[Other OPEN] Trials of Olympus [IC]

[Groc]

Barbara "Ash" Ashford
Daughter of Hephaestus
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Ash had been in this classroom for far too long. She had even started dozing off behind her goggles, wondering if perhaps she should have stayed outside and tried to make friends with all the attractive kids. The thought of her making friends at a reform school for orphans would be funny, if it wasn't so sad.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud smack against the desk she was seated at. She jumped in surprise, finding herself face to chest with who she presumed was a teacher, if only because he was the only large, abnormally furry adult she'd seen here.

"Alright, 'Red', I don't know your name, frankly I don't care, but the welding goggles come off in my classroom. We're here to learn, not make car parts."

Ash couldn't help but stare, even moving her goggles onto her forehead to get a better look at the teacher. "Are... are you a troll? An ogre? A Sasquatch?"

"Never you mind!" He snapped, returning to his desk. "I am your teacher, and that's all that matters. Another student came in, and apparently the students were supposed to report to the principals' office. Ash quickly stood up, still in awe of her malodorous teacher and wanting to put some distance between them. "I'll go! It's... right here on the map, I'll find it..."

"Then why are you still here?" The teacher snapped, and Ash nearly bowled over another student in her haste to depart. Now that her first impression was thoroughly ruined, she trudged through the halls, lowering her goggles against the cheerful sunlight coming in. She'd barely been here an hour, and she already hated this place.

She knocked on the door, which was quickly opened by an energetic old woman. "Hello! Do come in, have a seat! Is it Barbara?" Ash reluctantly obeyed, taking a seat in the uncomfortable wooden chair. "Uh... I prefer 'Ash', actually..."

"It doesn't matter what you prefer, we'll be asking the questions here!" Another old woman piped up, sounding quite annoyed. Ash already didn't like this woman, authority figure or not. "Look, I can tell we're not going to see eye to eye on this subject, so let's just get it over with."

The tall woman froze in place, sputtering angrily. The third woman, clearly the one in charge, started taking notes. "So that's the tone you're going with, is it? As you wish, Ms. Ashford. We'll make it quick. Your file indicates that you've been remarkably sheltered for the majority of your life, save for one incident involving a kitchen fire. Any comments on that?"

"I was told that was faulty wiring. We had one of those new stoves, you know? I swear I didn't break anything that time. And as for sheltered, I know plenty about the world. Sure, my big brother tried to keep me safe, but then he died. Since then, I've taken care of myself." Ash gripped the arms of the chair tightly, which groaned slightly under the stress.

"Anything else, dearie?" The short woman asked. "Strange dreams, peculiar feelings, things you can't explain?" She leaned forward eagerly, a glint in her dull eyes. It made Ash a little uncomfortable.

"Uh... not really? I usually spend my time in the shop, away from others. I mean, I've had some dreams... an ugly man, saying things to me I can never remember when I wake up... sometimes he's with a woman, a gorgeous woman, she makes me want to go... build things. N-not that I'm weird like that or anything! I mean, they're just dreams! Why do you ask?!"

"Anything else, Ms. Ashford?" The middle woman asked, remaining stoic. The plump lady shared a glance with the slender one, who merely turned up her nose and scoffed.

"No." Ash said, eyes darting between the three. They all made her so nervous, but she couldn't figure out why. "I haven't seen nothing! Can I go now?"

"Undeveloped, clearly!" The slender crone muttered, while the plumper lady protested. The middle woman merely wrote on her clipboard. "No further questions. You may go."

Ash practically bolted from the room, heading straight back to class. Those eyes, solid and lifeless like doll's eyes, had seemed to stare right into her soul, piercing and judging her very heart itself. Even Professor Bigfoot was preferable to that!

She wrenched open the door, nearly throwing herself into the first available chair. "Someone else can go now. I don't think they want to be kept waiting."
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[Ewery1]

Fate's Glimmer

Lucas Samson
Son of Hemera
Third Floor, Three Fates School​

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Lucas strutted down the hallway, he retraced his steps until he saw the stairs. Many people stared at him as he passed, a group of girls looked at him and then turned into themselves giggling. He winked at one who turned back to look at him, and continued, not staying to watch her reaction. Luke swayed down the hallway; his shoulders rolled back, his chest jutting out to the world. His amble exuded confidence, and he turned into the stairwell.

Luke's feet collided with the stairs, propelling him upwards. He shot through the stairwell. His backpack writhed on his back in a fleeting rhythm, ending as he settled at the top. He ghosted his hand off of the banister; it seemed to float up of its own accord. Luke stood still, as if frozen in time for an instant. A herd of stomps echoed through the enclosed area, and he looked away from the point on the wall he was fixated on, continuing on his path.

As he walked by every room he read the room numbers, his dyslexia was not helpful, but the room number was 333, which he had figured should not have been hard to read. Sure enough, he found it easily and entered the classroom. He was greeted with the immediate sight of a reclining, barefoot teacher across the room from him. He had body hair sprouting out of every hole in his shirt. Around ten students sat at various desks, one of which was Michael, who turned around and smiled at him. Luke waved back. He adjusted his backpack and walked forwards, taking a desk in the front row, two off from the center on the right. He swung his backpack off of his shoulder and onto his chair. A phone next to the teacher rang and he picked it up. He looked up at Luke and motioned to the door, "Lucas Sams to the Principal's office."

Luke crossed the hallway, and entered an office room. A chair was set up in front of him and across the room were three elderly women. They sat on three chairs, somewhat connected by a piece of yarn. They hunched over it, the woman most to the left was relatively short and plump. She unfurled the string off of a spool absentmindedly, her hand swirling in circles aimlessly. She wore sunglasses and her head was pointed towards the wall, opposite from the other two, so Luke assumed she was blind. The woman on the far right side was similarly wearing sunglasses but very tall and skinny. She was looking in the general direction of the center of the room. She was cutting pieces of string that the middle woman was measuring out in a similar nonchalant fashion to the left woman. The middle old lady was clearly not blind, she was staring Luke directly into his eyes. Something about her eyes terrified Luke. He looked directly at the floor.

"Welcome, Lucas Samson," The central old lady said. The other two looked in at her, pausing for a moment before looking back out in the direction of Luke. "Hello," Luke responded. All three women set down their various yarn implements, and the central woman pulled a notepad out of her dress. "Please sit," Luke obeyed. "Let's cut to the chase," The woman leaned over to stare at Luke, but he found himself fixated on the air conditioning unit past her left ear.

"So your father gave the school the reason that you moved to this school was to give you a more balanced education, and to join our excellent soccer program, however did anything happen a little while before you came here that may have prompted this change?" The middle lady spoke. Luke's eyes darted throughout the room and he responded, "What do you mean?"
"I think you know what we mean dearie," The short lady interjected.
"Well, uh, nothing major. I had some really bogue nightmares," Luke quickly responded.
"Nothing," The central lady paused, "Phosphorescent in nature?"
"You mean like, light?"
"What else child?" The tall woman snapped. "Morta!" The short one exclaimed. The tall one began to rant quietly to herself while the middle lady spoke, "Yes. Any strange experiences where there is light although there seems to be no source?"

Luke shifted over in his chair, leaning to the right and fixating on the ground past his shoe, "Well, maybe? I had a pretty real dream where I shined like that but… Uh why?" The lady scribbled something down and turned to the short woman, whispering something in her ear. The short woman verbalized, "Any other weird experiences dearie?"
"Maybe?" Luke shifted again, catching his lower lip between his teeth.
"Vivid dreams, attacks from strange animals or people, seeing things that other people insist don't exist," The tall lady offered up. "Well, big dogs don't like me," Luke ventured.

"Hmpf," The middle lady grunted. She scribbled some more writing onto her notepad, before looking up at Luke again. He had been staring at her hunched over form, but averted his eyes quickly when her gaze returned. "Unstable it is," She stated matter-of-factly, "You may leave." Luke quickly rose, and walked out the door, leaving it slightly ajar. He re-entered the classroom across the hallway and took his seat in the front of the room, still processing what had just happened.

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[ImMrRoboto]

Amelia Ornstein

"No, really, I have to get to class." Amelia said as she tried to walk away. It was just her luck that she managed to run right into the only kid in the world that insisted on going on a date with a person they just ran into. He had probably seen one too many romance movies before coming here. Once she managed to get away, she pulled out her map of the campus. She needed to get to her orientation meeting quickly. She walked through the crowded halls going up and down stairs until she finally reached her destination. A small classroom full of students. She found a desk and sat at it quietly. It appeared that students were being called individually to see the principal.

Another student was called to the principle's office. Amelia took a look around the class. Nobody was paying any attention to her. Everyone was looking at their phones or drawing or otherwise engaged. Slowly, Amelia pulled a leaf out of her pocket and placed it on her palm. She began to concentrate, and as she did, she began to feel a soft wind on her hand, and the leaf started gently floating above their hand. It would've risen higher, but Amelia wanted to keep it hidden. It twirled 3 times in her hand before touching back down on her hand. It was an ability she had discovered a long time ago, and it never ceases to amuse her. She quickly put the leaf back in her pocket and looked up just in time to see her teacher staring at her.

Amelia tensed. Usually people that saw her ability just shrugged it off somehow, but the teacher just stared at her with a blank face. A kid walked in the door and without a moments hesitation, the teacher said "Amelia Ornstein, please go to the office."​

 

[JukeboxTheGhoul]

Fire Burn, and Caldron Bubble...

Finding the door he needed, he turned the handle of room 333. Whatever awaited him, he wasn't sure, hopefully a classroom, with perhaps four walls, a roof if they were super fancy.. He opened the door confronted by a furry man reading the paper, taking gulps of scalding coffee like it was cold tea. He wiped the sleep from his eyes. Presuming himself to be late, he said as force of habit, "Sorry, sir, I overslept."
The gorilla grunted and turned a page of the paper. Ignoring the unneeded apology. However a boy in grey, black and white attire did notice, "But you're not late."
He shrugged and walked over to where the boy was sitting, he went up to the chair. He sat down and pushed the board down from the armrest over to his lap. As soon as he had done that, the grouchy monster growled, "New blonde kid to the principals' Office."


That was unusual, 'why would you have two headmasters in one office?' He thought to himself. He groaned mildly, since he had only just got comfy. He removed the desk from his lap and walked out of the room, leaving his bag there. He thought that it weird that they wouldn't send someone to escort the new people that don't know their way to the office. After walking around aimlessly for a bit he finally found the office. He walked in calmly and took a seat. The three women seemed to be youthful for a trio of headmistresses yet blindly engrossed in their hobby of knitting and sewing, quite literally. Something about them screamed Shakespeare to him, perhaps it was Macbeth. 'When shall we three meet again; In thunder, lightning, or in rain?' He said to himself inside his mind.


"Sit, Callum Whitestone." The middle one said, who was apparently not blind, just bored of looking at people. Callum flopped on to the chair and slouched back. He wanted it to be a comfy seat, but it was just an annoying plastic one. The one on the right, still looking away, took some of the thread in her hand which these weird sisters were sharing and said out, eeriely, "Let's..." With great emphasis, she snipped the line as she said "Cut." She smiled and discarded of the rest. "Right to the chase."
As if in a theatre script. The first hag followed straight on from the other, "We want to know about the accidents."
Callum couldn't really be bothered to explain all the strange accidents that happened. "Yeah, there was some."
The tall woman ummed for a few seconds and the second one carried on, "Tell us" and the third picked up the end, "about your Nightmares."


Secretly, he was kind of unsettled by the fact they had linked 'accidents' and 'nightmares'. It was as if they knew what to ask. However, he remained cool-faced. He wasn't in the mood to resist "I fight monsters in my dreams, why do I need to tell you, because you know that already don't you?
The middle one said, "We do."
The tall followed, "We know all."
The last corrected hastily, "...about you." ending her sentence with a warning glare at the tall one. "Tell us more. What happens after you fight them?"
"I usually wake up with everything destroyed around me, and I'm unscathed."


Silently the three wrote on a piece of papers. They said in unison. "Unstable."
Callum thought to himself 'Sheesh, no need to be mean about it. I know I'm weird but that's a bit far' But didn't say it
They ordered him, "That's enough, Mr. Whitestone. You can leave."
With that Callum wandered about the school for thirty minutes or so before finding the room again, sitting back down on the chair with his bag. He sat the side of his head on the desk, having a quick nap.

 

[Songbird]

"Miss Cross? We've been expecting you. Please, take a seat." She did as ordered, closing the door behind her. She pulled her skirt underneath her when she sat down, although she didn't really need to; she had tights on, too.

The middle woman was the most... normal looking, and was the one who spoke to her. She was also the only one of the three with eyes. Well, one eye. The other socket was covered by a bandage, whereas the other two ladies had theirs covered completely. When Tanith looked again, they had no blindfolds. Only silver eyes, while the middle had blue. Those didn't exist.

"Lemme get a good look at ya, dear," the shorter, plumper one on Tanith's left chirped. She leaned over the extra-wide desk, knocking over a wooden bird that was repeatedly dipping into water and rising back up, and scanned her up and down.

"Aren't you blind?"

"How did you—oh, ah... never you mind, hon."

The equally-blind hunchbacked hag on the right beaned her with a (presumably confiscated) baseball, and the short one retreated to her chair, caressing her contused cranium. "Decima, can we please get down to business before I die of old age?" Tanith giggled under her breath. The principal trio was like an improv group. "What's so funny, brat?"

"Yes, yes, both of you calm down." The center woman returned her gaze to Tanith, and Tanith to her. "These two are Nona and Morta. We'd like to formally welcome you to our school; and if you're willing, we want to ask you some questions, as well."

"That sounds fine. Thank you for letting me come here."

"Our first question: do you feel anything strange has been happening to you lately? Seeing things that shouldn't be there?" To tell the truth, that would have amounted to a normal day to her. Her whole life has been nothing but strange. It would have worried her more if there was nothing wrong.

"You only have one eye," Tanith replied. Decima blinked... winked? Hard to tell.

"I see. Thank you." She jotted down something on the notepad in front of her.

"Experience anything you'd describe as 'magical'?" the stumpy one added with a smile, demonstrating her point with a display of jazz hands. Morta took the liberty of nailing her excitable companion with another throw of her baseball. Arguably a trick shot, having bounced it off the wall and getting the side she couldn't aim for directly.

Tanith's eyes drifted to her hand, a black leather glove masking slender fingers. She snapped, and a matchstick-sized flame lit above her thumb. "I suppose," she answered, rolling it along her palm to show that she was controlling it.

Nona clapped in delight, overjoyed at hearing the fire ignite out of thin air. Decima smiled, as well, noting Tanith's willingness to provide an example. Morta, on the other hand, gave only a grumpy harrumph. "Fire hazards," she muttered, wondering why the smoke alarms weren't doing anything.

"Thank you once again, Miss Cross."

"Mark her down as cooperative," Nona demanded, obtrusively prodding Decima's notepad as she tried to write, and getting ink on her fingers. When she finally managed to finish, the decidedly calm and collected middle of the three laid her pen down, the pad reading off "Developed" and "Cooperative" in a list with some other descriptors.

"You're free to go to class now; we'll let your teacher know. We appreciate you coming in when you arrived."

Tanith nodded, rising to leave, and Morta sneered just before she shut the door behind her. "And don't trip the fire alarm on the way."

She headed down the halls to her classroom, passing another student moving in the opposite direction, and upon entering took a brief glance at the kids who were supposed to be her classmates. A werewolf for a teacher, too; he was speaking on the phone. Still, wearing a black blouse torn at the collar and sleeves, and a ripped navy skirt over black tights, everyone else looked much better dressed than they really were by comparison. Maybe they would ignore it. If not, another reason to avoid them instead.

The teacher glared at Tanith as the person on the other end of the line was speaking, leaning his head to motion her to join the other students and giving off a low growl. Tanith did so without a word, taking for herself a window seat in the third row out of everyone's way.

 

[Fen-Fen]

Cassidy "Cass" Hawthorne

After finishing up a lovely conversation with Arashi, wishing her the best as the tall girl seemed to ease her mind a bit having talked to someone for a few minutes before class, Cass walked into the school with a content outlook and the satisfaction that he helped along another student get comfortable, making him brush off why he was mopey in the first place. As much as he wanted to keep talking with Arashi, class was starting soon and he didn't want to start off on the wrong foot at this new place. After some firm assurances that Arashi would be fine by herself, Cass was off to face his new classmates and school.

After entering the building through the courtyard, Cass walked up the stairs to the third floor, scanning the numbers to find room 333. His dyslexia made it a little harder to read the other room numbers, but the numbers 333 were the easiest numbers to find. After finding the classroom, he walked through the door, definitely not late, but with about twelve kids already in there. Before he could sit down and give a warm welcome to someone, he was startled by a grouchy, gruff voice saying to him, "Cassidy Hawthorne, to the principals' office." The man who said that, a tall, hairy figure laying his bare feet on the desk, appeared to be the teacher.

Cass walked to where he believed he saw the office and knocked on the door, which was promptly answered by an older, energetic woman. "Hello hello! Cassidy is it?" The taller boy replied, "Just Cass'll be fine." When he entered, he saw three women, presumably the headmasters, all engrossed in knitting. The one in the middle spoke to him, and said, "Sit." Cass did so and the three older women set down their knitting stuff. He looked past them in thought, wondering what to expect.

The middle one's voice interrupted his thoughts as she took out a notepad and said, "Now then, you had a few...incidents, involving dogs and some muggers. Apart from that, you were involved in an incident involving a fall in a river. Any comments on that?"

Cass looked visibly flustered at their straightforwardness, but quickly sought to take a deep breath and push that aside to answer her questions. "Well, it was a bit of a weird case."

The tall one snapped at him, "And?"

"Ok, so I slipped and I was pulled under by some...I don't know, some creature in the river. If I hadn't almost drowned, I'd have said it was all a dream because of how crazy it was...The weird part was, when I woke up, there were a bunch of swans pecking at me." He left out the talking part; he didn't want to seem like an absolute crazy kid. The middle principal muttered, jotting a note down in her notepad.

The cheerier, short one took over and asked Cass, giggling a little, "And now, for the more fun questions. How do you feel about love and relationships? You know, do you like to match people together, what kind of experiences do you have with them, that sort of thing?"

Cass looked a little incredulous and a little shocked. Out of all the questions he was expecting as a follow up to detailing how he almost drowned, that was the last thing he'd expect. He did, however, welcome the subject change. "Um...I've had great experiences with them, but that's a secret, y'know?" He flashed the three of them a sheepish grin, remembering that only one of them could actually see on account of the glassy, unfocused eyes of the tall and short women.

The middle woman only said, "Nothing unusual about it, like being able to match someone well and with ease?"

Cass replied, thinking, "Well, it did seem that way a few times. Kinda had a reputation for picking out good pairs at school. It kinda seemed to just...happen, I can't really explain it."

Mulling over his response, the middle woman muttered, "Cooperative and unstable. We're done here. Off to class, Mr. Hawthorne."

Confused on what those two terms meant, thinking they didn't sound that all that positive, Cass left the room scratching his head. After returning to the class, Cass found his seat in the very front row, next to a blond kid. After getting settled, he decided that he seemed like a type receptive to friendly conversation. He decided to start a conversation with this other boy, something nice and easy before he got into the more meaningful stuff. The darker haired boy turned to the other kid and said, "Hey, I like your hair. Pretty stylish if I do say so myself. Nice color, too."

 

[Ewery1]

A Friendly Glow

Lucas Samson
Son of Hemera
Room 333, Three Fates School​

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A kid sat down next to Luke and said, "Hey, I like your hair. Pretty stylish if I do say so myself. Nice color, too." Luke looked at him. The boy wore a red hoodie that was opened at the top to reveal a white shirt beneath. He also wore blue jeans, similar to Luke's Levi's. His brown hair was strewn around his head in a hapharzard, but very styled manner. He had deep brown eyes that Luke found himself drawn into for some reason. His face was definitely objectively attractive. Something about this person exuded caring and warmth. He smiled at Luke, who smiled back. "Oh, thanks. What's your name?" Luke asked in response.

"Name's Cass." Cass held out his hand for a handshake while asking, tilting his head, looking him in the eyes, and asking, "Yours?" The other boy, dressed in various shades of blue, looked like he belonged on a sports team based on his well-built legs, emphasized by his tight fitting pair of Levi's. It didn't occur to Cass to look into sports, since his hobbies mainly lied in gardening, jogging, biking and sewing.

Luke nodded to Cass, "My name's Luke." His gaze was planted firmly in Cass's eyes, before it was ripped away and cast towards the clock. "Do you know when orientation is going to start? I feel like we've been here for a very long time..." Luke looked back towards Cass briefly.

The darker haired boy shrugged, "Not really sure." His behavior was fairly mellow and laidback, certainly as the other boy could see. He put his hands behind his head and said, "Didn't feel that long. Meeting with the principals was pretty quick for me."

"Oh really?" Luke ran his right hand through his hair, massaging his scalp briefly, and savoring the soft feeling. His hair was shampooed and conditioned regularly, which helped him to set it in the way it currently was. His hair was actually very easy to control and would stay in mostly any shape that he put it in, which made it easy to control, but also easy to mess up. Something pressing into the top of his head for even a short period of time would leave a weird looking dent, and when wet Luke's hair became almost completely flat and could stretch down to almost cover his eyes. "The principals were wacked, I don't understand why they would need three different people all to be principals..."

"Ah, yeah, it is a bit strange. The questions were certainly...interesting." Cass' brows furrowed in thought as he thought of the terminology he wanted to go for.

"Absolutely. They asked me about like, dreams and stuff. What did they ask you?" Luke leaned forwards slightly, looking into Cass's eyes. Cass almost looked like a pop star, he had a sort of charm about him that seemed to draw Luke in.

Cass looked back, scratching the back of his head, messing a little with his hair, "They asked about my love life, basically. Not sure what that had to do with me being here, but it could have been worse."

Luke flashed a winning jock smile, his brilliant teeth shining to Cass. "They asked you about your love life?" Luke chuckled, "What did you say?" Luke's mind wandered to Tracy, his ex-girlfriend. He could not help but wonder how she was doing, ever since their messy breakup, the two had not talked at all.

"Well, I didn't say all that much, probably because three old ladies don't want to hear all my romance stories." He couldn't help but laugh at the embarassing but hilarious thought of discussing his now ex-girlfriend Jesse with the disapproval of the tall, crabby principal and the cheeriness of the short principal. "I did say that I had a reputation as kind of a matchmaker, and that was kinda it."

"What do these principals want to know about our personal business anyways? They should just mind their potatoes. This school gives me some bad vibes..." Luke shot a glance at the grumpy teacher in front of them, hushing his voice a bit as he said the last statement.

He mulled that comment over for a second, before replying softly, "Yeah, I dig that. It's pretty strange. The asking the questions, the...eccentric principals and the grumpy teacher. Not like any school I ever been in." He paused, "Y'know, it sounds kind of corny, but it might not end up being so bad with some good company. You can never go wrong with some friends so far away from home. Or for me anyways, I'm pretty far from home."

"Oh really? Where do you live? This is relatively far from me too, I live in Roanoke, Virginia. We took a plane here." Luke pressed his hand into his pocket, pulling out his schedule, "I wonder if we are roomed together. What room number do you have for sleeping?"

"I'm from Portland, Oregon. Now let me see here..." He fished his hoodie pocket for the schedule and read out the number, "I'm in 223. You?"

"224."

Enthusiaistically, Cass said to Luke, "Cool, so we'll be neighbors! Good thing I got to meet you before hand then. Nice to have a head start on that front to help you out."

"For sure." Luke looked around the classroom and noticed that ten chairs had yet to be filled, "This can't be everyone right? I would've assumed there'd be more people since my dad randomly got the letter in the mail."

The other boy looked around himself, before saying, "I know one person should be on her way, but other than that, I wouldn't know of anyone else coming here. I also would have thought it would have been bigger if they're attracting kids from Japan, let alone my side of the country." Cass thought back to the tall Japanese girl he had met, curious as to why she hadn't arrived quite yet.

Luke furrowed his eyebrows slightly, "Japan?" As another student was sent out of the classroom Luke looked to the teacher in the classroom, who reclined. His bare feet were out on the desk, with the largest toenails he had ever seen, crusty and slightly yellow. He could see a small grove of hair protruding from the far side of the foot, but the dirty soles were clean of hair. Luke shifted away from the teacher a bit more and looked towards Cass again. He smiled.

Continuing his train of thought, Cass answered, "Yeah, Japan. There was a girl I met earlier who was an exchange student from there. I had a nice chat with her before coming here. Her name's Arashi."

"Oh, cool. I've never met a Japanese person before," Luke turned and looked out the door's window, searching the people walking by for any Asian faces that may have been entering the classroom. Luke looked at Michael, who was reading some graffiti on the table, but was clearly listening to their conversation. Luke turned to Cass, ignoring the gothic looking teen and said, "So, what do you like to do?"

In response, Cass answered with an enthusiastic tone, "Gardening. I have a personal garden back home in the backyard with a collection of flowers. Great specimens too. It's the perk of being a florist's son." He grinned at the state of his garden, obviously having some pride in it.

Luke nodded, smiling back. "That's super rad to have something you're so passionate about. I play soccer, which is neat," Luke's eyes circled around the room, "When is orientation going to start? I'm already a little hungry." Something thudded against Luke's head, and fell on his desk. He reeled forwards for a second before looking down, and seeing a Twinkie sitting on the table. He looked over to his right to see Michael smiling, having clearly thrown it at him. "Uh thanks I guess," Luke reached down and took a bite out of the Twinkie, munching contentedly.

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[Sephear]

Eamon: A fated meeting​

"Mister Brown, you're needed in the principals' office." The large, hairy teacher all the students in the class were so blessed to be graced with growled the instant Eamon walked in. Besides his tone, he didn't seem particularly hostile, despite the treatment the other students got. It seemed Eamon had caught him on a good day.

"Sure, sure no problem at all sir." He threw behind him casually as he made a one-eighty right back out of the classroom and down the hallway.
~~~
"Ah, young Eamon, nice to see you." The woman in the middle said immediately upon the boy's entrance into the office. They were greeted with his ever-present smirk while he sat down, not showing the slightest bit of surprise at having three principals.

"Glad to be of service, I expect." He answered while he pulled a small coin with the Roman god Fortuna on it and began to lazily flip it in his right hand, only letting his eye dart down for a second each time it landed to see what was on top.

All three of the principals stiffened a bit the first time the coin was flipped, then returned to business as usual. "Eamon, we've got some questions for you. A simple formality, but we still need you to be completely honest with us."

"Of course, I'd ne'er dream of lying to any of you, ma'am. I 'spect it would'nae work anyways." Eamon explained, flashing them his practically-glittering smile.

The principals stood silently and stared in his direction for a brief pause, then the relatively normal-looking one shuffled some papers and cleared her throat. "Er, right... Morta, I believe you said you wanted to speak with him first?"

"That's right!" The hunched over. more corpulent of the three women blurted out, squinting very suspiciously at Eamon. He noted that she didn't seem to be looking directly at him, it was more accurate to say she seemed to be staring at his right hand, and yet she wasn't watching his coin move through the air, just his hand. He wondered if she could see it at all. "Has anything strange at all happened to you? Broken any hearts you shouldn't? Been attacked by people or animals that had no reason to?" She demanded, taking a step closer to him in the process.

Eamon continued to flip his coin and stared up at the ceiling, as if in thought. "I dunno, I think my life's pretty normal, most people like me on account'a how charmin' I am, animals especially love me. I did get attacked a few weeks ago t'be honest, but it was dealt with swiftly 'nuff I'd say. My dad still thought it best I change schools, though, which is why I'm here, safer I guess? I've parted ways on friendly terms with all my old lady friends, too, all in all my life's pretty great!" He finished, smiling even wider.

"Nothing but non-answers and question dodges! You be honest with me, you runt, or you-" The hag approached him, growing more belligerent by the second, but before she could get in Eamon's face, she stepped on a small little bird-thing, of the like that you'd see dipping into water on a desk, and toppled over right past Eamon's chair and to the floor. The shortest of the principles began to laugh so raucously that the angry one apparently didn't have enough steam left to continue her tirade, and after she stood back up she retreated back behind their desk, rubbing her nose and grumbling.

"Ok, my turn!" The stumpy one announced, finally finished with her laughing fit. "I like this one already!"

"I get that a lot." Eamon interjected, only to have a finger thrust in front of his mouth to shush him.

The principal now interviewing the boy waggled her finger and tutted. "Now, now deary, don't spoil it. You say your life's been peachy so far, eh? Tell me then, just how peachy has it been? Does it seem better than all the other children around you? Does everything come easy to you?"

"Yes'm, if I'm being honest most near-everything does."

"I see, so has-ohhh, now what's this?" Before Eamon had a chance to question what had caught the shorty's attention she was leaning in and wrapping her wrinkly fingers around the chain on his neck, and getting a good, close look at his locket. The instant she began to pull him towards her Eamon's eyes widened as far as they could go and he slapped her hand away. "Oh! How rude! I was just peeking!"

The young man seemed caught between panicked and angry, and his reply was just as mixed up. "I'm sorry miss principal! Really I am! But you can't just go grubbing your mitts on whatever you want! This watch is a gift from both of my parents, the only thing I've ever had from both of them. It's the most precious thing in the world to me and I don't like for anyone else to touch it without askin'."

She eyed him with frustration a moment longer, then took a deep breath and waved it off. "Alright, I suppose there's no harm done, but don't you snap at me like that again, got it?"

Assured that he wasn't in trouble, Eamon passively resumed flipping his coin again and nodded his agreement just as the middle principal took the reigns again. "Alright Eamon, I believe that's all we need from you. Nona, mark him down as cooperative, and undeveloped." She guided Eamon to the door and held it open for him while he stepped out. "Thanks for coming, we appreciate your cooperation." He only had time to offer a token response before the door was shut in his face. He shrugged and made his way back towards the classroom.

Back in the office, Nona looked at the middle principal again and raised an eyebrow. "Something was off about that boy, but somehow it just isn't hitting me. What do you think Decima?"

"Seventy-seven." Was the reply.

"What?"

"Seventy-seven," Decima repeated. "He never stopped flipping that coin the entire time he was in here, save for that little outburst about the necklace. He flipped that coin seventy-seven times... and every single one landed on heads."

"That's got to be something! Are we sure he's undeveloped?" Morta demanded, no longer content to grumble quietly.

Decima sat down in her chair and drummed her fingers on their desk a moment before she answered. "We'll leave it marked as-is for now. Whether he was lying to us or not, it won't take long to find out."

---

Upon re-entering the classroom Eamon was delighted to find that there was a bit more activity, some real conversations happening here or there now. There were more than a few interesting people in the room for him to check out...but the front was much too crowded for his tastes, and he got called on way too often when he sat in the front anyways. He scanned the back, and once his gaze alighted upon a cute, short girl in torn-up clothes, they refused to go anywhere else. She was all by herself and had the most reserved air about her he could ever recall seeing...and he felt almost as if the air around her shimmered in failed attempts to hide something. She was too interesting not to find out more, so he wasted no time plopping down in the seat right next to hers with his most winning smile. "Hullo there, didn't want to be crowded either eh? I understand completely, but there's no need to be completely by yourself, aye? I couldn't resist."
​

 

[ジュナイパー]

Archelaus Courson​

Son of Hekate

"Archelaus Courson. Report to the principals' office." The beefy, hairy man trudged towards the back of the room.

Candy nudged the boy on her right. "Uh... Archy?

"Huh?" Archy mumbled, pried out of his own thoughts. The hairy man loomed over him.
"Why hullo," Archy said nonchalantly. "what brings you here to my humble abode?"

Some kids in the class chuckled, but the man wasn't amused.

"Oh, so we've got ourselves a funny boy over here," he grumbled, "lucky for you, I ain't allowed to give minor detentions before orientation. The principals want you."
He stomped off, muttering under his breath.

Oh great. What did I do this time? Archy thought. He stood up from his desk and headed for the Principals' office.
Is this about that bird, earlier? And whatever Phin said? That he was a... deli bar? I don't remember for some reason. My memory of this morning's kind of foggy...

Not noticing where he was going, Archy bumped into the Office door face first. He clutched his forehead and opened the door.

"Come on. Sit." a chubby lady said. Archy sat down awkwardly, nursing his throbbing head.

There were three old ladies in the room, all sitting at the same desk. They were all fumbling around with thread.
These are the Principals, I assume?
On the far left, there was the chubby lady; her hair was a light brown, and her eyes were gray.
So she's blind. Archy assumed.
In the middle was a somewhat normal looking woman, her dark hair was streaked with a little bit of gray and her eyes were blue. On the far right was a frail woman with white wispy hair, and she had to've been blind as well, for her eyes were also gray.

The middle lady broke the short silence. "You must be Mr. Courson. We have a couple of questions to ask you, and then we'll send you off, okay?"
Archy nodded.

"So. According to your guardian, Phineas, there was a little incident that you had a couple of years ago with your foster mother. Care to elaborate on that?" the frail lady said.

Archy told them the story. Well, he edited it slightly so that he didn't sound crazy. Manticores and Dragons? No one would believe that. The last thing he wanted was to be transferred to a school for crazy people, or something like that.

"Are you sure that's it?" questioned the rounder lady. "Nothing strange or 'magical'?"

"No ma'am. Nothing else." Archy knew that they didn't believe him, he was terrible at lying. His palms started to sweat a little bit.

"Uncooperative and unstable," the middle woman muttered as she jotted down some notes on a piece of paper. "you are free to go, Mr. Courson." she said without looking up.

Archy left a sigh of relief and left the room.

Uncooperative? Unstable? What on earth's that supposed to mean? Did they know about my story? And if so, why did they question about it? I really want answers.

Archy sat back down in the classroom next to Candy.
"I'm just curious, why are you here in the first place? You don't really seem like a troubled youth." he said.
"Well," she began, "there was a little incident of a stolen car and an explosion. It was really a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time." She smiled weakly, "But no one really listened to me when I explained it. Not even my parents. So they sent me away." She stared off into space with a sober look on her face.

I guess that she doesn't want to talk about it.
He felt bad for bringing it up. Archy opened his mouth to say something, what that something was, he didn't know, but the hairy man started shouting at another student, cutting Archy off.

Archy took this time to scan the classroom and 'observe' his fellow students. No one really caught his eye, except for one girl sitting at a window. She had long silvery-blonde hair, a slim body, and (strangely) red eyes. Something about her looked familiar, something he saw within himself, but Archy couldn't put his finger on it.
It must be my imagination...
Archy yawned, rested his head on his desk, and fell asleep.

 

[Oddball_]

Sirus Osborne

17 | Male | Child of Hades​

Sirus sat, or slumped rather, at a desk somewhere in the middle of the room. His chin resting on the wooden surface which had been drawn on, carved into, and defiled by who knows how many less than role model students. He was half heartedly watching the other students move through the room, although none of them were particularly interesting. It was far more entertaining to watch the instructors reactions to them.

The instructor, or teacher or whatever he preffered to be called, was a man who either didn't know what a razor was or refused to use one. This disturbed Sirus on some unconscious level, because while he believes that the thousand year old hermit look can work for some people, this instructor was clearly not one of those people. Infact, he looked more like a large shaggy dog of a man.

"He better not start shedding." Sirus mumbled under his breath to Arty, who he then remembered wasn't around for once.

Another student walked into the room and suddenly it was Sirus' turn to go speak with the principle. Reluctantly he stood and shuffled to the door, pushing it open and walking acrost the hallway to the principles office. He found that strange, why would it be on the second floor? Weren't the functional rooms normally on the ground floor where teachers and parents and whatnot could easily access them from any entrance? I mean its not like they were in a building with thirty one room floors. He shook his head as he pushed open the door to the principles office.

Three old women sat behind a desk, two of them seemed to be staring off into space, clearly both blind. The woman in the middle seemed healthy enough though, and it was she who spoke first. "Please, please come in! Sirus Osborne yes?" She half questioned.

"Affirmative Ma'am." Sirus said, almost giving in to the urge to salute.

"We have a few questions before we can proceed, I trust you will answer them honestly." The leftern woman said, her glass eyes staring off at the wall.

"Is it true that you were involved in the destruction of over three thousand dollars worth of property in the last six months alone." The stringy haired woman on the right stated plainly.

"Is that a trick question?" Sirus asked, curious as to why they would be bringing that up after they had already accepted him into the school. Were they working with the police? Wasn't that illegal? Wait why would it be? Why did he never pay more attention to his ex when she was speaking legal things! Why did he never pay more attention to her in the first place. Maybe thats why... He caught himself before his train of thought got completely out of control.

"Hmph." The left woman grunted as the middle woman scribbled something on a sheet of paper, clearly annoyed that the young man wasn't cooperating.

"Is it also true that when you were younger you're teachers had attempted to put you on anti psychotic medicine after you were found screaming at thin air, and yet your mother denied this even after it was recommended on more than three occasions?" The middle woman muttered while continuing to mark her sheet of paper.

"What the- Yes, I had an active imagination as a kid. Yes, it got out of hand. I don't see the relevance considering that was over ten years ago." Sirus stated, spooked as to what these old women were really doing.

"Uncooperative." The woman on the left muttered to the central woman, who quickly scribbled that down on her paper.

"Hold on just a-" Sirus growled, shaking his head in disbelief at the three strange elderly women.

"Have you ever been to a graveyard Mister Osborne." The woman on the right interrupted, tapping her wrinkled fingers against the mahogany desk.

"Uh... yeah? My mother and I visit my grandmothers grave about once every three months." He said after a moment.

"And how is she?" The same woman asked.

"My mother?" Sirus asked, confused by the question.

"No your grandmother." She clarified, taking a long drink of something from an old metal chalice.

"Erm... Well I haven't seen her in a month or two, but still remarkably dead I suspect." Sirus muttered after a moment.

The woman in the center giggled at his terrible joke, earning herself an sharp jab from both other womens elbows.

"Any odd experiences with bones?" The left woman asked, her glass eyes now looking at him, or through him rather.

"I mean, I gnaw on chicken bones. Thats not all that weird though. I was cleaning out the flower boxes outside and there were quite a few dead birds and rats in there, but I mean thats probably just the neighbors using some spray on their grass thats making them sick right?

The tree ladies all looked at each other as he spoke, which was strange considering two of them were blind.

"And how do you feel about the dark." One of the women asked. Sirus had given up trying to differenciate them by now.

"I've never been scared of the dark, My eyes adjust well to dim lights and I can generally see, my mother likes to joke that I have night vision." He replied, fidgetting in his seat. Why was this taking so long? Surely class would have started by now?

"What happened to your arm Mister Osborne." One of them asked.

This threw Sirus off guard. He glanced at the arm in question and noticed that the bandages had started to be bled through, leaving a crimson streak on the hoody.


"Oh, I uh... some thugs in an alleyway on the way here. New york is crazy right? Its okay its not that deep." He stammered, mentally scolding himself for being so obvious.

"Not a giant metal bird of some sort then? At least make the story interesting if you're going to make something up Mister Osborne." The woman on the left muttered.

"AHEM. I think that will be enough for now Mister Osborne, please go have the nurse apply fresh bandages to that wound, heres a pass, oh and when you return have them send in the next one." The middle woman said, handing a small card with the word nurse written on it.

As he closed the door he could hear the old women muttering to themselves behind him, he tried to make out some of the words but it was as if they were speaking Latin or Greek. He shook his head and headed off to the nurses office, who tore off the bandages and cleaned the wound with a rather painful solution out of an unmarked glass bottle.

Five minutes later he was back in the classroom with his head on the desk looking as bored as he ever was, wondering where Arty had gone this time. He tapped his fingers on the desk quietly and sighed as he began to drift along the river of thoughts that was flowing through his head.

​

 

[ImMrRoboto]

Amelia Ornstein

Amelia stood and walked over to the door and out into the hall. She could see another door labeled "Principle's Office." She turned the doorknob and entered to find three elderly women sitting around a single desk. One of them sat in the center of the desk, while the others sat on either side of her. They all looked ancient, but Amelia felt... scared. Like she should show respect, or else. Nervously, she crossed to the seat in front of the three women and sat down. The woman in the middle spoke up first.

"Now, let's see here. Your full name is Amelia Ornstein, is it not?" She said, half questioning, half commanding.

"Yes ma'am, it is." Amelia replied without hesitation. She'd felt somehow compelled to answer truthfully.

This time the woman to Amelia's right spoke. "And you lived in Canada before coming to this country?"

"Yes ma'am, Quebec, more specifically."

All three women seemed interested in this. The middle woman leaned over to the one on the right and started whispering. The one on the left simply stared of into space with a blank look on her face. It was then that Amelia noticed her eyes. They were grey and foggy, the woman was clearly blind. Casting a glance to the other two, Amelia could see that the woman on her right was also blind. Only the woman directly in front of her seemed to have her sight. Just as she noticed this, the woman on the right spoke to her.

"What about your father? Has your mother ever spoke of him?" The question surprised Amelia. She had never really been asked to talk about him.

"Um, No, not really. My father left when I was really young. I never knew him." Contrary to before, none of them seemed interested in this fact. They simply continued to the next question.

"Now, what about your... incident." Amelia looked down. She knew that this question was unavoidable. "We've heard about the circumstances, but why don't you tell us your version.

Amelia sighed and began to go through it all again. The teacher, the explosion, the police. As she finished. The women just nodded and once she was done, they whispered to each other and nodded. Amelia managed to hear a few of their discussion. "...Shouldn't have kept her that close..." "...No wonder she had an incident that young..." "...Powers are already out of control..."

After a short time, they turned to Amelia and sent her back to the classroom. Walking back to the hallway. On her way back to the classroom, Amelia thought about what she heard. Out of control? What 'powers' were they talking about? The questions ringed in Amelia's mind, but she already knew the answer to the latter. She stopped and pulled out the leaf she was playing with earlier. Did these ladies know something about her abilities? Amelia intended to figure it out, but for the time being, she re-pocketed the leaf and returned to class. ​

 

[ShaymieTheShaymin]

Cornelia Marx

​

Nellie pouted as she sat in the principal's office. She had been in a bad mood all day since Mrs. Marx had dropped her off. She wasn't exactly happy about being forced to go to a new school, and she had barely been at it for five minutes before she had gotten sent to the principal. Or rather, the principals, who were three old hags that she had barely even glanced at before taking a seat.

What kind of school has more than one principal? Gram didn't tell me anything about this stupid school before I got here... She scowled and watched her feet as they swung back and forth, sighing as they didn't even reach the ground.

"So what do you want with me?" Nellie asked, not even bothering to make eye contact with the old women. She didn't see a point of making eye contact, since she could tell that two of them were blind. It felt less awkward to not have to look at them.

"A bit touchy, aren't we Cornelia?" Nellie huffed at the use of her full name and continued to glare at the wall. She just wanted to get this over with so that she wouldn't have to deal with anyone. She was tempted to just leave and deal with the consequences, and was considering the option when a different woman spoke up.

"We just want to ask you some questions." Nellie looked at the women from the corner of her eyes, but didn't respond. She couldn't care less about what they had to ask her. If they had questions, they should have just asked before she came to the school. Nothing like this had ever happened at any of her other schools before.

"What kind of questions? I thought that Gram would have told you everything. I don't see any reason for me to be here. This is nothing but a waste of time."

She stood up from the chair and fluffed her skirt out, narrowing her eyes at the principals, and left the office before the women could say anything. She'd accept whatever punishment they'd give her later, but she couldn't stay there any longer. Something about them was weird, though she couldn't put her finger on it. She sighed as she got back to her classroom and sat down towards the very back, not in the mood to talk to anyone.
​

 

[Strange]

Cass, Luke, and Michael

The clock's hour hand slowly moved on the way opposite Luke. He stared at it aimlessly, almost as if in a trance. An angry, small student entered the room, the door slamming behind them, and Luke shook his head. He munched on his Twinkie, swirling the bits around in his mouth before venturing quickly, "What did you do to this Twinkie? it tastes strange... How long has it been in your bag?"

"Only a few days," Michael answered, "Although that guy I got it from was a little sketchy."

Luke furrowed his brows, putting the Twinkie on his desk. It crumbled a little as it touched the wood, flecks of it spreading and flaking like the collision of two continents. He cupped his right hand to his mouth and spit out the bits that were in it into his hand, grimacing slightly. He reached his left hand into his pocket, pulling out his bloody map. He transferred the slimy crumbs from his hand onto the map, which he crumpled into a ball that he deposited onto his desk. "Sketchy?"

"Well, he was wearing a trench-coat and was selling them in a parking lot. But I mean, they were cheap so who was I to complain?" Michael replied. Luke looked distressed.

Cass shook his head, slightly confounded by Michael's reasoning. Seemingly recanting his head shake, however, Cass took a better look at the other boy. Combined with the bit about buying a Twinkie from the seedy man, and looking at his clothes and appearance, he surmised that he might be from the streets.

Luke looked to Michael and inquired, "So, where are you from?"

Michael was caught a bit off-guard and he wasn't exactly sure how to answer. "Well, I haven't exactly lived in the same place for more than a year, but our last place was a few hours walk away." he replied.

"Did your parents have like a moving gig or?"

"No, uhhh, not exactly." he said quietly.

Luke stopped pressing, a brief awkward silence filled the air. "Uh, so have you met Cass?" Luke leaned back and motioned to Cass, "Cass, this is Michael. Michael, this is Cass."

"Hello." Michael said.

Cass offered a hand to Michael, adding, "Nice to meet you." Michael reached over Luke's desk and held out his hand. After shaking his hand, Cass asked the other two boys,"Well, hopefully it won't be too bad to settle into this place. It's already been an...interesting little experience."

"Yeah, like that pack of dogs that attacked me on my way to school." he joked. Luke shifted in his chair, reaching up to run his hands through his hair.

Cass' face winced as he replied, "Ooh, sorry to hear about that, man. That's gotta suck, not exactly a great way to start the day...how badly were you hurt?"

"Well, I thought it was pretty bad, but somehow the nurse managed to give me something and now I can't even tell that they bit me. Which now that I think about it was really odd." Michael said, wondering what happened.

"That is quite odd, yeah. A lot of things are quite odd here, if I don't say so myself. What do you think?" Cass stroked his chin, trying to piece together what the odd questions, odd events and seemingly ordinary teenagers were leading up to. It had been at the back of his mind ever since he encountered Arashi. For her, it wasn't so much that she was a foreigner so much as something that was...different in a way he couldn't quite explain, even if he did a good job at convincing himself otherwise.

"Yeah this place definitely skeeves me out..." Luke looked up to the hairy teacher again, glancing at him for an instant before pushing his eyes towards Michael. "Uh, Michael, what do you like t-"

Their conversation was cut short by a loud screech, as a large metal bird crashed through the window. Mr Crescent, their hairy teacher, suddenly transformed into something strange. Claws, fangs and fur appeared out of nowhere as he became some sort of werewolf, a large beast with a wolf's face and the body of a very furry man, and jumped onto the bird's back. The bird raged, slamming Mr. Crescent into the walls and the ceiling trying to force him off. Concrete supports started cracking, and after a minute fell apart entirely. The ceiling collapsed in the middle of the room, a wall of stone segregating the class and destroying desks. Crescent finally pinned the monster down against the floor, burying his claws into its neck. With little more thrashing, it gave in. He slowly stood, holding a hand over a large gash in his side, and looked around to make sure there weren't more birds on their way. The kids lay scattered around, dazed by the sudden attack, and most likely confused.

Luke laid on the ground in shock, totally frozen. He was attempting to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Memories of his previous run-ins with giant black dogs with blood red eyes and teeth flashed through his mind, biting and slashing. Phantom pains coursed through his body. A feeling of pure fear and dread pooled in his stomach as he tried to shove the images deep into his mind and out of his sight. Luke glanced up at the shattered window and then down at his leg, where a sharp pain shone. A shard of glass was lodged in his right calf, about two inches of a jagged surface protruded from his leg, and he guessed one inch was buried inside his leg. He winced. In front of him was a very large eagle, it almost looked robotic. The sun glinted off of its metallic feathers, one ray hitting Luke's wound. It started to feel a little better. Luke shook his head collecting his thoughts. He looked over to his teacher, taking in the wolfish form. Luke braced himself against his overturned desk, his muscular arms working to pull himself up. He sat himself on one of the connector beams of the desk and scrunched his face tightly together.

Almost as if to answer his queries about strange things going on, the metal bird came in and struggled to reorient himself after the surprise attack. Frozen in fear, Who? could only stare wide eyed at the bird, reliving his run-ins with all the creatures. He reached into his pocket for a non-existent Swiss Army knife, having left that behind. Now all he had was his fists against an ungodly creature. Michael was shocked by the bird's sudden appearance, not even fully grasping what was going on until after the bird crashed into the ground. He was thrown from his desk onto the floor, where he tucked his head under his arms for protection. When the bird's body hit the floor it scattered feathers everywhere. Michael picked up a feather and ran his finger across the edge, blood appearing out of the small cut it opened. "It's metal!" he said, shocked.

As soon as the students began to examine the bird, something began to change. From where Mr. Crescent had slashed the large animal it started to depress. Its neck began to disintegrate. A virus spreading throughout the entire beast, its body fell apart into a cloud of dust. The wings crumbled to bits, like a cake that was cooked for a bit too long. Some of the dust floated out of the shattered window, but the bulk of it scattered itself on the floor like a destroyed sand castle. All signs of the metal behemoth were gone except for the metal feather that Michael held, and a few lucky others that had separated themselves from the body of the bird. Luke reached down and swept a feather from the ground, turning it over in his hand. "Alright!" Mr. Crescent announced, "Everybody out! Follow me to the parking lot!" He lumbered over to the door and paused when he noticed all the small metal birds in the halls. Getting out of the school would not be so easy.




​

 

[Songbird]

The Misadventures of the Lucky, the Undead, and the Magical Girl

​

"Everybody out! Follow me!"

"Fuck, not this shit again," Sirus groaned, a metal monster crashing into his life for the second time that day. He was cowering behind an overturned desk, not sure what to do without his ghostly accomplice. Following a werewolf seemed smart for the moment, but the students next to him had other plans.

Shattered glass dropped to the ground around her, suspended in the air until the bird was felled. The window had mostly blown out around the back of the class, but a large amount of the glass was caught in some sort of air magic. Things were finally getting interesting outside of their little bubble, Tanith thought. She looked back to Eamon, who had been obliviously regaling her with an interesting tale about the day he won every prize at a carnival, and spent the day giving them out for his own games, and a metal feather had harmlessly landed in his hair. However, the werewolf's idea of safety seemed like it was more likely to put students in danger. The hallway was a horrible space for defending people with razor-sharp claws, after all. Perhaps if it were a normal fire alarm, but for now this curious cat desired to find another way to vacate the premises, so she waited for most of the students to leave the room before she explored her options.

The window was promising.

Eamon brushed through his hair until a finger bumped into the flat of the feather and marveled at it for a moment. "Well I'll be, I got one of that monster's razor plumes! Fancy that! Take a loo—ah, what'cha lookin' at?" He brushed away bits of glass that landed on his shoulder to join the bigger bits on the floor that had barely missed his desk, and wondered what Tanith was thinking. Eamon got up from his seat, and walked over to see where her eyes were aiming; he followed her eyes to the window, then back, then to the window again, and back. He couldn't help but ask, "You aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?" He took a step closer to the potential escape route, and smiled as a breeze rustled his hair. "Cuz, y'know, I always was a fan of divin'."

"Window! Yes!" Sirus had a groundbreaking revelation before he threw himself, rather disgracefully, out of the window, bringing a couple more pieces of glass with him. Tanith rushed to Eamon's side at the windowsill, a few moments into Sirus' descent where he'd just realized the horrible mistake he made. She waved her arm once toward the ground, and Sirus' seconds-long fall ended a little too short.

"Didn't take him long, did it?" Eamon commented as he watched the boy bounce harmlessly on what looked like thin air.

Tanith propped her foot up on the window frame, and flatly stated, "Let's go, too." As unceremoniously as their classmate, she hopped out without any fanfare.

"Okay, that's new." Sirus grunted as he climbed to his feet, his bag slung over his shoulder and his knife in his hand, his savior promptly landing on the pillowy, beanbag-like mass after him. Sliding off the end a good bit more gracefully, Tanith giggled at her own ingenuity.

"Make way! Geronimo!" Could be heard from above them before Eamon came sailing down after them, landing on the same cushiony barrier as them, but for some reason bouncing all the way off of it afterwards and landing next to the other two with a flourish. "Well, that was fun, reminds me of my days in gymnastics back in primary."

"Show off," Sirus muttered as he plucked small chunks of glass out of his hoodie.

"Well, 'scu~se me, Mister Cliffdiver," Eamon replied with a friendly smirk.

Ignoring the irishman, Sirus turned towards his other new companion. "Any ideas?"

Ignoring both of his companions, Eamon was already beginning to walk to wherever he thought he was going, and simply called back behind him. "I'm thinkin' the most defensible place is probably the parkling lot. And if the others are being led away, that'll probably be the place they go. I'm just takin' the quickest route."

"Led by a half-wolfman. Yep. That's our life now." Sirus grumbled, following the blond, though arguably it was everyone else's life. Theirs was jumping out of windows.

Tanith called out to Eamon, his sense of direction seemingly failing him. "Other way. East side." He stopped at her beckon, and pivoted on the spot, scratching his head when he saw where she was gesturing.

"Huh, weird. I don't get turned 'round like that too often. I don't even remember the last time I went the wrong way. Alright then, onward!" With their direction reassured, Eamon began marching off again as casually as he had the first time as if he hadn't blundered, and Sirus followed along.

It was a brief trip, but a surprisingly peaceful one, and rounding the corner seemed like the easiest task in the world. The narrator spoke too soon, however, and the birds in the sky finally discovered to where this missing trio had run off. Few came after them, but many were still airborne, and they couldn't guess how many were going wild inside.

"Why can't it just be ghosts? I'm used to ghosts."

 

[Ewery1]

Metallic Glint

Lucas Samson
Son of Hemera
Three Fates School​

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"Everybody out! Follow me!"

Luke sat on the side of his overturned desk, staring at the window as two students jumped out. He quickly rose to stand up and screamed, collapsing forwards. The muscle around the glass shard in his leg ripped a little. Luke felt a vague tingling flow through his body like his epidermis had fallen asleep, paired with a soft heat. He began to glow softly like a nightlight, although he was not aware of that fact. His wolf-teacher turned in the doorway and surveyed Luke. He furrowed his brows, as much as his hairy face could. He muttered some anger filled nothings, and tromped to Luke, quickly gathering his body up in fur coated arms.

Luke was cradled, limp in his teacher's limbs like a wet towel. His face was scrunched into a series of valleys that vaguely looked like somebody had taken a knife and aimlessly dug holes in his face. The werewolf left the room and quickly looked both ways, before heading towards the staircase. "Follow," He barked to the rest of the class. As they reached the stairwell, some screeching noises echoed up the hall from the first floor. Luke turned his head towards the stairs, only to see a group of five or so birds flying towards them rather quickly.

The birds were significantly smaller than the one that had crashed the classroom before, only about the size of a pigeon. Their feathers glinted steely as they passed each different light fixture. Their beaks were bronze and looked incredibly sharp, almost unfair to any prey they might hunt. Their eyes were tiny beads that sat atop their beak. They were simultaneously empty and full of hatred.

The teacher realized the issue quickly and kicked the doors in front of them shut like cymbals. The window looking down at the stairs was directly in front of Luke's face, and moments after the doors were shut, a metallic feather embedded itself into the glass in front of his eyes. The feather was thrown with incredible precision; it wedged itself halfway through the window. The glass cracked outwards in a crater formation, three vaguely concentric circles with spindles connecting them. Luke flinched and his teacher quickly turned around. Hollering, "Hurry up kids!" He rushed down the hallway to the other stairwell.

The werewolf raced down the stairs, two at a time. Sounds of students following echoed behind them. At the bottom of the stairwell, Luke's teacher looked both ways, before muttering under his breath, "Shit." A large flock of the demon birds was perched by the entrance to the school. A hapless teacher was trying to shoo them away, but the birds were pecking at the teacher. On closer inspection, it was apparent that their were beaks just passing through the teacher's body. Luke's wolf-man savior surveyed the situation, before focusing on a classroom across the hallway. He turned his head and looked very sternly at the students, "Get ready to run as fast as you possibly can. Don't make a noise."

With no warning he raced towards the door and slammed into it, taking the brunt of the force with his elbow. Luke was shielded from the blow, but as the teacher rushed into the classroom, Luke's leg was caught against the door frame. The glass shard was pressed against sideways, forcing it to wrench through the length of his leg and pop out in a gruesome spurt of blood and torment. Luke let out a guttural scream of pure agony. The tingling and hot feeling intensified greatly and Luke began to shine like a star.

Needless to say, the birds noticed them.

Rushing through the crowded classroom, the hairy teacher spewed out curses left and right, scrunching his eyes together to avoid being blinded by Luke's rays. The kids in the classroom screamed a bit as the werewolf launched himself through the window in a cannonball, cradling Luke against the glass.

The two were met with a horrific sight. A swarm of birds circled through the air like vultures awaiting their next dead carcass. Some were the same size as the ones inside the school, but some were huge, the size of a minivan at least. Luke was shining brightly. It was very easy to see against the harsh light of day. The sun beat down and it was at least 85 degrees outside. Birds immediately noticed them, and three dive-bombed the group simultaneously. An empty bus sat about 200 feet away from them, across a parking lot. The werewolf put Luke down gingerly, before springing upwards into the air and knocking a bird to the side. It squawked and faded in a puff of dust. The teacher hollered back to Luke, "STAY PUT KID!" Luke's head was swimming. Students began to file out of the window, making breaks for the bus.

Luke's open wound was exposed to the direct harsh sunlight. The heat did not seem to bother him. The glowing intensified; people would not be able to look directly at him without their eyes hurting. In the sunlight, Luke felt a little better, although this was the worst injury he had ever endured. Almost as if by magic, the pain began to numb and Luke felt something very strange and frightening. The gash made a ripping sound. It felt as if someone was sowing his leg together, but not painfully. His muscle began to reconnect itself and Luke laid there in disbelief, not sure if he was hallucinating. The fight around him began to fade away as he looked down at his leg, and realized his entire body was shining.

Luke was very confused.

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[Strange]

Michael

The intricate metal feather glittered in the sunlight, as Michael stood, frozen in fear and confusion, as everyone else seemed to leave the classroom as fast as they could. He watched his teacher carry Luke out of the room, and then suddenly snapped back into reality. He slung his bag over his shoulder, sliding the knife out of its front pocket and then ran out the door.

He was instantly bombarded by small metal birds, and slashed at them with his knife, which bounced harmlessly off their feathers as if it was made of rubber. Then he remembered he had the feather, and pulled on the end that was sticking out of his pocket. He swung the metal object at the birds, which sliced through their feathers much easier than his knife, and quickly dispatched the small flock of birds, although not without suffering from a few nasty scratches to the face.

He picked up one of the birds, which was quickly crumbling to dust before his eyes. He wasn't going to get any new weapons from them, although their feathers seemed much more fragile than the larger bird's. Michael rushed through the halls, stumbling on piles of dust left from dead birds and running into the occasional panicked students. When he finally reached the door to the parking lot he noticed the window was shattered and his teacher and Luke were both on the ground outside it. His teacher sprung up to knock a smaller bird out of the way, ignorant to the fact that a larger bird was swooping in from his other side.

Michael rushed over to them, slashing at the giant bird's legs, only to find that the bird picked him up in its talons and carried him high into the air. He would have been thrilled, flying high above the ground, wind in his hair, if it wasn't for the over-sized carnivorous metal eagle that currently held him hostage. Although that problem was short lived, as the bird soon let go of him, sending him plummeting towards the blacktop. He was closing in with the ground fast, and there was no way he could survive that kind of impact.

He twisted and flailed in the air, until suddenly he started gliding forward, instead of hitting the ground. Puzzled, he looked over his shoulder, up at the sky, and found a pair of translucent wings had manifested themselves on his back. He shifted his back muscles, the wings responding in a few short flaps that sent him higher into the air. He grinned. Michael had no idea what was going on, why or how any of this was happening, but he was going to do everything he could to survive.

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[Ewery1]

Glow of Safety

Lucas Samson
Son of Hemera
Three Fates School​

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All that was on the mind of the boy dressed in a red hoodie was how to get out and survive. It was like the river incident all over again, the incidents at the school, and the few times before that, all the primal feelings and insecurities and fears rushing at him all at once, simmering just beneath the surface, threatening to paralyze him. Had it not been for the glowing boy and the teacher who carried him out, he would have been stuck there and possibly dead. There was no time to dwell, he had to get to safety, and make sure that he would be alive long enough to see the others.

He followed the lead of the teacher, who was now a werewolf, and proceeded to take a feather to make up for the vacancy of his Swiss Army knife. Cass sprinted towards the first stairwell, only to be bounded by the bird creatures and subsequently shifted course following the sickening noises of the creatures and shattering glass. Cass kept pace with the teacher and some other students, before reaching hearing his teacher holler out, "Hurry up kids!" They were led to a classroom, with the macabre birds blocking the entrance to the school. When they were making a break for the windows, the werewolf shielded the student he was carrying from a blow, the valiant move directly interrupted by the screams of agony.The brown-haired boy saw his glowing classmate suffer a shard of glass ripped out of his leg. He was promptly forced to avert his eyes when the glowing became too brilliant to look at. He could only vaguely see the hairy man rush the window, shattering it.

Cass was the first one out of the window after the teacher. Apart from wanting to save himself and go to safety, he defied his instinct and sprinted to where Luke lay, presumably bleeding profusely and in agony from what little he could make out in the blinding light. He squinted his eyes to be able to make anything out and shouted at Luke, "Luke! You're glowing like the damn sun! C'mon, let me help you out. Glowing or not we're gonna make it together."

Luke saw Cass and began to stand up. His leg still hurt when he put pressure on it, but less than before. Luke stretched out his right hand in front of him, twisting it around and examining the light streaming from his skin. He could tell that he was glowing very brightly, but his eyes were not affected by the harsh glow. His arm was covered by his shirt, but a light was clearly shining from the other side of it as if someone held a lightbulb under a thin layer of fabric. Luke looked down at the hole in his jeans again and searched the large rip for signs of a horrible gash that should have been inflicted. The injury that had been there before had definitely decreased in size and appeared to be clotting a bit, as the blood flow had decreased significantly. Blood was pooling on the ground next to him, his jeans were irreparably stained and lacerated, but he looked like he was healing more rapidly than a normal person. Luke shifted his head up to Cass to speak, but before he could say anything, one of the demon birds dived towards Cass's back.

Luke let out a guttural cry, fueled by a mix of emotions, rage, fear, confusion, relief, and a lust for power. With this scream, the light streaming off of his body intensified to the point where anyone looking at him would have significant vision impairment. Despite the sun's rays giving him energy, Luke's entire body instantly felt drained. Cass turned around, and noticed the bird, rushing out of the way. The bird now heading towards Luke, which was the size of an albatross, began to lose its aerodynamic abilities as it came too close to him. The metal that made up the monster's wings literally started to melt together. A bird's feathers are incredibly important in maintaining the ability to fly, and as such any damage to them will almost completely compromise flight. Its lofty metallic weight did not help. The bird dove into the ground, screeching to a halt a few feet away from Luke. It began thrashing around, but the two humans were out of its area of effect.

Cass could only close his eyes to block out the light emanating from Luke. He had been perilously close to being dead thanks to a monster, and Luke had saved him despite being injured. He exclaimed, "Woah, how did you do that?! Jesus, I thought you[/] were the one I was going to need to protect. God, we're gonna need to get you to a hospital and fast."

"I- I don't know!" Luke hollered at the top of his lungs, "Run for the bus!" Luke turned to run for the vehicle, the light pouring out of him subsiding in volume. He was bearable to look at again. As soon as he took his second step, a wave of lethargy rolled over him like a breeze. His legs became weak, and he teetered forwards a little. The wolf teacher was in a fight with three birds that were all circling around him and swooping at various times to try and take him down. Luke raised his arms to help the teacher, but nothing happened. He mumbled something under his breath and dug deep down inside himself. Luke stared at the bus across the parking lot and took another step.

Immediately noticing Luke attempting to walk after the glowing dimmed, Cass firmly took out his arm for support and said, "C'mon, let's go. Let me pick-" He stared at Luke's leg, the area soaked in blood. The actual cut, however, was much less severe than he was led to believe. "Wha- your cut! It stopped bleeding so much!" He was interrupted by the action going on nearby and the brown-haired boy said, "Never mind that now. We gotta get to the bus." Since he could see that the other boy was able to hobble alongside Cass, the pair painstakingly made their way to one of the buses. It appeared that they were the first ones to make the journey. Cass gave words of encouragement, saying, "Almost there, hang in there."

Above the bus, a group of birds circled, ready to pick on any students that may have tried to enter. Luke's eyes steeled over as he stared them down. He turned to Cass and hurried him forwards, "Make a break for it."

Feeling conflicted, on whether to stand and fight with Luke or to run, he began to say, "Luke, let me--"

A very large bird noticed the two talking and swooped down towards them. Luke shoved Cass forwards and ground his teeth together. He summoned all the fading strength he had within him and screamed. Initially, nothing happened. As the bird neared to him, fear entered his eyes and the light flared back to its blinding full potential. This bird was smarter than the previous encounter and quickly dipped out of the stream of light, circling back towards the bus. The group of birds near the top of the coach began to scatter as a reaction to the scream of anger, but flew towards him and were caught in Luke's rays, rendered out of the air. As all of his remaining strength flowed out of him, Luke realized he would have to run for the vehicle now, or he would never make it.

The other boy reluctantly headed forwards, towards the bus, recognizing the sacrifice Luke made and putting it to good use. He rocketed towards the last few feet, until, at last, Cass reached the bus and entered it. He plopped down on one of the front seats. Cass immediately peered out of the window, crying out to Luke, "Go! Run!"

Luke heard Cass' cries, but he did not process them. His brain stopped taking sensory input and he stumbled towards the coach. Luke's hands fell to his sides, and the glow began to fade. Luke was about thirty feet away from the bus when he collapsed forward into the ground. The hot concrete felt good on his skin. Like a scalding bath, but a bath nonetheless. All of his muscles relaxed and he closed his eyes. He was an easy target now.

Immediately, Cass bolted from his spot, invigorated by the distressed blond and sprinted back towards the bus. The action highlighted both yet again as a target. He bent down to drag Luke to safety. The two were tantalizingly close to the bus. The shorter boy grunted as he struggled to drag Luke towards the vehicle, Luke was fairly heavy with his muscular frame. The two finally made it to the bus after an agonizingly long amount of time in which they could have been attacked. Cass dragged Luke to an adjacent seat across the aisle from himself and set him down, letting him recover.

Luke was blissfully unaware of the terrible danger the two were in, he could only feel the harsh gravel bits of broken concrete under his back. When they arrived in the bus, Luke's eyes ghosted open briefly, looking at Cass, before drifting into unconsciousness. Luke slumped over in his seat, gravity drawing his head towards the bottom seat cushion. His body was sure to have some strange cramps when he awoke from the weird position he ended up in.

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[JukeboxTheGhoul]

Rudely Awakened

After nodding off to sleep, Callum didn't really have chance to dream as he was rudely awakened by the table he was resting his head on toppling forward. His head slipped from atop it and began to fall past his knees but he woke up. He opened his eyes to a giant metal bird, that seemed to have sliced the legs of his table. It was being chased by a hairy dog which wanted it to eat it. The bird disintegrated in to golden glitter, the same glitter that was on the crashed truck. This again? He rubbed his eyes from sleep and looked around. Only when the dog said "Everybody out! Follow me!" did he realise the dog was the teacher. A shaggy, black, tall werewolf awkwardly on his hind legs was Mr. Crescent.

"Oh boy." He mumbled to himself. He stood up out of the seat. Looking at the options around him, some people decided not to follow the big furry beast down the corridor, instead jumping out the window with shards of glass lining it like teeth of a werewolf. They must have thought that was a clever idea. Callum didn't agree. Then again, the wolf was leaving with the sound of clattering wings behind him. Another strange, counter intuitive thing was, the teacher was carrying another kid, who was glowing. GLOWING. He had to make a decision, but he didn't really want to, though following the three base jumpers might be safer, assuming they're okay, he'd have to be on alert and think tactically on his own.

Screw it, he thought, I'm not following a glowing person to escape. He went over to the window and looked out of it. It was a bigger drop than he expected. He'd need to be skilful and agile. Something he can't be with all of his belongings on his back. He put down his bag and grabbed the bottom of the table leg. He wiped the windowsill with the bar, pushing all the remaining glass out of the way. He might need it in the future so he threw it down on to the grass below. As it hit the ground with front it went ba-doing and jumped up again. The bottom went bonk when it hit. The leg rattled as it vibrated from the impact.

He grabbed the strap handle at the top of his backpack and lobbed it through the hole. It didn't impact harshly. Mainly because Callum had his pillow and blanket at the bottom of the bag which absorbed most of the impact. He lifted himself on to the ledge. A few of the metallic bird saw him and began to dive at him. He kicked at them, while it didn't hurt them at all, it did push them away. He made one unbalanced so it fell to Earth. He turned around and put his hands on the panel he was previously sitting on. He dangled his legs a bit until he found the top of the next window. He peeled his left side from the wall and judged the distance. Another bird came to attack. He had to jump, now!

He pushed from the wall and began to free fall. He prepared for the impact, extending his legs. He crouched as his legs took the brunt. He rolled forward. He grasped the rucksac and the leg and started running towards the group. Callum swatted a few silver birds away from him. He called over to them, "I'm coming too!"

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[ImMrRoboto]

Amelia Ornstein

Amelia shrieked as the metallic bird crashed through the window. She scrambled out of and under her desk. She watched with horror as their teacher transformed into a beast and clawed through the creature, turning it to dust.

"Alright!" The beast-teacher shouted, "Everybody out! Follow me to the parking lot!"

But as her classmates poured out of the room, Amelia stayed right where she was, paralysed by fear and confusion. When she finally brought herself to it, Amelia rose from under the desk and ran to the door...

... To find a hallway full of smaller birds. They were all the size of pigeons, but it was obvious that their size did not influence their aggression. The birds all started to dart toward Amelia, but she ducked just in time, narrowly dodging the onslaught of razor-sharp feathers. Amelia ran to the staircase before the birds could turn around and rush her once more.

At the bottom of the steps, Amelia could see the rest of her class being attacked by the birds, and a blond haired boy being dragged onto a bus. She ran to the door and the moment she opened it, a giant bird slammed into her, shoving her back and to the ground.

Amelia quickly got to her feet, just in time to sidestep the birds lunge. The bird turned around and lunged once more. This time, Amelia wasn't so lucky and got knocked back down. Now the bird jumped onto Amelia and began to flail at her with it's razor sharp wings. Amelia raised her arms in defense, but only succeeded at catching one of the strikes, tearing Amelia's jacket and leaving a deep scar on her arm. Amelia winced in pain before thrusting her right hand to push the bird off in retaliation.

It was then that Amelia felt something in her gut. A feeling she had seldom experienced in her life. She heard wind rushing past her ears as the cut on her arm burned with pain. The bird was thrown off of Amelia. It's razor sharp plumes stuck into the wall, giving Amelia time to flee. Once outside however, Amelia encountered a new problem, as the dozens of birds outside all seemed to take notice of her at once. Immediately, Amelia began to dash to the bus, clutching her wounded arm tightly. The birds descended upon her, pecking and scratching. Amelia attempted to swat the birds away, but to no avail. They only continued their assault. Amelia slowed and her vision began to blur.

Amelia outstretched her hand, reaching for anything. But there was nothing, the birds continued their assault, the pain was nearly unbearable. Amelia let out a screech of pain.

Then, she heard the birds being hit by something. One by one, the birds got off of Amelia, and started flying toward new targets. Amelia felt as a hand closed around her outstretched arm and began to pull her. She looked in the direction she was being pulled and saw only a bus before blacking out.​

 

[ジュナイパー]

Archelaus Courson​

Son of Hekate

Archy awoke to the the sound of screeching.

"Huh?" he grunted.

The window exploded and a gigantic metallic bird emerged. People screamed as hair sprouted all across Professor Crescent's body. His nails grew long and pointed, his teeth lengthening into fangs. With claws bared he attacked the the bird and it disintegrated into dust, minus a few feathers that weren't attached.

"Everybody out! Follow me!" Professor Crescent yelled.

Students panicked and ran out the door, following Professor Crescent (or at least the wolf-like creature that used to be him). The classroom was mostly empty in a matter of seconds.
Archy quickly considered his options.

He could go with the werewolf, but Archy didn't think that they'd be safe there, due to the fact that if there were more, the metallic birds could probably kill them all in one fell swipe. He could try the air vents, but he was too heavy for them. That left him with one more option, the window. Four students were already making their way down the side of the building.
Archy approached the window and looked down. His acrophobia kicked in, insides twisting in fear. He slowly backed away.
I guess I'm going with the wolf man.

It was at that moment when smaller metallic birds swarmed inside the room through the door. These birds were almost the size of pigeons, and there were about six of them. Archy grabbed a bunch of golden feathers from the floor and jabbed at the birds. They seemed stunned for a second when they were attacked, but there were too many of them to keep at bay. They pecked at Archy's face and arms. Archy stepped backwards and tripped on a chair.

Some of his game cards fell out of his belt. A bird dive-bombed straight towards his face. Archy knew that his reflexes weren't quick enough to block his face, but he tried anyway.
He cringed. This is gonna hurt.

He waited, but the pain didn't come. All that he heard were the robotic cries of the birds. Archy moved his arms away from his face and saw a pigeon-sized phoenix fending the birds off. He turned his head and looked at the card that was right by his hand. Where there would've been a picture of a phoenix, there was a vacant space.

Just like the dragon...

Archy didn't waste any time. He ran out the door to discover... more birds. Archy scoped the room and found a discarded rod.
At least I have something to defend myself with.
He picked up the rod and proceeded to strike the birds. While it did no damage, it stunned them for long enough. Archy ran as quickly as he could, and caught up to the other students.

"Get ready to run as fast as you possibly can. Don't make a noise." the said the Professor. With no warning, he slammed through the door and everyone poured into the classroom behind it. A boy in front screamed horrifically. Needless to say, the birds noticed him.

You had one job...

The werewolf crashed through the nearest window, and Archy made a beeline for the bus.

He was almost there, the bus being only yards away. But more birds appeared... They started to peck his back, tearing his clothing.

An red-haired girl, around Archy's age, was in a similar predicament, but with many more birds were attacking her. She shrieked in pain.

Archy ran towards the girl and tried to fend off the birds with his rod, but to little avail.
"I could use a little help here!" Archy mumbled through gritted teeth, not talking to anyone in particular. But as if on cue, the phoenix that Archy had previously summoned flew out of the school's broken window and started defending Archy and the girl. Archy didn't think that the phoenix could hold them off for long, for the battle was 11 to 1.

Archy swiftly grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her into the bus. Then, with great difficulty, he picked her up and sat her down in a seat. He sat down to rest, panting heavily.
I've gotta go and help the others. he thought, but before he even left his seat, he passed out...