As Ages Pass [TEXT]

**mysticCharlatan** · 04-30-2012, 08:52 PM

A light rain falls on the ancient ruins in the middle of the night. A cloaked figure leans against a crumbling wall and attempts to stay under what little roof still stands, grumbling under his breath the whole time. A large sword is embedded in the ground beside him, and he drums his fingers on the hilt impatiently. Eventually, a second figure approaches, shorter an carrying an ornate hammer.

"About time you showed up, you damnable dwarf!" the tall Warrior grunts.

"Peace, friend."

"I'll be at peace when I'm out of this rain!"

"I find the rain to be a blessed reprieve from the harshness of the day."

"You would, you pious little-" The Priest allowed his ally's words to fade into the background as the Warrior let loose a stream of expletives. He could not help but smile to himself. Despite his general gruffness and lack of respect for the Gods, this proud orc had become one of his closest friends. If that did not make one believe that miracles occur, nothing would.

"So where are the others?"

"I was unaccompanied. I'm certain they will be along shortly."

"Trust an elf to be late to her own get together."

"Oh, now you're just being petty."

A third figure falls from the remains of the roof with stunning grace, causing the Warrior to curse and stumble away from the wall. The Rogue smiles and theatrically dusts herself off. A raven lands on the human's shoulder, and she raises a hand to stroke its feathers.

"For your information, she'll be here in about a minute."

"How long have you been up there?"

"Long enough to know that you have terrible personal grooming habits."

"Why you-"

"Peace, brethren. There is no need for us to come to blows."

"I swear if we didn't need to work together..."

"The feeling's mutual Ugly."

"Quiet now, all of you."

The forth and final figure approaches the gathering, and at her presence the three become calm. The Wizard commanded authority, in more ways than one, and despite any personal feelings about her, all present held respect for her and what she was capable of.

"Are you all prepared?"

"As we'll ever be."

"So get on with it, elf."

"Come now friend, we must be patient."

The Wizard surveys her allies. They had overcome much, both obstacles from outside and trials within and between them. This group would be the ones, that much she knew. And yet her honor forced her to again restate that which they all knew.

"The time has come. Once it has begun, there will be no turning back. Knowing this, are you willing to proceed."

"An orc knows no fear."

"I will follow my companions to the end."

"If Ugly and Shorty are in, there's no way I'm backing out."

The Wizard nodded.

"Then it is decided. Destiny will be written here. Twice more we shall meet, though perhaps we shall not recognise the others. Twice more will the world call upon us, and twice more we swear to answer. Do you so swear?"

"I so swear."

"On my blade, I swear."

"Yeah, why not?"

"..."

"...I swear."

"Then let it begin."

--------

The meeting ends. The deed is done, the pact sworn and signed in blood. The Four once again go their seperate ways.

Ages pass. The ruins continue to crumble, and eventually return to dust.

Kingdoms rise and fall, and eventually fall from favour as men decide they are unhappy with a single ruler wielding absolute power over them. Lands are discovered and lost, nations are forged and broken, wars break out and are brought to an end.

In short, history is written.

Fifteen hundred and sixty years later, precisely, four families are blessed with child. These families live near eachother, but are for all intents and purposes seperate, never interacting. Until the appointed time, that is. Destiny has something in mind for these families. Or more precisely, their children.

Seventeen years later, destiny appears to be loosing its touch, as the date passes by with absolutely nothing of note happening. It has been two months since then, give or take a week, and life for these four individuals has gone on much the same way. The summer moves on, and as it comes to an end they prepare for yet another year of challenges presented by the public education system. Today is the first day of school, and each individual greets it differently.

In an uptown area of the city of New Terras, a human girl hums to herself as she applies make up, intent on presenting herself as best she can. Her firey red hair frames her face, washed and brushed to appear imaculate, like the rest of her. The girl finishes applying her lipstick. She looks her reflection over once more with her amber eyes, and content she skips away happily.

In a more modest dwelling, a young dwarf fails to greet the morning with anything approaching happiness. The windows of her room remain shut, blocking the sunlight and the sounds of the city. What few noises make it through are drowned out by the loud cacophony that she calls music, chosen from her collection almost specifically to aggrivate her parents. It also drowns out the sound of the razor, maintaining her smooth, beardless face, yet another assault on her parent's sensibilities. She shakes her short brown hair to maximize her visible grunginess, and once she is certain she is offensive enough to her parents, begins to get ready for school.

In a less urban location, a young elf has yet to awaken. He snores loudly for such a small creature, shattering the refined and dignified image of his race without even being conscious. A loud crash from downstairs causes him to awake with a start. He rubs the sleep from his bright blue eyes, scratches his blonde scalp, and after a moment of consideration flops back down.

In one of the city's poorer districts, an orcish boy is having similar difficulties motivating himself into wakefulness. He runs a hand through his unevenly cut black hair and grimaces. Splashing his face with water once again to try and increase his alertness is slightly effective. He searches with his hands, first for a towel to dry his face, then for his glasses to be placed over his red eyes.

These four seventeen year olds will face destiny together, whether they realize it or not. The steps of destiny must be taken one at a time, however. Who among these four will take that first step?

--------

**The NL Penguin** · 05-02-2012, 12:49 PM

Elf: Begin.

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-02-2012, 07:08 PM

>Elf: Begin.

You make a second attempt to rise from your bed. The day isn't going to start itself, you suppose. Any minute now you're going to find that spark, that fire of youth that will inspire you to rise and make the best of the morning. Any minute now...

Nope. No fire. You're just going to lie here for another ten minutes and see how you feel after that.

"BIGBROTHERBIGBROTHERBIGBROTHERBIGBROTHER!"

If you believed in your parents religion, you would be praying right now that your door was locked. You don't, and unfortunately it isn't, so there's nothing to stop Cina from barging into your room. The little force of nature in child form runs a few laps around your room before reaching the bed and jumping on it like a rabid animal.

"BigbrotherwakeupMomsaysyouhavetowakeupitsthefirst dayofschoolitsthefirstdayofschoolI'msoexcitedareyo uexcitedohmanIcan'twaitcomeongetupgetupgetup!"

"Cina, was there punctuation anywhere in that sentence?"

"Comeoncomeoncomeonyou'vegottogetupyou'vegottowalk metoschoolMomsaidMomsaidcomeoncomeoncomeon!"

And with that the little disaster bounds out of your room, probably to go cause damage somewhere else in the house. At least your room is safe. You rise up, finally roused from your slumber and look around, taking stock to assure yourself that nothing is out of place.

Okay, your wallpaper is intact, that's a plus. Your pictacrystal and Megasigil game system are miraculously untouched, still on from playing last night. Your bookshelf, which doesn't actually have any books on it, still stands upright and its contents, action figures and miniatures from your favourite comics, games, and pictacrystal shows, are only slightly jostled. Your personal grimcrys (grimoire crystallis) hums in sleep mod, for which you are glad. The thing is damn expensive, it took almost a year of saving to buy it. If your little sister broke it...

Oh man, she knocked over your stack of games!

Well, you suppose it could be worse.

You rise to your feet and wait a moment to be sure you won't collapse back onto the bed. Alright, what should you do first?

--------

**The NL Penguin** · 05-03-2012, 03:41 AM

Elf: Venture forth from your room, begin an EPIC QUEST for BREAKFAST.

Elf: Alternatively get dressed if you don't sleep decently.

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-03-2012, 10:28 PM

>Elf: Get dressed.

It's only family at home, so really there is nobody around that should get offended at you for wearing boxers and a light t-shirt to the breakfast table, but you feel like getting dressed anyway. It will be a few more minutes without Cina, at least. The girl's like lightning: she doesn't strike the same place twice in a row. Judging from past behaviour, you have about a five minute window of safety in this room, which is better than anywhere else in the house right now.

You open your dresser and are once again thankful that there is an elvish clothes shop in New Terras. While you may appear to be between seven and eight years old (and for all intents and purposes you are, biologically speaking), you have a seventeen year old mind, minus the unecessary hormones of course. You are glad that you don't have to wear the same fashions that are popular for children ten years your junior. After briefly perusing through your selection of clothing, you settle on a pair of jeans and a long sleaved shirt depicting MIST PAINE, protagonist of ULTIMATE ILLUSION 7, one of the best rpgs ever in your opinion.

Now you're properly dressed and still have about a minute of guaranteed safety from your little sister. What do you do next?

**The NL Penguin** · 05-04-2012, 08:04 PM

Elf: Do what every sane person does when they have privacy. DANCE! ...and accidentally knock over your pictacrystalfuuuuuuu.

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-05-2012, 05:05 PM

>Elf: Do what every sane person does when they have privacy. DANCE! ...and accidentally knock over your pictacrystalfuuuuuuu.

You feel like you should try and wake yourself up further. Where's all that vitality of youth that you're suppose to have? Raising your energy levels would probably make the day, and you little sister, a bit more bearable. With that in mind you begin to break out your best moves. Looks like you were right, some physical activity was all that you needed. You let your arms swing out a little wilder than you perhaps should, and feel a great deal of pain as your forearm connects with your pictacrystal and sends it tumbling to the floor.

Thankfully, unlike your grimcrys which is pretty state of the art, your pictacrystal is an older model. Solid crystal structure reinforced by opaque plastic and metal, not the delicate crystal latice of newer models which admittedly does look a lot better. This old thing is pretty durable. Unfortunately, that also means it is fairly heavy, so it's going to be something of a hassle to pick back up. Especially for a young elf with the muscle structure of a human child. You could try and pick it up yourself, but then you would definitely overreach your safety period and run the risk of your sister interrupting you in the middle of the effort. You could call for some help, you're sure your parents would be more than willing to lift it for you, but you run a similar risk of drawing your sister back to your room. Or you could just leave the damn thing and just get on with the rest of your morning, whatever that entails. Your clock (which failed to set of the alarm again, stupid piece of junk) tells you that you have about half an hour before you need to walk Cina to her school and then catch a bus to yours. Perhaps you can waste some more time? Or should you do something productive?

**Askia** · 05-05-2012, 05:39 PM

get that breakfast

before you sister decides to hide it from you

**The NL Penguin** · 05-05-2012, 06:03 PM

Seconding breakfast, because it's important.

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-05-2012, 08:53 PM

>Elf: Get that breakfast, because it's important.

Enough of this tomfoolery! That pictacrystal can stay on the floor like that until you feel well and ready to pick it up. Right now you have a new priority: obtaining breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day for good reason. You need your strength if you're going to get through the first day of school after summer vacation, and that strength isn't going to just magically appear despite what some people still think about elves. You need to eat just like any other person. You wonder momentarily if your mother has made anything for breakfast.

You set out of your room, trying to gauge from the noise where your sister is right now. From what you can tell, she is in her room, which is down the hall from your own. You tiptoe in the other direction towards the kitchen so as not to alert her of your presence. As you do so, think about what you can expect from the school day. It's going to be a short one, of course, being the first of the year. It will probably just be a short introduction to each class and then back home. You hope you get Mr. Grey for History. Being able to recall half of the material from personal experience really lends itself to making the course interesting to one's students.

You push these idle thoughts from your mind. You have a mission of utmost importance to accomplish! You reach the kitchen and immediately see the note on the table. It's from your mother, and it is addressed to you by name. It actually has been quite a while since you've seen it in writing; you haven't had to write it on any schoolwork over the summer for obvious reasons, and you tend to make sure that any assignments or report cards from the previous year are kept out of site so as not to discourage you.

What is the name that you read?

--------

**The NL Penguin** · 05-06-2012, 01:17 AM

Cadmus Carona!

**Askia** · 05-06-2012, 06:04 AM

Amamai

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-06-2012, 08:01 PM

>Elf: Be named Amamai Carona.

Yeah, that's your name on the letter. Amamai. Only your parents bother to call you that, everyone else stumbles over it in regular conversation. Usually you just go by Am or Ama. You scan over the letter quickly.

Originally Posted by Your Mother

Amamai,

Your father and I had to head to the Shrine early today. Apparently there was some minor vandalization that took place last night and we need to assess the damage. Please walk your sister to school, I don't want her getting lost and being late on her first day.

Oh, and have a lovely day at school yourself of course!

You suppose that means no home cooked breakfast. Well, you could try and scramble an egg or two, but the last time you tried anything close to cooking...

Well, that is an experience that your entire family would rather forget. You still can't look at the colour purple without shuddering a little inside.

Besides, you don't have time right now. You suppose your epic quest for breakfast will just have to come to an end with some cold cereal. You quickly browse through the pantry and pick out something that isn't too sugary (having a sister ten years younger than you may be a blessing by elf standards, but it does horrible things to your diet if you let it) and pour it into a bowl. You then retrieve the milk. You use the last of it and make a mental note to pick some more up on your way home today. Finally, you obtain a spoon, and then settle down at the small table to eat your meal in peace (hopefully). You suppose you could try and sneak back to your room and lock the door, but you run the risk of running into your sister half way through the journey and very likely dropping your cereal. You look to the kitchen clock. Regardless of what you do, after breakfast you will have about twenty five minutes to spare. You know your sister would be fine to go to school early, it's her first day and she hasn't learned to dread it yet. You'd rather not, as it would result in you waiting far too long at the bus stop. You could hang around the house, maybe watch some crystal or mess around on your grimcrys.

So, what do you plan to do?

**The NL Penguin** · 05-07-2012, 01:12 PM

Am: Spend a little time on the grimcrys. Everyone knows there's nothing good on the crystal in the morning!

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-08-2012, 02:36 AM

>Am: Spend a little time on the grimcrys. Everyone knows there's nothing good on the crystal in the morning!

You don't know what you were thinking, watching crystal on a Varday morning. The only things on would be those morning shows which are way to talky for your tastes, or maybe some dumb cartoon that Cina would watch. No, you'd rather just waste time on the spellweave before you have to head for school. You head out of the kitchen and back to your room, deftly stepping out of the way as your sister barrels past wearing one of her shoes and apparently searching for the other. You head into your room and lock the door behind you for safety's sake.

You open up your grimcrys and it hums to life. It is designed to look like a book (that seems to be the fad these days, trying to "go back to the technology's roots" or something like that), but is composed entirely of modern materials. It is designed to be lightweight and portable, but in most cases never leaves your room. You tap at a few glyphs to log on and immediately open up your browser to surf the spellweave. You hit most of your favourite codices: Crystal Gamer's Haven for all the latest news on the gaming scene, various video sites to see if new episodes of your favourite shows have been illegally uploaded distributed to the general populus, and you even get a chance to see if your favourtie weavecomic, Housebound, has finally gotten out of its intermission (it hasn't).

With about ten minutes to spare you decide to check on your ether mail, which you haven't really looked at in the last couple of days. You log onto your e-mail provider and look through your inbox, sorting out the junk and skimming over the important stuff from your friends and contacts.

From: PraetorianEnforcer@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod, ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod, ArchaicTechnophile@magmail.cod
Subject: Potential Infraction Warning

It has come to my attention that a large number of students this year may be tempted to use various unethical and questionable means of augmenting their gradepoint average by: obtaining answer keys to test prior to writing, the exchange of favours for homework and assignment writing services, the intake of suppose "study drugs", etc.

Rest assured that I intend to maintain the utmost integrity in my studies and expect all those who are in my social circles to do the same. I have confidence that with hard work we can all excel in this coming school year without the use of these underhanded techniques.

Every year it's the same with this guy. He's great, you probably would have failed half you classes last year if it wasn't for him, but he can be such a stick in the mud sometimes.

From: ArchaicTechnophile@magmail.cod
To: WhimsiclAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: what a dork!

would you get a load of that "warning" devon sent? seriously, what does he think? that we just sit around and think of ways to break the rules, and its only by his constant vigilance that we are kept on the straight and narrow?

by the way, do you want me to get you that new deadmenwalking album for you? why waste what little money you got, right?

You're going to refuse her of course. You would never support the illegal downloading of music, and that's not just because you're pretty sure Devon has a way of looking into your soul and seeing those sorts of petty sins.

From: CarlyleGrey@scholasticengine.ord
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: Re: Classes

Mr. Carona,

I think that perhaps it is a bit unproffessional of me, but I have a suspicion that you may need some good news going into this school year. I have confirmed that you are indeed in my History class this year. I hope that I can expect another semester of excellence from you. My expectations are definitely going to be higher this year after your final presentation on the reign of King Restal.

Best regards,

Carlyle Grey.

PS: I have heard rumour that your friend Ms. Albescu will be joining us this year. Please do your best to make sure she is welcome, and feel free to bring her to our club meeting after school on Yavasday. I have a feeling she will enjoy herself a great deal, and it is important to find a sense of belonging in a new environment.

Score! Mr. Grey is just awesome, there's no two ways about it. You suppose it makes sense that he'd be concerned about Cici, that's just the kind of guy he is. And speak of the devil...

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: Almost There!

I can'T believe iT. Four more days and I'll be heading to school wiTh everybody else! Finally geT To leave homeschooling behind and have a real high school experience!

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: Kind of nervous...

Three more days and I've goT To say I'm sTarTing To geT some buTTerflies in my sTomach. I know I shouldn'T geT This nervous, buT iT is going To be my firsT Time heading To an acTual school. I jusT hope everyThing goes well...

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: Nevermind

Please disregard my e-mail from yesTerday (did I sound like devon there? :P). I was jusT having a case of pre-school anxieTy. I'm preTTy much over iT now. See you in Two days!

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: Nevermind Nevermind

School's Tomorrow and The jiTTers are back. I've been Talking wiTh Devon and he says everyThing's going To be fine, buT I jusT can'T shake The feeling someThing bad's going to happen...

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: I'm fine

I'll be fine, don'T worry. I'm sure I'm just geTTing all worked up for noThing. IT'll probably jusT be a boring day aT school and I'll go home with absoluTely noThing To reporT. RighT?

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: Made up my mind

I'm noT going. I jusT know someThing's going To go wrong, somebody's going to say someThing, I'll do someThing weird. IT'll be the movie TheaTre all over again. I can'T do This.

From: ChronicallyCheerful@magmail.cod
To: WhimsicalAgnostic@magmail.cod
Subject: See you Tomorrow

You know I really wish you'd log on some Time while I was online. IT'd be a loT easier To jusT chaT wiTh you raTher Than play email Tag.

WhaTever, I Think I've goTTen all The crazy ouT of my sysTem. I'll meeT you aT The bussTop Tomorrow morning.

Wow. You are feeling kind of guilty that you weren't there for your friend during what seems to have been the emotional crisis that she was having yesterday. You are also kind of glad. Despite her email address/screenname, ChronicallyCheerful can really be more like BipolarPsycho if you get her at the wrong time. You may have really dodged a bullet there.

Oh, looks like you spoke to soon. ChronicallyCheerful just logged on. You could stay and chat, you've still got about ten minutes until you have to leave, but she might not be as over her episode as her last email would suggest. You'll probably see her at the busstop anyway, so you'll have to talk to her in any case. You could just log out now before she has a chance to notice you are online. Or you could be a good friend and actually be there to support her. The choice is really up to you.

**The NL Penguin** · 05-09-2012, 03:23 AM

Ama: Send a quick message saying you need to deal with Cina, but you'll talk to her at the busstop if she's still nervous. There, you get to be a good friend, lie, and be lazy all at once! Wheeee.

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-09-2012, 12:20 PM

>Ama: Send a quick message saying you need to deal with Cina, but you'll talk to her at the busstop if she's still nervous. There, you get to be a good friend, lie, and be lazy all at once! Wheeee.

Chatlog:

You'd say you handled that pretty well. You know from experience that if you weren't delicate in the way you deal with Cici in one of her moods, she might have exploded at you and refused to come at all. Treating the situation with humour, and also claiming you have less time than you actually do, seems to work most of the time.

You look at the time in the corner of the grimcrys' crystal display. Five minutes until you have to go. You could waste the remainder of you time on the grimcrys. Or you could go check on Cina, retroactively ensuring that you didn't lie to Cici. Speaking of Cici, she is the type to get to the busstop early and wait. And the longer she waits there alone the more time she has to chicken out and run home at the last minute. Maybe you should go early to meet with her and keep her from freaking out?

**The NL Penguin** · 05-09-2012, 01:31 PM

Am: Get Cina to go along with you early, thereby checking on her in the process, thereby pulling a fabled X2 RESPONSIBILITY COMBO.

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-09-2012, 09:15 PM

>Am: Get Cina to go along with you early, thereby checking on her in the process, thereby pulling a fabled X2 RESPONSIBILITY COMBO.

You decide to break the pattern and actually be a good brother and friend for once. You gather the few things you need for school (your jacket and the backpack you filled yesterday) and leave your room to search for Cina. You find her pacing and hopping around in the entrance.

"Hey Cina, are you ready to go?"
"Yes."
"You've got your bag?"
"Yes."
"Your pencils?"
"Yesyesyes."
"Your lunch?"
"Yesyesyesyesyesletsgo!"
"Alright, alright, let's get going."
"Yaaaaaaaaaay!"

Your sister opens the door and bolts out before have a chance to tell her to be quiet. You really hope she didn't wake Grandma. That old hag lady needs her beauty sleep or she gets pretty testy. You rush after her and close the door behind you as gently as possible. It takes only a few seconds to catch up to Cina, and only about a minute before she slows to a reasonable pace. She skips and hums to herself as you leave behind the trees of the park you live by/partially within and enter a the slightly more urban area where her school is located.

You approach the large building, Olorin Elementary School. You remember going there yourself in your earlier years. The sounds of excited children fill the air as you approach, mixed with the creeking of various playground features such as seesaws and swings. You smile, thinking for a moment how easy it would be to mix in with the children and have some fun instead of heading to your proper school. The teachers here were never that attentive, you could probably fool them if you hid your ears. You then remember that you still have to meet Cici. You turn to your sister to say goodbye. Your are only somewhat surprised to find that she isn't beside you anymore, but instead running as fast as her legs will take her towards the nearest unoccupied swing.

You turn around and walk towards the bus stop. It only takes a few minutes to arrive at the relatively unremarkable bench. You check the time and find that you still have about ten minutes until the bus shows up. You look around for signs of Cici. You find it odd that she isn't here yet as she lives closer to the bus stop and didn't have to make a stop to drop off any siblings on the way.

"I'm over here."

The voice comes from behind a large tree a short distance away from the bus stop. Judging from her tone, you can tell that Cici is still a little unsure about all of this. She may need a little convincing still. Do you have any particular persuasive techniques you want to use?

**Askia** · 05-10-2012, 06:40 AM

> see what the problem is first

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-10-2012, 11:16 PM

>Am: See what the problem is first.

You decide not to rush into things with assumptions of what the problem is. There are a handful of obvious reasons that immediately come to mind, but really it could be something stupid like her goldfish dying. She does love Mr. Sparkles, even if that is the absolute dumbest name a person could give a goldfish.

You walk around to the other side of the tree and find Cici reclining in the shade with her back to the trunk and a book in one gloved hand. She licks her ungloved right index finger and turns a page, her hazel eyes not even glancing up to greet you. Her other glove and bag sit in the grass beside her, for which you are glad. At least she came to the bus stop with the intention to go to school. That might make convincing her to actually get on the bus easier.

"So, what's up?"
"WhaT do you mean?"
"Why are you hiding here?"
"I'm noT hiding."
"I'm here, waiTing for The bus."
"So you're expecting the busdriver to be able to see through the tree then?"

She bites her lip, like she always does when she's nervous.

"...I'm scared, okay?"
"WhaT if I mess up?"
"Come on, I'm sure the classes aren't that much harder."
"I'm noT Talking abouT The classes."
"WhaT if I screw up and everybody thinks I'm weird?"
"WhaT if I don'T fiT in?"

You're beginning to suspect why she's worried. You still can't make assumptions, though.

"Come on, what's the worst they can do?"
"Call you Shortstack?"
"ShorTsTack?"
"That's seriously the worst I've had to deal with."
"Well ThaT's all well and fine for you."
"You're noT..."

She bites her lip again. The second flash of teeth is enough to remind you of the most obvious reason she would be nervous.

You look over her again. Apart from looking a little tomboyish, with short black hair, dirty jeans, and a blue long sleeved shirt, she still might look to the average passerby like a simple eight year old girl. A more careful observer might notice a few things, like how still she keeps when she isn't doing anything, or how smooth and unblemished her pale skin seems. They might notice the expression she wears is not the innocent one of an eight year old girl but the more cynical one of a teenager. They might even notice the way she seems to hug close to the tree and constantly looks upward, as though she's nervous of something coming down out of or through the branches.

You are not the average observer, however. You know exactly what's going on.

She's worried because of her condition.

--------

**The NL Penguin** · 05-11-2012, 04:57 AM

She's totally a vampire, isn't she?

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-12-2012, 11:52 AM

==>

"Look, nobody's going to care about that."

"Yeah, righT."

"Seriously. And anyone who does is an idiot who you shouldn't worry about."

"Well in case you haven'T noTiced Am, The world is full of idioTs."

You sit down beside her. She is going to need some real moral support, so getting on the same level as her would probably help.

"Well it's a good thing we've got the idiots outnumbered."

"WhaT?"

"Well look at who you've got on your side."

You raise your index finger to indicate "one".

"A tech geek who could hack into anyone's grimcrys in about five seconds flat. Anyone gives you trouble, and she can ruin their lives before you can say 'social networking'."

"She would, Too."

"You know it. And then their's Devon."

You raise a second finger to join the first. By this point Cici has closed her book and is currently rolling her eyes at your oh-so-serious motivational speech.

"Discriminating against you because you're a-"

"Bloodsucker?"

"Because you have a condition is wrong. You know he wouldn't stand for that."

"Of course."

"And those two together could probably take on half the school in their own ways."

"What abouT The oTher half?"

"Well that's what you got me for."

"You?"

"Yeah. I don't mean to brag but I've got a bit of a reputation as a badass."

You eschew counting fingers at this point. You rise up, clenching your fist and raising it in what you hope is an inspirational pose.

"Somehow I seriously doubT ThaT."

You lower your first and slump down whilst still standing, comically overemphesizing how much her statement deflated you.

"Why do you have to cut me down like that?"

"Because There's no way you're The badass of The school."

"Why's that?"

"Because you can sTill geT beaT up by a girl."

You feel you feet being swept out from under you. You land on your backside unceremoniously and shoot a dirtly look back at Cici, who has returned to reading her book with a mischevious smile on her face. You brush yourself off and rise again, offering Cici your hand.

"See? If you can take me down, you don't have anything to worry about."

There is a moment where she just continues to read her book unmoving. Eventually she looks up at you. Realizing you aren't going away, she sighs and shoves her book into her bag. She gets up without even touching your hand.

"Come on, we need to go wait for the bus. And I want to see that "stupid getup" your parents got you."

You're pretty sure she would be blushing if she could as she puts her other glove on. She gives you a 'do I have To' look that you don't bother answering because obviously she has to. She looks around as though putting it while no one is looking will somehow make it less embarrassing. Eventually she looks down in defeat and rumages through her backpack until she finds a large piece of white material. She puts it on her head, and for all the world it looks like an oversized executioner's hood with goggles where eyeslits would be. She walks with you back to the bus stop, and even though you can't see her face you are certain she is giving you a look that reads 'go ahead and say someThing, I dare you', to which you return a look that you hope reads 'I would never mock an visitor from another planet'. You're pretty sure that the message is recieved when she gives you a shove that nearly sends you sprawling onto the sidewalk.

-------

**The NL Penguin** · 05-13-2012, 07:25 AM

Bus: Arrive, because other people always need to be around when a protagonist is having a fool made of him!

**mysticCharlatan** · 05-18-2012, 01:58 AM

>Bus: Arrive.

You manage to pick yourself off the ground just in time to see the bus pull up. You brush yourself off and try to look like you weren't just being overpowered by a little girl, and you think you do a pretty good job of doing so. You allow Cici onto the bus first in an attempt to assert that you are in fact the man and you are letting the girl go first out of courtisy, and definitely not because you are afraid that she will just shove you out of the way in front of an entire bus of your schoolmates.

The bus driver gives your friend a strange look as she shows him her bus pass. You glare at him while you show him yours. Cici for her part seems to be doing a good job ignoring his look, or the looks of pretty much everybody else on the bus. Or at least you think she is, you really can't tell while she's wearing that hood thing. She takes an open window seat (an action with many implications for a vampire during the day) and you sit beside her. The two of you spend the bus ride in silence, her looking out the window and watching the suburbs pass by, and you scanning the seats for anyone you know so that you can tell them off for whispering later.

The bus stops at a bench across the street from the school and the bus empties rapidly. You and Cici are caught up in the flood of bodies and are incapable of remaining on the bus even if you wanted to. Which you don't. You are so totally psyched for school. Yep. Psyched.

Eventually the flood subsides and you find yourself on the other side of the street in front of the school. You wonder for a moment how that happened as you are pretty sure that you never went anywhere near the crosswalk; this is a pretty busy street this time of day, how the heck did you not get run over? Never mind now, you've got to get moving, the first bell is going to ring soon.

You fumble around in your backpack and pull up your class schedule. You glaze over the list and focus in on the "class" that matters right now, Homeroom. You look at the name of your homeroom teacher and hope against hope that it has magically changed. Of course magic doesn't work like that, any Thaumitology teacher could probably explain a hundred reasons why, and the name remains the same: Ms. Theokli. You shudder.

You turn to find that Cici is likewise browsing her class list.

"Hey, who did you get for Homeroom?"
"Mrs... MiddleTon."
"Ooh. Good luck."
"Why, is she a mean Teacher?"
"Not exactly... I'll just let you find out for yourself."

You look at the clock. Oh geez, you've only got about two minutes until the bell rings. You'd better get to class or Ms. Theokli will never let you hear the end of it. You quickly make sure that Cici knows the way to her own class, and then take one last look at your class schedule in hopes that magic decided to suspend its rules for today. You have no such luck, unfortunately, and you sprint down the hall with as much speed as you can manage, envious of the fact that Cici will probably have no trouble at all.

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