Holy High: Pax Deorum (IC/OPEN)

[Nantoraka]

Abaguabana just walked through the nearest door, disregarding any prior gym clothes or requirement for them; he didn't actually know to pack any, but in a pinch, his traditional dress could serve as clothes, and he's more than able to switch clothes on a time when able. Completely lost, Abagubana just stood in the corner of the room, hands behind his back, listening patiently for a chance to catch up.

[Tuboo Shippers]

Everyone was silent, which was weird. she knew this was the gym, for sure, but Vix honestly didn't know what to do. she zeroed in on a guy In the corner who looked like he knew what he was doing, with his hands behind his back and whatnot. Or maybe 'he' is a'she', thought Vix. She waved at him.

"hey, sup rando!"Akwwardly, she tried to start a conversation with him. "what're we supposed to do?"

[Luminesa]

Co-Write With Danceria and Luminesa

GOPNIK POWERS ACTIVATE

It had been the dawn of the first day of classes, and it was gym. Bozhidar gradually sprung to life as he had countless times before-now with the unusual sense of a caterpillar crawling up and down his spine. He knew what that meant, and the fact his forays for breakfast did little to to appease or even phase the entity, it was still polite. He was born within the confines of the universe, not outside of it.

At the beach, he was donned in a simple tracksuit-this time used for it's actual purpose. It was late-summer, the last warmth of vacation lingered and he ditched the tracksuit coat for a tank-top. While like Lanuru, hailing from a colder climate, he nevertheless kept a stiff upper lip and gently jovial disposition as he approached the appointed place.

At least until the Sun Titan emptied his stomach and it's contents, and the Fae Prince turned it into interprative flora that wasn't sure if it needed or wanted to be there.

He liked the Greeks-or at least, tried to respect them. His family respected the Greeks! Or rather, the Byzantines. Not their deities. But he had thought with the Titanomachy that Hyperion would be more...something other than what he was.

Although with the recent arrival of an Aura similar to his, but olive-oil flavored, "Alkibides", he believed his name was-already attempting to bribe the gym teacher. Which was technically a viable strategy in combat, prevent it from occurring! Something Bozhidar could get behind!

Another, similarly olive-oil burning aura burst in with the chitter of fox-pups. Bozhidar smirked at her and responded "You haven't missed anything yet." he began to march around, eyeing up the smoldering golem with a hand on his chin. "We're just getting started, if the Fae Prince and the new guy are done attempting to bribe the teacher!"

To say Hyperion was impressed by the gifts was an understatement. He immediately uncorked the bottle and took a long swig, before he put the cork back on and nodded to the new Greek student. “Now…THAT kid is going places. Yup, Didi always knew how to make a good brew. But then…he gave me this recipe with petrol and…strawberry jelly?…Didi keeps pulling my leg…arm…and teeth…”

He put the bottle to the side, as he was about to place it on the station wagon until The Factory scooted it away and started to repair it. He watched with shocked eyes, coughing into his fist a little before he turned to stare at the fixed vehicle. “…Wow. Uh. Awesome. Gee this is nicer than the time I caused three eclipses in a row. Got rid of an entire hangover, but uh…scared some humans. Anyway…”

He snapped his fingers, and the fixed station wagon sat under the tree. He placed the bottle of delicious fruit wine on the hood, and he turned to Boz. He smirked a little behind his sunglasses. He was a bit of a shy student, now that he did not have his whole family with him.

“Remember kids, bribes are an important part of being a world leader. Having sexy secretaries is the second part. Mm. Now! You there, Gopnik.” He pointed to Boz. “You wanna be my Guinea pig? Come here.”

Bozhidar would gesture to himself, almost saying "who, me?" before sighing, muttering something about "fortune favoring the bold" and striding ahead, a confident grin on his face. Unlike many here, he didn't actually feel confident-despite the power his pedigree bestowed upon him, his life was rather peaceful before being cast into the depths of Nav.

He considered the advice, as being a "world leader" was not at all dissimilar to being a deity. While he would disagree with the need for having secretaries (plural), behind every great man was a great woman who knew how to use a rolling pin.

He wondered if there were any who applied to that description here.

"So," Bozhidar ventured "How do you want me to, ah, break this thing?"

Hyperion indeed summoned another Golem, which floated around in a circle. “For this exercise, it’s just moving in a circle. Every time you hit it, it goes faster. I want you to keep up with it until it explodes. Remember. The lesson is FOCUS.”

"So..." Boris' eyes widened. "Do I just...stay in the circle? Run ahead of it?"

“You decide what you want to do. Again, sometimes you solve the puzzle by saving the princess. Sometimes you save the princess by pulling her hair. Don’t do that without her consent. But uh…” Hyperion swigged more of the new Greek student’s wine and gave an unceremonious burp in Boris’s ear. “Yes.”

Boris gagged and tried to wipe his ear of anything that Hyperion may have poured into it besides wisdom. It's a good thing they would shower later...
Now, he had to observe the golem, and caused the wind to warp around it like a sling-shot, giving the floating entity a thwap to see how it would react.

The golem continued to swing around in a circle around the two gods, whirling and swirling in a stationary position on occasion. Yet when Boris warped the wind around it before flinging a sonic blast at it, the golem swung off kilter, leaning much more toward the ground. A few pieces of rock flew off, but it slowly adjusted until it flew in another circle. This time, parts of the rocks on its head were missing.

A propeller... Bozhidar noted, before deciding to "cheat". Rule number one of fighting, according to Uncle Radegost, "there's no such thing as a fair fight, only the clever and the killed".

With that he attempted to warp the wind downward, angling himself and the device so that way it's flight momentum would careen it towards the ground, breaking any propellers it may have, and rendering it inert.

Despite being the sun, Hyperion did not quite prepare for physics to have the effect it did in this demonstration. He watched the wind warp downward, pushing the monster abruptly toward the earth. The movement was so sharp and well-placed that it knocked into a propelling arm, tipping the golem toward the ground.

Unable to adjust itself in time, the arm smashed into the earth, causing for the golem to get stuck. As it attempted to free itself-having very little intelligence, it could not-it tipped at a 180° angle and smashed into the ground, “face” down.

The Sun Titan gave a hiccup rather than a burp, and he adjusted his sunglasses, hiding the quick surprise behind his eyes. “…Very good! Now uh…hit it in the middle, watch it explode. You know, the fun part.”

"Oh, uh, really? Do I...have to?" Being someone who's mortal company was mostly animals, at least those he interacted with directly, he looked on with a bit of pity. But he remembered Uncle Radegost's First Rule of Fighting: "Destroy your enemy outright whenever possible".
Picking up a piece of scrap, winding it up, he threw it straight at the middle and ran, perhaps instinctively tackling someone who would be nearby the impact.
One of the downsides of interacting with Mortals so much, he didn't really consider how invulnerable his fellow demigods were.

The wind-powered attack managed to crash into the middle of this golem, and smashed it to pieces. Huge sedimentary pieces flew into the air, along with some molten material who fell into the water behind them and cooled. Hyperion punched the air and cheered, as did Patriah a few feet away.

“BOOM! Nice job!” Patriah cheered to his classmate.

“HAAAAAAAAA YES! MOLOTOV GOPNIK!” Hyperion screamed, as he finished the bottle of new wine and grinned with bloodshot eyes at the rest of the class. Adjusting his sunglasses, he nodded.

“I’m gonna put all of you in pairs, each with a golem. I’m gonna grade to see who can get theirs blown-up the fastest. There’s a trick to it, I hope one of you will figure it out!”

As he counted-off pairs, the golems would appear. However, they floated more upright this time, “facing” the students as they flew up and down in circles. Even worse, they moved far more sporadically, they seemed…

[Ceystile]

Althea
Holy High, Training Session
A young woman approached the rapidly growing group just as the golems appeared, dressed in typical gym clothing, a black tank top with a pair of red track shorts...but the unusual part was that she wore a rumpled white lab coat over the outfit. Looking around at the sand and water, she raised an eyebrow. “They said we needed gym clothes…if we’re on a beach wouldn’t swimsuits make more sense?” she yawned.
Her silver hair was thrown up in a messy ponytail and her eyes, one brown and the other blue looked strangely tired for a goddess. She looked around to see Hyperion teaching the class as usual, clearly drunk as he usually is. But it wasn't like she could judge him, she had just recovered from a hangover herself last night and judging by the way she squinted against the bright artificial lighting, all the symptoms hadn't yet abated. Looking around the room at the other godlings present there was a fae, a blonde woman who seemed to have pointed ears...was she fae as well? There was also a peppy brunette girl, all doing the exercises and as she looked closer around, a few stragglers like herself. A dark-skinned young god whom appeared to be of some Indigenous descent, her overly loud cousin Alkibiades who was passing out wine like candy as usual, speaking with the young fae.
"Ah, my favorite cousin has arrived." She allowed herself a small wry smile, and gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Indigenous god as she looked about with a frown. “Would’ve brought a beach towel so I can at least have some place to sit.” She settled for moving away from the noise of the session and finding a shady spot to stand because even these normal sounds were as loud as explosions to her overly-sensitive ears right now.

"You're late. Your grandfather will be pleased." A deep, disapproving voice rang in her head. The voice of her father, Asclepius.
"Oh please, he doesn't care. He's probably working on his 2348th boyfriend right about now. Or preparing for something he has to do around the school."
"Althea!"
"Dad, I'm not in the mood. I just performed an eight hour surgery last night and I'm t i r e d. Cut me a little slack here.
"Healers don't get slack. And you said you wished to be the greatest of them! It's a training session, this is the perfect time..."
"Is anybody actively injured or bleeding out right this second?"
"Well, no! But..."
"Then leave me alone!" she barked telepathically, fishing around in her coat pocket for something.

[Luminesa]

Co-Write Between Dogu and Lumi

A Lot of Wind and Boom - Patriah and Senu, Day 2

Patriah managed to get the gist of the assignment well enough. The golem was moving around in a bit of an erratic rhythm, or at least erratic to him. He heard music on Hyperion's jukebox, but paid it no mind. It became the background almost to the teacher himself, playing 90's rock music and vomiting whatever alcohol he managed to bring into that cavernous stomach of his.

He looked toward his partner, a student he did not know very well at all, and he nodded. "What's your domain, guy? Er...Senu is what the teacher said. Right. Need to figure how we're gonna hit this thing. It moves pretty fast."

"Yeah, Patriah," Senu replied. "I am a desert god. That means I can spawn and manipulate aspects of the desert, like sands and weather. I, well, I also can make shadows and cast darkness. Well, I guess it sorta made me not too comfortable with our teacher..." by virtue of Hyperion being a solar deity. The golem was moving around in a curious way; seemingly following the rhytm of Hyperion's rock music he blared in the distance. "I can try to stop him with winds. Or, if you're a wind god as well, we can work it together." He turned his new ally. Patriah stood almost a foot taller than him. Perhaps he would do better at physical fighting, he reckoned.

"I'm not an expert in melee fighting," he continued, "but I got this:" Senu reached for his pocket, and took something that looked like a toy gun. It quickly grew to the size of an assault rifle. "Fully automatic shotgun!"

“YEAAAAAAH! WE’RE GONNA SHOOT A ROCK!” Patriah was incredibly excited, punching the air as he smirked at his classmate. He drew his own sword, which he was glad to finally use. It had a beautiful, emerald blade shaped like a dragon, out of whose maw the curved, steel blade emerged. He smirked at his new classmate as he held it proudly over his shoulder. “I happen to be a wind deity, so we should work just fine. If you wanna shoot it first, I’ll come behind you and slash it.”

Senu's eyes went dark, before he raised his hands, forming a saltire. Small wisps of wind began to form around the golem, which soon became a massive torrent encircling the golem wherever it went. The training area was open space, full of dirt and small rock, which joined the torrent of wind in encircling the golem, scratching and peeling bits of it in an effort to stop it from moving around. Soon, the are around the golem became something like a mini-tornado; he hoped to trap the lump of rock inside to pin it. "You know what, let's double the effort to hold it," he said.

He cocked the Saiga-12 and aimed it towards the golem. "It's 10 rounds of 12-gauge usually, but mine has unlimited ammo. Ready when you are."

Patriah nodded, and he watched the golems as some of the class began to destroy theirs. He aimed his sword, and then swung it with extreme prejudice toward the center of the golem. The wind riled and roared into one curved sonic blast, which caused huge chunks of the rock to explode around the golem. It continued to fly, however, and Patriah looked confused.

“…Huh. That should have done it. Hey, Senu, take a shot at the middle.” He pointed toward the core. “But uh…maybe do something to constrict it. So the impact doesn’t get on…us?” He looked confused, but he could observe when his classmates’ attacks caused their huge explosions. And observe he did.

Senu aimed his shotgun towards the golem's shining core. He was slightly confused at Patriah's suggestion. He could understand the worry, though - the other groups, despite being successful in tearing down their golems' layers of rock, sent the debris flying everywhere that could easily hit them. To this, he conjured more roaring winds; four pillars of air, to be exact, looking like tornadoes that constantly circled the golems. It would suck all debris and send them flying far into the atmosphere while he tried to destroy the golem's core. He summoned another gust of wind to lift himself into the air, following the golem as it hovered in circles.

Senu pulled the trigger, accompanied by a very loud sound of automatic fire. The bullets were no regular 12-gauge rounds; instead a pure, very dense essence of energy, colored pitch-black by complete darkness. He continued the barrage for a few dozen seconds, pausing with an interval of few seconds to observe the impact. The bullets itself vanished the moment they made impact upon the golem - as it was not physical, there was no trace of it. Rock and debris ricocheted from the impact, and he hoped that the core would be exposed enough for him to shoot it precisely with his pistol.

Senu had not been given the hint, but he seemed to understand the concept-watch and wait for the rhythm. As he blasted away more and more of the golem, the rocks fell away. The pillars of wind helped as well to keep the golem’s rocks from hitting anyone. Hyperion could still see his attacks, and he snickered and nodded.

“Very good! Very good!” he called.

Patriah nodded to Senu and gave him a thumbs up. “You wanna finish it or you want me to do it? Cause it’s still moving around a bit.”

Senu landed swiftly on the grass, although there was little grass anymore to speak of - the tornado has torn most of it, leaving an odd pattern of barren soil and a circle of grass inside. He approached Patriah. "You want to try the gun?"

“DO I?!” Patriah looked like a kid getting to play with a new console. He almost would have jumped up and down, but a 7’2” deity squeeing and jumping up and down would have looked rather silly. And so he simply rushed and grabbed the gun. “Lemme give it a shot! How do I fire?”

Senu threw the shotgun to Patriah, giving a slight smile. It seems that attending this school was not a truly bad decision, after all - someone appreciated him here. Not smug, cocky Horus who lectured him at every moment about being a prince of the Ennead; not Osiris, not his father, but some Greek godling he barely knew - who doesn't even look Greek in his opinion. "The muzzle, that's the tiny part on the front, aim it towards the golem core. You'll want the gun to be steady as you fire, so hold the stock against your shoulder, like this." He snapped his fingers; a phantom shotgun appeared on his hand, and he positioned it like he was going to shoot the golem.

"If everything's nice and ready, pull the trigger and blow that shit up!"

Patriah held the gun on his broad shoulder easily. He took a few seconds to adjust it. All the while, he finally seemed to give some notice that Lanuru was wearing his scarf. He raised a brow, and he stared at it. It did look nice on his armor, and it flowed like a well-woven rainbow around him. He blinked again, feeling satisfied. Eurydice would have been glad to see it put to such use.

But now he had to focus.

He turned back toward the golem, and he waited for a few moments before aiming toward the location it was about to hit next. Once he did, he smirked and fired.

Several rounds flew into the golem, still surrounded by tornadoes, and it exploded without ceremony. “BULLSEYE!!!! YEAAAAAH!!! THAT FELT AWESOME!”

All of the rocks, however, were caught in the tornado barrier. If anything, they shot directly into the sky or were caught in the winds, which held them for some time before sending some rocks flying into trees and the water.

Patriah watched them, and then looked toward Senu. “…Heh…Uh…I think we still passed?”

“You did,” Hyperion called, giving them a thumbs up…just as a molten rock slapped Patriah and Senu in the shoulder.

The lava hit Senu just as he was opening his mouth to say "yes". It turned into an "ouch!" instead, as the rock rapidly cooled, with wind and a wisp of shadow formed encircling it. Senu brushed the rock off his shoulder, and he saw his thin leather jacket was torn off, exposing skin. He wanted to say it's intentional; hell, it is intentional; frowning instead. "Well, damn. At least ours don't explode like a fucking nuclear bomb the way some others did, I guess, that's something to celebrate, isn't it?"

“Hehehehehh…” Patriah hardly noticed the stinging sensation on his chest, and he kicked the rock as it hit the ground. “That tickles. But yeah, you’re right. We did something right, I think it was you holding all the rocks in the tornadoes. Very nice.” He smirked, and stomped a rock under his foot. Now that they were done, they could watch the rest of the class.

[Weissa Major]

Co-Write Between Danceria, Luminesa, and Weissa Major

Boris and Kimiko: A Friendship Well-Weaved

Kimiko's arrival had been delayed by, of all things, bureaucratic error. The irony of a Goddess of Order being trapped by an aspect of her domain was not lost on her, nor was it the first time that it happened. While there were many, many trivial issues she had to sort through at the office, the one that stuck with her the most was the amount of fuss that was raised over her weapon. Nearly every student in attendance had the power to level an entire city, but somehow, a hairstick was considered to be too dangerous.

Eventually, though, everything was sorted out, and Kimiko made her way to class, hairstick included. She was less than pleased: being late to the first day of class was not the first impression she wanted to make. Still, it wasn't as if she was the only one who was experiencing administrative issues. Besides, if what she heard was true, Hyperion would be more than understanding about the whole ordeal.

As she approached the southern edge of the campus, she came across an interesting scene. Students were paired off in some sort of combat exercise, as they faced off against some sort of strange solar constructs. The air echoed with the humming of magic, and the unfamiliar sounds of rock music.

She approached the Titan just as he finished speaking to another student. "Lord Hyperion, it is an honor to meet one as highly esteemed as yourself." If her status wasn't clear before, her mannerisms made it painfully obvious. "I apologize for my late arrival, there were administrative matters I had to attend to."

"Oh uh...hi?" Hyperion chugged out of his flask, before he turned to the new girl and nodded to her. He looked over his class list, and he nodded. "Kimiko-hime. You go by Kimiko. Okay, uhhhh...cool. Yeah those harpies probably held you up." A loud burp sounded, along with what sounded like a very fluid cough. "Um...hm. Alright, you're with Gopnik over here for the time being." He pointed to Boris. "An Adidas track suit in the summer...Anyway, uh, your goal. FOCUS. The golems are moving, they're right over there."

He pointed to their golem, just as Factory launched his first attack on his and Cepha's golem. "If you lose focus, you get thrown out of the casino. And then your wife leaves you for a richer man. Got it?"

Kimiko didn't even flinch. After experiencing some of her Uncle Susanoo's antics first-hand, Hyperion's....unconventional behavior was just another Tuesday. Still as collected as ever, she answered: "I understand."

Mentally, she took note of some of the other students and their attempts at fighting the golem (successful or otherwise).

She extended a hand to the one Hyperion called "Gopnik" (whether it was a name, a title, or an epithet, she did not know). "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The Slavic godling turned and gave at first a warm smile. Then it hit him.

The odd earthy stench the caves. Not as noxious as Nav but nevertheless still there. As we're the faint sounds of droplets echoing in pools far deeper and far older than the surface. Something about her was...strange. He couldn't quite put his finger on it... He wasn't afraid of her-that's how he knew this wasn't his peculiar roommate.

Bozhidar's smile regained it's composure, and he smiled "Your accent...Japanese?" He inquired. He didn't notice the entity from the Outside have much of an accent. Or at least, from what he had heard.

"Yes." Her face didn't betray it, but it felt strange refering to herself as such. While she had knowledge of the country, she had seldom ventured from Amaterasu's palace, let alone experience the nation first-hand.

She was about to ask him where he hailed from, but her attention was drawn back to the golem, whose strange noises and movements seemed to grow more frantic by the second. "How do you think we should approach this?"

"I just used my wind currents to let it's oars rip itself apart." He admitted. "I am uncertain if that'll work a second time. But all we have to do is hit the glowing core and watch it go "boom"."

Kimiko nodded, eyeing the glowing core. Taking a step back, she removed her hairstick; it became wrapped in a glowing ribbon-like light, growing and transforming itself as it floated in the air. Its true form was revealed: an elegant spear, with a needle-like hole near its base.

She grabbed the spear, and used her free hand to summon a silver cord-like thread. It crept its way into the needle's eye, fusing with itself to ensure a perfect seal.

"I could try and restrict its movement. It would make it easier for you to focus attacks on the core and make it, as you described, "go boom". What are your thoughts?"

"You have...strings?" He continues, confusedly "Is that your domain? That of seamstresses? Hm..." He nods "We can try that, I can focus some air pressure to break through it."

This was a pointless exercise. She had torn apart plenty of other mindless constructs in the past, and while it had been a nice break from the banal confines of court life, it still felt lacking.

But it wasn't all bad. Her training partner made her feel so welcome that it was hard to keep up a cold facade for long. She smiled, faintly. "That sounds like a plan."

She readied her stance, staring down the floating golem....

And then, she lept.

She practically went flying through the air, spear in hand, up and over the golem, with the silver thread trailing behind her. She did this multiple times, the thread becoming tighter with each successive loop. While at a glance it looked like a flurry of chaos, her movements were calculated and almost dance-like, their elegance only outshined by their efficiency. Upon completing the final loop, she stabbed the spear deep into the ground, holding it tight with both hands as she attempted to limit its movement.

The golem attempted to continue its movements, though it was as constricted as Factory’s golem. It jumped up, right, down, and then left in a counterclockwise, constant motion, even as it tried to move. Illara, with her keen eye, could see a certain rhythm to its movements. Almost as if something beside Hyperion was moving the golem.

The air coiled and danced around the robust male as he soared allowing the golem's movements to be to his advantage.

"Impact on three!" He yelped

The wind was no longer a graceful shawl around him, but narrowed to a thrum of vibration. Nowhere near the prowess or grandiosity of Astrid's thunderstorms, but enough to punch through most things remarkably well.

"One!"

The wind found purchase beneath the chassis, and dug in like tendrils to rip the fragile underneath from it's protective casing.

"Two!"

Looking up, the Golem might attempt to wobble away, but too late, the exposed portions would find a cut of air straight for the core.

"Three! Relaseyourstringsotheydon'tblowup-!"

Kimiko would not have had enough time to release the strings. A force which applied enough to the core would cause it to explode, and the golem promptly exploded. The first success of the day, but at a slight cost. The strings burned, and Boris would have found that the explosion rocked him out of mid-air as he called for Kimiko to save her weapons. He would promptly fall out of the air, and some molten rocks would land around him. Some were the size of baseballs, others a bit larger, but most were the sizes of pebbles or throwing-stones. All of them were quite hot.

Kimiko winced as the strings ignited, letting go of her spear in the process. She hadn't acted upon Boz's warning in time: the force of the explosion knocked the agile fighter off her feet. She was then pelted by a volley of hot rocks of various sizes, one of which knocked the fastening comb out of her hair.

Miraculously, she had made it without any major injuries. Her outfit had been singed by the hot stones, but the holes and frayed edges had already begun to repair themselves, with web-like threads filling in the gaps. Her long, black hair was spread out on the ground, only slightly singed from the massive fireball that had just erupted. Just a few feet away, her comb was in pieces.

Cautiously, she got up, brushing herself off. Looking around at the other students, she realized that they had won first. It wasn't the most graceful of victories, per se, but it was a good start. She had learned a valuable lesson: no matter how orderly a plan was, it could all unravel without proper timing.

She was just about to retrieve her spear, when she noticed her ally on the ground, surrounded by a cluster of hot rocks. She summoned a set of strings to pull away some of the rocks, wincing as they burned.

"Pfahg!" Came the eloquent response, as the ruddy-haired godling got up, sputtering out the smouldering chunks of rock from his mouth like sand at a beach. Due to his birth causing the Tunguska Event-not to mention his mom being the Morning Star, smoldering rocks did little more than to inconvenience him. He brushed himself off, he accidentally bapping away the tendrils in a bit of fear.

Looking up sheepishly at his companion, he scratched the back of his head. "<<Sorry, miss.>>"
It was in Japanese-the Japanese spoken in the northerly reaches of the country-but Japanese nonetheless. "<<I should've told the plan before we attacked...since we weren't in any real danger.>>"
He looked down at his own ruined tracksuit, grumbling. While it wasn't as if he didn't have any replacements, he didn't exactly have a tailor-nor did he think any stores in the post-apocalyptic America carried these sorts of brands.

He noticed the comb, scattered a stone's throw away, and panicked, dashing over and picking up the pieces with remarkable speed, grumbling every profanity known by Slavic tongue-mostly "cyka" over and over. Was he trying to stay positive, by saying "suki" over and over again? Who knows, he looked up with a twinge of remorse.
"<<...Sorry about your comb. I owe you that much.>>"

She was surprised that he came out of the explosion (mostly) unscathed. She was even more surprised when he began speaking in her native tongue. Japanese was not an easy language, but he seemed to have a strong grasp of it, despite hailing from halfway across the world.

Before she could ask him where he had learned it, he had already dashed to pick up the comb (at least what remained of it.) While she lacked familiarity with the Slavic languages, she could tell he was panicking.

">>It's alright, you don't owe me anything. I never cared much for that one, anyway.<<" She spoke in an Imperial dialect; not quite archaic, but still a bit dated. She noticed the damage on his tracksuit. ">>I can fix that for you, if you would like.<<"

"<<This old thing, naw, I got plenty.>>" he reassured her. "<<Besides, we need to wait until Hyperion's done with us-no telling how dirty things could get here on out.>>"

She glanced over at Hyperion, who was excitedly cheering on another pair of students. Even a paragon of order couldn't help but smile at her partner's humorous observation. "<<I suppose that is true.>>" Like a passing breeze, the smile faded, returning to a default stoic expression as she began to lose herself in thought. But then, she remembered something. "<<Forgive me, but I forgot to ask for your name before we began.>>"

Nevertheless, the Slav remained upbeat, giving a practiced and polite bow. "<<Bozhidar Striborovich Perunov.>>" he introduced himself in full, like a hopeful star breaking through a storm. "<<But that is a bit of a mouthful, so...Boris would do nicely.>>" he concluded with a smile. "<<And yourself, Miss...?>>"

"<<Kimiko-hime-no-Mikoto, Princess of Tsuki no Miyako and Sacred Weaver of the Great Light Amaterasu.....although just Kimiko will suffice.>>"

Keeping track of the long and complicated names and titles of her own pantheon practically required its own codex, so a name like Bozhidar was far from the most daunting thing for her. Still, she liked the sound of "Boris".

"<<Your speech is impressive. Where did you learn to speak Japanese so well?>>"

"<<I heard it from Vladivostok!>>" He beams with pride. "<<I just sat in and, ah, listened. To the people in Japan, and, spoke occasionally there.>>" he scratched his head as he realized that eavesdropping on a country would be considered, strange. "<<Which is why I'm pretty Tōhoku-hardly what Tanaka-san of Tokyo speaks but it's how I learned!>>"

Though he cocked his head, recalling the titles. "<<Though...Kimiko-hime, I'm sure we can swap stories away from the smoldering wreckage.>>"

Usually, Kimiko tried to keep up a distant facade. But something about Boris's excitement was just so infectious that she found herself slipping. There was a time and place for that cold side to her; for now, it could wait.

Kimiko-hime. That honorific still felt so unnatural. But hearing Boris say it made it feel.....complete. Maybe she could get used to it.

"<<Of course. There are far better places to converse.>>" She grabbed her spear, which was still embedded in the ground; it transformed back into a hairstick, miraculously undamaged and free of dirt. Quickly and methodically, she fixed her hair into a neat bun. And with that, the two of them walked, sharing stories and staying a reasonable distance away from any in-tact golems that remained.

[Ceystile]

Althea examined her fellow students take on their golems, having arrived too late to secure a partner for herself. But it was all fine in her book, she didn't much care for rigorous training although archery was an almost-exception. As she often told Chiron: "I'm not built for battle and somebody has to make sure the meatheads don't die, do they?" Her eyes were especially drawn to a god who dueled one of the golems with an unusually shaped sword, the blade coming out of the dragon's mouth.
"Is that Hephaestus' work?" she whispered to herself, dodging out of the way of flying rock pieces that fell into the ocean with a very satisfying plop. It reminded Althea of when she mixed up medicines with Chiron, adding herbs to the brew. She noticed that partnered with the god was another deity in desert garb, manipulating wind with scary efficacy. Impressive, they took that golem down like it was nothing. Maybe I should take Phys Ed more seriously...Grandfather will never know that I thought that because I shan't hear the end of it.

Now that the smoke had mostly cleared, she supposed she'd best make herself useful instead of standing there twiddling her thumbs while everyone else was otherwise occupied. Grabbing the black bag she carried with her, Althea made her way over to the odd couple that had destroyed their golem...now that she got a closer look at the dragon-sword godling she noticed that his sword did look like something Hephaestus would make. "Another Greek, I presume?" she asked him. "Seems like I've found my people."
Turning to the desert god, she gave him a slightly appraising look. "Never seen anybody reduce rock to pebbles with the winds like that, I'm a little jealous. Name's Althea by the way, nice to meet you. I'm a healing goddess in training and am on standby in case anybody needs me, so try to need me between the hours of eight a.m. and eleven p.m. cause those are my office hours and I like to go to bed at midnight sharp. I'm not as unpleasant when I'm not tired." At her attempt at a joke, she took a swig from a flask in one of her lab-coat pockets. "Judging by the rigor of the training, am I wrong in assuming anybody is wounded?"

[Finsternia]

Co-Write Between Irhk, Finsternia, and Luminesa

Wild Rampage - Day 2

Fate seems to continue to spin in the favor of Lanuru as Hyperion chose to pair him off to his roommate who has just arrived. The demonstration was quick and short as Boris easily subdued and destroyed his quarry by sending the golem down and disabling it. It seems that the golem has no odd properties except a gradual increase in acceleration with each hit it takes.

He turns to Alkibiades beside him and asks. "Sir Alkibiades, may I ask what are your martial capabilities? It seems that the best course of action that we could do is restrict this automaton's movements and strike with quick and deadly power." He turns towards the golem and slowly reaches behind him. His silver clawed hand grasps his halo, which seems to become solid for a moment, and its corona edge breaks as he pulls. The edge of his halo produces a curious weapon, which has two blades attached to each end of a handle. Each blade seems to be made out of a dark material, which reflects silver moonlight at its sharp edges. One blade is longer than the other, making it a curved sword and dagger combo.

"I have authority over dreams and nightmares, but I do not know if such a being could slumber. I could summon a dream landscape to bind it in, but its movements doesn't seem to be reactive to threat except to quicken its circular movement." Lanuru spins the weapon in his hands in a storm of blades, and shadows and moonlight dance around him as he does. "...Please share with me your thoughts on this opponent, good sir. I can see that you are a being who likes the finer things in life. Let us make this thing's end as glamorous as it could be."

"Sir? Please, that is hardly needed. Just call me Alkibiades, please. Well... I suppose this being doesn't breath, so I could not induce him to madness through any vapes... my martial capabilities are quite limited, however..."

Starting at the golem in front of the duo, Alkibiades observed that the progressive hits would be a difficulty. They would need to concoct a plan so precise that one hit would be enough to subdue the foe in this particular training, and since they were not deities of belligerency itself, they'd need to save up their energy. Alkibiades could summon vines, yes, and if the being wasn't sentient, it would be easy to lure it to a trap... yes, a trap.

"I agree with you, my dear roommate. I shall put my staff on the ground, and if you can lure the golem towards you, it will turn into vines strong enough to hold him in place for you to deliver your final blow. I could restrict his arms as well, but that would take more time... it is the executioner's decision, I suppose."
"Ah a fellow God of the Wilds." The Fae Prince nods to the God of Wine as he speaks of his powers. The power of madness and the power to influence nature is similar to the power of his kin. Dionysus and the Tuatha de Danann do share domains as the Gods of Nature, after all. "It will be a pleasure to be working and staying with you. I shall see if I could lure or slow down this creation so we could pin it down fully."

Lanuru scans his other classmates, seeing that each pair are playing it hard and fast. All their choices were to pound their golems as hard as they could... but he and Alkibiades aim for something different. He flicks and twirls the divine blade in his hand as he watches the golem go on its way in a circle. It doesn't attack nor impose a threat. It simply will impose an annoyance.

The Fae God holds his blade in both hands, with the longer edge pointing to the sky and the shorter edge pointing to the earth. Darkness brews around the Unseelie Prince, and his halo shudders and trembles. His power over this domain may not be enough to herald its true celestial dominion yet... but he wishes to try this application upon a creature of the Sun. "I call upon the shadows of the world... Engulf the Heavenly Throne, hide the face of morn, and make the night blaze in scarlet!"

Above the golem's head manifests a dark sphere. It's the New Moon, shedding no light upon its austere face. Another sphere appears, which is that of a burning orb of light. Their movements seem to be slow, but their intersection finishes in a blink of an eye. The Moon eclipses the Sun, and its power bears down on the golem to suppress the solar power that fuels it.

"Oh, I wouldn't say of the Wilds that loud... my relatives might take it personally, you know. I just have a small share of it, due to the process of wine and other... equally mind-altering beverages, but that's another discussion."

Calmly, Alkibiades watched Lanuru started his ritual: a fraction of his princedom displayed in battle, as the golem was now under the influence of the eclipse brought to the Academy by the Fae Prince. As the Sun eclipsed and Lan got his blades ready, the Greek God checked his staff. Summoning vines out of nothing would be harder, obviously, which was one of the reasons he always carried this particular tool around. The others, of course, were mostly related to style.

Slowly, he rolled his staff to the golem's feet: the vines, elegantly kept in the linear shape, progressively decomposed themselves, tying the legs of the golem together, sprawling straight up to his hands as Alkibiades kept his mind focused on the task at hand.

"I believe" he said to Lan, "That it is quite the appropriate time for your attack now, Prince of the Fae."

At the signal from Alkibiades was sounded, with vines sprawling all over its form, the hanging eclipse suddenly emits a deep, bassy sound that seem to originate from the earth. The yawning void bears down on the bound golem, and its faint golden corona flares. The automaton's essence, the power of the Sun, is then pulled out of it by the eclipse like golden ink dripping in reverse.

The burning ichor flows upwards towards the dark eclipse, suppressing and devouring the solar essence. As its dark oppression continues to bear down upon the construct, the Dark Prince vanishes from his spot before emerging from within its shadow. With blinding movement, the God of Nightmares wields his divine blade in a severing strike across its abdomen and the shadows beneath his feet follow him in an upward onslaught of shadowy spears.

This attack garnered a look of some confused interest from Hyperion. He leaned forward, hands on his knees, and he turned to gaze on the attack. The golem moved until the vines wrapped and held it in place, much as Factory had done with his wires. Even worse, Lanuru’s powers drained the solar energy from the golem’s core, making it weaker even as it struggled.

Several rounds of spear attacks later, the golem did in fact explode. With less solar energy available, the explosion was less severe. However, the pieces still fell hot and heavy around the two students, merely more slowly and leaving much less large pieces.

Hyperion nodded, and he gave a thumbs up to the boys. “Good job, kids! And Alki, you owe me more wine!”

The God of Nightmares lands upon Terra Firma, and he brandishes the blade in his hands. Black light and shadowy moonlight dance at its edges, and the same glimmering power ravage through the raining rock and fire that landed around the two godlings. Those that land cast shadows upon the earth, and nightmarish hounds pounce out to devour the rocks to snuff their light out.

Lanuru makes an overtly grandiose flourish with his blade, the divine weapon returning to and is subsumed by his dark halo, and the still floating eclipse above the crime scene shudders and shakes. The next moment after it explodes in a loud bang as its divine force unleashes starry light that surges into the sky. He bows and turns towards Alkibiades. "It seems that we make a good team... Alkibiades." The young Prince seems to be weirded out with how he calls the other without any honorific, but he does it anyway. He turns to Hyperion and bows as well, accepting the compliment with grace and joy.

Turning from Astrid and Illara, Hyperion nodded to them. “Good job. Once everyone’s finished I’ll tell you your first grade. Though uh…not to worry, if you break it you pass.”

[Luminesa]

Althea examined her fellow students take on their golems, having arrived too late to secure a partner for herself. But it was all fine in her book, she didn't much care for rigorous training although archery was an almost-exception. As she often told Chiron: "I'm not built for battle and somebody has to make sure the meatheads don't die, do they?" Her eyes were especially drawn to a god who dueled one of the golems with an unusually shaped sword, the blade coming out of the dragon's mouth.
"Is that Hephaestus' work?" she whispered to herself, dodging out of the way of flying rock pieces that fell into the ocean with a very satisfying plop. It reminded Althea of when she mixed up medicines with Chiron, adding herbs to the brew. She noticed that partnered with the god was another deity in desert garb, manipulating wind with scary efficacy. Impressive, they took that golem down like it was nothing. Maybe I should take Phys Ed more seriously...Grandfather will never know that I thought that because I shan't hear the end of it.

Now that the smoke had mostly cleared, she supposed she'd best make herself useful instead of standing there twiddling her thumbs while everyone else was otherwise occupied. Grabbing the black bag she carried with her, Althea made her way over to the odd couple that had destroyed their golem...now that she got a closer look at the dragon-sword godling she noticed that his sword did look like something Hephaestus would make. "Another Greek, I presume?" she asked him. "Seems like I've found my people."
Turning to the desert god, she gave him a slightly appraising look. "Never seen anybody reduce rock to pebbles with the winds like that, I'm a little jealous. Name's Althea by the way, nice to meet you. I'm a healing goddess in training and am on standby in case anybody needs me, so try to need me between the hours of eight a.m. and eleven p.m. cause those are my office hours and I like to go to bed at midnight sharp. I'm not as unpleasant when I'm not tired." At her attempt at a joke, she took a swig from a flask in one of her lab-coat pockets. "Judging by the rigor of the training, am I wrong in assuming anybody is wounded?"

Hyperion and Patriah - An Apple Away Keeps The Doctor A Day

Another student who arrived somewhat late. Not that Hyperion minded. His exercise for the class was well-underway, with students completing the golem challenges using a variety of powers. With the class split into pairs, he could turn his attention to Althea. He could tell that she was perhaps a bit stressed by her late arrival, and he chalked it to the same bureaucratic nonsense which had almost kept Kimiko from joining the class. Once he had accounted for her, he continued to stand under the tree and to watch the rest of the class.

In all of his excitement at handling a gun for the first time, never mind a magical one, Patriah had not even realized that he and Senu had an audience. When he did turn to watch the rest of the class, raising his brows at Lan and Alki’s teamwork, he finally noticed the girl walking toward he and his new friend.

He took a moment to realize what she was eyeing, and he nodded with pride as she walked over to see his sword. The emerald hilt continued to sparkle with glassy heat and shine, as he clutched it in his hand. When she did turn her attention to him, he smirked. “Yup, I’m a Greek alright. But don’t expect to see me on Mount Olympus a lot. I live in the Underworld. Than is my dad.” He figured that she would know his name even as a nickname.

When she mentioned that she was a healing deity, he looked toward the pairs who were done. While Lan and Alki looked mostly unharmed, they perhaps had some molten rocks which had landed their way. Pat and Senu both had been hit with a rock or two, but Boris and Kimiko had practically ducked to move away from their golem’s exploding, molten rocks.

“I feel fine. i dunno about Senu, but we were barely hit. If you’re wanting to check someone, maybe check Boz and Kimiko over there.” He pointed them out, as if she might miss them without his guidance.

Based on her hours, he knew that she might be busier as the combat classes and some students’ budding tempers and rivalries flared. Patriah did not have any major rivalries at the moment, but he was sure that later he would make some rival, and then he would make them angry. “Thanks for asking, though. You like my sword? It was made by Hephaestus and a Mage he found among the Greeks who still exist…in the country of Greece. Even if it has a…an eastern dragon on the hilt, it’s COOL ENOUGH.”

He looked toward the main building, as though someone inside had slighted him and had almost kept him from having that sword. In China, dragons represented the winds and forces of nature, and his sword did help Pat to control the wind. Thus he was pleased with it.

“And what exactly do you do as medicine?” he inquired of her.

[Zei-Aeiytenia]

Co-write with Zei-Aeiytenia, H Corporation and Luminesa
The Huntress, the Hungry, and the Demons Which Surround Them

Astrid reluctantly stood, rubbing her heavy and tired eyes, gazing with a total lack of interest at the golem floating before her. This 'training' was rather pedestrian. Perhaps it did not appear such on the surface, and especially to others for whom actual combat experience was as hard to come by as any interest on Astrid's part in this task.

She paid no mind at all to Illara, beyond the natural sensing of the girls presence, breathing, heart rate and other such details, which has all but become everyday background noise years ago now. What she was really focusing on, as she closed her eyes, was the movement of the golem itself.

As with all senses, turning off one enhances the others, removing her sight made the pressure, the feeling, the sound of the creatures movements amplify several times over. She stood in complete silence, monitoring these senses as the golem moved. It's behavior was more erratic than the one given to the Slav, but nothing too particularly crazy. Disappointing and unenjoyable.

At this point she expected nothing less.

Illara stretched out to prepare herself for the big training she was going to have, better yet she was going have a partner! She thought this was a good time to introduce herself to the other students and to know better of her new partner, so after stretching she quickly get closer to Astrid, her eyes were focused on Astrid when she was not being bothered by her presence, but she wanted to feel present in the challenge so she got even closer, ”Hey! My name is Illara, nice to meet you!”.

Astrid continued to remain silent, even as she felt the presence of her 'partner'. To her mind, this was nothing but an anchor to slow her down, unlike the other clueless novices here who actually needed the help. Her eyes opened, continuing to watch the Golems movements. Slowly, and still without word, she reached behind her cloak, producing an ornate looking handle with two bright blue, pointed spires of crystals on either end. For a brief moment they glowed, and from the handle extended out an entire bow, the crystals acting as psuedo guides for the arrows it would fire.

The bow raised up towards the golem, as a local cloud of storms began to spin around the small area of their training. No words were said as she pulled back on an invisible string, the crystals glowing and releasing a magic as she drew, their own sinister storm clouds, which solidified into two arrows. As she released them, the crystals let out a flash, and a low thunder, the two arrows passed by, and were each given two more slightly smaller storm-based counterparts.

As they raced towards the golem, it became evident this attack was not meant to kill, or even seriously injure. They simply were not shot with the force to do so, being only just fast enough to be dangerous, but too slow to pose a true threat. What's more, their accuracy was dubious at best, with only the original two going anywhere on target, and certainly not dead center mass.

Astrid of course, intended this. Her prey had no means of escaping and couldn't even fight back, this was a simple test to see how it responded to threats.

"Hi. You're not the 'gets in my way' type are you? Really not nice meeting those."

Illara was just mind blown as she saw Astrid using a similar weapon that she uses, so in a way to showcase her presence she extended right arm in front of Astrid, her arm was slowly getting a reddish color, then the veins of her arm started to shine in a bright color of the sun, flowing through her arm to her hand when she started to let flames out, Illara was amazed it was going well so far, the difficult part was to imitate the form of a bow which was a slow and painful transition from creating the base and then the string, her face was clearly showing signs of struggle and pain but she managed to create the bow, bad news, she does not know how to make arrows.

Despite all of that she proudly showed the bow to Astrid, ”I can be anything but annoying”, she said smiling.

The golems hardly responded to Astrid's arrows. They had no minds, and their "faces" saw nothing. They simply continued to float and to "bounce". All the while, Astrid heard a slight snicker. Hyperion hid a grin behind his flask, as if he knew something that she did not. "That's not how you play darts, kid," he murmured, as he moved away from Kimiko and Boris and walked back under the tree. (edited)


Perhaps the Titan thought he was clever, perhaps he knew he was not, perhaps he knew full well she could hear him. Perhaps he thought his mind numbing idiocy earlier had still distracted her - it's not often Astrid could admit having her focus so wholly stolen she didn't hear someone, her now partner infact, speaking just a few meters away.

Nonetheless he seemed to find it funny, and maybe he was right, she was certainly being overly thorough for such a meager training exercise. No matter, may as well continue the status quo and rip apart with overwhelming and completely unnecessary force. She paid the slightest attention to Illara and her incredibly arduous bow summoning, taking several steps away.

With a swift right hand she dropped her hood, making her face and the tired bags under her eyes plainly visible. They may pay some explanation to her increased lack of patience today. She then flicked the hand into the sky, using the iron bracelets she now quietly wore to treat a cursed cold to become the perfect lightning rod. A fairly sized bolt of sizzling blue struck her without mercy, leaving behind intense arcing voltage across her form as it vanished, joined in post haste by all the bells and whistles of a northern storm. Wind, ice, clouds and rain. This was one of the many things she had learned to do by intuition and sense, much like what she was about to use it for. Though she lacked real education in the forces she played with, her ability to see them when others could not had enabled their development by trial and error nonetheless.

"You should probably get a less painful way to do that," she said bluntly, returning her bow to it's portable form and tucking it under her cloak once more, "as for what you'll do here..." She braced herself in a runners stance, preparing to take off from the start line, the small and hyper localized storm beginning to intensify rapidly as she did, "don't know, don't care, have fun figuring that out, don't be in the way."

She ends abruptly, taking off in equal manner, a loud thunder and blowing wind in her wake. As she sprinted towards the golem, an invisible - to most everyone else - tiny wall of pressurized air appeared just above the ground and angled upwards. She jumped on it, legs bending to propel upwards from it's sturdy base. In the same moment, the storm around the golem and around her herself both pumped energy, specifically wind and lightning into the cushion, causing a sudden pressure explosion that joined her jump.

She soared up, another cushion appearing, and she repeated the same. Then again, and again, and again, using acrobatics to course correct and plot the next trajectory, each blast giving off a slightly louder 'boom' and rumbling thunder. The strength of these matched with the storm, the storms strength matched with her speed and intensity, and the two cycle fed into each other, turning the little ice princess into a literal ricochet nightmare from hell that simply got faster and more dangerous, it's trajectory cutting off avenues of mobility one by one and seeking to force either a confrontation or an obedience to the path she left open, waiting for her desired moment to strike a crippling blow.

Hyperion watched Astrid wind herself into a literal storm, a motion which made him lower his sunglasses for just a moment. Though his eyes were bloodshot, he gave a dull-yet-watchful stare at her movements. Poor Illara had not even gotten a chance to move before Astrid flew at the golem. She had made quite a show with her little storm, and it was certainly impressive.

However, the golem continued to move in a rather jagged, repetitive circle through the air. It did not seem aware of her trying to cut its path.

“One, two, goes the eight ball, down the middle of the lane…” he murmured.

Illara could only see as Astrid flew to the golem and hit the golem, an impressive move and she probably cannot top that off with her own lack of training, despite being around all day she could not train her abilities to the fullest because of her family, always neglecting her existence, but it was not the time to doubt herself. She grabbed one of the arrows her father once lend her and never claimed, they had a distinctive carving of the sun in the tip of the arrow and they had the ability to bounce with its own arrows but not with any other surface, she pointed to the roof trying to calculate the distance the arrow should fly as high as the sky, after calculating how she would fire the arrow she prepared another arrow to throw with the bow she had, this was something she used to practice when she was training very seriously, the plan was to hit the roof then throw another arrow with enough force to not pierce the arrow and to bounce from the arrow down to one of the golems, if it manages to bounce correctly.

Without doubting she threw the arrow getting stuck in the roof and then grabbed threw the next one, but then she grabbed another one, then another one, and another one, she threw away 10 arrows to the exact point where the first arrow was, making the other 10 arrows start going into the direction of the golems, even if she failed she was quite impressed she still could do that, as the arrows went fall down they started to catch on fire and as meteorites were getting closer and closer to the floating golems.

”Well, at least my father did leave me something useful” she said as she saw the arrows falling down.

Several arrows diverged on the golems, as Illara wove a system of sun-dipped arrows in the proper directions. Hyperion continued to watch the students, and turned specifically toward Illara. He watched as the arrows pierced around the golem, but the strange construct kept moving. All the while, as Illara waited, she would hear Hyperion’s voice in her head. Quiet, a bit drunk, but clearer than his normal speaking voice.

“What instruments do you hear in the song, Illara?”

Astrid zoomed around the golem at ever increasing speed, though the creature was completely ambivalent. Not a care in the world. How pedestrian, for now she'd take the opportunity to race around it, building up power, and waiting. Waiting for it to reach the lowest part of its movement.

She prepared cushions, about a dozen of them, and began moving them gently into place to form a straight column. As the ricochet continued, they condensed, more and more and more, until the golem neared it's minimum altitude.

She aligned the massive, ultra condensed air pocket over where the golems head would be, having monitored it's movements as precisely as possible, and placing it where she could land a direct hit before it changed to a random direction in.

One last loud thunder off a cushion from above, tilting her body into a horizontal spin, arms extended, tracing lightning across the sky and through the clouds. At the last interval she tucks forward, turning her horizontal spin into a last minute vertical axe-kick, all the lightning in her arms rushing to her feet, as they now acted as rods to draw the entire storms force of static energy into one, massive thunderous roar. The resulting detonation sounded alot like... An enormous blast mining explosion tearing into a mountain.

Mostly because, it was. Like many of her tactics, this wasn't originally designed for war. It was designed for, well, blast mining. Some of the rock in Folkvangr was not amenable to a pickaxe, but fared poorly against this amount of firepower.

An explosion of this power would surely have to launch the golem into the ground, just as easily as it launched Astrid into the air away from it, reverse somersaulting and twisting around as she grabbed out her bow, crystals glowing brighter than ever, preparing a killing blow no matter the outcome of the previous hit.

The pin-cushions aimed together toward the golem, as did Astrid aim her body much like a comet with a goal in mind. However, as the golem moved in its mysterious cycle, the enormous pin…only landed on the outside of the golem, not on the molten core. Hyperion watched, and he gave another low chuckle. “Still not how you play with darts…”

Astrid’s attack did in fact land, but the explosion only took away the outside edges of the golem and the head. Even when battered and broken in places, however, it continued to move through the air.

Illara tried to understand and put some sense to the words that Hyperion said, she grabbed the bow and pointed at what is left of the golem Astrid almost got down, in her own mind that may be the case, she was pondering on how to take the golem down after failing in her first attempt until a small thought of her counterpart Killara pass through her mind, just rock, then an idea came to her mind as she grabbed another arrow and kept looking at the golems erratic movement.

Then without thinking she run as she prepared to shoot 2 arrows, at a fast pace she kept running and running until she jumped, pointing to the golems to then shoot in separate ways her arrows not aiming too much at the golem but predicting where its movement was going to be, then as she fell she used her powers to raise a small platform to land and then jump again, a little bit higher with another round of 2 arrows shooting at the golems possible movement, turning her body around letting the arrows do their job.

She immediately created some platforms for her to move around, the platforms were moved in a way easy for her to gain momentum to jump and then again shooting another round of arrows but this time there were 3 instead of 2 aiming at the core of the golem trying to finish it off.

She fell to the ground in her 2 feet, amazed of the parkour she did, was that considered parkour anyway? Whatever, she just looked to the outcome of her shots.

Illara seemed to catch Hyperion’s hint, that the golems moved in a certain rhythm that one needed to catch. Catching them at the wrong time caused for an explosion. Yet catching them at the right time…

Her arrows shot at different times, at different distances. She moved around the map and jumped to different platforms, much the way Astrid had done. Yet when her attacks landed, they knocked away parts of the golem without causing it to explode. Only when she measured the last arrows right did the golem’s core explode…away from the party.

Hyperion snickered, and clapped. “Gooooood! Gooooood! So did you figure-out the hint, Illara?”

As Astrid's mid-air acrobatics brought her bow round, crystals bearing forth a piercing light as energy lashed out between them like the lightning she was so fond of, the golem simply... Exploded. Not majorly, not catastrophically like she had heard elsewhere, just a little... Pop.

She landed perfectly on her feet, an unceremonious stare worn on her face, which rapidly turned to annoyance and anger, the still radiantly shining bow now having consumed the entirety of the storm she'd made to power a final blow.

"Seriously!? That's it? Forget anticlimactic in what shit hole does this even pass as the beginning of a warm-up? And what the fuck an I supposed to do with this?" She asked, lifting up the fully drawn bow, now cradling far more power than she'd used before.

With a loud groan, she knelt, aiming straight up, and loosed. A sudden and intense flash of light accompanied by a deeper rumbling thunder to see the lone projectile off. Hurtling small tendrils of lightning as it cut a clean tear through the sky above, with the roar of a rockets engine until it disappeared into the clouds. A brief moment later and the are it had disappeared into began to implode with violent force, and was then immediately rocked and blown away in it's entirety, creating a massive hole in the clouds to the blue sky above them.

The strong gusts of wind would make their way to the ground as a momentary and moderate windstorm, while the ice and rain never fell from the sky, being obliterated by a sphere of lightning and exploding air which acquiesced to a stunning rainbow in the gap between the clouds it had left.

Despite the impromptu fireworks show, Astrid remained thoroughly aggravated. Not that this was different from a few minutes ago, she simply had excuse to go further now, in her mind. "Kay. So. We done? Or you gonna keep vomiting up this bargain basement shit like your alcoholic breakfast until there's as much disappointment in my eyes for you as your parents?" She said, facing away from Hyperion but throwing her head back to toss a bored glare for the duration of her verbal jabbing.

She did not wait for a response, instead rolling her eyes and returning her bow and pulling up her hood in one smooth motion, returning to where she was sitting when they had began.

Hyperion stared at Astrid for a moment, turning only slightly from the team’s accomplishment to notice her rant. She was clearly angry, even if she had managed as many belligerent attacks as she had. He just rolled his eyes, and a Nintendo DS popped into his hand. “Here, what shuts you kids up? Oh right, games. Here’s Pokémon.” He tossed it through the air and handed it to her.

Instinctively, her hands moved to catch the object, before equally as instinctively fumbling it and dropping it into the grass.

It's energy... It was like a quiet, latent pulsing of the grander box demons in the dorms. The drunkard had very nearly gotten her with it too. "Hey hey hey! What in the hell is this Mr Alcoholics Anonymous!? Demon mind control box? Portal to some demon world? The hell kind of school is this anyway it's infested!"

“HA! I’m not Anonymous, kid. I’m infamous!” Hyperion coughed a bit, before chugging down the alcohol in the brown bag. “…That’s a Nintendo DS. You play games on it. The game on there has a game where you can catch little creatures and have them fight for you. And you can dress them up. Kids love it, it’s called Pokémon.”

Astrid paused, eyeing the small rectangle with suspicion. They gave these... TO CHILDREN!? What manner of hell world had reality descended into? Capturing creatures? Like what a squirrel? Squirrels are prey, they don't deserve the respect of capture and domestication. She slowly approaches it, poking at it with her foot cautiously.

"This is going to explode isn't it? Why would a demon box have anything to do with capturing a 'creature'. If it was worthy of such respect they'd just call it a monster, I have no use for squirrels no matter how obedient."

“It’s not going to explode, and they’re technically called ‘Pocket Monsters’,” Hyperion answered with another eye roll. “Go have fun with it. I’m watching the other kids too.”

Illara just ignored the awkward conversation between Astrid and Hyperion, it was kind of a pointless fight in her eyes and it really was something not worth the risk, so instead she would walk towards Hyperion first to thank him for the small hint that helped her, ”I really appreciate the help Hyperion, thank you” she then proceed to turn back and head towards Astrid who was analyzing a some sort of rectangle, that in words of Hyperion had ‘games’ that she could play, she could only hear of something similar when her parents would take her fishing rod after failing a very ‘simple’ exercise according to them.

But anyway, she sat to her left side giving her some ‘breathing space’ incase she needed so, and looked at the rectangle that Astrid was analyzing and poking with her foot, ”Do you mind if I have it? I am curious of what it is” she said.

Was the Titan lying? It would be strange, while it's energy was similar in nature to the larger demons, it was a fraction as strong. Yet he insisted it held within it a world of 'pocket monsters?', was it simply not at it's full power yet? Perhaps the Titan had been unable to unlock it's power? Rather foolish of him to toss it to her of all people, but then little more should be expected of a drunkard.

She sat on the ground next to the rectangle, prying open a small gap in it's form, causing it to open. Inside lay two dark, reflective, smaller rectangles, similar to what was on the one Cepha called 'microwave'. On the exterior of the supposed demonic portal device were various holes, inserts, and a single switch, the tripping of which caused the dark rectangles to suddenly glow. Her eyes winced suddenly, half expecting an explosion, but none came. Instead the rectangles began to display moving images, and a moment later blared music out of tiny holes, an unexpected event causing a slight jump in the hunter.

The demon box spoke in written, and artistic transcriptions, but it was a language she understood. Did it choose a language she knew, or was it perhaps choosing the most common shared language of human and divine alike, implying it's intended use was by non-demon entities? Transcriptions indicated the pressing of buttons, causing the demon to progress to new visions. Eventually it began down a series of moving pictures, transcribing words as if telling a story in small boxes. It paused, then, and the demon began to ask questions.

[Are you a Boy or a Girl?] Asked the demon. It did not know already? It was very weak afterall, but what did it need that for? After some hesitation she indicated being a girl, the demon now asked her name. It made sense now. The demon was very weak, it could not know these on it's own in this state, and so it needed to ask to form it's contract. The signing of which would not doubt bind Astrid to it's challenges, the conquest of which must undoubtedly unlock it's full power at the behest of that whom claimed victory?

It was certainly the only sensible answer. She input her name, 'Astrid', signing the demons pact. It was not something she ever thought she need do, but desperate times, desperate measures, and unique opportunities and all that.

The demon progressed it's visual transcribed challenge, when Illara asked about it. It was imperative she keep much of the truth secret for now. Even from Hyperion, he may not have been entirely aware this was a demon himself, without how foolishly he cast it aside.

"I am not sure what it is or how safe. It may still be some sort of explosive device, if it is, I will sense it's mechanism going off, and be able to be rid of it quickly - you would not."

Okay, so a partial lie. It COULD still be an explosive. What happened if she failed it's trials? Was there a time limit? Objectives, consequences, other rewards? As typical and expected of demon kind, it promised golden trinkets and told you nothing more of the journey and sacrifice to get them.

It was far too late to worry about it now, though. No choice but to conquer every monster and demon it held to the end, and claim Victory along with it's power.

”How big the explosion would it be?”, she said wondering about how the DS worked exactly, was it really an explosive? If it was that small then how would the detonation work? Was it really just a demon awaiting to awaken its powers and explode? Maybe it depends on how much you feed the demon, ”Oh! Do you think the demon wants to know more about our world?”, she asked again looking at the Nintendo Astrid was using, maybe the demon was edible enough to eat, and if she does would she get the powers of the demon? How powerful is this demon, was it really just that weak?

A lot of questions raced in her mind when Killara slipped through her thoughts, maybe its just a trick, it could be true, what if their curiosity was feeding the demon?! And if there is one demon how many are there?! She thought for a while as she her bow away.

Astrid continued pressing away at buttons, following the demons initial guiding steps as Illara buzzed about curiously. She seemed to have bought the part about it being a bomb, initially, but no was asking yet more questions. A thought crossed Astrid's mind, earlier she had been distracted by Hyperion's buffoonery, just as this girl was speaking to him. It was one of few times in her life she did not know what people were saying, a fact that was incredibly... Distressing.

A trade, perhaps?

"I do not what the explosion will be like, or what else could happen. As for what it wants..." She strategically trailed off, seeming to hesitate, as if seriously thinking it over, "I do not think I could say."

Hyperion watched the girls as they explored the powers of a Nintendo DS with Pokémon, and he could not help but chuckle. Even if they were deities with dangerous powers and responsibilities, a part of them was still much like normal young adults, almost college students. Of course some, like Factory, did not quite meet the criteria of being considered “college-aged”. Yet they were still a fascinating bunch. Astrid’s previous outbursts hardly bothered him then, or now, as he turned and watched the rest of the class finish their battles with the golems.

[Weissa Major]

Co-Write with Hollownest Eternal, Weissa Major, and Luminesa
A Clamour of Stone and Steel
(Alternatively: The One With a Gundam In It)

Any confusion or disgust Cepha might’ve felt regarding Hyperion’s….less than professional display, quickly evaporated as she watched the demonstration. The golem was, admittedly, a simple construct, especially by divine standards, but she had never seen anything like it before. She was captivated by it, like a moth seeing a lit-up 7/11 sign for the first time. Her classmate gave an impressive display; while it was clear that he had limited (if any) experience with combat, his ingenuity did not go unnoticed. At a glance, he seemed like one of the more unassuming deities, but it was clear that he had his own fair share of power.

As he was winding up to make the final throw, Cepha was still intently watching; so intently, in fact, that she was slow to realize that, after the throw, he had began running straight at her. By the time she realized what he was attempting to do, it was too late to object: he tried to tackle her, clinging tightly to protect her from the impending blast.

Keyword: tried.

A bright flash illuminated the training area, as a wave of heat and debris was violently flung forward. Cepha didn't even flinch as she took in the dramatic sight. Amidst the cheers and falling debris, she was still standing, with her classmate—her would-be protector—clinging to her like a koala. When he looked up, he was mortified as he realized the predicament he was in. But before he could usher out a barrage of apologies, Cepha stopped him.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Effortlessly, she picked him up, gently placing him back on the ground with a head pat. "That was quite the show you put on just now. I'd love to see you do that again sometime." She then noticed the other students beginning to pair off. "Looks like that's our cue. Oh, and by the way," her tone was somewhere between joking at the absurdity of it all and genuinely sincere; "Thanks for protecting me."
—

The golem Cepha and her partner had been assigned was much more chaotic than the previous one. She tried to observe the golem’s movements, assuming they would follow some sort of pattern or rhythm. But this golem seemed to lack one; if it had a rhythm, the closest match would’ve been experimental freeform jazz.

The partner she had been assigned was a strange, armored being, who seemed to be composed entirely of metal. Despite their cold appearance, there seemed to be something more that lingered just underneath the surface: if Hyperion’s station wagon was anything to go off of, then she had found herself in good company. She turned to face her new ally. “So, what do you think we should try first?”

The Factory turned towards the earthen goddess, orange eye-holes shifting from analyzing the erratic golem's trajectories to analyzing the possible capabilities of their partner.
The CRT screen emerged from their chestplates, scrawling text onto it.

THAT DEPENDS. WHAT ARE YOU CAPABLE OF? WE ARE ABLE TO CONJURE AND MANIPULATE COMPLEX MECHANISMS THROUGH PHYSICAL CONTACT, AND CAN ASSIMILATE NONORGANIC MATTER INTO OUR BODY.

"Assimilation, huh? That's cool, although I wouldn't try assmilating that if I were you." She gestured to the erratic golem.

"As for me, well, I can make rocks. And change their shape, although I don't know if I'd be able to change that. I'm also good at withstanding things like heat, so I can get close to it without too much trouble."

With that last statement, an idea began to form in her mind. "Say, do you think you could try throwing me at it? I might be able to do more if I'm right on top of it."

The Factory emanated a low, metallic hum, eyes shifting back over to the drunkwalking Golem as trajectories were calculated.
The CRT screen scrolled.

NOT IN CURRENT STATE. GOLEM SHOULD BE IMMOBILIZED. FIRST. GRANT US A SECOND.

As Factory said that, they calculated the rough perimeter of the area the Golem had been given to bounce around in, before Cepha would notice tiny wire filaments emerging from The Factory's ankles and burrowing into the ground. At set intervals, the ground along the perimeter suddenly erupted with orange light, as harpoon guns began to emerge from the ground and take form, before loading and taking aim at the airspace around the golem.

The principle was, admittedly, brutishly simple-fill the air with so many harpoons that some would be bound to hit their mark and stick, allowing the Golem to be trapped between taut cables and lowered to a more accessible altitude.

In a flash, the air filled with booms and clouds of smoke, as the Harpoons were fired with rocket motors to ensure maximum impact velocity, filling the air with the scent of smoke and the sound of screeching cables.

Factory whirred, clicked, and launched its attacks on his team's golem, aiming around the creature rather than homing directly on it. The sound was loud, industrial, and sleek, leaving a well-oiled screech flaring through the air as the golem was surrounded. It tried to move to some sort of...rhythm...but now it found itself interrupted. For now.

With a loud, braying whine, the Golem was slowly, haphazardly dragged downward by the struggling winches, stopping at a more accessible altitude.

The Factory remained anchored in place, but the monitor on their chest read one thing for Cepha:

GO.

Cepha didn't need to be told twice: she leaped to the top of the golem, which was now within reasonable distance. It took a moment for her to steady herself; even while restrained, the golem seemed insistent on moving. The glowing seamlines were even more prominent up close; a perfect weak point.

Small rocks and other particles accumulated around her hands, forming jagged gauntlets. She punched downwards, focusing on the preexisting cracks, hoping to make the core at least somewhat more accessible.

A few small rocks fell off the golem, which remained stuck and jerking in various directions in the air. As it moved and pulled, it found itself unable to get away, and so Cepha’s first punch did damage. Several large, molten sediments fell off the golem and hit the ground around Factory, while Hyperion turned and nodded at their progress.

Cepha beamed. She managed to break through the golem's armor with a single punch. She was tempted to unleash a volley of punches on the opening and finish the job then and there, but she hesitated. She could feel the heat radiating out from the opening, as the hummimg of solar energy got louder and louder. The golem was a volatile construct, and while she could probably withstand its destruction, she didn't feel like getting blasted with the force of the sun on her first day.

She leaped down from the golem, sliding through some hot rocks before skidding to a stop. "Alright, I was able to get an opening. I could probably finish it off, but I wanted to check with you first. You'd probably like to make the last hit; I mean, who doesn't like explosions, right? Or we could work together to take it down."

The Factory turned after assessing the damage, monitor scrolling.

HOW CAPABLE ARE YOU WITH RANGED WEAPONRY?

Around them, broken golem pieces rose off of the ground. Some combined into hot boulders, while others formed jagged spikes; all pointed at the golem.

She easily could've just explained her affinity to The Factory, but it was more fun this way. "I'd say I'm pretty capable." She lightly traced her finger along one of the floating spikes. "How about you?"

The Factory contemplated for a moment, before motioning for Cepha to step back. It...wouldn't hurt to be somewhat showy.

As soon as their partner stepped to a safe distance, The Factory exploded.

...Exploded, was somewhat of a misnomer. The air filled with molten-orange light and flecks of slag, and steam blasted outward from the original location of the metallic god, but it was not an explosion...

But a transformation.
Deafening clangs and the pops of cooling metal filled the air, and as the steam swirled and subsided a monstrous, bipedal walker emerged, glowing with the same molten light as the original armored vessel. Each flank had a pair of tank-caliber canons resting where the "arms" would be, trained on the struggling Golem as it braced on digitigrade legs. Although Cepha was unable to see its face-equivalent, she could feel the prickle of its attention on her. Evidently, waiting for a signal to attack as one.

“YES! IT’S A GUNDAM!!!” Hyperion threw his sunglasses in the air and caught them, before he almost coughed out his liver in his excitement. As soon as he managed himself, he stood straight and had a huge grin on his face. “TRANSFORMERS!!! YES!!! BREAK THAT DECEPTICON!”

Cepha was taken aback by her new friend's sudden transformation. She could feel the energy of their transformation even as she stood at a distance. When the crackling of orange light had ceased, it unveiled a beautiful and terrifying war machine. Her initial concern was replaced with awe and wonder.

That. Is. So. COOL!

But she didn't have time to geek out on her new friend; there were more important matters to attend. Even though they lacked a traditional face in this form, she could sense them waiting for her.

"Alright, I'll give a count, and we'll attack together on three. One..." The rocks floating around the golem shifted into place; in a matter of seconds, they would be flung towards the golem's core with an incredible force.

"Two..." Cepha could hear a series of mechanical clicks and whirs, but she didn't take her eyes off the golem. While they may have just met, she had complete trust in her new friend, and especially in their combat capabilities.

"THREE!"

THOOMP. THOOMP. THOOMP. THOOMP
The retort of The Factory's weapons filled the air with thunder as each cannon fired once, hurtling a High-Explosive Anti-Tank round at the golem at significant fractions of the speed of sound. Smouldering shell casings fell from the machine's sides, hitting the ground with dull thuds.

Amidst the hail of cannonfire, Cepha unleashed every flaming rock she had been holding above and around the golem. They snapped themselves towards their target at an alarming speed, whistling and letting off embers as they flew through the air.

The violent attack launched and exploded around the golems, almost too fast for one to watch each individual rock. Cepha’s attack turned non-molten rocks into fire, and as they hit the core they exploded further, sending rocks flying 30 feet in the air and around them. Some even almost slammed into other constructs, missing due to the rhythm in which they were flying. One more golem destroyed, though Cepha and Factory now needed to avoid violently-flying rocks.

Using her abilities, Cepha directed the molten rocks away from her and the Factory, slowing their speed to make them easier to avoid. While being hit by the rocks wouldn't harm her too badly, it still wasn't something she'd like to experience (and she was sure that her friend felt the same way).

The Factory found an odd emotion as Cepha used her abilities to deflect the rocks. Was this...appreciation?
Regardless, the favor would be returned as the monstrous construct lunged in front of Cepha, digging a long furrow in the ground as it plowed to a halt. The molten rocks hit hard, but not sufficiently to overcome the machine's durability, pinging uselessly off of its armor and leaving small, smoking dents.

The deafening barrage of projectiles came to an unceremonious end, as the sound of rocks banging against metal grew quiter and more spaced out, before ceasing entirely. The floating golem was little more than a smoldering ruin: they had won.

On one hand, Cepha felt foolish for not considering just how powerful the blast would be; sure, they were a reasonable distance away, but detonating a solar construct with such a large amount of force was bound to have dangerous results. Still, her new friend seemed to take it in stride as they shielded her from the debris. Besides, they had just won their first challenge! And that was something worth celebrating.

"That was some great work. Looks like we make quite the team." Her smile turned sheepish. "Thanks for protecting me from the blast, I didn't really think about it beforehand. I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I'm Cepha."

The machine collapsed into a cloud of steam, whirling and then retreating into the holes and seams in The Factory's shell as the mechanical God stood and turned to face Cepha, monitor already scrolling.

THERE IS NO NEED FOR THANKS. WE ARE USED TO SHIELDING OTHERS.
GREETINGS, CEPHA. WE ARE THE FACTORY.

Cepha would be lying if she said that she wasn't intimidated, especially after such an impressive display. But it was clear that the Factory had a good heart: their actions spoke clearly enough for themselves.

"It was fun working with you. We should do that more often." Cepha noticed the other students finishing up their battles. "Looks like some of the fights are still going. Wanna grab front row seats?"

The Factory pondered this, before an...understanding, flashed through their subconscious. A metaphor. Nodding, the Factory moved to follow Cepha, leaving flattened, round footprints in the crushed grass underfoot.

...Unseen, though, was the thin layer of iron dust that began to fall from their armor.

[Luminesa]

Beer Bottles, Sunlight, and Autumn Tea

Hyperion - Day 2

The students slowly began to wrap their battles, and Hyperion chugged down the rest of the suspicious liquid in the brown bag. He managed to hold his stomach, while murmuring to himself, “C’mon, Hyp, c’mon, you’ve never lost a bet to Didi before. One glug, ONE GLUG.” After swallowing in a way that suggested he was swallowing either glue or an entire child, he looked up from his endeavor at the class. Only two groups were left, and he looked over at the clock. By the clock, he meant using himself and his shadow as a sundial. He adjusted his sunglasses and gave a look to the rest of the class.

“Alright! So! I should probably explain what the hint was, because…I did give it to two teams. And you know, they’re taking their time finishing, I’m not gonna rush them. But for the rest of you…” He held up the boombox, and he nodded to the remaining pieces of one golem, which then pulled itself together at the command of his Magic. “A quick demonstration. The bass line of this song?”

He played “When I Come Around”, at least the first few lines of the introduction. No doubt the class was tired of hearing it on repeat, and so he stopped after a few moments.

“And now the golem?”

The golem moved the way it had for the team which had destroyed it, in its seemingly erratic circle which now had a pattern. “The bass line was the speed and tempo of its movement. You noticed that if you just blew it up, MOLTEN ROCKS EVERYWHERE. Just like vomit and blood after a college party. But if you waited, then the rocks didn’t hit you. And that was the point! FOCUS!”

Hyperion smirked at the class, before he let the golem dissipate on the ground.

“So look, your next class is with Athena. Now because she’s as sexually-repressed as a NEET in their early-twenties who has only ever seen girls on 4chan, she may have a worse temper than me. So…uh…don’t say anything around her that I would ignore or let you get away with.” He swallowed more of the so-called “wine” from the brown bag, looking absolutely tortured before he continued. “What she IS good at is POWER. And you’re going to learn about MANAGING power. It’s like managing a baby. You assert your dominance by riding the stroller and having the baby push you around. Once again, I am a great father.”

He proceeded to prove this by projectile vomiting at the nearest tree.

When he was finished, and he wiped the tears out of his eyes, he took a sip of a water bottle which had appeared near him and he nodded. “Everyone who’s done, you’re dismissed. Aemilia and Bana, Vix and Azcoatl, continue what you’re doing.”

As he watched the two teams continue their work and finish, he would allow the other students to leave. Patriah, who looked just a little confused by everything that had happened, would look for Lanuru at the end of class as they looked for Athena’s class. He wanted to talk more to Senu, of course, since now he had discovered the fascinating power of firearms. Yet he wanted to ask about the scarf as well. Something told him that Lan had decided to wear it for more than just fashion.

***

Autumn Tea

The Prince of the Summer Valley sat at a tea table in an elaborately floral room, almost reminiscent of a greenhouse. Light from the Feywilds poured through tall, pristine windows which were laced with tall, stately ivy vines. In fact, much of the room was covered and embroidered with ivy. The chandelier was an enormous water lily which seemed to glow from a source unseen. Underneath that chandelier, a rainbow of beautiful flower-plants, enormous and bursting with reds, blues, pinks, and yellows, stood at attention in a circle around the room. The chairs to the tea table were made of huge rose plants, backed by emerald thorns.

And in the chair, a tall and elegant man, dressed today in pale-blue robes stitched with golden flowers which trailed down his sleeves and back, sat and drank his tea. He could see into a large, quartz-like crystal sitting in the middle of the table, and he sipped a delightful, hot cup of orange-blossom tea as he looked into the same device. While serene and impassive, he only paused from drinking when he caught a glimpse of Hyperion vomiting on a tree.

“...The Greeks never cease to make their lack of understanding of nature known. And so they choose to teach children…who will eventually take their place?” His soft, flowing voice fell as he raised a brow at the display. “...And yet the Autumn Court has no leader…for shame. They place all the work on themselves, while the Pax hangs by a thread. Truly, what a shame.”

He turned away from the crystal to continue sipping his tea, when the same contraption revealed to him the student body. One was a bright-blonde, who had shouted and raged for most of the hour at either the teacher, her classmates, or now at a strange little metal device that made bright, eclectic sounds that responded to her poking of various buttons. He chuckled, and kept an eye on her for a moment.

Another, who seemed more like a proper gentleman, was a red-haired student who had saved a young classmate in a elegant robes from being crushed by molten rocks. He looked rather odd, however, dressed in what looked like a…tracksuit? “...Hm. And this one…being a Fae who has seen the Spring Court, I cannot quite judge clothing…but…human-like clothing is still so odd…”

Of course, Queen Mab’s child was also present, and the Prince of the Summer Valley turned up his nose. “An Unseelie…how curious. I’m sure he’ll be polite in the right company, however.”

And so he continued to observe, making no motions, until his crystal noticed the one student reading in the library. Some sort of strange little keeper of knowledge, who had found the book on Fae which he had placed among their midst. He chuckled once again, and finished his teapot. “Ahhhh so many young heirs to choose…so many intelligent students…I should not fear going to visit them to present an…opportunity or two, should I?”

Slaves and Bulldozers

Prometheus remained in his awful chains, day by day experiencing a pain which had managed to survive the fall of many worlds. He had once been freed, or almost freed, but he had surrendered his hope when he had seen the Titans locked away. Perhaps they would have had mercy on a man who had brought fire and hope to the humans, but no. Locked in their war, in their own affairs, the humans below had suffered, hidden, and rushed to find ways to save themselves.

In his rage, the man had wanted to bite through his chains himself. Yet they remained as sturdy as the day they had first captured him. And then those vultures. Those horrible, horrible vultures. Always hungry, always biting, always making him bleed. He was so used to the smell of blood that the iron scent was always in his nose. Even when he slept, he smelled it. The slightest movements of his stomach alerted him, and he would awaken in a state of constant panic. Sweat, blood, tears, and cold. Cold. So very cold. A lack of fire, a lack of lasting warmth, and his body continually was not allowed to just…sink away.

Die was the wrong word. He did not want to die. He did not want to stop existing. The fire of life still existed in him, somehow supernaturally alive after untold millennia. Yet if he could melt through these chains, sink away, and awaken somewhere else, he would have paid anything. He would have given his liver finally, and he would have found another one to use. He would have walked away, and let all of his sweat carry him out to sea, to a place that was warm and unrattled by the horrible scents of vultures.

As he took the first few breaths of his morning, preparing for another round of what was his existence, something touched him. A soft, light, cool breeze. He had never felt something quite this way, and it cleared the iron scent in his nose. He could smell the sea, the air, the rock to which he had been tied. Life.

The stars.

He turned his eyes upward, and he swore that he thought an Angel was coming down toward him. Rather than having a vulture’s wings, hers were white as ivory, soft as drifted snow.
And she knew how to grab a chain, and one tug broke away link by link without as much as a consideration for the bloodied iron.

[Finsternia]

Dreaming of Breaking Chains upon the Mountains High

Athena - Day 2
The Lyceum of the Goddess

Golden light falls down from above the ampitheatre, the rays of divine light solidifying into blobs of golden energy that suffuses the marble tiles. Above is a peerless sky, blue, boldly painted with white clouds, and with no sun to see. The sky upon the roof of the room is simply a dome, created by Hephaestus and infused with the power of the Gods so it may become closer to its symbolic ideal.

The ampitheatre is currently empty, save for one stark figure sharply dressed in a suit made out of draconic scales. She is tinkering with a crystal screen, once again by the courtesy of the Olympians' gadgeteer, as she types and manipulates data and figures upon its blue surface. Golden light flickers at her fingertips everytime they touch the floating panel, and something imperceptible moves within the room.

Invisible strings, like that of a spider's web, vibrate in the air and the golden light from above swirls and gathers to form starlight. More celestial bodies glimmer in the vast artificial heavens, and the Goddess Athena clenches her fist abruptly. The stars explode into a kaleidoscope of colors as nebula and clouds of energy levitate and float above the room, like a storm cloud of proto-creation. She looks up at what she has done, and with a nod she discorporates the control panel before her. Snaps ring in the empty room and scrolls appear upon the desks, one per each student. With that out of the way, the Goddess walks behind her desk, crosses her arms, and waits for her charges.

Lanuru - Day 2
Towards the Next Dream

"I thank you for your aid, si- uh... Alkibiades. Your vinework is exquisite, for it to be sturdy enough to withhold a being of solar fire." Lanuru sings to the God of Wine a well deserved praise for his aid in vanquishing Hyperion's golem. Its binding was the key to its swift take down. If it wasn't bound by Alkibiades' vines, Lanuru's flurry of killing blows would have empowered it to move faster and would have been harder to hit. The Unseelie Prince's ecliptical suppression was a key factor as well, but without his roommate's entanglement its deployment would have a lesser effect.

The Dream God's long ears twitch as he felt the gaze of another being upon himself. His body turns and his golden eyes meet that of an acquaintance from the day before, the young Godling thay gifted him the scarf upon his person. With a flourish, the gleaming dark blade within his hands swing and fly into his halo where it is consumed by and vanishing into the gaping void. "...Alkibiades, let us chat later on within our residence. It seems that a... friend has some intented conversation with myself. If you could please excuse me." He nods towards him, before walking towards Patriah.

Patriah could see that the Fae Prince has worn his colorful scarf upon his person, over an obsidian armor that shows off the Prince's hunt toned physique and allows for a greater freedom of movement because of it. Lanuru stops before him and holds his right hands towards him for a handshake. "...Greetings, once again. It seems that you have also vanquished your solar automaton with..." He pauses as he notices the bullet rounds, as well as the weaponry upon the other Godling. His face almost contorts out of reflexive spite towards the unsightly mortal invention, sensing that its blasphemous make has been blessed by divine force. "With great... innovation. I have noticed and felt your gaze upon me. Is there anything you need of me, Patriah of the Deathlands?"

????? - Tea upon Empyrea

Tír na nÓg is a world of paradise. It is both divine and a reflection of the mortal world. The colors are much brighter, the waters are much sweeter, and the fruits of the land are much delightful... all glamorous and too perfect that mortal tongues and mortal eyes would loathe to leave its grandeurs. Every facet of the mortal world is touched upon by the concept of perfection, where every apple is the perfect shade of red, every hill is the perfect incline, every castle, every town, and every forest the perfect structure and grandiosity.

This abode itself is a place made to be the pinnacle of that perfection. The Fair Folk that the mortals look up to as perfect beauties would shudder and weep at the thought to walk into this greenhouse-like room. They are far too imperfect to even dare think they have the right to sit at the tea table of a God, of the Prince of Summer whose light shines vibrantly upon his Valley.

The Prince's tea table is empty save for himself, his scrying orb, and a guest. Across the table from him blooms one of the rose seats, but this one rose is different from the others around it. Each petal seems to glow from within, and flecks of the same light emerge and scatter as embers into the open air. Its thorned back is not emerald, but gold that shimmers and pulses with every conceivable color as if alive with such essence pumping into its system. The thorns do not jut out like spines, but rather twist and contort into jagged edges.

Sat upon this seat is an unassuming being, an avian about the size of a small chicken. Its feathers are that of pure gold, and each fiber burns with an inner power that could only be perceived by beings lesser than it as fire. It is a Phoenix, one that has been with the Prince of the Summer Valley for quite a long time. However, its gravitas is far greater than those of its... lesser kin. A pair of horns, jagged and brimming with ancient savagery, is upon its brow like a crown and ten jewels the color of the rainbow sit within the notches created by its twisting thorns. It sits aloofly upon its seat, its golden eyes watching its friend take a delight in spying upon the new students of that pretentiously heralded school.

Its attention was barely piqued, its gaze not even paying any attention to the assortment of child Gods flinging wind, water, fire, and lightning upon their adversaries, except for one individual. It was the shambling being scurrying around with books upon their person that has drawn its attention, and in its eyes it sees a drop of misty water, its essence fleeting and forgettable, suspended upon a ring of red rocks emulate the image of a maw. The space where the droplet floats is void, filled with white mist that struggles to uphold itself. It spares the Nameless One a moment's attention, and the one called ■■■■■■■ feels a fleeting emotion hang over it. It was a sense of impending doom, as one watches faraway waves travel towards the shoreline for an inevitable crash... but it vanishes in an instant as if it was never there.

The avian closes its eyes and the tea cup before it floats silently before it. It sips with its beak, savoring the taste of the finest orange-blossoms, as it ponders upon that one strange Godling. 'Child of Lethe and Tartarus... Quite interesting... for you to be born from the sorrow of the maiden who cried for what she has forgotten...' The levitating teacup returns to its saucer, and the little bird addresses the Summer Prince before him. "...Are you thinking of sponsoring these children as your entourage... or are you putting puppets on the Autumn Throne?"

The Shepherdess - Unshackling the Celestial Flame

The trek upon the mountain top is arduous. Mortals would need days to climb to the top, as its heights dwarf all those within the continent it stands upon. Its terrain is treacherous, with steep cliffs and snow covered tops that could spell death through fall or hypothermia. For transcendant beings, such a terrain is simply a walk in the park. Many of them could climb, or even change the weather. Why would they suffer the insignificant discomfort of mortals when the cold is nothing but a spring breeze?

One such being, currently climbing the very heights of Mount Elbrus, would rather say no. There is enlightenment to be found in suffering, compassion in the experience of sharing burdens with those deemed lesser than them. Her feet have nothing to cover them from the bitting cold snow and painful frozen earth, and her clothing are nothing but rags upon her person. But she continues to climb, whispering prayers and encouragement towards those that follow behind her like a procession towards a holy place.

This is indeed a holy place. It is where, eons ago, a great Titan was sealed. For the price of compassion and a wish for mankind's brighter tomorrow, he was chained here with a punishment that is far too cruel for his supposed crimes. Prometheus, Titan of Fire and Forethought, is entombed here for all eternity. This is where she is led by her savior. This is where she too must save another sinner. The peak of the mountain is where mortal and divine is blurred, as storm clouds churn without warning. Here, atop this mountain, is a veil that separates the mortal world with the jail of the imprisoned Titan. Lightning snakes through the clouds and pounces at the procession, but she unfolds her pristine white wings and an aura of divinity washes over her people. With gasps and awed praise, the lightning is held back by a shield of white light as the leading figure continues to brave the storm... until they reach the top.

As the Titan wastes his eternity away upon his prison, beholded to the madness of betrayal, pain, and loss, white feathers cut through the stormy clouds. Their aim is not the Titan, but rather the vultures and the divine eagle that were his captors. The feathers find their mark and pierce through the birds' hearts, before a brilliant light erupts from their wounds. Each explosion was soundless and without any earth shattering force, but the light that they emit is as bright as the sun. In this explosion of light, Prometheus sees the figure of his savior. It was a woman, dressed in ragged clothes that now shifts with his perception. They change into long white robes that remind him of the time when he was once worshipped, when priestesses and priests still light braziers in his honor. Upon her back are two massive white wings, and upon her shaved head are four horns that curl and meet into two halos that shed a soft white light. Her gaze upon him is motherly, without condescending pity but rather a gentle love that wishes to set him free...

"Lord Prometheus... You have served your sentence for far too long... It is time for you to be forgiven... for the crimes that you have made with the kindness within your heart..."

The heavens and the earth shudder and roar, as if calamity has descended. Prometheus was used to hearing the rumble of lightning, the rage of Zeus, but this roar is not the roar of lightning. This is the roar of freedom, of shackles unbound, as the chains that bound him for countless years break and crumble at the words of the woman before him. She raises her fist towards the sky, her wings open in proclamation as she shouts. "Prometheus, Titan of Flame, your freedom is at hand! Grasp it, take your destiny upon your hands once more, and join me in my quest! Be free, and free those in suffering and under tyranny! Be free, oh Lord of Humanity!"

[Luminesa]

Co-Write by Finsternia and Lumi

Dream Until You Pancake It Anymore

Patriah had once heard Eurydice talking about the many gifts she had made for people who had wandered into the Underworld, or at least into her kitchen. Tartarus was not a pleasant place, but her kitchen almost felt something like a home. She had made incredible chicken stew for Thanatos, who had a weakness for chicken. Hades liked to eat enormous turkey legs right off the bone. Patriah ate almost anything she cooked.

And then her scarves were soft, unique, and elegant.

She had scoffed at Patriah “losing” his scarf, as she had told him. Most likely, she had nagged Thanatos to make his son be more responsible. Than proceeded to grumble back that he still needed clothes, and so now he had gotten a scarf in the mail this morning. It was in slightly-darker colors of burgundy, blue, cream, red, and kelly-green. Oddly enough, it matched better with the multitude of tattoos on his body as well.

“Uhhhhh…I noticed that you were wearing my scarf.” Pat remembered, after a few moments, why he had approached Lanuru in the first place. The scarf was bright, familiar, and pretty…against steel obsidian. It was an odd sensation, and he wasn’t sure how to define it.

"...Yes, I am indeed wearing your gift." Lanuru gestures upon the scarf on his person, tied and set as a sash across his torso and around his waist. Its colors pop vibrantly in the color palette of Lanuru's outfit, its rainbow colors a splash of paint over black armor and silver gauntlets. It felt like it's supposed to be there, and has always been there, with its bright cheerfulness completing the dark imposing figure of Lanuru into perfection.

"And it seems that you have a new scarf... Would it be presumptious to assume it is woven by your esteemed Mother as well?" The Nightmare God walks foward and closes the distance between him and Patriah, and he reaches toward to touch the scarf upon his person. It is of the same softness, and he could feel the intense sensation of love and affection woven within its threads. It is especially strong, having just been made, and its essence is like a beacon of emotional light to the Prince. "...You are well loved, Patriah of the Deathlands." He whispers as his eyes meet the Godling of Winds, his hand still gently holding the end of Patriah's scarf. "It appears that your Mother's love warms you as much as her craft..."

Patriah was not sure how to feel about Lan being as close to him as he was. Just yesterday he had wrapped himself in a cocoon away from his classmates. Now he was stepping close and touching his scarf. “Heh. She woulda made me a shirt too, but I told Than I wouldn’t wear one,” he joked. He was good at answering with fewer words than necessary, but he did keep his grin on his face. “Well…combat and a good homemade meal warm me up enough. I’ve never really been anywhere cold. I like sunlight and fresh air. Being in the Underworld is usually chilly and kinda dull. Hey uh…what do you like to eat?”

"...What I like to eat?" Lanuru slowly tilts his head at the question. The land of the Tuatha de Danann is a world of bounty, even to the extremes of excess, and their food and drink is mythic in their renown. As Prince of the Unseelie Court Lanuru has been privy to feasts of every sensation and satiation... but he craves for a delicacy only he enjoys. "I rarely partake in the enjoyment of physical food. I derive my nourishment from dreams..."

He gestures with his free hand as pink smoke, glittering with stars, curls around his fingertips. It rapidly changes into a miniature image of a city, all too real and physical as the Prince turns his fingers to control the rise and fall of its buildings. "The taste of joy in sweet dreams... It's sweeter than any fruit, I must say." He gently smiles at Patriah as the dream in his hands change: a cottage in an open field, warm with the morning sun and fresh with the spring breeze. Its doors are open, and from within emanates the scent of freshly cooked breakfast. A dream is born from Patriah's wishes and desires, a soft want for an idyllic life.

“Blueberry pancakes. Got it.” Patriah lifted his head from looking at the dream, which did actually make him curious. Lan had made a whole, beautiful dreamworld in his hands, as if he might have been channeling some of Pat’s own inner feelings. He was not sure how to react to that. Nobody had ever just gone and translated what was in his chest. And so his answer was rather simple. “I’ll make you and Bana blueberry pancakes, and I’ll bring them to your dorm room.”

"...Blueberry... pancakes...?" Patriah's simplistic answer catches Lanuru out of guard, and the smell of the morning breakfast within takes a sweeter tinge. The dream now shows a dining table, with two plates serving a stack of blueberry pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and topped by blueberries. The pancakes are soft and pillowy, the syrup is golden drizzle, and the blueberries are like sapphire jewels. It is all that Patriah thought blueberry pancakes should be, and more.

Patriah hears laughter from Lanuru as the Prince breaks into a soft chuckle. He flashes a smile towards him as he nods. "...Very well... I shall be anticipating this... breakfast. It has been a long time since I willingly partook in the consumption of food... And with how this dream has come to be... I believe that you are quite the hand in such treats."

“Uhhhhhh…” Patriah looked up at the sky. “It’s a bit late for breakfast…but I guess that hasn’t stopped anyone before. After this class, I’ll make you and Bana blueberry pancakes. All from scratch. Thank the gods that Hestia filled the fridge!” He was at least relieved to see a genuine smile from Lanuru. The smile was not sawed across his face, but natural and sweet. He thought about Zagreus at home, on the occasion that he was feeling warm and fuzzy for whatever reason. He had never quite asked what made Zag warm and fuzzy, given the world in which they lived. He wondered if it was for similar reasons as Lan.

"...Oh right. Time flows differently here... It flows forward." Lanuru ponders for a moment, until he notices Patriah staring. His lips curl reflexively as his eyes meet him. "Is something the matter? Is there something on my face?" He moves to touch his face, and his gauntletted hand feels the curl of a smile upon it. It leaves him to pause for a moment, as it was a smile he is unfamiliar with. It is not a smile of polite gesture and company, nor was it a smile of cruel satisfaction.

It's simply a smile, and a flavor arises in his tongue. It is the flavor of a teenager's glee at a college acceptance, it is the flavor of a husband's joy as his wife and child survives birth, it is the flavor of a mother holding her returned son. It is the flavor of blueberries that blossoms on Lanuru's tongue... and the Prince does not know what to do as he slowly holds the scarf upon his person.

It is warm to the touch, he still feels Eurydice's loving weaving. The power of this gift has now bound him, the symbols of a gift granted in kind and with the heft of true affection, and it warms his soul. The cold of the Winter Court is so far away... It has only been the second day and Lanuru feels the warmth of the absence of winter.

Perhaps this is the reason why Queen Titania and King Oberon walk through the veil throughout the centuries to be with the humans. It's to feel this warmth... a warmth that does not exist in Spring, nor in Summer, nor in Winter. "...Indeed... Thank Lady Hestia for her foresight... May her bounty be blessed in your hands. Her feast is a giant that you must overcome." Lanuru looks back at Patriah and the same smile comes to his face, a much easier smile to hold than those he had before.

“Nothing’s wrong, no, just…heh. Uh. Maybe you’re not scary after all? I dunno. It’s our second day of class, still hard to tell.” Lan’s smile was deep and full of moonlight, and Patriah’s mind was full of food and recipes. Eurydice had raised him to show his appreciation through food, but however well he communicated that was up to him.

“Nah, that’s easy to beat. I ate seven chicken legs and six wings, all fried, at the banquet yesterday. And then I ate five tacos. And drank…an entire 12-pack of Mountain Dew.” Patriah had felt very wired last night, and for good reason. So much sugar and so much protein, his body was not sure if he should sleep, run around the roof, or do both at the same time. “…That must be why I went to bed in my bed…and woke-up sleeping on the grass outside this morning. Also uh…there’s a few shingles that fell off the roof. I might need to fix those.”

He had no idea of the depth of Lanuru’s feelings, and he just laughed with embarrassment.

"...It seems that you will not be out of place within the Courts... especially in the festivities of the Spring Court. Perhaps one day, I'll invite you and the others in our Realm. The opportunity may even be closer than one could imagine." Lanuru continues to try to uphold an easygoing smile, his eyes looking back at the small dream that he has conjured in his hand. It was so simple, so quaint, for a dream to indulge in the small pleasures of life to be born from the unspoken will of the Godling before him.

Lanuru opens his lips, and the dream slowly dissolves into starry pink clouds that he inhales into his being. He tastes the sweet spring breeze, the syrupy warmth of the morning sun, and the warm satisfaction of a simple well lived life by the countryside. It was a delicious meal, a luscious dream... and perhaps through this way could he only experience such a thing beyond the constraints of his being. Something dark roils and boils within him, as shadows seem to gather in his mind's eye that now taints the image of the dream he had devoured. He closes his eyes for a moment, before turning back to his newfound friend.

"If you need assistance with the repair of your abode, then please do know that you may conscript me in your endeavor." The Unseelie Prince extends a warm gesture and promise to Patriah, before turning towards the lecture buildings of the school. "But... I think we should hurry towards the next class. This breakfast and repair must be done perhaps after Lady Athena's lecture."

“Yeah uh…Zeus is not gonna be happy I wrecked the roof on the first day of school,” Patriah muttered, as he almost left to follow Lan. He wanted to stay back a little, if only to watch his classmates finish their exercises. Specifically, he wanted to watch Bana, his roommate, who seemed to put on a good show. All the while, he thought about Lanuru’s offer to visit the Spring Court.

“Spring Court…I bet they’re really into weaving flowers or something,” he thought, as he picked a piece of grass and started to munch on it.

[Zei-Aeiytenia]

Co-write with Zei-Aeiytenia, Nantoroka and Luminesa


The area near the beach was now alight with the sounds of combat! Rushing winds, exploding molten rock, Hyperion cackling in joy, and some idiot was blast mining?

Well, if it worked, who was Aemilia to judge? It would seem this school had more than one fellow of the new world however, as her partner for this exercise was the second from that region. By no means had she intended her first day here to be an all expenses paid Caribbean vacation, but there would certainly be no complaints here.

She turned to her new friend, greeting him, "Hello my comrade! I am Aemilia of Rome, though I do not know of your abilities I just yet, I shall assure you I am quite capable of replicating my mechanical roomates fun little tactic of harpooning this solar sky whale!" She giggled, turning to the golem to give the - it must be stressed - completely non sentient and lacking in intelligence golem her proudest smirk, as if expecting the unthinking rock to feel fear before it's demise.

Abaguabana smiled and bowed in respect. "Abaguabana, of the Spirit World." Clad in the leathers, wraps, and foliage of his typical outfit, he raised his hand outwards, and water was pulled from the air to gather within his hands and spread outwards to form a spear, a wooden one, with a handle seemingly made from the skin of snakes, and a hooked prong of bone. "I don't know your capabilities either, but if you must know..." Drops of water from the apparently wet spear dripped on the ground to accentuate his speech.

He smiled again, and pointed the freshly woven spear towards the golem. "I'm a spirit of the ocean. I'm sure you and I will be more than enough for this rock." Abaguabana began circling around the golem, looking to anticipate its first move.

The golem continued to move as it did, with the strange rhythm that all of the golems used. It paid no mind to Abaguabana, as it had no mind to pay. Hyperion watched him and Aemilia, wondering how this rather calm and collected young man would manage an attack on the golem. His parent had spoken about his need to control incredible weather powers and some inner demons. Now he would see how the young man channeled those inner demons.

Mmmm seeing that the golem wouldn't actually attack, Abaguabana rolled his shoulders backwards with a notable collection of pops, readying himself for a strike. Believing that the golem in front of him wasn't exactly capable of movement, he decided to forsake caution for an offensive blow, to put his strength and attention he would have normally used to predict and weave into a single blow he hoped would dismantle the golem, if not hopefully damage to a degree that was "satisfactory" to anyone that was watching.

He wasn't much of a fighter, though, so it was obvious that his technique was flawed from the start. His grips on the spear were off, his hands too far apart and losing strength, his footwork slow and uncoordinated. He wasn't a god of war, after all.

Raising his spear to the air, Abaguabana took a deep breath, slow breath, gathering the strength and concentration needed to cast a fraction of his great magics. He spun the spear above him like a fan, and the air quickly began to pick up, before the sudden vortex slowed and relegated itself to the arena, so Abaguabana would not disturb the efforts of the other gods in the area. Lighting coursed down into the bone tip of his spear, causing it to glow a bright, electric blue, and a thundering crash rolled its way like a thunderous wave through the arena, completely unlike his entrance to the school, as electric power coursed through the spear.

Taking his stance, his footing awkwardly placed, Abaguabana turned to Aemilia; "I have the strength of the whales and sharks, the speed of the sailfish, and the tenacity of all in this ocean." He waved the tip towards the beach.

The waves had apparently began to gather with considerably more strength, though were still harmless. It didn't take much for Aemilia, intelligent as she was, to be able to connect the dots - Abaguabana's power was clearly connected to the seas and oceans. It seems the beach was a great place for such a spirit.

Primed and ready to strike, the clouds dispersing, Abaguabana nodded to the goddess. "What's the plan?"

The opening strike, even if imperfect, was a well-calculated strike. Bana had waited to watch the golem before attacking, and his strike paid well. He managed to knock a huge chunk of rock off the golem, close to the “neck”, and then pulled back to reposition himself. All the while, Hyperion nodded and gave a look toward Aemilia, as if to say, “What about you?”

Aemilia watched her soon to be friend, Abaguabana was his name, as closely as she had watched the others. An Ocean god, certainly a fair match for a giant flying solar golem, even if he had some inexperience with his spear. She couldn't judge too hard, Aemilia may have had a Gladius but it was mostly for show, not something she used often.

A common beat among the other fights seemed to be flashy, but effective, and while there was plenty of flash one could make with a sword, she didn't need any tools for that.

"Man everybody's having fun being all flashy and cool and stuff. I'm gonna have to use an old classic!" She smiled, taking a step back, and holding her head in her right hand. In perfect Latin she spoke, "Aura, Caedes Animae!", meaning 'Aura, Slaughter of the Soul. A mass of black energy suddenly erupted and engulfed her, as she slowly looked up at the two, hand laying over her right eye and bangs covering the left, bearing as evil and sinister a grin and glare as she could manage. Which had in the past been surprisingly convincing! But she could never keep up the cringey Anime edgelord powerup smile for long, and like every other time burst out laughing after a few seconds.

"It's good right? I totally looked evil as hell! Got a bet made against me once that I was too nice and innocent to ever appear scary. I won." She smugly proclaimed. "Anyway, no more moving mr golem, it'll hurt if you refuse~"

Four arm-like constructions shot out from the dark aura surrounding her, aiming at each of the 'limbs' of the golem.

Hyperion couldn’t help but smirk a bit at Aemilia’s attack. She certainly looked a bit evil, but she lost her focus on being evil after a few seconds. She ended-up laughing as her attack hit, and the golem received a powerful strike. It was enough to throw the golem back a few feet, and it launched rocks all around, away from the core. Some of them fell near Aemilia and Bana, and while they steamed on the ground the core of the golem was a little more open.

“Remember kids, the beat of the music?” Hyperion called.

Aemilia ran forward following the golems knockback, the aura of destruction swatting anything near her out of the sky, while the arms provided the same cover to Bana.

Immediately after however, they lunged again, this time with open hands instead of fists, aiming instead to grapple with the golem and hold it in place.

"Yeah yeah, I kinda was remembering a very different beat, ehehehe. Oops."

The hands were successful, as the golem being knocked back about ten feet made for a quick period of Hyperion adjusting the magic he was using to control the golems. In that moment of vulnerability, Aemilia’s constructed hands were able to seize the golem and to hold it in place. A few more pieces of gravel jerked away, and now it was stuck in one place, struggling to move against the constructed hands.

"HAH! THE GLORY OF ROME COMPELS YOU TO STAND AND STARE IN AWE!" She emits a bellowing laugh and throws her hair back, looking to Bana. "Should be a pretty easy shot now right, just listen to the music! Not the one in my head though!"

Abaguabana was completely bewildered at the display; though he quickly took a few steps back, front, to the side, and a variety of ducking maneuvers to avoid the rocks that shot off of the golem. As incredibly tough as he was...being hit in the face with a large rock would suck.

Readying himself for another strike, building power in those muscular arms of his, he banished the bewilderment to respond somewhat dryly, though with clear amusement in his voice. "Someone certainly enjoys their power. Let's finish this rock."

Abaguabana took the moment to correct his steps and his maneuvering, in order to move to the beat of Hyperion's music. He rolled his shoulders, staring outwards across the beach to the other students. His strength was fueled by his proximity to the sea, and now, he felt far more full, far more powerful, here than he had at the school grounds. The beach was the frontier of his domain and he was going to show it. If Hyperion wanted him to match to the beat, he certainly would, but in his own way.

In a swift flash of movement, Abaguabana was several feet away, placing the golem between himself and the ocean, and signaled for Aemilia to move away as he shoved the bladed tip of his spear into the sandy ground. "You might want to move perpendicular to me, Aemilia!"

He looked at Hyperion, with a smile on his face, "You wanted me to match your beat?"

"Life is too short, even when infinite, have to enjoy all that you can." She smirked, watching Bana as he charged in, and reacting swiftly to his warning, rushing perpendicular to the ocean god, ensuring the arms maintained their grip as she moved.

"Kay, I'm ready!" She gave in a giggling shout, beginning to dance a bit to the music herself.

The sand shifted, a deep cyclone that circled the point where his spear had struck the dry sand. The blue speartip, obscured by the particulates but still visible through the soft and energetic glow of thunderous power, suddenly lost its glow - the lightning that coursed through the staff being sent into the sand, as the power grew inert.

But the cyclone grew stronger, and faster, as a result; and it become more clear that the dry sand of this portion of the beach grew dark and solid through moisture, as Abaguabana's magics summoned waters into the sand and drenched it deeply. Manipulating the winds and the water within the sands, the particles picked up speed and surrounded his being, a great cloud of rough and irritating silicates swarming around the being's body, his element penetrating so deeply within the structure of the sands that he now molded it as one could mold clay.

Suddenly, his hands clasped together on his spear, he sent it downwards as he crouched down in a single movement and struck the ground with the broad end of his spear's handle. In response, the sand moved to Hyperion's beat, sent forth at a speed that could only be described as impossible, but rendered possible, through the strength empowerment the ocean lent to Abaguabana.

Strike, strike, strike; waves of water-solidified sand dancing to the tune of Hyperion's beat struck the golem, refusing to release its form against the hard stone, the usually fragile substance retaining its structure even against the hard rock of the being's stone surface. With the blinding speed, these waves continued, picking up wind to the side until there was no more wet sand to be thrown at the golem. Every wave struck, smaller in stature with each wave, though even the small waves were still throwing with what may very well had been thousands of pounds of force behind them. Abaguabana stood at attention with his spear by his side, not even dazed with the exertion he put into the attack, the oceans granting him the vitality of royal divinity.

Bana had not only focused on the beat of the music, but he had also focused his ocean attacks around the beat as well. Such vibrant life and energy moved through the water, and powered through the shoreline into the golem. The water and wind were fierce enough that the golem’s rocks did not even come up for air. One could almost see that the golem’s rocks were caught in the water, and then fell away.

Hyperion actually took a moment to stare, and then took off his sunglasses as he looked at the duo. He gave a slow nod, and a wide smirk emerged on his face. “…And no aftermath. Well. Well, well. WELL. If I was giving actual grades for this exercise I think you two would currently have the top grade. Though uh…everyone is going to pass, obviously. But…bravo.” He even gave a little clap. “Yeah, that was some style the two of you used. Huh.”

Aemilia laughed and danced her way through the tropic cyclone, watching as Bana whipped the storm into a frenzy which casually defies basic physics and meteorology all at once.

The destruction of the golem from such well focused and timed strikes was by far the most uneventful, and therefore the most impressive, as the rocks of their former for simply fell limply to the ground without the slightest sound or even hint of an explosion which most others had run into.

"Hahahahah! Of it was pure style, we both rockin that drip, Hyp! Hyp? Hype! I'm calling you Hype! Nice music, Hype!" She says, laughing as the magic arms faded away, the dark aura along with it.

Hyperion raised his brows a little at the weird new nickname. “Hype.” He shrugged. “Well at least it’s not a swear word this time,” he murmured. He then gave a smile, and chugged a little more of what looked like beer from a stray bottle. “But yes, great job you two. You’re free to join the rest of the class, I’m going to keep in mind your particular work today.”

---

Astrid & Aemilia
A Friend of a Friend?

Astrid had already begun her walk to the next class - Athena's in power management and the useless trite known as 'diplomacy' - had, being the operative word here, the huntress now stopped under the shade of a lone tree along the path. For its weakness, the demon certainly created a captivating illusory reality within which to assemble its challenge. She was learning the mechanisms of this small world, in its pixelated reality, not that Astrid yet knew what pixels even were, though with certainty she'd regard them as the bloody spiritual viscera of demons. In the distance she could hear the last battles end, and faint conversations. If the feeling had struck her, she could easily have eavesdropped, but whatever nonsense the pissant children of this place had to say was of little value when promised a legion of monsters for the completion of a simple challenge. As the metaphysical stand-in for her in the demon world through yet another "poke ball", a name she did not yet understand, as the spherical objects were not conducive to poking, her victory neared ever closer.

A Glorious future was not all approached, for over the horizon came an Empire along with it. Or rather, a girl rather obsessed with an Empire. Her name, what was it? A brief consultation with memories of whistling winds in the past brought reminder. Aemilia, somehow the girl did not notice Astrid. She seemed... off. Distracted, an air of unease, anxiety, body language of stress and a half-baked reassurance of confidence.

Though Aemilia was indeed distracted, both were alike in having the other on their thoughts. The Roman had watched the other battles as much as she could, all of them with their own incredible and fantastic elements. She could not help but notice the Norse girl she had angered earlier however. Even with the blatant and visceral weight of Destruction on her shoulders, she had moved with the elegance of falling flower petals in the wind, with the severity of lightning and the fluidity of a breeze. This had not merely stood out because of the spectacle, nor because of the rather loud accompanying explosions. Rather, this had stood out to Aemilia as something she could not do. Or, well, she supposes she could but...

There were complicating factors. Aemilia held herself up with one hand against the tree, making various, shallow and quick adjustments to the garments of her lower half. Even what little physical action she had taken was enough, and now a foreboding and unwelcome 'loose' feeling, as she referred to it vaguely, reminded her of its presence. She sighed deeply, for a moment her face over taken by a gloom and sorrow which contrasted to make both the shade and the glowing blue skies which created it appear ever brighter. "I really shouldn't have chickened out and brought the tape huh..." Did she have time to go and get it? What if she did and it fell out later, how would she explain that? Could she even stay calm if she prepared an explanation? She'd have free time eventually, maybe it was best to just wait and hope using more helped. It's not like anyone but her could notice, she could handle a few hours of it surely.

Afterall, she handled the topside just fine. Banging her fist against the breastplate with a smile, it was a bit of a cheeky solution. Nobody expects to be seeing your, *ahem*, contours there through battle armor! A stroke of true brilliance, nobody would think even a thing of it, no one except her of course, it was a bit hard to ignore the reality from her first person perspective, unfortunately. Further up, brushing through her hair. It had only just started going past her shoulders, after nearly two years. Despite every trick she could find to speed it up, she couldn't seem to break too far free of her base nature dictating its slow growth. No sense focusing on it now, one of her goals here wasn't just to learn new cultures, but to learn her power, particularly magic and imbued items to go with it. She couldn't well manufacture drugs, no, but maybe she could make something that passively delivers the same effect, all without a single soul knowing a thing. Product of another stroke of brilliance, using her derivation from a God of Duality to pass this all off as just a duality thing. And it worked! Nobody suspects a thing!

Astrid watched as Aemilia stood, going through whatever internal problems she had. The longer the Roman was observed, however, an uncanny feeling rose in the warriors mind. An undesirable memory and familiarity. Something about the precise body language... the vital readings, breathing, all her movements, and of course, what she had said. Once upon a time, a teenage Astrid was in a bad and foul mood, for well and good reasons mind you! A foul mood nonetheless, and this possessed her to say some rather crass, and frankly, offensive comments. The kind you'd expect from a pissed teenager with abandonment issues in an extended family where Loki exists and receives boundless support for doing so.

While any such trouble the Norse would usually incur went unnoticed, this did not. She met a friend then, Loki's friend, and... perhaps, begrudgingly, hers as well on some level. It took quite alot to get the stubborn huntress to admit defeat, however unfortunately for her, the Shark had outmaneuvered and bested her entirely. To the point where, despite spending most of the two weeks drunk, more drunk than she had pretty much ever been, it is confidently remembered as a contender for the worst fortnite in her life. A competition for which there had been no shortage of powerful challengers.

As Aemilia walked away towards their next class, Astrid, with her attention broken from the handheld demon, now slowly following, wondered. The Shark had said he had many friends, children even he would sometimes call them, he had told her after her ordeal, that she may now be better able to see them. Is this what he had meant? Was this a friend of his as well?

[Ceystile]

Althea, Athena's Class
"Well at least I'm not late this time...not in any particular mood to get chewed out by my aunt." Althea was dressed in a sparkly black turtleneck and violently indigo jeans, still with her signature lab coat over her shoulders. The Olympian goddess of wisdom and war was a notorious one around the school and off the grounds, a particular stickler for the rules in a way that her grandfather and great-grandfather were not. And generally being a part of the Greek pantheon, any one of them could go from nice and sweet to petty asshole in less than a second, the young healer herself included. Understanding that detention would really put a dent in her after-school ambitions, she picked up the pace as her silver braid slapped against her back like a long, shiny whip.

As she approached the classroom, she noticed a somewhat familiar face...one of the blondes from the training grounds, the girl with the pointed ears. So she had this class too then? How many of the godlings signed up for this class...well if you have power it makes sense to want to manage it, less mess for healers to clean up later. Althea made her way into the amphitheater and settled into a front desk, the heavy thunk of her black bag was audible on the table.

[Danceria]

Interlude: The Ravens Go Up To The Mountains

Bridgewater, Massachusetts
???

---

In the abandoned Bridgewater University, a raggedy, skeletal figure looks on across the swamps. In the wake of the Pantheon Wars, many towns had been abandoned-though the damage wasn’t as severe as it could have been, many towns were abandoned-especially in areas of superstition like the Bridgewater Triangle. Ah, this area had been a popular spot for spooky happenings-the local Wampanoag people called the nearby swamp “Hockomock”, the place where evil spirits dwell, where its life-giving waters also served as a burial ground.

Thankfully, in a university smack dab in what the mortals had once called “Lovecraft Country”, this figure was the biggest baddie in the room. Will-o-the-wisps and poltergeists flitted about the rooms, cleaning, placing into motion plots and ploys, patrolling the half-abandoned area for hapless mortals. Woodwoses loom like gargoyles in the corners and just outside of windows-peering into the outsides, where large swamp-dwelling snakes slithered up and down campus, hissing news of the travelers, and wondering if the mighty Thunderbird that had visited some time ago had well and truly left.

At the center of this whirlwind gathering of all things that could go bump in the night was a scarecrow like entity, his face obscured by darkness-though his hair white as freshly fallen snow. His feathery locks had shaken off the guilt and flame that had blackened his crown and counternance for this role. Draped in ramshackle robes of bygone glory, belonging to his mother’s people, passed down through millenia, he donned himself a whimsical wanderer-and reclaimant for the Autumn Throne. His lineage was mostly true, descended from some Welsh folk hero or another, and his bloodline was Unseelie-that Unseelie before the Courts were reorganized since the Wars. Around him jangled the rank and pickled souls of hustlers and con-men, both mortal and supernatural. Most were still in the brining-jars but the man was carving turnip effigies for them to howl and confess testament to their own treachery-and how they were out-tricked in kind. His crown-or rather, his helmet-was a pumpkin lit by eerie light, and filled with the whispers of souls and spirits most loyal to him.

He would be master of the Autumn Hunt, his quarry the wicked and his Host the vengeful. He would show them he knew the spirits of the natural and the supernatural, for neither would be beyond his reach. For as he made his preparations, and leered at the ever-tempest that the Fae had brought to his ancestral home islands, he let loose a white crow-one of many that had made perch in the balcony and window sills of the university, and brought forth slips of paper with arcane countermeasures, and with a whisper of fortune, let the birds fly.


Some would find their way to the many humans and disguised supernatural beings, who donned themselves the visage of vagrants and drifters-those he himself had the pleasure of gaining loyalty-and those his own superior had entreated to serve him for grim purposes. They would travel, be it with the roaring steel steeds of Harley Davidson or the quiet steps of the watchful. They would serve him, setting the stage for plans and ploys to be undertaken, for they too held contempt for the Negligent Gods, and many too were former bikers and refugees from the British Isles. Another flew high under the stars, and east, ever east, before the dawn roared triumphant in the liberation of an ancient soul…

---

Over the Caucuses, another omen flew, answering the cry and shout of freedom. Pale-feathered and bright, but with the tell-tale caw of a crow that alerted many of the Shepherdess' entourage. Some of the newer additions to the Shepherdess’ flock may marvel at the visage of a pale-white raven darting up the mountain. Others too, joined the lone one, swooping over the slopes of the mountain and acting as the gangly figure’s eyes and ears. Most would descend upon the remnants of the buzzards and proud eagles-a reminder that all things become carrion in kind, their white heads turning red with entrails and blackened with the sins that allegedly were eaten away. One would dutifully hop towards the white-winged liberator, bowing first to her and to the newly liberated titan, presenting with her a scrap of paper scrawled in encrypted runes for only her eyes to decipher. This read only two questions; “Have we started the fire? My dance shall begin soon, shall I expect your attendance?”

[Luminesa]

Patriah - Power Moves

“YEEEEEAAAAAAH!!!!” Patriah cheered as he saw Bana make his strikes against the golems. A fantastic sight to see, he was graceful and excellent at moving himself and the tides to the rhythm of the music. Yet his grace had not been a weak or fickle presence, but a domineering one. The bass of the human-made song shook with the waters moved by a god.

When Bana would have made his way to join his classmates, Patriah would have made his way over to high-five him. Of course, Aemilia also deserved her accolades for doing much of the same with her own powers, and Pat was always impressed by such brutal displays of power, as long as they harmed an enemy and not a friend. “THAT WAS AWESOME! He laughed, and he fixed his own new scar as he walked with him. “One of these days we need to do some training together. I think I could actually learn something,” he suggested. Pat was not a complicated person, and he enjoyed making friendships over simple, tried-and-true ideals. If someone could fight alongside him, or spar with him, or dine with him, they made a friend.

Now of course he entered the classroom of the Greek goddess of war. Athena was family, much like Hyperion and Zeus, but everyone was distant from the Underworld. He still owed Athena her respects. Tall, noble, grey, and stately, Athena was far more well-thought than Zeus, who still had a reputation to rebuild. Even if he respected Athena, however, he did not care for being back indoors, as he knew that the classroom most likely meant a lecture or reading books. He hated both.

“These desks are small…” he murmured, as he sat in a desk and put his feet on the table. He tried to make himself as comfortable as he could, and he stared over at his other classmates. When he did find Aemilia, he grinned over to her and nodded. “Hey, you, uhhhh…Aemilia? You were impressive too,” he called to her, “you and I ought to spar together too.”

Of course, a lack of openly saying so did not mean he was closed to the idea, but he would gladly spar with Lanuru if he ever asked for a spar. Yet Lan did not seem like the sort of person to simply ask for a match. He seemed to enjoy more of the politeness game, whatever that meant to Patriah. A game the Wind God did not quite know how to play. Yet if he really did have any physical strength to show, then a battle would be in order.

“We’ve got plenty of room for fights, I dunno why we can’t have this class outdoors too. Unless power management isn’t about fighting?” He looked toward Athena, forgetting which title to use to address her but still wanting to give her his attention. “This class won’t have a lot of reading, will it?”

[The H Corporation]

Cloudy with a chance of… foxes?

Cowrite between Luminesa, Tuboo Shippers and The H Corporation

---

Vix watched as the so-called ‘Instructor’ began the training on the other demigods. The explosion seemed a bit much, but she supposed it was easier than repairing it, or dragging it off. Maybe this class will be easier than i expected, she thought.

”...Put all of you in pairs…”

Vix’s ears went flat. “Ooorr maybe not.”, she muttered.

It’d be hard enough fighting one golem alone, but with a partner? Vix considered her options. She could pull the old ‘In the bathroom for an hour’ trick, but the only feasible excuse for that was saying that she was lactose intolerant-and she didn’t think that gods could even be lactose intolerant. And even if this… drunken fool believed her, she’d have to give up pizza, cheese, and just about everything else.

Vix decided to just hope her partner could watch their own back. “Oi, coach, who am I paired with?”

Azcóatl was minding his own business in his own world, he was thinking about the probability that Holy High will have something hidden in its corridors, maybe a giant golden globe or the most embarrassing secrets of the gods. Such curious and weird thoughts would disappear as he heard a fellow deity asking about who will her partner be Hyperion just pointed his finger to little Azcóatl who was surprised to be paired with what it seems to be a fox, or well, technically a humanoid fox or was it a fox girl? He has heard about them very briefly so he was really confused about seeing someone like her.

Azcóatl, very nervously but curious, went closer to the fox girl and try to say hi, ”Hey… Uhm, I-I am Azcóatl, I… I come from the Aztec pantheon… so I… Uhm… who are you?”, he asked as he awkwardly stretched his hand offering a handshake, do foxes really like this kind of stuff? How is she a fox? All of these questions were bouncing around in his head, trying to find an explanation for what he is just seeing right now.

Vix grinned down at the little godling, although somewhat curious as to why he seemed scared. She reached out to accept his handshake and grinned. “I’m Vix, I can see you have questions, just go ahead.”

Azcóatl was amazed at how easily his feelings could be read, he should have had more manners when talking to others and maybe learning about his classmates, but now there were other things they had to do, and his silly questions would have to wait for a little bit. ”I s-sure do have questions but uhm… we have to do the challenge right? I-I just wanted to know what were your powers… I have the power of thunder, water, and nature, what is yours?”.

Vix laughed, and even though she knew she’d make it awkward she couldn’t resist patting him on the head, replying “Eh, we do but it should be somewhat easy. As for my powers, I can turn into a fox, pounce, basic things. Not sure who my parents are.” She shrugs.

Azcóatl was surprised, he was lucky of having know who his parents were and gave him everything he needed, he accepted the pat feeling a bit more calm about Vix, ”Its such a shame that you don’t know who your parents are… but still I hope that you are okay. So you can turn into a fox you say? Hmmm, well I think I have an idea, its… a little bit complicated…”[i] Azcóatl said a little bit nervous but he himself knew he had to something for this class to be succesful without being much of an agressive man, [i]”I can use one of my powers to propell you to one of the golems so you can attack them and to put a cherry on top I will run behind you with the power of my lighting bolt and destroy the golem… what do you think?”


Vix nods.”Sounds about right. But I get really tired in Fox form, so I’ll use it when i get close. And thanks for wishing me well, it means a lot.”, She replied, already taking a liking to him. “So what’d you say we do this thing?”


Azcóatl grabbed Vix on her shoulders and with a determined look said ”Lets do it”, he drank a bottle of water, he extended his arms and slowly moving his feet in circles then his right arm moved smoothly to the left, then both arms swung to the right and on their way to the other side clouds were starting to form wherever the arms would go, Azcóatl closed his eyes and starting to breathe slowly, trying to catch as much air as possible for the ability to work, ”Vix, please move in front on me, and at the count of 3 I will propell you to the golem” he said as a wall of clouds started to form in front of Azcóatl.


Vix nods, caught off-guard by his sudden change in behavior. She moves infront of Azcóatl; seeing what she needs to be as she closes her eyes and focuses.

The laughter of her family as she tries to catch her own tail; how the stars seemed to call to her; Rain pattering against the roof…

A dog, close behind her, as she runs.

Vix never remembered that… but she’d figure it out later. “Ready.”

Azcóatl with full concentration, started to count, ”One… Two… Three!”, he opened his eyes and with his mouth blew away Vix with enough power to push her into the direction of the golem, as quick as a lighting bolt, Azcóatl ran behind Vix and waited for her to do the trick and attack the core of the golem while he would zap it with a lighting bolt.

As she was launched towards the golem, She felt fur sprouting from her arms and legs, spreading to her chest; her hands and feet fused and shrank into paws as her eyes became more narrow. She landed on the golem and unsheathed her trusty claws, scraping them against the monstrosity and creating a hole in it’s skin.

At least one hole was big enough to knock away a few rocks. Azcoatl also managed to knock away rocks with a lightning bolt, but the golem continued to move in its singular rhythm through the air. Hyperion nodded to Vix and Az as they managed to start their assault. He smiled and thought for a moment after he threw Astrid her DS, and he looked to the latter member of the team.

“Hey there, kids,” he telepathically messaged both students, “tell me what instruments you hear in the music behind you and tell me what you see in the golem.” He figured he could give the hint to Az and Vix, given he had also allowed Illara to know it. Two students knowing the hint should give it to the remaining students…unless they planned to try using it for themselves.

“Whatever kids do, kids do,” he murmured to himself from under the tree.

Azcóatl after finishing his move hearing about what Hyperion said he suddenly remembered something about his past, a past where he used to like Alternative rock and just rock music, he would use some of the songs to train for days with his father and Mictlan. He has a lot of future as the next warrior of the Aztec Pantheon but still since that incident he refused to keep going with that lifestyle.

But despite that he felt it, he felt the music and compare its rythm with the movement of the golems, he started to imagine a very good way to attack and with his powers he decided to sit down and take small breathes, he concentrated the water he had left and he closed his eyes, before taking the golem he revealed the secret to Vix, ”Feel the rythm Vix, let the music guide your moves to attack the golem, I will run as quickly as a thunderbolt, hope you are ready to follow me”, he said as he stood up and quickly ran towards the golem, creating small clouds dense enough for his light feet to jump from them and get closer to the golem, as he raised his hand a cloud appeared above him with 2 lighting strikes he grabbed and tossed them to the golem, aiming to its core, ”Your turn Vix!”

The lightning bolts made their mark, exposing the core as Azcóatl timed his attack well. The first one shook away molten rock, and thanks to his timing and attention to the hint, the rocks fell away from the duo rather than at them. Hyperion grinned as he saw them make their mark, and he nodded as the core was now exposed. Vix could finish it, as long as she followed the rhythm.

The Vixen’s face scrunches in confusion. “What beat? All I can tell you is that it’s rock music and that the golem’s made of rock. I hear no rhythm!” By now she was already exhausted from her time as a fox, and with the added stress of the music she didn’t think she could stay conscious much longer.

Hyperion could tell that Vix was struggling to understand the assignment. Nodding to her, he walked out of the shade, careful to avoid Lanuru. When he approached her, he pointed to the golem in front of her. “Vix, huh? You’re looking pretty mush. Listen, the bass from the song. Now look at how the golem is moving. They’re similar, aren’t they?” He grinned at her and at Azcoatl, giving them a wink from behind his sunglasses. “Try with that.”


Azcóatl got up and walked towards Vix as he noticed her feeling a little bit exhausted, maybe he put a lot of pressure on her, and thanks to him she was in that condition, ”A-Are you okay Vix?” he asked as he sat on the floor closer to where she was, ”I-I am… sorry for maybe putting a lot of stress into your head, that was my bad and I want to apologize”, Azcóatl felt a little bit worried and sad that his impulses pushed her too hard and he knew that in order to pay for his wrongdoings, no matter how small it was, he decided to use whatever power he had left to cure her.

As he sat, he closed his eyes took deep breathes and small flowers started to grow around Vix, as the flowers opened their petals to the world, small beams of light started to shine in the direction of Vix, and Vix will feel a little bit better as if some sort of energy was being transferred to her. Azcóatl was feeling a bit dizzy but that should be enough for Vix to finish the attack, ”I-I hope you are feeling b-better”, he said.

Hyperion smirked at the duo, and he lifted a hand as he stood near them. The flowers would grow slightly bigger, wildflowers and clovers in various bright colors. The sunlight focused on that spot, and the energy that entered Vix from the flowers would double. “There we go, a little more sunlight,” he muttered.

Vix jumped a little, realizing what her partner was doing. “Thanks!” She smiled and bowed a little bursting with energy as she shouted “Let’s finish this thing off!”

While she didn’t notice, anyone watching could barely see a larger fox standing over her.

Azcóatl is not particularly the most attentive deity of the bunch, maybe because he is always in his own world for most of the time and he always focuses on one thing before taking a look around, unless multiple things are catching his attention, whatever the reason was his eyes were focused on making sure Vix was alright, looking at her waking up like a beast after having a good night sleep, while he on the other part was a little bit tired. ”You go ahead, I am a little bit tired… You just have to finish the golem, aim it at its core and if needed I will provide some cover from here… sorry for not being helpful right now” he said a little bit down, he surely did a lot but he wished he could have done a little bit more, besides a little bit too much and he would lose his composure and start going overboard with the rock music he was hearing.

Seeing that Azcoatl was starting to look tired and frustrated himself, and watching that the other teams had gotten the jist of the lesson as well, Hyperion turned the music down a bit and nodded to the duo. They could finish the exercise when they were ready.

Vix nodded, feeling guilty about draining Azcoatl’s energy in order to regain her own. She felt more powerful as she launched herself into the golem; timing her movement to the rhythm, clawing at it and tearing it down until she reached it’s core. In a flash, she was out of the fox and into the human-or god- form. Clinging to the golem, she flexed her fingers as her nails become sharper. Vix slashes at it’s core, slicing it neatly into fifths.

Vix took a moment to recover, but Hyperion’s assistance ultimately helped. She had more bounce in her step and in her powers as she rushed the wounded golem, and she finally made her moves, slashing through the exposed core with a round of neat swishes and slashes through the air.

Their usage of the hint and their understanding of how to attack the golem made the golem’s rocks blast back upon being destroyed, and Azcoatl and Vix were spared. Even if they were the last to finish, Hyperion still gave them a hearty round of applause.

“Great work, you two! See? Sometimes you just need a boost. But don’t…drink vodka and energy drinks at the same time. You’ll think you landed in another dimension, only to wander outside of a motel at 3 AM and to get in a fist-fight with a tweaker. ANYWAY! You do have another class to head onto. Tomorrow, or…whenever I see the group of you again…we’ll have a different exercise. Have fun with The Goddess of NEETS!”

[Luminesa]

Co-Write With Luminesa, Hallownest Eternal, Weissa Major, and Finsternia

The Name of Ivy

The library continued to dwell in its soft, regal silence. Tall, stately, and dark, it was a cool breath of crisp, scholarly air in the midst of a campus that seemed to flood with sunlight all day long. At the front desk, Thoth despite his golden and cerulean eminence dressed like a librarian with tenure in a suit that was quite modest and blue. He watched as Cryptid walked through the aisles and searched for books, and he would know when Cepha entered the building as well.

Very little passed Thoth’s eye or mind as he kept guard over this sanctuary of knowledge, sometimes stacking books and sometimes reading books. His eyes did glean just slightly over the top of a historical novel, however, as he almost felt a presence in the library. It smelled very much like summer.

The library was a breath of fresh air for Cepha. The first two days had been a whirlwind (although perhaps for the first evening, that was more literal). Orientation Day had felt daunting, bringing with it an unfamiliarity that evoked fear rather than curiosity. It didn't help that her roommate was convinced that she was some kind of Demon Lord. But the cool, dark ambience of the library offered a brief respite from the chaos.

She had forgotten to stop there during her self-guided tour of the campus (libraries were something that her sibling was more inclined to explore). But she had time to spare; besides, she might find something that it would enjoy, if it hadn't found anything already.

Scanning the shelves, she was surprised by the variety of material; she had assumed most of the books would be dusty old tomes, but the library offered writings from a myriad of authors and ages. Some names sounded vaguely familiar, while others…

Who's "Guy Fieri"?

She came across a book that had been haphazardly shoved into the shelf, spine-first. Curious, she pulled it out; the book's cover was bright red, with a vinyl record that was blocked by a golden "1". With lettering that was ripped straight out of the 1980s, the title read: THE BILLBOARD BOOK OF #1 HITS.

Always a sucker for music, Cepha opened the book, reading as she walked through the library. Her attention was grabbed; so much that, in fact, that she failed to notice the decaying scraps of paper that littered the floor…

The first sign that Cepha should have paid attention to her surroundings was her foot landing in the rotting corpse of a book, letting off a distinctly unpleasant sensation and staining her footwear with ink. Before her stood an entity attempting to be humanoid, but failing. Limbs just slightly too long, a torso too angular, a neck too thin and a head with too-large eyes. The tormented faces of imprisoned Titans and shattered Ourea stared back from the depths of obscurity.

Eidolon greeted its sister, and inquired as to how her first class went.

This wasn't the first time her sandals got stained with ink, nor would it be the last. Unpleasant as it was, she should've known better by now.

Looking up from her book, she found herself greeted by a familiar...was "face" the right word? The abyssal and unknowable being peered at her; this one, who wore many names and yet held none, was viewed by all others with utter fear. But to Cepha, all she could feel was joy when she saw her beloved sibling.

She beamed. "Class was great! Hyperion set up this training exercise with these cool floating golems, and we had to take them down in teams. I got to work with the Factory---I don't know if you've met them, but they're really nice. Have you met any of the other students yet?"

Faint recognition flashed through Eidolon as it recalled the metallic, suffering godling. Yes, that one was unique. It had not met the being she spoke of, but for a Child of Humanity, they bear potential even they do not know. The Firebearer would be a good mentor, if the two ever met.

It had met some other students. One of the slavics, a child of hospitality and starlight. A Prince of the Fae, walker of Twilight and Dreams, one who could become a friend. A son of the Egyptians, born of night and shade. And the huntress-stormchild, who it had given quite a scare at orientation.

Cepha had been a bit worried for their sibling; their unknowable nature could be a bit off-putting to some. But she was delighted to see that they were adjusting well."That's awesome, dude. It's nice that you're making so many new friends. Although I should ask, could you take it a little easier on Astrid? She's still adjusting to this whole "school" thing. And she's also my roommate. And she thinks I'm some kind of Demon Lord. But anyway, try not to scare her too much. We wouldn't want her to summon a hurricane or something."

She looked at what remained of the books, an illegible mess of ink and pulp that continued disintegrating. "Looks like you've found some good reading material. What were you reading?"

Eidolon twisted its head to the tomes and back to Cepha, before responding.

One was a tome of imprisoned beings and their natures-of the biblical Nephilim to the tormented Prometheus. The other was on the Courts of the Fae, albeit more...condescending than one would expect.

It took a moment further to assess Cepha's request, before noting that it was currently on the hunt for tomes on magical practice beyond what Mother taught. Perhaps the answer would lay in an enchantment of some form.

Prometheus. Gaia had compared Cepha to him on multiple occasions, ususally when spinning an anecdote of where her love for humans would lead her. She tried to not to think about it too much, but the idea of being punished for an act of compassion was one that never sat right with her.

"Sounds interesting. I wonder who wrote that Fae book."

When Eidolon mentioned that it was looking for a tome, she visibly perked up. "I could help you look for something. I mean, I'm not the best at navigating through libraries, but we could ask the librarian, or we could keep exploring."

It pondered the choices before noting that Thoth may not take kindly to its reading habits. It may be best to seek knowledge alone.

"You're right, Thoth probably wouldn't be happy about this." She said, gesturing to the destroyed books. "I'll help you look around. Did you have anything in mind?"

Her sibling twisted and contorted, the vague feeling of looking about, before rolling in a single, lurching motion that could equate a shrug.
It was looking for the section on spellcasting before she arrived, once they got there it might have a better idea of what to search for.

A surge of Magic, almost imperceptible, ripples in one corner of the library. A curtain in reality splits and opens, revealing a greenhouse room of fantastic flowers and vistas on the other side. Out steps the breeze and scent of summer before a force stops its presence from alerting the diligent librarian at the front. However such veiling power did not mask its presence for its intended audience, and Cepha and the Nameless One could smell citrus and summertime flowers tease at their senses.

'Come,' the scent almost beckons, 'come and see.'

Eidolon bent unnaturally at the sudden presence. It was like the strange sensation from before, but stronger.

It whirled, slithering around Cepha in the form of a protective circle as it told her to alert Thoth that there may be an intruder. It will go investigate.

Thoth did not like the way that the two students suddenly looked nervous. Taking his glasses off his ibis-face, he stood and looked out around the library. “Who in Ra’s name…”

He walked out from behind the desk, and he looked over to the students. “Students, if you would prefer to hide yourselves for a moment, I will gladly go to address the concern. Goodness, an invasion of the school on its second day…no doubt this would be a Pax violation if harm was intended.”

He started to walk toward the back of the library, a moonlit aura softly glowing around him as a means of power projection. He was a calming god to stand around, someone who mostly kept to himself, but who always knew when he needed to make himself known.

“Whatever has come among the students of Holy High, you are in the presence of Thoth, Who Represents The Holy Sun. Present yourself and May the Pax be preserved.”

Thoth sees the open curtain, this spatial opening showing flowers and bright light, suddenly shed a golden shine. The God of Knowledge understands that this light is not a threat, but rather a heralding sign for the entity beyond this portal. A voice reaches out to him, friendly in tone, and is someone familiar.

"Greetings, good friend! Please do not be alarmed. I may not be able to speak of my name, but understand that we are here in friendly terms." The light shimmers and bends as a faint silhouette of a bird-like entity appears in the blinding light of the golden halo. The light is emanating from its crowning horns, like the Sun resting upon its eyrie. "...We are simply here to speak and converse with your... erudite students. We will not harm them. Is that amicable with you?"

“I find it rather bizarre that you would approach and not use the front desk, or attempt to enter from the back of my library thinking I would not notice my students’ concern.” Thoth narrowed his deep-blue eyes, and he moved toward the intruder. “What gives you the right or suggestion to think you can simply enter and not announce yourself, Bennu?”

"Children these days are so spooked of simple things... If you wish for us to walk into your sanctum from the front, then we shall concede." The bird-like phantom gazes upon Thoth for a moment in a ponderous stare, thinking about memories from eons ago.

It could see the image of another God behind Thoth, an older deity shining with the light of the sun with the head of a hawk. "...You are just like your Father..." The phantom chuckles as it swirls around in a flurry of feathers and light... and the front door of the library opens.

The passageway opens to the same image of flowers, roses, and summer scents. Beyond, still not visible from this certain perspective, the small avian before the Prince of the Summer Valley sighs as it turns to him. "...Thoth would prefer us to take the front doors. Please wait here, Princeling."

Out steps a golden avian, no smaller than a mundane hen, and it flies out into the foyer. It perches towards the closest surface and calls out to Thoth. "...Well I am here now. Will you let me in, Thoth?"

Thoth walked toward the little creature, folding his arms and looking a little less irritated. At the very least, as a small hen-like being, it would not affect the students. Possibly. “Yes. Now. What exactly do you wish to discuss with my students? Please know that I will be here, and I will know what is discussed.”

"You can certainly stay, friend. I have another friend that wishes to speak with your students. A friendly chat, as it seems that they are interested with my friend's histories. Doesn't Holy High promote friendly relations? We are not here for trouble."

Thoth sighed, and he looked over at the students. He then presented a tea set, indigo and decorated with gold ibises. He filled them with tea-Thoth liked a cozy gingerbread chai flavor-and he passed the cups toward the students, himself, and the bird. “Very well. But you may serve yourself. Cepha, Eidolon, you may come back out, come have some tea. Nothing misfortunate will come of you while I am here!” He then turned his eyes back toward “Bennu”. “Do keep in mind that whatever this conversation is, I put down an Anne Rice novel for this. And that may not be a Pax violation, but a librarian does not like to be torn from good literature.”

Cepha's apprehension quickly dissolved and was replaced with curious interest. The scent of citrus and summer was already inticing enough, but that chai tea was practically calling her name. More interesting to her, however, was their unexpected visitor; She knew little about the Fae, but what better time to learn than now, right?

As she tried to step forward, however, she found herself stopped by Eidolon. She sighed. "Come on, Eid."

During Thoth and the Fae's conversation, Cepha's sibling had elected to wrap itself around her like A thorny bramble to protect its earthen sister. At her urging, it briefly wound tighter, whispering into her mind that the Fae are not to be trusted. Make no agreements. before uncoiling and slithering into a nearby chair, shifting and cracking before once more assuming a vaguely humanoid form.

Cepha took a mental note of her sibling's warning, but she was still more curious than cautious. She pulled up a chair next to it, taking her place at a table that was marked with an ornate teacup. She examined the cup, admiring its golden ibises, before electing to place it back onto its saucer.

She turned her focus to the talking bird. It was a strange creature; charming, but unlike anything she had ever seen. "Bennu" wouldn't have looked too out of place in a storybook. She had a lot of questions, but she decided to start with something simple. "So, what brings you all the way up here?"

The little bird turns it's attention towards the duo in front of it, scanning the two Godlings before it. A gentle girl who was born from the shattered bodies of old mountains, and one whose identity is in an eternal flux. By some odd chance of fate they were brought together by the Mother Earth, tending to both divine and monstrous as is her nature.

The bird then goes to speak. "Greetings, little Godlings! I have come as a herald for a friend of mine who wants to be friends with you as well. Are you willing to strike a conversation over tea with him?"

Cepha's interest was piqued. "Sure---I mean, of course, we'd love to." She wasn't entirely sure how casual or formal she should be, although that would depend on whoever this mysterious "friend" was.

Thoth did not like the direction this conversation was taking. Bennu’s “friend” had the scent and aura of a Fae, and while Lanuru was a student and he was glad to have him as one, the Fae were always tricky. Holding them to the Pax was harder than holding Titans to the Pax, or even holding Astrid and some of the Shinto gods to the Pax. He sipped his tea and lent a careful eye toward Bennu.

Eidolon remains stiff, slowly "sipping" the tea-although with the contents getting harder to look at with each sip, and its own apparent lack of a mouth, it was hard to tell the mechanism of that interaction.

There was precious little time until Athena's class, and the goddess of wisdom would likely disprove of...frivolity. The bird's acquaintance best make it quick, under the condition that neither Student is to leave school premises, and that any attempted agreements are to be arbitrated by Thoth. Its gaze turned to the ibis-headed god, witchfire eyes staring from the depths of Abscence, so long as Thoth accepts the duty. If he does not, no deals shall be spoken of beyond the preliminaries of time and location.

"...Dear oh dear, my two good friends are both worried about time... How about I make it up for the two... no, three of you?" The bird addresses the ibis-headed God and the Nameless One, and a golden moon apparates above it. The celestial body slowly bleeds red at the seams, and out of thin air apparates three small hourglasses. The red light fills them as red glittering sand, and they fly towards its three new "friends" where they float before them. "After our little chat, you may break them if you wish!" The bird cheerfully chirps out, before flapping its wings.

"Ah! Yes, yes. The reason why I'm here. I am here to herald and present a friend of mine, who wants to be your friend too! Lady, gentleman, and unknowable child please welcome His Royal Highness, Prince Deaglan of the Seelie Court!" The levitating moon above the bird cracks like an eggshell, and a starry void could be seen within its opened form. Out spills a carpet of flowers and roses, and a door appears from its far end. The celestial door swings wide open, revealing their guest for today.

Deaglan was not expecting to reveal himself so soon, but he figured that he could at least play the game to some extent. He did always appreciate a graceful introduction, and so he would deliver. He sent an Avatar, however, given Thoth's skepticism and the fact that his true presence would alert the entire school. This needed to be a quiet encounter, one that was graceful and perhaps quick.

Yet the Avatar would still carry much of his loveliness. He appeared with soft, regal glamour. A crown of ivy wrapped around his platinum blonde hair, which trailed down his back and almost to the floor. His tall, pale body was draped from the shoulders down in ivory silk, embroidered with ivies and ferns in various, gemlike shades of emerald and gold. He was a lighter presence, almost holy, but not in any way that Cepha or Eidolon would understand. After all, "holiness" to the Fae was a little complicated, and "sainthood" was something that the Summer Court saw in perhaps a different light. More of a soothing presence than a sanctifying one. And indeed, The Prince of Ivy was a very soothing avatar indeed.

"Thank you, Bennu," Deaglan responded, using the name Thoth had used to address the talking Phoenix. Thoth was indeed on his feet, alert and aware of what this might be. He still had a teacup in his hand, and needed even less to kill this Prince if necessary. Yet he was a god of diplomacy, and so he held his peace. For now. "Relax, dear Moonlit God. I come only to ask of your students' curiosity on The Fae, and of what they understand of our world. After all...curiosity requires knowledge to quench that awful thirst. And these two seem like lovely young scholars, wouldn't you say?"

"No funny ideas, Fae Prince," Thoth muttered, adjusting his glasses as he gave a reassuring look to the two students. He would not leave their side.

All the while, Deaglan chuckled. "Excellent. Now, younglings, I am The Prince of Ivy. What are your names?" He asked with a sweet, quiet voice.

Cepha was surprised; while her experiences with other divinities was admittedly limited, the Prince was different than anyone she had seen before. He was regal, otherworldly even, but his presence was calming rather than intimidating. While she still appreciated Thoth's willingness to protect them, she felt certain that there was no danger.

There was one thing that worried her, though. Her sibling had a habit of getting up to...shenanigans. Twisting words, teasing those unfamiliar with its nature, that sort of thing. While it wasn't anything malicious, she still didn't want to leave the wrong impression. So she tried to set a good example.

"I'm Cepha. It's a pleasure to meet you, your Highness." She spoke with a casual, friendly tone, before pausing to let her sibling speak.

Thoth gave a look toward Cepha, his eyes wide with worry as he realized that she knew nothing of the Fae and their games. She was bright and naive, about as bright and naive as any new deity. He looked toward her, and then toward the other student, and he turned his eyes low as he sipped his drink. “Ah, that’s…Miss…”

Deaglan caught Thoth’s gaze, and the two of them locked eyes for a few moments. If not for the Pax, the latter would have immediately reached to lie. Yet he had to be careful. He looked toward Cepha once again, and murmured to Deaglan.

“I hope you will bear in mind, Prince of Ivy, that any names given to you are also bound by the Pax.”

“Of course, Thoth. You have nothing to worry about.” Deaglan smiled politely at the young goddess, and nodded. “A lovely name. And of your friend?”

The vaguely humanoid figure beside Cepha...whispered. Bonds of kinship. Not maternal or of blood, but of adoption and choice. It was a sibling, not a friend.
As for its name.
[color=green][b]Slowly, like a lover teasing away clothes, its skin fell away. Whispers of roads with no names, of tales regarding creatures even the fae knew only in legend, the cthonic wisdom of the Gods of Death-but in snippets, fragments. Diluted by the passage of time and ages into superstition and rumor.

F u r t h e r d o w n it mutated yet f u r t h e r, false names falling away like leaves from the autumnal tree ȯ̷͓r̶͙̚ ̶̢̂m̸̤̕e̷̻̒m̸͖̓ó̸̱r̶͙͋i̷̪͠e̴̘͠s̸̜͂ ̵̠͂f̷̡̛r̸̥̆o̸̘̓m̶̤̾ ̴̖͑a̶̻̾ ̴͙̎f̸͉̀ä̸̬́d̵̛̹ǐ̸̩n̷̲͂g̵̳̀ ̴̳͝m̴͔̉i̵͍̚ṇ̵͘d̵̩̒, each one seemingly revealing a closer fragment, a more tantalizing prospect, of th̷̢̕e̸̼͌ ̴̜̉t̶̯̉r̵͔̈u̴̡̾e̶̻͠ ̶̳̐ǹ̴͕a̴̳͊m̷͕̾ḙ̶̐.

...
There was something on the table in front of it.

Deaglan and Thoth both watched this…event, the former showing a little less concern than the latter. Of course, Thoth knew this entity was still a student. Yet reality twisted, tore, and bent around him. He seemed to be…something godlike, but a void. A warp, something which should not be. Thoth’s eyelid twitched, but he turned and sipped his tea as the skin of the creature crawled into a…void.

At the very least he had not given his name.

The Prince of Ivy just smiled and nodded. “Excellent. Well, young godlings, I do not know if you are aware, but as you grow in your stature…and gain more wonderful powers…you can also gain more opportunities. More…domains. Would either of you be interested in hearing of The Autumn Court? Or…telling your friends of the beautiful court?”

Cepha was slightly concerned after witnessing her sibling's transformation: "Why didn't you say something earlier? I could've brought you a snack." For the most part, though, she was entirely unphased as she took a sip of her tea.

The mention of an "Autumn Court" sparked her interest. Cepha wasn't the most ambitious deity, but she would be lying if she said the idea of exploring a new "opportunity" didn't make at least a little curious. Even if she didn't gain anything from it, at least she'd have the experience of learning about something new.

A Court? Should we bring lawyers with us?

"That sounds interesting. I'd like to hear more about it."

The little pause before Cepha's reply almost made Deaglan chuckle, while Thoth only continued to show some concern. He did not like the way Deaglan had voiced his offer, and he especially did not like the idea of other students being roped into such a scheme. Of course, Lanuru related most closely to any "opportunities" surrounding the Fae Courts, but the fact that the Prince of the Summer Court did not approach him first meant that his intentions were less about who and more about when.

"The Autumn Court is one of the four Fae Courts within the realm of The Fae Wild. They are a wonderful realm, a peaceful and eminent realm. They rule over the harvest, the changes of the seasons, the beautiful changes of weather and temperature that exist...before the cold and harsh winter." Deaglan fashioned himself as a rather lovely storyteller, his voice slow, his words elongated into a pretty tapestry. "But...peace only remains as long as there are...strong leaders. Leaders with vision, direction, and courage. And your world and ours are in such dire need of all of those things, are they not? That is in which the opportunity lies. The Autumn Court, desperately in need of a leader to keep the balance."

"Summer Prince, if I may, these are new godlings, and this is their second day of cla-"

"Of course, of course. However, as they learn and grow, they change. So do the seasons." The Prince of Ivy turned from Thoth's retort to address Cepha and What Was Void. "And if you so see such an opportunity as pleasing, all you need to do is to look for the deepest ivies in the mountains. Deep in the valley below. You may call my title, as you so wish. If you do not wish for such an opportunity...perhaps you have friends who may? After all, the Pax is a group effort, is it not?"

Thoth took a deep breath and sighed, before he decided to stand. "That's enough, I believe. We...will discuss certain things and I am hoping that you will be much more careful about...wandering onto our campus in the future. After all, as you said, Prince of Summer, the Pax is a group effort."

Deaglan slowly turned to give him a look, almost as if he did not quite appreciate his words being thrown back at him. Yet his face remained passive and polite, never giving any indication beyond the way his emerald eyes became sharp and glinting like knives. "Of course. Though...I would have preferred to hear such from the students. The Autumn Court, and all of our fates, are tied both to the past and the future. You would know that, dear Thoth. We want our followers, and the gods who come after us, to remember the language we used to describe our passage into the next life."

He then stood, looming just above Thoth's height, and he looked to the Phoenix alongside him. "But yes. We shall leave for now. And remember, dear children." He looked to them, and smiled once again. "I am in the valley when you call."

The portal opened, along with the lovely scents of roses and summer flowers, which followed the Prince and the Phoenix as they vanished. Leaving their message and mission growing thick in the old library.

Thoth could only sigh and stare at the portal, before he looked back to the two students. He finished his tea, and he nodded. "You two head for lunch. I smell food, and then you have Athena's class...unless you don't, and you can come back here. If that Fae comes back, however...please." He gave a weary, knowing stare toward poor, innocent Cepha.

"Do not. Do not. Give him. Your name."

[Nantoraka]

Abaguabana
"Thank you," the ocean god smiled and with some measure of familiarity to the gesture, returned Patriah's gesture. "My uncles always taught me more... unconventional methods to use my magics. I've never been a fighter, but I certainly enjoyed learning how to manipulate sand by making it wet and malleable." Raising him arms outwards in a grander gesture to demonstrate the ocean and it's size, he clarified further; "Being 10 or so feet away from the ocean certainly helps. An ocean god, in the ocean? No number of golem will handle that."

Squeezing himself into the nearest chair with notable difficulty, Abaguabana grimaced and shifted in the discomfort of the rather tight seating. The ocean has a physical effect as well, now made readily apparent; it seemed his body grew larger, his muscles wider and more full, and his stature more grand with his distance to the water. Though he seemed to be slowly "shrinking" back to his somewhat meek-yet-impressive size and scope, the difficulty in getting into his desk was clearly apparent and somewhat embarrassing for the ocean god.

[The H Corporation]

Sleepy Azcóatl
- Azcóatl

Azcóatl laid down on the floor after that training session, he was a bit tired after that demonstration he did with Vix and he was certainly satisfied with his work. He got himself up and executed a small bow to Vix, "I... I just wanted to say th-that you were very good with the golem... I hope we train together more... o-often" he said and then turned around and walked to the next class, which will be taught by Athena, now his knowledge of the pantheons in Europe was scarce so he was going to the classroom with no knowledge of what this goddess way of teaching is, he could not stop thinking about that along the way.

Getting to the classroom was a bit more challenging than what he originally thought it would be, a characteristic of his healing powers is that they drain the energy of the user so it gets transferred to the one being administrated with energy to heal that person, so he arrived at the classroom really tired, not because of the training itself. In fact, Azcóatl has some experience with training and that was certainly not that challenging, you just needed to think more rather than use pure force in each attack, but one of his powers had a big disadvantage.

Using that power for himself would not do anything, and he would probably waste more energy doing that, that was the first thing he did when he discovered the power but it certainly did not give the user energy to recover, so that is not how it works.

Azcóatl with a little bit of difficulty walked to the nearest unoccupied seat he could find and sat there, he grabbed his bottle of water, drank it, and went to take a nap in his seat, he crossed his arms and rested his head in his arms. He was too tired to have some formalities with the other students.

[Luminesa]

Deaglan - Return to Summer

The visit with the first two candidates had been cut short by Thoth’s interference. No manners from that wizened old bird. He was so worried about what The Prince of the Summer Valley might do that he did not even realize what was actually happening. At least, Deaglan read his actions that way.

But he was rarely bothered by the shenanigans of non-Fae pantheons, and so he simply returned to his drink of tea. Still warm, still fresh, as everything in The Summer Court might be. He took a long sip, and he looked toward the Phoenix who had landed with him.

“A shame that we were forced away before we could truly explain the benefits of such a task. Ah well. The old gods will so choose to coddle these young gods…Then we must find ways to help them to recognize their truest potential, shouldn’t we?”

He looked back to the crystal ball, taking note of the other students. The redhead and the angry blonde girl would be interesting to meet, as would the Unseelie boy. “The only problem with meeting this one is that he will believe we are merely scheming. But…that is not entirely true. Would we ever lie when the opportunity for truth is so much more devastating and sweet?” He looked toward his Phoenix friend, and his soft smile spread to his cheeks, up to his glittering green eyes.

“Soon it will be time for our young new friends to discover what godhood truly means.”

Prometheus - Eating Steel

The chains broke in entire links, making heavy clanging sounds as they fell apart in impossibly strong hands. The Angel-or “Angel”-who had come to save him was stronger than she looked, and he could not believe that he could breathe and feel the fresh air and the ocean breeze moving under him. His feet dangled in the air as he could now run, walk, and fly.

And fly he would, as soon as he saw the vultures coming for what they thought was their morning snack.

He poured his rage into them. As they flew close, he found the broken chains and the birds’ necks. In one hand he held each, before turning to hold the bird’s neck in his elbow as he choked it with the broken chains. As soon as he heard one neck break, he moved to the next. One might have thought such a mechanical way of killing one’s enemies would take time, but no, Prometheus was still a Titan. His muscles moved as they had not in eons, and he watched as the limp bodies of the oppressive creatures fell down toward the sea.

He stared down toward his bloodstained hands, and he smelled the ichor of life. Sickly-sweet, rusty, but present. Delicious life. Fire burned in his veins, and he stared toward the sun in the distance. Nothing blinded him, not anymore. His skin which had long been burned by the sun felt the coolness of the evening air course over his skin, even if he was floating in midday.

“At last. At long last. I am free.”

He then turned to her. The Chain-Breaker, the Shepherdess. Eternally, he would be grateful to this strange woman who had saved him. She was beautiful beyond measure, and glowed with sweet, saving light. Flying to her, his bloodied hand reached for hers and kissed the back of her hand. “And how, Beautiful Lady, shall I ever repay you for your mercy? Ask any favor of me, and by the fires of creation it will be done.”

[Tuboo Shippers]

Sleepy Azcóatl
- Azcóatl

Azcóatl laid down on the floor after that training session, he was a bit tired after that demonstration he did with Vix and he was certainly satisfied with his work. He got himself up and executed a small bow to Vix, "I... I just wanted to say th-that you were very good with the golem... I hope we train together more... o-often" he said and then turned around and walked to the next class, which will be taught by Athena, now his knowledge of the pantheons in Europe was scarce so he was going to the classroom with no knowledge of what this goddess way of teaching is, he could not stop thinking about that along the way.

Getting to the classroom was a bit more challenging than what he originally thought it would be, a characteristic of his healing powers is that they drain the energy of the user so it gets transferred to the one being administrated with energy to heal that person, so he arrived at the classroom really tired, not because of the training itself. In fact, Azcóatl has some experience with training and that was certainly not that challenging, you just needed to think more rather than use pure force in each attack, but one of his powers had a big disadvantage.

Using that power for himself would not do anything, and he would probably waste more energy doing that, that was the first thing he did when he discovered the power but it certainly did not give the user energy to recover, so that is not how it works.

Azcóatl with a little bit of difficulty walked to the nearest unoccupied seat he could find and sat there, he grabbed his bottle of water, drank it, and went to take a nap in his seat, he crossed his arms and rested his head in his arms. He was too tired to have some formalities with the other students.

The quick angry red fox rages at paper

Vix shadowed him to the classroom, feeling guilty about draining the little Aztec godling. He seems so frail,She thought, but he's quite strong. She frowns a little, frustrated. He's so tired... Might as well make sure he makes it okay. Poking her head around a corner, Vix watches him walk into a classroom. She checks her schedule-

"Oh, you've gotta be joking."Shaking her head in disbelief, she re-reads the paper; finding no change in the teacher she groans. "I have an alcoholic for a gym teacher, and a grape as a roommate, but then there's...A-a god of wisdom who came from Zeus's HEAD?" Vix angrily throws her hands into the air. "The 'King of the gods.' More like the king of idiots!"

Growling, she realizes that the classroom Azocoatl went into happened to be her class as well. Scowling, she walks into the classroom and takes a seat near her gym partner. Let's see what the god of 'wisdom' has to say.

[Dogutrakya]

Senu

The walk from the Library was uneventful - he knew Thoth was there, so he made his way outside very quick after the intriguing meeting with the creature. He could not stand Thoth; not him, not the Ennead, as he was complicit in convincing his father to hunt him down through the Eastern Desert. Gods rarely forget. Other students were making their way towards the library, but he decided to spend his time resting in the classroom instead. He was slightly tired. And a bit irritated as well, since his leather jacket now features a gaping hole in his shoulder, but he felt too lazy to walk back into the dormitory.

Patriah - Power Moves

“We’ve got plenty of room for fights, I dunno why we can’t have this class outdoors too. Unless power management isn’t about fighting?” He looked toward Athena, forgetting which title to use to address her but still wanting to give her his attention. “This class won’t have a lot of reading, will it?”

Senu sat down on a chair near the corner of the room, throwing his belongings to the table. "Oh, I guess it will. Because apparently diplomacy is more smooth words than swinging swords, if you want it to work, I think. Of course, not everyone agrees. Especially in a family feud..."