GREY: A Story Of Heroes And Villains [IC]

[Auphelia]

Trinity Mathieu

When the strange girl showed up and fell on her, it seemed to trigger Trinity’s power. She slammed into the ground and let go of Kaarina, but she felt an influx of strength and quickly pushed Regina back. And well, she wanted to take advantage of that, maybe absorb a hit or two and let her strength grow to the point where she would be able to lift and throw around the new girl without a problem. It was a good thing if she could assert some authority before they really knew each other. It would help in the future, for sure.

“I don’t think that’s your business, is it? What were you doing walking into our business?” she asked, moving to hold Regina by the neck in the same way that she had just been holding Kaarina. Her voice, despite her words, was pretty calm. But her actions were the opposite, and she started pushing Regina backwards with the aim of pinning her to the wall at the end of the hallway. “Get the fuck out of here. I’m working on something, it’s not for you. You have a problem with that, you can get knocked out just like everyone else that’s tried the same thing.”

Regina

This was unexpected. On moment she was on the floor and the next a girl had a hand at her throat. Thankfully she couldn't be choked, as she was pure stone at this point. She was pushed further until her back was against the stone walls, something different from the floors but not noticeably so. Probably something stronger, in case of attack. Either way, it was enough. She began to change again, and found herself stuck to the wall. The girl kept pressing, a growling sound coming out of her mouth. Aggressive, to be sure. Still, this had to be dealt with.

"I am sorry to cause you problems, but hurting me may be harder than you expect. You could have said you did not want to talk to me. This violence is no good."

She felt the walls around her, feeling into them to see what they touched and saw. Good, there was nothing behind her. She opened up a small passageway, just enough to slip through. The momentum of the push carried her into the adjacent room and the arm that had been on her fell within the wall, hopefully stuck. A few turns to get into position and she was able to step out behind the girl in seconds, carefully out of reach of the mean lady's arms.

"I do not like to fight. I brings only sadness. Please stop."

Just in case, she began to form large hands out of the stone walls, each going to be the size of a human body. First the fingers, they the palm began to slowly form out of the wall as she waited to see what this evil lady would try to do next. She didn't like fighting, but after a year of nothing but it she was fairly experienced.

[Lunas Legion]

Kaarina Laine

"Yeah... Uh, can you just shoo?" Kaarina offered, her voice quiet as she made a shoo-ing gesture with her hand as she stared down at her now-ripped shirt and her exposed stomach, blushing slightly at the exposed skin. Great, another bit of clothing to throw away, because of someone's stupidity and clumsiness. She didn't have much to start with anyways, even if all that was in Trinity's room. "We're... Sort-of in the middle of something and I don't want to lose any more clothing. Just... Leave us alone, okay? Less problems for you. I don't want anyone to get hurt but you should just leave now before you do."

She shook her head. Why could no one ever get the message that she just wanted to be left alone by everyone?

[Forest State]

Ruby Wilson was working in her office as class ended, sorting some peculiar papers and finishing with a conversation on the phone. She stood silently, listening to what the person on the other end of the line had to say, and then she set her phone down once again and sighed, returning to the original task of going through the student files and sorting them. Lying around the office, there were a few other types of papers, but she put them in their places whenever she saw them.

She was interrupted, however, when one of the students entered and sat down in front of her for the first time. Looking at him in slight surprise, she turned to put away the file in her hand before sitting down in front of him, unbuttoning the first couple of buttons of her blouse as she did so, in a subtle way. “Eli. What is it that brings you to my office?” she asked, kindly.

Trinity Mathieu

“You don’t want to fight, eh? Well, why did you come to a place like this? What are you, stupid?” asked Trinity, her voice still calm even as her words were biting and very targeted. She was presented with a large threat, yes. But she was confident in her powers and how her powers worked. If she was hit by the stone, it would only increase her strength to a level greater than if she had been hit by a normal punch. And so, even if it was painful, she was prepared to deal with it and she wasn’t backing down.

She took some passive steps forward, not getting into a fighting stance yet but continuing her verbal assault. “If you had stood up for yourself a bit and showed me that you had a spine, that you belonged here, maybe I would back off. Because it wouldn’t be worth the effort to get involved in a fight with you. But no, you showed me that you don’t belong here, and if you think I’m going to just forget the fact that you were trying to get into my business, I’m not. You don’t want to start this fight. It’s not one that you’re going to win.”

She continued walking towards the hands, raising her fists. “And just by being here, you’re starting it.”

[Auphelia]

Trinity Mathieu

“You don’t want to fight, eh? Well, why did you come to a place like this? What are you, stupid?” asked Trinity, her voice still calm even as her words were biting and very targeted. She was presented with a large threat, yes. But she was confident in her powers and how her powers worked. If she was hit by the stone, it would only increase her strength to a level greater than if she had been hit by a normal punch. And so, even if it was painful, she was prepared to deal with it and she wasn’t backing down.

She took some passive steps forward, not getting into a fighting stance yet but continuing her verbal assault. “If you had stood up for yourself a bit and showed me that you had a spine, that you belonged here, maybe I would back off. Because it wouldn’t be worth the effort to get involved in a fight with you. But no, you showed me that you don’t belong here, and if you think I’m going to just forget the fact that you were trying to get into my business, I’m not. You don’t want to start this fight. It’s not one that you’re going to win.”

She continued walking towards the hands, raising her fists. “And just by being here, you’re starting it.”

Regina

This girl, she didn't give up. In fact, she only became more aggressive as time went on. She didn't even seem to fear being attacked, more like she was encouraging it. And after the fall and accidental hit, she had been able to push Regina across a rough surface several metres. Well that was probably it. She had seen people like her before, getting stronger the more they fought. Regina didn't know what she was feeding off of, be it her own emotions, the aggression in the room, or violent contact, but she didn't want to end up fighting another five story tall fire breathing dragon lizard like in Tehran. This wasn't the time to fight back or get indignant, it was time to defend. Already she was as tough as she could be given the surroundings, so she just had to keep calm and not escalate. Unless she was wrong, in which case she was screwed.

"I do not want to fight. We do not fight us, we fight other. The chasers and killers. We only help them when we fight in ourselves. Please, be calm. You are smart. Think."

She stood firm and reached out to the wall with her powers, creating a thin latticework of stone between her and the girl. She wouldn't run, she couldn't. She was strong, and near invincible. She couldn't be hurt like this, she hoped.

Kaarina Laine

"Yeah... Uh, can you just shoo?" Kaarina offered, her voice quiet as she made a shoo-ing gesture with her hand as she stared down at her now-ripped shirt and her exposed stomach, blushing slightly at the exposed skin. Great, another bit of clothing to throw away, because of someone's stupidity and clumsiness. She didn't have much to start with anyways, even if all that was in Trinity's room. "We're... Sort-of in the middle of something and I don't want to lose any more clothing. Just... Leave us alone, okay? Less problems for you. I don't want anyone to get hurt but you should just leave now before you do."

She shook her head. Why could no one ever get the message that she just wanted to be left alone by everyone?

She looked back to the girl who seemed to be shrinking into herself in front of this confrontation. The girl who was missing half of her shirt.

"I am sorry for your shirt. Do you know how to tell this woman to stop?"

[Grenartia]

“We will have other Specter units on site for this exercise. In the event that things go poorly enough, these units will be able to step in and attempt to salvage things. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, however, because such an event would mean a failing grade for both teams,” LaFlame explained. “Now, there don’t seem to be more questions, so you are dismissed for the day. We’ll leave for the exercise tomorrow, so be sure to do any other preparations today. We’ll depart late in the night with the goal of arriving in the morning or afternoon.”

"Well then," Clover thought to themself as they walked back to the dorm, "That probably could've gone better." They had no idea how they were supposed to prepare for an exercise where the only actual information that had been given was its general location and that it was 'retrieving a target'. He even said that the necessary equipment would be provided, but refused to elaborate on what that equipment would be. What the hell were they supposed to do to prepare, especially if all the equipment was going to be handed out before the exercise?

They realized upon reaching the door that they were hungry. Walking into the kitchen, they began looking around at what was available to eat. Ramen, lunch meat, cheese, bread, chips, canned biscuits, bagged salads, various salad dressings, frozen dinners, and frozen pizza. Not much, but it was workable. Now to decide what to eat.

[Lunas Legion]

Kaarina Laine

"Yes, it's called you leave you idiot." Kaarina rolled her eyes, a small note of irritation in her voice overcoming the terror briefly. God, was it really that hard to understand? You didn't stop a looming fight with Trinity by escalating since she'd just escalate back and escalate back harder. "That's... That's what we've been saying this... This whole damn time." The nervousness returned to her voice once again.

"That's... That's all we've ever said we wanted." She stammered out. "You're...Are threatening her and... And as long as you're threatening her she'll be ready to fight and if she fights... I... I will too. I don't want to but you're... You're forcing our hands here. Just back up and leave. It's... It's better for all of us. If you want to be... Be smart then ignore your pride and just... Go."

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Eli Stephens

“Wait a minute, you know who I am?” I thought.

I was surprised. Oh wait, I shouldn’t have been, she probably already had a file on me. Wait, yes I should be surprised, I didn’t give any information at all. That would’ve got me theorizing on how much info she had on me, but she asked her question, so I would have to answer.

“Well, the two classes are having a mock mission in the british isles, and given that we have almost no actual leader types on our team, I’m asking for your help.” I said, scratching the back of my head as I did so.

[Llalta]

Esther Winterbourne

As far as Esther was concerned, that left more questions than answers. What were they supposed to secure? The only thing he felt vaguely confident about was the location. And even that, according to Izumi, would be somewhere he wasn't supposed to know. Although, he highly doubted that. Though, yes, he hadn't lived everywhere, he certainly had enough knowledge of the UK to be at an advantage. He'd studied maps at school, and he was certainly a nerd when it came to maps. He felt a glimmer of reassurance.

He slowly strolled back into the dorms taking his time to look at the surroundings; emerald green trees, multicoloured cobblestone pathways. Zigzagging on the path, he thought about whether it'd be worth using his laptop for a map of the UK. He'd print it off and bring it to his secret hideout, where he could concentrate. He was about to open the front door only for the door to rumble. He cautiously stepped in, only to see Trinity and some other girl, Regina maybe, squaring each other off. As soon as he saw Trinity's fierce face, he shimmered into invisibility, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. He leaned against the wall and stared; this could be useful knowledge for the so-called 'mission' they were going to go on. You could learn a lot from watching two people fight.

He stepped closer to the action, making no sounds whatsoever. He could them a lot clearer now; rallying back and forth insults whilst Kaarina, looked nervous, finally free of Trinity. He rolled his eyes. Obviously his team would be the ones who fought before the actual trip. Oh how he hated his team. He crossed his arms in frustration, watching his team fall apart already. Idiots. Not that he'd do much about it; They could be entertaining.

[Khasinkonia]

-snip-

Audrey Leisagh

I nodded at Izumi’s response, frowning and biting my lip ever so slightly as a result of the worried frustration on my face. So this was spectacular, absolutely spectacular. What a damn nightmare. What a fucking liberty. I shook my head as I walked to the dorms, taking the long route back to the villain’s dorm, as it was an easier slope and so I could actually take it faster. Come to think of it, despite this being a good portion of my body weight I was carrying around, I was able to at least manage a decent walk for most people, although it would been nice to be able to walk more briskly like I used to before all this.

Jesus Christ, just walking to and from the class, and being there, and I’m hungry again. It’s like these babies are tapeworms or something. Though considering how bizarre this whole thing is, it actually might be wise to ask if they have any medical staff here who might be able to give me an idea. I took a moment to clear my mind by looking around, and appreciating the fact that through some act of God there was usually at least a small breeze to keep the air from getting stagnant and miserable like it did in the south.

Finally, I was back at the dorms. I gave a heavy sigh as I took a moment to rest against the door before going in. I needed to eat something bad, and I needed to sit down. As I walked down the hall, I saw a girl standing as if she was holding up a wall...right in the middle of the hallway. As I heard some of the dialogue, evidently there was some sort of dispute. I could ask nicely, yeah, but I’m hangry. Fucking hangry. And these sods are in the way. I walked up behind the teenage girl version of the Thing, and gave her a firm tapping on the rocky back.

“Would you lot mind moving? Folks need to get down the hall,” I snapped with my Yat accent mixing with the Newfoundland accent I’d picked up to create a rather unplaceable accent, and tapping my sore foot on the floor irritably, “C’mon, take it outside or something!”

---

-snip-

Corentina-Elouana Koaduuiueg

Well, this was alright, actually. I mean, it would be more ideal if we were in a forest in the Scottish highlands, but a city ought to be manageable. Pigeons are in nature, so maybe I can convince a flock of them to help me if I bring along some good bread or something. And mist, we can definitely use plenty of mist to cover our tracks. If we heroes work together, this could actually go quite well in spite of the dangers. I shouldn’t worry; the villains seem more likely to botch things than we do.

As I made it back to the dorms, I noticed it was about time that I would usually eat something...I think...maybe jet lag wants me to eat dinner or something. Either way, no need to worry about a mission that shouldn’t be too problematic when I have biological needs, and desires of the taste buds, to attend to. As I stepped into the kitchen, I noticed there was another...person. Looks more like a girl to me, but it’s tough to tell with people nowadays, so I may as well just introduce myself and hope the name tells me something so I won’t have that odd conversation dancing with words while we eat or wait for stuff to cook.

“Ah, hello there,” I said, walking beside them, beginning to sort of yammer, “Great minds think alike, do they not? Lunchtime is a nice way to chill out after a busy class, eh?”

[Grenartia]

“Ah, hello there,” I said, walking beside them, beginning to sort of yammer, “Great minds think alike, do they not? Lunchtime is a nice way to chill out after a busy class, eh?”

"Oh, hey." Clover said to the girl, who they recognized from the meeting earlier. "Yeah, I'm just having trouble figuring out what I want to eat. Part of me wants to do something quick and easy, and the other part wants some elaborate feast. I can let you do your thing if you already know what you want." They said, being polite, and then offered their hand to shake. "I'm Clover, by the way. Clover Patton."

[Atreidya]

Steve Murphy

Steve had kept to himself since arriving along with the others. He wasn't one to stir the pot so to say, and it seemed like he wasn't the only one. Still trying to get used to his new surroundings and situation the boy had yet to do much more than wander around in his free time. Now wandering back toward his dorm he was surprised to find three fellow villains in the hall, and it looked like things were escalating to violence. Silently standing there and watching them he did his best to stay out of their way, although he did still need to keep going down that hallway so he wasn't really going anywhere.

After standing for a time and hoping the three would end their argument, or possible roleplay Steve began to realize that it might be a while, being as two seemed to begin gearing up for a fight and the third was loudly calling her intentions to get involved too. He frowned, ever since he came to Hadley he had felt nervous, likely from the feeling of tightness in the compound. Things like this made that nervousness much worse as he felt like it was making the hallway constrict. Weighing his options for a moment Steve finally decided actually saying something would be better than just passing through. So glancing up to the ceiling dreading getting in the middle of their problem he cleared his throat before actually speaking.

"Hey I gotta get through here so hold off on fighting for a second." He took a tentative couple of steps forward hoping they would listen to him. However he doubted they would. If they got into a fight though, he would probably have to pick a side here.

Thinking as he moved he chose the girl that worked the stone lattice between herself and the others. If he remembered correctly he had seen her go into the room nearest them before, unless he was mistaken, plus three versus one seemed more like bullying than a fight.

"I might be a villain," He thought to himself. "but I'm no bully. The thought caused his mood to perk slightly erasing the frown but not quite making him smile, like he usually did back home.

[Khasinkonia]

“Ah, hello there,” I said, walking beside them, beginning to sort of yammer, “Great minds think alike, do they not? Lunchtime is a nice way to chill out after a busy class, eh?”

"Oh, hey." Clover said to the girl, who they recognized from the meeting earlier. "Yeah, I'm just having trouble figuring out what I want to eat. Part of me wants to do something quick and easy, and the other part wants some elaborate feast. I can let you do your thing if you already know what you want." They said, being polite, and then offered their hand to shake. "I'm Clover, by the way. Clover Patton."

Corentina-Elouana Koaduuiueg

I nodded in agreement to their comments on food as I shook their hand. As it occurred to me, I wanted pizza, but also a salad if they had any good vinaigrettes stocked, which they seemed to.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Corentina-Elouana Koaduuiueg, but most people call me Elouana since that’s a lot easier for most people to say. Actually, about food, I’m not terribly hungry,” I replied, breaking the handshake, “I was thinking of cooking a pepperoni pizza, but I can’t eat the whole thing, especially since I want a salad. Would you like to share one?”

[Forest State]

Trinity Mathieu

“I’m not the one that started this, so if you want to get by, I suggest telling the other girl to move,” growled Trinity, taking a few more steps forward as Regina didn’t back down when she was warned. She gripped the lattice with both hands, pulling and straining as she ripped the stone right out of the wall. She wasn’t strong enough to break stone, not yet, but she was strong enough to tear at the wooden supports that were within the wall itself, the entire building made of wood.

And soon, the lattice clattered to the ground and Trinity continued her slow walk forwards, taking a swing at the girl using the same strength she’d torn the lattice away with. An uppercut, one that had enough power behind it to knock Regina off of her feet. If she took the punch badly, it might break bone. The fact of the matter was that Trinity already had considerable training in hand to hand combat, and now, she also had a bit of increased strength on her side from the original impact. “You had your chance to move, bitch,” she said as she punched, the emotion of aggressiveness taking over her voice completely.

Ruby Wilson

“As you can see, I have the school records on all students. So yes, I know who you are, Eli,” said Ruby, adjusting her hair slightly as she looked to see what Eli wanted. When he did make his request, she seemed a bit amused, even if she looked like she had been expecting it. Well, she had been expecting it. She was a telepath after all, and she wondered if he knew that. But despite her power, she was going to make him get more specific with his request. “Why did you come to me for assistance in particular? You realize that I’m a therapist, not a combat instructor, right?” she asked. Even if she knew she was more than that.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Cesar Wilder

This was starting to be fun. Listening to the briefing was boring, but shower-girl had found someone who didn't want to bend. Cesar didn't really have a stake in the fight, but it would be entertaining if nothing else. Trinity kept moving forward, tearing though Regina's defenses.

"It'd be nice to have someone like that as an ally," Cesar thought to himself. A plan formed in his head and he started to vibrate has his powers took over. When Trinity pulled back for a punch he rushed forward, his body sliding through the hall at blinding speed. He beat Trinity's punch to Regina and slid his arms under the stone girl's lacing his fingers behind her head, holding her still for the punch.

"I wouldn't try anything." He said quickly to Regina. "I've matched your resonance, so you can't even land a blow on me. If you don't back down, I'll vibrate you into dust and sweep you under the rug; a tragic accident not worth remembering."

[Llalta]

Esther Winterbourne

Esther sniggered quietly. Not that he was mean, but the whole ordeal was slightly pathetic. Regina was adamant to stand her ground (stupidly) against Trinity with her weird material power or whatever she was doing. Nevertheless, Trinity somehow managed to get the strength to break through, ready to strike at the helpless girl. Esther wondered - how did she get all that strength? Maybe it was her ability, but that didn't seem like the right ability. It had to be something else something -

Before he could finish his thought, Cesar, who Esther knew his ability of vibrating, ran past with such speed Esther's hair wrapped around his face from the wind. Esther was so shocked, his invisibility was gone for a few milliseconds at most. Hopefully everyone else was too busy fighting like kids to notice. And he took back what he said about the villains being not very 'villain-y'. From the last 30 seconds, the only innocent villain was Kaarina, at least, if she wasn't a slave of Trinity.

He rolled his eyes. With the assessment a day away, he knew they were screwed. None of these dingbats even tried to be nice, or at least not as militant. They were all fighting, being complete and utter children. He laughed anyway. There wasn't much else to do here anyway. Free entertainment. He carried on leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He might even do something, if he wasn't so apathetic about the whole situation. And he wasn't the strongest.

[Forest State]

Trinity Mathieu

The punch connected, and Trinity could feel her fist displacing bone as there was a crack. She followed through on the motion and paused momentarily when Cesar showed up to hold Regina. It only made the punch do more damage, and that was the reason why there was broken bone. She was unsure of the motive behind Cesar jumping in, but there would be time to worry about that later. For now, she was focused on finishing this fight before her opponent could control more materials and make life hard for her. She backed up, running calculations in her mind the best she could and determining the distance between her and her opponent.

And then she took a running start and jumped, shifting one knee up and forward and slamming it into Regina’s already broken jaw, causing another crack to ring out. She pushed off of Regina to balance herself and landed on her feet, turning around and surveying the area quickly as her opponent fell. Calmly, she dusted herself off and stood, breathing deeply to slow her heart rate and control her emotions. She turned to Kaarina and waved towards her, gesturing for her to come on. They were about to walk outside, and Trinity turned to speak to Kaarina as she backed out of the doorway. “The task that I’m going to ask of you is a peculiar one and it isn’t a particularly easy one. However, it will be a very good way for you to gain some favor with me…”

[Lunas Legion]

Kaarina Laine

She watched in silence as Trinity, for lack of a better term, demolished Regina. She didn't help; there was nothing she could do to help. She wasn't a fighter, she'd just get in Trinity's way. Besides, from the person holding her opponent down and the way she was fighting and the sounds of bones cracking, it didn't look like Trinity actually needed the nearly non-existent help she could offer anyways, so she hung back, keeping her distance as best as she could until Trinity stood up and brushed herself down.

And then Trinity turned towards her, waving her to follow her. She did so, scampering around Regina and the others to place herself a short distance behind Trinity as they made their way outside and said that she had a task for her. She glanced up at Trinity, not meeting her gaze as she mumbled out a response.

"So, uh... What is it? As long as... As it isn't seppuku or... Or whatever I'll do it."

[Atreidya]

Steve Murphy

Steve had his hand on the cable wrapped around him and was already loosening it up as Trinity punched Regina. The sound made him cringe slightly, as bone had obviously been broken. Seeing another had jumped in to further imbalance the odds, Steve's frown deepened. As he continued to watch them gang up on the girl, he grew irritated. There was a fight and then there was chicken shit tactics like that. He couldn't really tell if Trinity and Cesar had coordinated that attack prior to the fight somehow, but either way he didn't like it. He snapped his cable out and moved to entangle it around Cesar's throat, while also heating his body and beginning generating plasma.

"Not very fair all ganging up on one person is it?" Splashing a few spots with his plasma burning holes in the floor, he held off on coating his cable in plasma yet. "I am thinking that maybe you two..." He paused glancing at Kaarina. "...Three, are the kinds of people I really disagree with on a basic level." He sneered as he yanked back and down on his cable driving a plasma covered boot up toward Cesar's back at the same time.

"I say you and I fight." He said to Cesar. "The others, well I have no real issue with her for fighting with that girl, but you, I gotta say you did that girl wrong." He watched out of the corner of his eye as Trinity and Kaarina went outside following the former pummeling Regina into the floor.

"Plus" He thought. "I feel it would be better if Regina and her had a fair rematch rather than just getting others fighting in her place." Steve frowned again as he tried to figure out why he cared, why had he even involved himself.

[Menschenfleisch]

Avith Scotty

The soft drift of water. The slow movement of a rickety wooden boat, as lights twinkled on the horizon. Dappled moonlight stretched itself thin over the ocean, creating crystal patches of white against dark and pristine blue. It would’ve been beautiful, if she didn’t know where this boat was headed. The rower, a man in a thick coat and fedora, gave her a glance from beneath his hat. A thin rope of blood connected Avith’s fingers to the wound in her torso. The blood glimmered like gold.

“So. Are you excited?”

She mumbled something soft. She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t excited, she was bitter. That turmoil in her stomach, that quaking in her skull. What was the answer? To know that one must first know the question. Why did the world hate them? Superiors, they’d been dubbed. Of course. The rest of humanity felt threatened. Insecure about their own lack of ‘abilities’. Blinded by the belief in the dangerous other. She smiled. They wouldn’t have hunted them down if they were aliens from another planet, or robots or something completely new. No. They hated superiors because they were close to humanity but not close enough. Something perverted, something ‘corrupt’.

“The facilities are beautiful. I think you’ll have a great time.”

Yeah. Maybe they were. Maybe this was all going to turn out well. Avith hoped not. That’d be too easy. She didn’t want to just hide, she wanted to make a change. Take a stand, be alone and free and wild. Call to the sky. I dunno. Fuck society. The crowds can go tear each other apart. She’d be on some distant shore, exploring the woods and standing on untainted soil. The Garden of Eden is not a place you can find, it’s a place you create. She’d be better than just a hero or a villain. She’d be a person.

“Avith. Avith! Wake up!”

She snapped awake.

Dust clung to her arms. Dirt still caked her lazily discarded shoes. The taste of dribble stung her mouth accusingly. ‘Look at what you’ve done now! You’ve caked your pillow in mucus!’ Ava stood up with tired, smoking legs and fumbled at her hair with tired clumsy hands. No time for fcleanliness. Breakfast, the lecture, the goodies of the day; all passed by without a single thing to care about. Live fire exercise? Come on. As if this ‘school’ could get any more blatant with what it actually wanted from the students.

On her way back to her room, Ava just so happened to meet a group of four particularly angry looking students. One was cowering in fear, another lying in nearly literal pieces, one holding a glowing cable, one raising their fists and… some guy watching this whole thing go on? Whatever. Irrelevant. She drifted forward, thin veins of smoke drifting from her palms. She tucked them in her pockets. Nothing worth fighting over… yet.

“Hey, what exactly is going on here? I mean, we’re all ‘villains’ here, but this seems kinda unnecessary. Come on. We’re all on the same side, right?

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Eli Stephens

“To be fair, I don’t see Mr. Laflame giving me any pointers on how to beat his team, and I highly doubt that my own intructor cares enough to give one student lessons, not to mention the fact that the villain side is... well... as easy to get along with as oil will mix with water, hell, just a few days ago I saw one of em forcing another to a shower wall. My point is, if I want to not get pressed underfoot by someone else, I need ways to win, clean, dirty, whatever, and who else would know the details of all the students here but the therapist herself?” I replied, hopefully she understood what I was trying to say.

I was genuine with those words, and perhaps she knew as well that someone like me wouldn’t get very far without help, and after a bit of thinking, I realized that the woman in front of me was a telepath, I didn’t say a word to her about asking if she knew who I was, or that I was thinking whether or not she had a record on me. Perhaps she knew of my revelation as well.

[Grenartia]

"Oh, hey." Clover said to the girl, who they recognized from the meeting earlier. "Yeah, I'm just having trouble figuring out what I want to eat. Part of me wants to do something quick and easy, and the other part wants some elaborate feast. I can let you do your thing if you already know what you want." They said, being polite, and then offered their hand to shake. "I'm Clover, by the way. Clover Patton."

Corentina-Elouana Koaduuiueg

I nodded in agreement to their comments on food as I shook their hand. As it occurred to me, I wanted pizza, but also a salad if they had any good vinaigrettes stocked, which they seemed to.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Corentina-Elouana Koaduuiueg, but most people call me Elouana since that’s a lot easier for most people to say. Actually, about food, I’m not terribly hungry,” I replied, breaking the handshake, “I was thinking of cooking a pepperoni pizza, but I can’t eat the whole thing, especially since I want a salad. Would you like to share one?”

"Sure." Clover replied, reaching into the fridge to get some ingredients. "There's not any dough, but we can use the canned biscuits, and we've got plenty of cheese. I don't see any pepperoni, but there's some deli ham we could put on it instead. We also have roast beef and turkey and bacon bits. I'll go ahead and pull out the bagged lettuce for you. Do you have any preference for salad dressing?" Personally, if it had just been Clover, they'd have pulled out the ranch, but apparently, not everyone recognizes it for the nectar of the gods that it is.

[Llalta]

Esther Winterbourne

His eyes widened when he heard the crack of Regina's jaw. He didn't know whether to ignore it or to sneak away and tell the instructors. He felt that maybe he could comfort her and possibly gain a new ally, but did he really want to pick the losing side? Besides, he couldn't be bothered. He had better things to do. He thought maybe he could snitch, but if he was caught he'd be dead meat. Though cruel, ignoring her was his best option. Maybe the 'villain' label wasn't so incorrect.

He turned around to leave when he heard some boy behind him. He thought it might be Cesar trying to be 'new best friends' with Trinity, but it was some idiot who was squaring up Cesar. Esther couldn't remember his name, but the boy probably wasn't going to last long anyway, especially not against Cesar, who could apparently vibrate so much he could turn them to dust (which Esther wasn't planning to find out). He looked bemused as the boy frowned, as if wondering what to write on his gravestone. Esther rolled his eyes and decided that he would stay. The boy might turn out to be a good ally and a strong fighter. He wasn't awful looking either.

He stared at the floor beneath the boy and saw burnt holes, like bullet holes. Even weirder; what looked like plasma balls were almost flickering at his fingers. Well, he showed off his ability quicker than most. A girl, who Esther thought was called Ava or something (she was always smoky as if she'd covered herself in cigarette smoke). She strolled past asking a question even science can't answer. He shimmered into view where he was leaning up against the wall, right next to Ava.

"Hmm. I don't know. Baking cakes?" He said sarcastically, with a sharp tone, not even glancing at her. He rolled his eyes before turning invisible again.

[Auphelia]

Regina

Well, that was embarrassing. Here she was, on the ground, her head shattered around her, having lost a fight that had been . . . she didn't even know how badly she was outnumbered. It had been so quick. First her fence was broken, then she was - no, she couldn't even think about it. All she knew now was that she was effectively headless, the vibrations from her unseen attacker having caused cracks to spread out around. Her shoulder and right arm was damaged as well, barely hanging on as it is. She carefully felt around, sensing with her powers in order to find the wall. Carefully standing up, she made her way over to it. Currently blind and deaf, she has no other recourse but to heal and evaluate. Eventually her shuffling comes to an end as she touches the wall, causing a stone panel to come free. Swiping her arm and stump of a neck across more panels, she waits for them to form into her original shape. Quite unfortunate, to be sure, especially now that she cannot change back until she is healed. With nothing else to do, she slumps to the wall and tries to be patient, unknowing of anything happening around her.

[Korhal IVV]

Juinsan Starvane

The days rolled on as the reclusive wielder of Stellar Magicks exuded an aura of mystery and shadow. Juinsan would barely speak at all, even to the others labeled as heroes. He held contempt for the villains, though he was careful not to allow it to show out. Others would have seen him as silent and reclusive. As Mr. LaFlame spelled out the things in the exercise, he would simply listen and then take in all the information. He would be amongst the first to leave, leaving without a word.

As he entered his dorm room he would sit on his bed. For a few moments, he conjured a little star on his palm, looking at it intently as his thoughts ran deeper than an ocean trench.

“Why was I born with this power...”,he thought as he caused the star to degenerate. “Why was I cursed like this?!”, he went on as the star turned to a supernova. Its stellar remains then quickly coalesced, leaving only a white dwarf, the remnants of its core. “I just don’t want to hurt anyone anymore...”, he sobbed as he took out what looked like a picture from from his bag. “You used this power to defend the city and yet they never gave you credit.”, Juinsan said to the people on the picture. “We never got you a proper burial.”

The tears kept on falling as the reclusive Starvane embraced the picture frame. Those just outside the door would hear a soft sobbing from within...

[Forest State]

Ruby Wilson

“Winning by knowing the details of all the other students is an unreliable method, love. You won’t always know everything about your enemy. Winning a few fights that way while at this school won’t help you once you get out into the real world and face opponents that you don’t have proper recon on,” Ruby stated, before gesturing for Eli to stand up. She moved the chair aside, before placing one hand under Eli’s arm and one hand on his hip. “I’m not here to give you information on the other students. But if you want to look out for yourself…”

She suddenly moved into a judo throw, picking Eli up and slamming him onto his back. The action wouldn’t be very painful, but the fluidity of her movement and the skill that she displayed in the process of doing it was surprising. After all, she was pretty small and she wasn’t the type that one would expect to be an athlete or a fighter. “I can teach you this. To protect yourself with actual skills. It’s not something that’s easy. It will likely made you bleed. But if you want to survive this place, it will go a long way towards helping you with that. Not just surviving, even, but prospering.”

Trinity Mathieu

“If we’re going to stay safe at a place like this, we need to have friends in high places. Well, one friend will do, and after much thought, I’ve figured out how we’re going to get that prominent ally. It’s actually not something that I’m going to do, but something that you’re going to do. Izumi has a lot of power around here and we’re going to win her over and gain some favors from her. You’re going to do this by using some of the things I taught you over the past couple of days, even if we haven’t had a lot of time to… Practice,” Trinity started, continuing to walk and looking over her shoulder to see if Kaarina was following.

“The fact of the matter is that Izumi seems quite apathetic and lonely and even someone as inept as me is able to see that. You will be the one to brighten up her life, and your efforts will win us favor from her that will be a help to us when… When other students become a problem and we need the help repaid in the future. You’ll do this today, before we have to pack and depart for the field exercise,” she continued, turning to face Kaarina again. “I expect you not to come back to the dorms until you’ve completed the task.”