something else, so Heinrich would only really get a couple questions in in total.

Eventually, the fence that the two had climbed appeared. Anna grinned, pulling her wand from her inside pocket. "Here, I'll help you over," she said. She reached over with one small hand and grabbed onto the fence. She did the same as she did before, boosting herself up and up, and then floating leisurely to the bottom. She turned and looked to the fence, pointing her wand towards Heinrich's feet. "I can't lift you up, but I can make climbing faster and easier on you."
----
As Anna finished her spell on Heinrich he looked himself over, he felt the other persons magic flow over him. It was different than his own, which usually felt like the hairs standing on the back of his neck, instead it felt as if a cool blanket was covering him. Without a second thought, he leaped and flipped over the fence in a single front flip, landing carefully besides her.

Heinrich looked around the courtyard, there wasn't anyone out besides them. "I really should buy myself a watch", he thought out loud. Walking towards the big clock tower visible in the middle of the courtyard he had finally saw the time, "Uh Oh." His gaze moving towards Anna, "Um, looks like we were a little later than I had originally thought," The clock showed that it was midway through Dinner time, and they had missed Both of their after lunch classes.


"Well, I did promise to make up for it didn't I?" He said, trying to be reassuring, not knowing how Anna would react to the time.
----
Anna's eyes widened at Heinrich's big display. It had been far from her intention. He must have some sort of skill on him himself. She put her wand away, following after him to the clock tower. She gasped at the time. "Are you serious?!" She hissed, though she didn't seem angry at the fire sorcerer. Just shocked, and maybe a little disappointed in herself. "My professors are going to be so angry," she whispered.

She looked up at him, eyebrow quirked. "How?" She mumbled, rubbing the toe of her Mary Jane into the ground.
-----
Heinrich looked at the tiny shocked sorceress, feeling slightly guilty. He had taken the Long way back, he knew where all the good foraging spots along the trails were and had used his extra company to assist. He didn't mean to extend their time as long as he did, but he definitely wasn't going to pass up the Feast in which he was about to create.

"Well, you have helped me collect all of these, and now i can make what i need to," Heinrich's smile showing across his pale face, His eyes once again hidden without the help of any static. "These mushrooms are very important for what i needed to make, and with your help i can actually make it."
Being super elusive on exactly What he was making, he began walking the dorms, grinning as he counted the spoils of the walk.
----
Anna looked down at the bag, head tilted a little. They had collected an awful lot of stuff while they had been walking, but Anna hadn't really thought about what he had wanted them for. "What're you making...?" she trailed off, as he started to walk off to the dorms. She sighed. She technically should have gone and met with her friends so that they didn't worry about why she'd been gone the last few periods.

As per usual though, her focus was fried. She rushed after Heinrich once again, glad that he wore his cloak inside out, even if she still thought it was weird.

Having missed the second half of the day after lunch (see Spoiler post), Heinrich wasted no time in preparations for that night. Looking over all the Ingredients gathered from their trek through the forest, he smiled, It had been one of the most successful foraging walks yet. But, a promise was a promise, and because of him Anna had missed both of Her classes as well. Heinrich hadn't planned for the small air sorceress to be out where he was training, nor did he plan to almost kill her.

Heinrich worked quickly in the communal kitchen below the 9's floor, Almost using two separate cooking stations. He never thought of himself as a great cook, but he had always had a knack for it ever since his Gran had shown him the "proper way" when he was a child. Since her passing, he never stopped cooking since it had always brought him peace. Thinking back to all the various recipes she would show him, and all the ways to "breakdown" a recipe from a restaurant with just a taste. He smiled the entire time he prepared and cooked, answering any questions the Air sorceress had for him.

--------------------------------------------------
Vivian was lost in thought through her next classes till dinner, she had finished all the material needed for the day, and she didn't find them particularly hard. She just couldn't stop getting side tracked by her thoughts, the same thoughts that plagued her for the last couple of years. The same numerous questions swirling around her head, tormenting her for an answers. That's all she wanted, was that so difficult? She would quietly think to herself, only glancing around to gain awareness of where she was walking as she headed her way to the dorms.

Planning her next move on what she needed to accomplish for her research. Which she had gotten far in these past weeks, farther than she had in the past year. Yes, she had reached a breakthrough in her study and needed to test it out. She was just missing a few Materials that she needed. It would take some time to acquire all of the things needed, but it shouldn't be Too difficult either.
 
The next morning Eva did show up, alone, to the lake just after 8am. She was freshly showered after dueling practice and her still damp hair was tucked into her hood. In her hands she held two muffins and seemed a little nervous, but otherwise in good spirits. “I have blueberry or chocolate chip?” She’d offer up the muffins, shyly, and keeping whichever Nito did not choose. Taking a large bite. She was already starving having been up since 4:30.

From then on, she spent her breakfast practicing with Nito. Sometimes, more often than not, she would go during lunch and dinner as well and always ensure that he had something to eat afterward. Even on the days that she didn’t go, she would show up with a plate of food and ensure that he stopped on time and ate.

Magical transportation class didn’t improve, but Harrison did return after a week.
Cassie Smith, a wind student, nearly blew up the potions lab one day and that was about the most exciting thing to happen in the passing weeks.

Spending as much time as she was with Nito caused a lot of fights with Anthony, but she resolutely continued to show up. Because he didn’t threaten her. Because every time she went it was a reminder that he had said she was worth (that's the important word there) the distraction. Because, honestly, she enjoyed his company.

She attempted to break up with Anthony and came to the lake the next day with a broken arm that she covered up by saying it was a result of practicing for the dueling team. That day was also the first snowfall that soon layered the castle and lake in ice and snow.

Eva loved it and the minute there was enough proper snow to do so, she made sure to throw a snowball at Nito. Because he needs more fun in his life.

These were how her weeks passed until the last weekend in September. Friday evening at dinner Eva shyly reminded Nito about her extended invitation to go watch and mock Harry Potter with Monique and Max.

The last weekend of the month the Grade 11 and 12 students are allowed to go into the Town of Banff, located within the National Park. It’s mostly a tourist town, though there are a lot of locals. It gives the students a time to be without colored cloaks and practice blending in with humans. There are some magic shops, hidden throughout the town, but there are also humans. “Any magic used within the vicinity of a human will be dealt with severely, and is absolutely not tolerated.” Headmistress Hunt announced as they all lined up to go. “Remember, this is a privilege not a right. I will have no problem revoking anyone’s permission to go.” the Grade 12s were ignoring the headmistress; they heard this same speech every month when they had gone last year. The Grade 11s were the ones who looked a little terrified that they might lose their privilege to go into town.

There were a few students who wouldn’t be going into town, just because. Meghan hadn’t planned on going but Vivian, who had turned into a surprisingly good listener, had convinced the clairvoyant to go with. There she stood next to her roommate, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Hayato, though, had made plans with a few people and he was excited to get into town and hit some of the shops, even the ones his friends weren’t going to be that interested in.

Eva’s arm had healed at the fast pace that sorcerers were known for and she was out of the cast. There was still a twinge of pain and she massaged it as she waited, a little anxiously, to see if Nito would come with them after all. She had reminded him and when she’d first offered, he’d seemed interested. But she also knew he wasn’t exactly a social person and the fact that they would be going with Monique (bless her, she had promised to be completely welcoming finding Eva's anxiety amusing. Whatever it was this guy had put a smile on her best friend's face and was definitely better for the girl than her current boyfriend) and Max made her nervous that he would change his mind.

Not that it mattered.

Because it shouldn’t matter.

Still, she felt nervous that he wouldn’t show up.

As a large group they waited outside the school boundaries where the caretakers soon pulled up in large white busses. Professor Hunt went about ushering the students in a careful manner onto the bus before everyone tried to squeeze in at once. As the students got closer to the bus they would see that it looked more like fur than metal. “Orniormabichu,” Caretaker Dan said proudly. “They’re a bit temperamental so don’t fill her up too much.” Eva pulled Monique and Max toward the end of the line, waiting until the last second to board. It was no big deal if he didn’t show… Not at all.

So why was she still looking over her shoulder for him?
 
Nito had spent the weeks arguing back and forth with his cousin on how they were to implement the younger mage's desires. At first, Gregori had hoped it had just been a spur of the moment outburst, a spark of the old family blood coming to the surface. And for awhile, it had seemed that the earth sorcerer's hopes were true. Nito had begun bringing up the topic of execution less and less as he grew closer to Eva. He'd begun to notice the ice mage smiling more. Even laughing with her, from a distance. Nothing loud, or overly indulgent, but he genuinely seemed to be enjoying the time spent with her.

But all of that changed one day. Nito had come back to the room from dinner, alone. At first, everything had seemed fine, but as his kin had sat down at his desk to study...Gregori witnessed a strange and terrifying change over come his relative. His face would contort into a horrifying visage, embodying an amount of hatred and anger and bloodlust that Gregori had never seen before, not even from Nito's father. The air had begun to cool, rapidly, and the older male had barely managed to dive across his bed and clasp a hand over his cousin's mouth to keep him from screaming whatever rage fueled incantation had been on the verge of leaving his lips.

He'd never had to physically restrain Nito before. Never in all their years together. When he'd finally managed to calm his Patriarch down, there had been tears coming from the ice mage's eyes, freezing on his cheeks. The broken arm. The sloppy concealment spells. The deep sadness he sensed from Eva. It had been on Nito's mind constantly since the first night that she'd come to the room, and every new detail he'd learned in the weeks since had only built upon the foundation of revenge.

"He...He will not be coming on the trip to Banff. According to Eva. You will do it then, Gregori." His voice shook as he gave the command to his cousin, voice raw with emotion. "You will bury him so deep they won't find his body for centuries. And you will bury him alive..."

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

For once, Nito had been running late. But just as Eva was about to board the transportation creature, he would come into sight. For once, his hair was brushed, his wild feathery locks tamed, oiled, and tied into a braided ponytail whose length reached downwards past the small of the male's back. His robes looked ironed and pressed, his shoes were polished, and the amulet he always wore about his neck seemed to shine with a luster it normally never held.

He'd reach her as quickly as he could, doing his best to not let his excitement bleed through the mask of calm he'd been so careful to cultivate and maintain over the years. But he was finding that harder and harder to do, especially around her. "I...am sorry I am tardy. My hair took longer to manage than I had hoped." He wanted to ask her if she liked it, but a part of him was nervous she would say no.

Slowly, Eva was warming his heart, opening him up to the world once more.
 
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