"Goooooood moooorniiiing, everyone!" thundered over the school intercoms. "This is your Student Body President of Awesome, Christian Miles. It's 8:00 A.M. right now and a lovely 58° F outside. For our friends on the Isles who may be listening, don't worry you night owls and early birds. On the Isles, it's an eaaarly 4:00 A.M. and a brisk 45° F. Back here at Vale, it looks to be such a fine start to the day for all you early birds, but that's not quite what we're here for today.

"No, it's that time of year once again, when the new blood joins the ranks, and maybe loses some blood themselves. Yes, that's right; it's the new school year and with it comes a new cast of students trying to make their mark. As always, we here at Vale want to personally welcome all of you young, talented mages to what we'd like to consider one of the best magic institutes in the world.

"Just like every year, all new students are expected to attend a presemester student assembly, which will begin in just about an hour from now in the auditorium. There will be a plethora of valuable information as to what your time at Vale will contain and we hope to see you there! But feel free to have fun and mingle with your fellow freshman until then. And until next time, this is your Student Body President of Awesome, signing off." A loud click soon followed to signal the end of the broadcast.

Julie Nguyen (Air)

(Is This) The Real Life
​

On her eleventh birthday, Julie had been one of many children who had secretly been disappointed that they'd never received a letter inviting them to attend Hogwarts. Deep, deep in her heart, she had held a tiny seedling of hope; one that had quickly withered with only a slight twinge of regret.

Almost five years later she really did receive an invitation to a school of magic. Visions of spiralling castles and dark dungeons rose unbidden in Julie's mind, which then inevitably led her to a never-ending loop of hypothetical worries. What if a student fell down the thousands of steps one would need to ascend such a castle? What if someone got lost or fell into a trap or was eaten by trolls?

Julie'd had several weeks to conjure up tragic scenarios in her mind, each more outlandish than the last. So when the first day of school finally arrived and she found herself on the front steps to the rest of her life, a map in her hands, her heart in her throat, and her stomach roiling, she was…

...underwhelmed.

Nowhere to be seen were the soaring spires and ancient arches and otherwise ornate ornamentations of Julie's mind. In their place was an ordinary-looking, if large, rectangular building. It looked like the most innocuous high school ever conceived; really rather spectacularly dull. Julie scanned the area uncertainly and double-checked her map. Perhaps she had gotten the address or date wrong? There weren't a lot of people around, but then, she was over an hour early. Maybe she'd misunderstood something that had been written in her letter.

Her body went numb. What if this was somehow all a prank? How could she have fallen for something as ridiculous as magic powers! She knew she'd been delusional this entire time. Oh, her parents would be heartbroken…

Julie jumped when the intercom system began to blare an announcement. As much as it had startled her, the cheerful message from the student council president had her almost sinking to the floor in relief. This was Vale, and they were accepting new students, and yes, there was magic.

Perhaps it wasn't a mansion straight out of a fairytale, but it was real. (Probably. She didn't think anyone would hijack a whole school just to play some sort of sick prank on her.) Julie had gotten her Hogwarts letter. Even better, she'd gotten a Hogwarts letter that included a ticket to every prestigious university her parents had ever dreamed of. She could make them proud.

This was a place where she could start over and reinvent herself. Here, she wasn't crazy or some kind of freak. She didn't have every moment of her time planned out for weeks in advance. Maybe she could even be less of a stick-in-the-mud and make some friends. Anything was possible—she was in magic school.

Taking a deep breath and another look at the map that she'd already memorised, Julie pushed open the front doors. It didn't take her long at all to find the auditorium, which she cautiously entered. She would rather be there an hour early than risk missing out on something. Huddling against a back corner, she started scratching at the rashes forming on her arms under her long sleeves and tried really hard not to puke or pass out. It was going to be a long wait.

​

Arrival​

"That's alright, I'm fine! I love you, okay, goodbye! NoseriouslymomletmegoIgottagolookaroundtheschoolandstuff." A certain young geomancer could be heard complaining until his words became a gaggle of nonsense as he tried to fight off his mother, who was currently hugging him tight enough to almost crush his ribcage. Matters were not helped when a mister Daniel Marrick decided being left out is lame and turned the Iloveyougoodbye headlock into a family bear hug. It was another few more minutes of struggling, complaining, and assuring his parents that he would be fine, and he loved them, and he'd miss them, before Jack was finally set free. When he was he hustled off at a pace that was trying to get away as fast as possible without looking like he was running from something. As soon as his family was out of sight the boy breathed a deep sigh of relief and finally started to properly observe his surroundings.

Nice place. Wonderful architecture, lots of nice plants, smells nice, and some really hot—wait, don't I know one of them?

Off to the side was a redheaded young lady whose cold green eyes he recognized from some time ago. She and her father had come to Daniel for some work done on their equipment. Maybe she was going to use it here. Maybe she was more amicable now, too. It occurred to him that one of those things was significantly less likely. Nonchalantly walking by, she didn't seem to notice Jack in return, but she didn't much look like she had somewhere to be, either.

"Hey there!" Jack called lightly, catching up and matching the girls pace as they approached the main building's front doors. "Your name's Shion, right? It's nice to see you again."

He got her to stop. She heard a voice that knew her name. However, she didn't answer. She turned to look at him, simply examining his face as though looking through her memories. "Marrick. I remember you." She returned to her traversal of the grounds, and as Jack followed along she continued, "Nice seeing you again, Jack. Something you need from me?"

Jack shrugged as he walked, smiling as pleasantly as ever. "Not particularly; just wanted to say hi, ask how you're doing. It's neat that we'll be going to the same school." He couldn't help noticing she seemed as cold and monotone as ever. She didn't even use his first name when she remembered him. Who does that?

"Can't disagree, I guess." Wait, was that a compliment? Jack had seen a bit of Shion's magic when they first met, and wanted to know what she was really capable of. He wondered if maybe she was curious about him as well. Though it seemed like she could just be giving him filler answers until he went away.

"I see." He muttered, unsure if there really was anything else to say. "I'll let you be on your way then, hope you have a good year." He was feeling like a nuisance, so he figured he'd give her whatever space she needed and leave her alone, and split off.

While he turned away, though, she answered, "I hope we get to work together some time, Jack."

It made him smile a little more as he'd gone for a particularly interesting patch of flowers he saw earlier. Well that's something at least. And he unconsciously began whistling a happy tune.​

Julie Nguyen (Air)

Fly On the Wall
​

Julie was starting to wish she'd brought her new phone with her rather than sending it through with her luggage. Her parents had hastily purchased it for her once they'd decided to send her to Vale. While its functionalities were relatively basic, there would still have been some puzzle games or something for her to play. She'd been terrified that she would lose it, however, and had felt it best at the time to keep it somewhere safe.

It didn't take very long before two others walked through the door, though there was some weird tense vibe around them. One was a girl with long blonde hair, but the one that caught Julie's attention was a really tall (to Julie, at least) man who looked like the epitome of a stereotypical thug you might see on television. Bald, tattooed, scarred, rather Latino-looking… He was the type of person her parents would cross the street to avoid. Every warning her parents had given her about thievery and violence and drugs rose to the forefront of her mind, almost against her will.

Julie had always believed that her parents' impressions of, well, most people was quite racist. It wasn't something she wanted to think of or inflict on other people, especially since it wasn't something that she could have avoided throughout her life either. But… well, that didn't necessarily mean that there weren't any violent, drug-dealing thieves that were Latino.

She couldn't quite contain a squeak of surprise when the probably-a-dangerous-thug smiled directly at her and waved. He had noticed her. Oh good lord, she would have to make sure to lock her door and keep track of her possessions… just in case. Which she would have anyway, but now there was a sense of urgency to it.

"Hey," the probable thug suddenly yelled from across the auditorium. Julie jumped almost a foot in the air, staring at him with wide eyes in newfound fright."What's your problem, huh? The hell did I ever do to you?"

He was addressing the girl who'd sat down a few rows away, though Julie didn't know why. Trying her best to shrink back into her seat, she flinched when the girl replied in truly acerbic tones and riled him up further. He strode over, snatched the book that the girl had been holding, and really aggressively got in her face.

Panic froze Julie to her spot. She should run and get a teacher or something, but she didn't know where any of them might be. Things looked like they were going to get ugly, and if anything happened the girl didn't look like she would stand a chance. Despite how much she wanted to help calm or put a stop to the situation, however, her muscles were paralysed with fear.

Just as quickly as the confrontation started, however, it seemed to somehow resolve itself. The probable-thug threw the girl's book in a fit of anger, but seemed to grudgingly go and pick it up again for her before stomping over to the other side of the room and plopping himself down.

Julie didn't dare move in fear of drawing attention to herself, forcing herself to look down at the floor in the hopes that she wouldn't somehow engage either of the other students' wraths. Her hands grasped each other tightly, knuckles going white in an effort to ignore the familiar itches.

Was this the kind of people she should expect to be here? She really hoped not.

​

Social Complexity​

Vale really did have some nice gardens. But they were also just gardens, which means boring by themselves. Jack couldn't bring himself to spend more than a good ten minutes looking at the different flowers, smelling them, feeling a few petals before he had to do something more active. But what? There was nobody particularly interesting walking around right then. Maybe he should try to find someone? Go ask a teacher about clubs? Build something? Maybe a small scale figurine of Bojangles? Maybe an army of small metal soldiers led by the Bojangles figurine? Then make an opposing army and give them all pseudo-life at once and watch as they fight to the death.

On second thought maybe he better just go to the assembly early so his obsessive fantasizing didn't lead to him being late. He made it to the auditorium ahead of most people as far as he could tell. At the very least he didn't really pass more than a few people on his way there. Sure enough, he only saw three other people inside already when he entered - just in time to see some big scary hombre slam some girl's book and yell. Jack's hand reflexively started to reach out, but before he could really even think about intervening the large muscly gentleman was already handing the girl's book back to her and apologizing apparently, so no need. Now he needed somewhere to sit. If he just sat by himself when there were already people he'd look like a weirdo...but he didn't exactly want to sit next to the people who seemed to have already gotten in an altercation. There was one other person there though, a meek looking Asian girl staring at the Donibgo big hispanic fella with wide, terrified doe eyes.

Well, that was an easy decision, she looked so out of place and nervous he instantly felt the need to reassure her in some way. But he didn't want to bother her or scare her worse either. In the end he simply strolled up to her with a relaxed smile and a slight wave, then sat down next to her and said the ancient words that have sparked so many deep and meaningful conversations throughout the sordid history of the world and the human race. "Hi!"
​

Buds Bloom​

Julie's head snapped back up like a deer in headlights when she noticed someone approaching her. Thankfully it wasn't the probable-thug, but rather an affable looking guy who was also intimidatingly tall (to Julie; it would be safe to say that almost anyone could be intimidatingly tall to Julie). She was so startled by his sudden approach that she couldn't even make herself react to the wave that the man sent her way, or the his friendly smile.

"Hi!" He said, and she was at once impressed and freaked out by how natural he sounded even though they were complete strangers. Maybe he was a serial killer. She saw on a news program once that psychopaths were very charismatic.

"...Hi!" She echoed him unthinkingly, just a little too loudly to be appropriate. There was some renewed panic in her eyes, and she suddenly knew without a doubt that she was going to make a fool of herself if she conversed with this stranger. Maybe it would actually be better if he was a psycho.

Jack almost felt like he could read the internal monologue written in the girl's eyes by the way they immediately widened, and then darted back and forth after she answered him. He kept thinking she was going to say something else, then got nothing until he finally broke the silence. "So, this place seems pretty cool so far. Sorry if I'm bothering you or anything, but I didn't want to sit by myself. And, well...I didn't really want to sit with those other two just now either..." The slight English accent his mother all but forced on him came out at the concerns brought on by the confrontation that happened back when he first walked in. "I'm Jack, might I have the pleasure of your name?" He asked, holding out his hand to shake hers.

Julie reached out to shake his hand before she could even think twice. For one thing, it would be rude to just ignore him. Plus, he was being so... nice. "Uh... I'm Julie," she responded, mentally slapping herself for the awkward pause. It was like she didn't know her own name. Julie really, really did not know how to meet new people, but it did relax her a little bit to know that she wasn't the only one that felt uncomfortable with what had happened earlier. Her eyes darted towards the probable-thug and she started rubbing her arms nervously. "And, uh, I guess I don't really want to sit by myself either right now," said Julie, giving Jack a weak smile.

"Well then I suppose it's a good thing I'm here." Jack said, smiling a bit wider. "Nobody should have to sit by themselves on their first day...although I guess it is the day when it would make the most sense. Still, it'd be awfully lonely. Regardless, it's nice to meet you Julie. What brings you to Vale if I may ask? And what kind of magic do you do?" He was glad she seemed to be loosening up a bit. He was worried at first that she'd clam up completely when he spoke to her.

Thankfully, Julie managed to stop herself from blurting out that she was rather used to sitting alone. That would have been entirely too pathetic to tell someone, especially someone as friendly and charming and almost definitely popular as him. That all fled her mind the moment that Jack mentioned magic, however, and Julie's expression lit up. Oh, of course! This was Magic School! That meant this guy had to be able to do magic as well!

...Wait. "Kind of magic"? There were different kinds?

"Well," Julie said slowly, picking at her jeans, "I'm here because graduating from Vale is basically a free ticket to the best universities in the country. Probably scholarships too, if I do well enough." She frowned and looked down, not quite able to hide the embarrassed flush on her face when she had to tell him, "I don't really know what you mean about kinds of magic, though." It was an admission she hated. She knew that it meant there was a lot about magic that others already knew and she would have to catch up on. All that hard work she'd poured into her studies and activities didn't mean squat, because here she would constantly be behind.

Jack blinked a few times at her in shocked silence before he answered. She didn't know there were different types of magic? Had she never read any sort of fantasy book? Was her only magical knowledge from Harry Potter? After a short delay he did manage to unlock his jaw and answer. "You know, what do you DO with your magic, what are your spells like? For instance, I do things like this." After finishing his ominous explanation Jack reached into his pocket, then held out his hand, palm-open in front of Julie. In his hand was a small lump of very plain steel. However, moments after he showed her the boring little rock, it began to move. It shook for a second and then, seemingly all at once bent and folded and became a little metal soldier, with a spartan helmet and a hoplite's shield and spear. Then, with no warning, before Julie could spend too much time in awe, it began to dance like a goofball out of a cartoon.

It was unexpected enough to draw a laugh out of Julie for the first time that day. "That's amazing!" she gushed, staring at the miniature soldier in fascination. It didn't take long for her the furrows in her eyebrow to come back, however. "I... I can't do anything like that." She bit her lip. Suddenly she was aware of how trite and unpolished her own abilities were and was hesitant to show them. But... well, that would be unfair. "Sometimes I can make people around me sleepy, or make things sound louder or quieter. Stuff like that, I guess," she mumbled. She'd demonstrate her most visually impressive ability, the bursts of air she could do, but the only things around were chairs and she didn't want to damage property or cause a scene.

"That's really cool!" Jack blurted out, almost echoing Julie's response. "Now I know who to call if I ever get a bad case of insomnia and need a lullaby." He couldn't resist a tiny chuckle at the thought of it. "You'd be great for difusing arguments too, just tell whoever's fighting to shut up and take a nap."

Julie stared at him, a small glow of pleasure planting itself in her heart. This guy who could make living metal statues in seconds thought that she was cool. With a shy smile, Julie said, "I guess I could try to help if that situation ever arose." She could be helpful!

"Could you tell me more about the different kinds of magic?" Julie asked. It probably seemed pretty abrupt, which Julie realised, and she tried to backtrack a little. "I mean, if you wanted to. I just... I'd like to know, I guess. But you don't have to," she finished, unsure.

What a nice smile she had when she was happy, certainly a good change from terrified stiffness. "Well, I'm not exactly an expert, I am still in school and all." Jack said with a wink. "But as far as I know it basically amounts to natural elements mostly. Y'know, Earth, Fire, Air, Water and I think they can be developed into other things. Like this." With that a tiny little sapling grew out of the little metal spartan's head, lifting his eensy teensy helmet into the air. The soldier flailed his arms and tried to grab the helmet, but however he moved the plant bobbed out of his reach like a cat toy.

Julie giggled a little into her hand. "How do you develop it? Do you have to learn water and earth to get plants or something?" That seemed logical to her. It sounded like she could work with air. And not very well at that, her mind added. No matter that Jack had said it was cool before, he was so nice he probably would have said she was cool if her power had been the ability to fall out of her seat a lot.

"No clue at all." Jack huffed, suddenly disappointed in his own ignorance. "One day I just sort of felt like I knew exactly what all the plants outside were feeling, so I took an interest in them and before long realized I could shape them much like I do the earth and its minerals."

​

An Uncomfortably Close Encounter​

Jack couldn't stop his smile from growing a bit wider at Shion's arrival. "Oh, hey there! Nice to see you again. And I'm glad you like him, I think I'm gonna call him Bruno." He held up the little steel spartan in front of Shion to give her a better look. "You know, on account of how big and scary he is."

"A lot smaller than Billy," she noted, "but he definitely looks better."

"Yeah, he's pretty cute," Jack said. "But if you think that's impressive, I've made a few improvements since you met Billy."

Shion raised an eyebrow at his claim, either because she wanted to hear more about it, or that she just didn't believe him. On the opposite side, Julie looked interested as well, having never met Billy before herself.

From there Jack proceeded to begin the epic tale of his training. Making sure to include the totally-true tales of how he climbed up a mountain with no gear and turning it's summit into a giant statue garden. A garden ruled from on-high by Greek gods carved from the very stone of Jack's own fists, a true pantheon of greatness and testament to his skill. He of course made sure to gesticulate enough while he told the mountain part that nobody would be silly enough to think he was actually trying to fool them. "I did spend a lot of time combing through some pretty neat places for minerals though. I did a lot of hiking, and even spelunked through some mineshafts."

He continued, slipping back into the truth. "I did what I could to get a feel for navigating strange places with no help, and especially practiced making things on the spot from all the stuff around me. The weirdest thing I found down there inspired me. I had just managed to make an iron spear with a head shaped like a spade - my favorite suit of cards - when there was a bit of a...shall we say shift? Yeah, a shift in the mountain. I guess I'd used a bit too many raw materials in some of my crafting.When the cavern shook I dropped the spear since it was already almost too heavy to carry even on even ground that WASN'T trying to throw me like a bronco. It skidded down a steep slope and I followed it - which in hindsight was probably a bad idea - and when I got to the bottom the spear had landed next to a pair of skeletons. The last people in that mine must have been dumb teenagers themselves, probably coming back from a crazy party and curious, because the skeletons were wearing a tuxedo and a toga! They were even holding hands! The spear had landed on top of their joined hands, and it gave me an idea for a much more dapper and refined warrior to aid me in my struggles."

Jack finally took a breath to regather his wits, and while it was obvious the girls knew he peppered in plenty of hyperbole, they were smiling and giggling at the story.

"So," he started again. "I climbed my way back out of that mine and started gathering together some stone, ore, and a bit of plant matter. Now I'm generally pretty good at making whatever I please from magic. But if I ever really want to create something, I do it by hand first and then just duplicate it with magic later on. So I started sculpting. I sculpted, hammered, chiseled, punched and did some growey-plant-magic things until I had the most beautifully graceful and classy statue you've ever seen. And I gave him a name befitting of his power and stature: Bojangles."

Jack was enthusiastic about the opportunity to show them Bojangles' majesty later on, but as the assembly started they had to quiet down, and when it came time for everyone to receive their first weapons, only Julie needed one. Jack and Shion split off from the line, letting poor Julie take care of getting her own in whatever orderly fashion these high schoolers could manage. Shion decided to help others get used to their weapons, but Jack needed to practice with his own. He made sure to say goodbye first though, hoping they'd both enjoyed the stories.

Almost as soon as the smithboy separated from Julie and the current object of his confusion he was confronted with a dilemma. He had no sparring partner, and everything was too much of a blur of activity for him to think of singling anyone out. That dilemma was solved rather quickly though, as Jack felt a single, slender finger tap him twice on the shoulder to catch his attention. He turned slowly to investigate, and quickly his deep green eyes met her emerald ones. She smiled and gently tilted her head to the left, her eyes running up and down his form, taking in every feature intently. Some might have thought it was a display of admiration, but Jack had the uncomfortable feeling that she was judging every part of him. Still, her smile seemed innocent enough, and soon enough she spoke.

"Violett. Violett Fürst-Shaw," she said, introducing herself by holding out a dainty hand to shake. "I could not help but notice you here all alone, and rather than both suffer in silence I thought we might be able to entertain each other for a little while."

Jack was stunned by the sight of the girl addressing him. While he certainly didn't appraise her body the way she seemed to be his, he couldn't stop himself from sweeping his gaze across the rest of her. She was absolutely beautiful, with perfect curves, good fashion sense, and those full perfect lips, colored the perfect light violet by whatever she'd used on them. He flared his nostrils at the pleasant scent she wore as well. All of it happened in an instant, nearly impossible for anyone to notice before Jack smiled and took her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Violett." Something about the way she held her hand out reminded him of something...then the memories of his father's lectures on "how to treat a lady" came back to him all at once and he very lightly kissed her hand before releasing it, and he saw out of the corner of his eye her smile grow a little more obvious. "I could definitely use a sparring partner, the second they released us to get weapons this place became chaos. I must admit to feeling a little lost and overwhelmed."

"Not even going to tell me your name?" she replied, a playful tone to her voice. "Very well, stranger, but if you're hoping to be the mysterious, handsome blond I'll think about longingly for years to come then you're sorely mistaken."

She briefly surveyed the hall and picked out a small but open space in the corner that looked just large enough for their dalliance. Violett stepped forward and around Jack, hardly passing a glance at him as she made her way towards it. Jack watched her though, from the sway of her hips to the way she pulled something small and metallic from her belt. She took her position on one side of the stretch of ground she had picked out and looked to Jack, waiting for him to approach her.

"Just try not to get too overwhelmed," she called back, just over the bustle of the crowds in the assembly hall. "I can promise I'll go easy on you if you lose your head, and while you look like you might be a competent mage I'd be ever so disappointed if you did not live up to my expectations."

He chuckled while he followed her over to their secluded spot. "Silly me, I'm sorry. My name is Jack, Jack Marrick. I don't know what your expectations are, but I'll do my best to give you a good showing." He bowed low with a smirk then, with a flourish an ornate sword and shield appeared in his hands in a small flash. "I'd hate to disappoint such a lovely lady. Especially one so kind as to approach me when I'm at a loss for what to do."

"Marrick?" she asked, questioning the name. As Jack brought his own weapons into full view, Violett did the same. He saw her press something on the metal cylinder, a long, slender chain of metal falling from it, lined with fragments of bladed metal that turned it into a menacing looking lashing weapon. She snapped her wrist and the whip cracked, catching the attention of more than a few students around them, before the segments aligned and sealed together, transforming the whip into a slender straight sword.

Violett raised the weapon, one hand the hilt and the other on the flat of the blade, holding it horizontally. "Any relation to Daniel Marrick?"

"Daniel?" Jack queried. "Where did you hear-wait a second... I've seen that weapon before. My father made it! I even helped! Ah yes that's right. It was the Fürst-Shaw family it was for." He lowered his own weapons for a second to laugh jovially, almost putting a hand to his forehead before he realized what a mistake that would be. "Wow, I would have never expected to meet the daughter of the family here of all places! This is a great coincidence, I've always wondered since that commission."

"And a fine sword Flüsterte Asche has turned out to be. You must thank him for it. The craftsmanship is exquisite." She brought the sword across in three, swift strikes into the air, demonstrating her finesse with the blade. "I realise now why your father is so highly spoken of as an ethersmith. Now, perhaps I can show you why my family is so well known for its swordsmanship."

She refused to give Jack time to react. Cinders trailed behind every step Violett made as she lunged forward, the razor sharp tip of her blade aimed for Jack's shoulder.

In a huff Jack bent backwards just enough for the blade to miss him by an inch, ripping through the shoulder of his shirt and just barely scraping his flesh. "Whoah! Fast!" I've never been so glad to not be as bulky as dad is. In a half-panic he smacked the blade away from him with his shield as it slid past and spun around to bring his own sword to bear at Violett's midriff.

Violett moved with the strike, turning into the force of Jack's sword swing and bringing her blade down just in time to block it. The pair traded blows, Violett's swift sword strikes blocked by Jack's equally adept blocks, and his heftier blows parried or dodged by her slender form. The display caught the attention of several other students who paused to watch the fight, muttering among themselves over who they thought might win. Violett lunged forward again and she carried the momentum with a single revolution, bringing her elbow up and slamming it into the side of Jack's face as she twirled. She used the moment he recoiled to make some distance between the two, her sword dancing in her grip a second time. She took the handle in two hands this time, raising it up level with her shoulder and pointing it towards her opponent. "Too slow, Jack. I thought you said you weren't going to disappoint?"

"I don't intend to!" Jack countered both verbally and physically at the same time. He ran forward and used a small burst of ferrokinesis to launch his shield off of his arm and into Violett's hand, not managing to disarm her, but stopping her from parrying or attacking at that moment. As soon as he'd managed to stagger her he did the only thing he could think of - short of decking her in the face, and he wasn't comfortable with that - and tackled her. They both tumbled to the floor and Jack did his best to pin his opponent, left hand holding her right wrist and right hand keeping her left on the ground with the pommel of his sword. "So, ready to submit? There's only so much we can do here without killing each other or destroying the auditorium."

The raven haired woman could only smile as they both fell to the ground, herself pinned to the ground by the blond haired man atop her. She brought her leg up, playfully brushing the inside of her thigh against the outside of his. She leaned in close, refusing to stop until their lips brushed together as she looked up to Jack above her, batting her eyelashes as she did so. Her expression changed as she bit down on her lower lip softly, no longer distracted with thoughts of battle but very distracted by their new position. "On the contrary. I can think of plenty of other things we can do," she cooed, her voice barely a whisper.

Jack's face was immediately flushed red. It had become hot, extremely hot, and he felt sweat dampen his brow and struggled for breath in the oppressive heat. His hands started to grow hot, and then enough to burn to palms. It was Violett's skin, as hot as touching an open flame, and immediately pulled his hands back. She brought a hand up and grabbed his collar tightly, throwing all of her weight onto him until now she was on top. She leaned in close again, locks of her black hair falling into his face.

"Th-th-that's quite a trick you've got there." Jack stammered out, not completely sure whether he was burning from a spell or her reaction to his last attack. His face was so red it looked fit to burst and he couldn't think straight.

"Oh, I have so many more tricks," she whispered.

"L-l-like what?" Jack's words got more garbled as he started to feel the topic shift from their match.

"Oh Jack, that would be telling," she replied, drawing a finger down his chest and eventually to his stomach, her nail digging into his skin through the fabric of his clothes, before she gracefully slipped off of him and stood up, sword ready. "And you haven't nearly impressed me enough to find out those yet."

As soon as Violett was off of him Jack finally felt the fog in his head clear a bit and he scrambled upright, taking a deep breath to gather his wits. As soon as he did he raised his left hand and the shield shot from where it lay on the ground back to him, the leather strap refastening around his forearm. He then pulled his right foot back, settling into a stance with his shield in front of him and his sword held horizontally just above the shield and towards Violett. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but I've got no intention of giving you anything but my best!" He watched her for a moment satisfied that he was ready to defend himself. His eyes roved over her, he scrutinized her sword more than anything else, but let his eyes wander anyways since he knew she'd be watching. Hopefully it would keep her from noticing his real goal. Where's that spot? I see it! Right underneath the third link, or at least where the third link would be, I have to get her to crack it back into a whip. For lack of a better idea he decided to take a cue from her opener to the fight and let energy flow into his sword. When there was enough he let a powerful magic push out in time with his next thrust to practically fly at Violett in a potent stinger strike.

A stinger strike that she managed to dodge. Just. The sword cut through the mess of her recently disheveled hair, carving a small lock from her head, and even cut through the shoulder of her jacket. Not enough to break skin, but enough to ruin a several hundred dollar investment on Violett's part. She twirled on one leg again, delivering a powerful reverse roundhouse kick aimed for Jack's head, but it hit his sturdy ether shield as he brought it up to block. Violett threw one higher kick, which Jack blocked by bringing his shield even higher. Too high to block when Violett snapped her sword back into a whip and lashed it out to coil around Jack's dominant leg. It locked it place and she pulled hard, her leg back on the ground to steady herself, and wrenched his leg forward.

Jack couldn't possibly keep his balance with the angle the whip was pulling from, and his legs were too rigid from blocking earlier for him to move with the momentum. His foot slid out from under him and he landed right on his rump, but before Violett had a chance to taunt him anymore or follow up with another strike, Jack lifted his sword from where he was and slammed it just under Flüsterte Asche's third link. As soon as he did the whip went rigid, it's inner mechanism trying to reform into a sword, but failing to retract before doing so, leaving it extended and inert. As soon as he saw his chance Jack grabbed the whip and pulled as hard as he could, sending Violett sliding across the floor till they were face-to-face once more. Before she could do anything else he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed too tight for her to move her arms, pulling her to the ground. "How's that? I know you've got that trick where you get ho-well, even hotter that is, to try and get me to let go. But what's the point without your precious Flüsterte Asche? Submit and I'll teach you how to undo it, maybe even I'll fix that little flaw for you."

Violett laughed. "Very, very impressive," she replied. She did not struggle with Jack's tight grip, her hands instead toying playfully with his waist and thighs, drawing tiny shapes with her nails through his clothing. "But I told you, Jack, I'm full of surprises."

She made sure his eyes were very, very focused on hers as she worked her next spell. Her eyes flickered gold and he felt the same, searing sensation against his skin. It was not warm enough to burn though, but he suspected something else was about to happen entirely. Violett grinned and strained against Jack's attempts to bind her. At first Jack held her tightly, stronger than she, but as the seconds past he found it harder and harder to hold onto her. She pried apart his grip and had enough room for her hands to latch around his wrists.

"And don't think you can beat me with brute force, sweetheart," she said, eventually pulling Jack's arms up above his head. She shifted to straddle Jack proper, smiling all the while. "Didn't expect to be in this position with you so soon."

"You expected it to happen at all?!" Jack blurted out before he realized what she was implying. "You-you can't be serious? Is this how you get in people's heads or something?" He shook his head to avoid overthinking the problem and wrinkled his nose strangely. As soon as he did a large number of small clumps of dirt scattered about the auditorium from people's shoes and all other sources rushed towards them and began to rapidly adhere to Violett's arms and legs until they encased them. "Come now, I really don't see how we could take this any further without destroying the auditorium or each other. And don't you want me to fix your weapon? We can call it a tie if you want, I don't care who wins. But I'm not losing."

Once again, Violett hardly reacted to her binds, and Jack wondered just how much of his arsenal she had expected. The stones that bound Violett and prevented her from moving also kept her pinned atop him, but he was confident he could keep her in place. She tensed her muscles slowly and Jack felt how much force she put upon the bindings. She was strong, her strength most likely enhanced by the same magic that made her eyes glisten gold, but he was stronger, and forced her to keep her body in place. "Oh, I can think of more of a few ways this could be taken further without collateral damage but maybe we can save that for another time."

Her hair draped downwards, tickling Jack's face, she leaned in close again, leaning into the stone bindings for support this time. "How about you let me free and we'll call it a tie, hmm?" Her face was so close to his that, for the second time this session, their lips touched. She pressed a brief, momentary kiss against his lower lip before she pulled away, leaving her second, faint lipstick smudge of the day. "Better than I expected, Jack. Better than I had expected."

Jack didn't even have a chance to consider Violett's offer as soon as their lips touched he froze and the magic binding her was undone. Lucky for him he intended to argue for a draw anyways. "Yeah...ok...draw works. You're really impressive too," He cleared his throat and dusted some dirt off of her shoulders. "It was a good fight, but I should probably go." He moved to wipe some dirt off of his own face from the whole affair just to see his hand come away with a small purple smudge. "What-" then he recognized what matched its color and turned red again. "Oh! Yeah...I really should go."

"A very good fight," Violett whispered, stepping off of Jack and reaching an arm out to help him up to his feet too. He took it and she pulled him up, only with the other hand to slip a small sheet of paper in his breast pocket. "But I'll see you soon enough, sweetheart, I'm sure."

"R-right." Jack muttered. "I uh...I hope you have a good day." He ambled off before he could embarrass himself or be embarrassed any further.

"Hey, Jack?"

Jack turned his head over his shoulder to see Violett smiling. Her whip, which she had previously dropped, rested in her hand, still seemingly broken. She snapped the whip back with a flick of her wrist and, instead of falling limp as he expected it to, the blade turned rigid and realigned, transforming back into its sword form without a hint of trouble. The blade segmented again and retracted back into the hilt, stored away once more. "I commend the effort at least," she teased with a playful wink.

He shrugged with a half-sigh-half-chuckle. "Ah well at least it did make a difference. Maybe next time I'll get to show you what I can make that makes my father supremely jealous. If there is a next time." He finally regained his composure and waved to Violett once more as he left. "It was nice meeting you!" I think. He had a feeling they'd meet again...he'd never met someone as strange, beautiful, frustrating, or enticing before. He was torn between intrigue and worry, but he figured he'd find out which was more accurate in time.
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