Marena Sainō | IC Thread

[Forest State]

Theme Song | OOC Thread
Co-OP: Shadowwell
This experiment was brought to you by the Pub

The sun rises over the set of buildings in eastern Thailand, but this day is unlike any normal one. These jungles aren't usually inhabited by people. Today, however, they're full of activity. Planes and helicopters have been arriving, dropping off different passengers at the hangar. For now, that's where everyone was, except for the staff. The hangar was the holding area where they'd stay until they were all there, and then they would be properly introduced to the school and its staff. Some of them had been there all night, and the hangar was filling up, but eventually, the massive doors swung open and a pair of siblings stepped inside. It was Kenji and Riko Okamura, the only students at the school who were out of the hangar right now. That was because they had, to put it simply, special position.

"Sorry for the wait, everyone," said Riko, leaning against the giant sliding door that was opened about a quarter of the way. "The name's Riko. That's my brother over there, Kenji. Yes, I know we don't look alike. We're student councilors, and it's our job to make your move here as easy as possible. That's partly why we have you locked in this hangar for now, but it's just about time for us to let you all out and let you to the dorms. If anyone has any questions, concerns, whatever, feel free to ask us. Or anyone else on the staff," she said, looking everybody over. She sounded like she was reading a script, like she was more focused on sizing everyone up.

"Just don't ask about us, we prefer to keep our details to ourselves," Kenji interjects, also looking over the group. "I believe we have about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. After that, we're supposed to show you around the real part of the campus. Any questions or anything you want to bring up until then?"

[Song-Lu]

Isagani Florentino y Mikhailov

---

9:00 PM, Thailand Standard Time (THA)
Previous day

Isagani was feeling sleepy. After two hectic weeks of preparations for his sending-off, a regimen which included signing up passports, deleting old social media accounts, packing stuff up and tearful goodbyes with his colleagues and parents. Furthermore, he was given a new bank account from a local Thai bank 5 days prior to his flight, which was worth 28,000 Russian rubles. It's not much money, but Isagani couldn't care less. He was less interested in his bank account and the journey itself than the destination. The letter of recommendation which his parents received 2 weeks prior was in his red and white Adidas canvas backpack, but somehow Isagani felt its presence as if it was right in front of him. Questions burned through his mind for weeks as he fixed his glasses: Where am I headed? What am I going to do once I set foot on Thailand?

Trying to the questions in his mind, he decided to look out of airplane window from his seat. As the plane is seemingly filled with
nondescript, 'mundane' passengers Isagani felt that it was much more worthwhile to see clouds fly by from his seat than to prattle with seemingly, boring generic passengers. Besides, Isagani was paranoid enough to the point that he felt that his fellow passengers are merely psychopomps!

As he directed his gaze on the thin, wispy sable clouds he began to contemplate quietly, as if entranced in a state of meditation withe eyes wide open. He had been in a passenger plane several times before. With his family, Isagani had already visited Moscow (even stayed there for two years for education under his uncle), Singapore, New York and even Manila, where he met distant nephews and nieces of sangley and mestizo origin. Hell, he even once dreamed of become a pilot in the Russian Air Force. He used to imagine how it is to fly an Su-35 or a MiG-29.

A slow, discreet smile crept upon Isagani's visage as he thought of all those things. While he had trips with his family, today was his very first time boarding a plane on his own. It made him nervous, as traversing through the winding streets of St. Petersburg and visiting its amenities and landmarks is an entirely different story compared to travelling in a strange land alone. Yet, despite being alone in a plane full of "suspicious" strangers, along with the proposition that he was going to study, travel and live all by himself making him scared to an extent, his thoughts calmed him down one way or another. He continued staring at the starry night sky for a while, until something happened.

Isagani this time focused his attention to the moon. He noted how it was strangely close to the Earth, its unearthly yet familiar mellow golden glow shone its light to the black sea that is the clouds. He also noted how its light reflected to lens of his reading glasses, obscuring his eyes with white light. In a flash, an image of a white pentagram, inscribed with a head of a goat inside of it appeared on the surface of the moon. Isagani could only stare in disbelief in shock as the infernal vision makes its work.

The pentagram on the moon kept changing color, from red to white and even iridescent, as random, hazy images of pentagrams and demonic seals popped up on Isagani's field of vision in a swift but unpredictable. At midst of such flashing images, Isgani's reflection by the airplane window now transformed into what it seemed to be a doll with remarkable life-like features. The doll stared forward at the night sky, seemingly unaware of Isagani's presence. The doll would slowly fix its Stygian gaze to the boy after a big red seal of Decarabia flashed in his line of sight. Isagani couldn't help staring at the doll's glass eyes, whose pupils flashed with pentagrams, its light reflecting off his glasses. The doll continued to stare at Isagani, the pentagram never left the moon's surface and smaller, flashing pentagrams and demonic seals slowly overwhelmed his vision until everything went black. Isagani was still conscious however, but a great orange starfish faded in. As the image of the demon Decarabia became clear, the demon opened its only eye, vile and repulsive.

The vision was abruptly cut out of Isagani's vision, as if it didn't happen in the first place. Isagani was back at the passenger airline staring at the moon. Despite the superb air conditioning, he was sweating and he felt hot. Isagani never blinked, and transitioned his shallow pained breath, to deeper one. He didn't blink still as he averted his gaze from the moon until he realized that his eyes felt dry after a few minutes, so he blinked. Even then he was too afraid even to blink. His body felt frozen, like a statue. It was the ninth time he experienced such visions, but it has left him scarred inside ever since the summoning ritual, where he first experienced such visions.

He was still not used to the visions, but he knew his neck was becoming stiff, so he twisted it to ease the pain and leaned his head back to the seat. His body cooled down , but the sweat in his brow, chest and the roof of his upper lip never left him. He took his glasses off and swiped the sweat from his face with sleeve of his hoodie. He was tired, but still he was too scared to sleep. He could only blink a few times at that night and felt the was too tired to sleep as well.

He could only stare at nothingness.

---

7:00 AM, Thailand Standard Time (THA)
Today
Eastern Thailand

Isagani never slept at the plane. Now, he was battling against his will and body to keep his eyes open. He felt that his eyes would anytime and never open up again. The vision on the plane left him feeling drained, bored and tired. He walked out of the plane slouching and hands at the pockets of his hoodie, this time he was wearing his glasses again. He checked in his baggage (which only consisted of his backpack) and presented his passport and IDs to the airport authorities, and after much scrutiny, he was allowed to set off to his "merry" way.

Oddly enough, the airport authorities ushered and dropped off some passengers, coming from his plane and other planes, including himself, to the airport hangar. He scratched his Venetian blond hair as he was curious why would he, along with other passengers, be sent to the hangar? He covered his face with a hood as he approached the cavernous mouth of the hangar. Light reflected off his glasses as he was introduced from the alien, fluorescent lighting on the hangar's interior. He removed his backpack from the back and wore it in the front, to ensure that no one would pickpocket his stuff from behind.

Isagani finally straightened himself and fixed his glasses as he virtually allowed himself to be swallowed by a sea of people, which he didn't mind at all. He preferred to keep a low profile, and standing out like a sore thumb would be the death of his profile. He was tempted to scry through the sea of people, but his height ensured him that he could somehow see the two figures beyond the crowd. They seemed to be siblings.

Isagani noted however, that the siblings oddly didn't share the same hair color. The bespectacled male had black hair, but the female sibling wore headphones over her shockingly candy-colored pink hair! Isagani didn't mind such interesting but still rather trivial details about the siblings for now. From there short speech it was implied that they are student councilors of his new school, which he still didn't know the name about. The siblings decided to let the newcomers, including himself, ask questions for 10-15 minutes. He was curious himself of the new school, of this strange pair that he was tempted to shoot them a question.

Too bad, he was too tight-lipped to ask a question himself!

[The Land of Golden Blobfish]

Alex Newton
Hangar

As soon as the duo were finished giving their speech, a hand within the crowd shot up. Or, at least it tried. Alex Newton, while blessed with unheard of intelligence, got the short straw in terms of height. Maybe it was because he was still a child, as much as he pained to admit it, but it annoyed him to no end when others loomed over him, like towering peaks. Once he figured out that he couldn't be seen clearly, the young boy moved up towards the front of the crowd and tried again.

"Yes, though how about we save some time here and cut to the chase. I grow weary of your mediocre introduction. In the case that this is an abduction, which I'm only 23.0% percent sure but counting, I will remind you that my business partners already have a retrieval team standing by if things get ugly. And surely they already have to some extent. Heh, excuse me while I titter, that was a joke I made. Did it fly over your head? Probably, but that's not what matters right now. What does matter is why have you kept us locked in here for so long?"

[Higher Japan]

Viola

A few days ago

"Viola, you must understand why i am doing this. It is for your own good." The man said, facing Viola as they stood in the middle of a forest, the moon shining bright over them.

"Father, i understand. But please answer me this. Why am i cursed with the resonance bullet, where did my powers come from." She asked, guns shining under the moonlight as she looked at him with determination

"Viola, i cannot tell you now, but i promise that the academy is one of your only choices. Know this, when you get there, you'll be escorted to a hangar. Don't panic, and forgive me but i cannot come with you. I still have a mission. Now, it is time for us to leave." He said, walking out on another path as Viola followed him.

Present time

As Viola looked out the window of the helicopter, she sighed. The trip had involved almost 10 to 20 helicopter changes and quite a few near death experiences but she had finally made it. As it came into view of the school, she looked down to see the massive campus that was surrounded by the serene nature of the forest. "Miss Viola, we're here." The pilot said, descending the helicopter down until it came in contact with the ground. Walking out with a suitcase, she hit the side of the helicopter to signal that it could leave as the blades spun and took off.

Walking into the hangar of her own accord, she saw that she was just in time for the opening ceremony as she saw that two students, most likely part of the staff, introduce themselves. She had already learnt of what would happen when she arrived. Walking to the front when the Q&A began she asked a question. "What will we be learning about exactly when we begin lessons?"

Turning to the smaller boy next to her, she had to resist laughing slightly as she gave a possible answer. "Possibly so that we won't wander off into the forests and possibly be discovered by others?"

[Anowa]

David Kowalski
Gunslinger
Marena Sainō Academy, Thailand

'Something about those two just rubs me the wrong way kid. I'd watch your back around them.' came a voice resounding through David's mind.

'Noted Roland.' mentally replied the spirit's host. David sighed as he surveyed the room, as well as the number of other occupants. There was a large girl with pink hair, what looked like a suicide girl sitting on a barrel of aviation fuel, looking like she was more dead than alive, a veritable giant standing near the rear exit watching the duo of counselors with rapt attention, or anger given the furrow in the man's brow.

Of course those three were the ones closest to him, outside the small zone of occupation, stood a variety of people, all different shapes, sizes and ethnicites. One of them even had distinct stitching across her neck, which gave David a tingling up his spine, and not in a good way.

'Thoughts Roland?'

'All of 'em could tan your hide. Least not without a six-shooter.' came the southern drawl of David's longest lasting companion.

David shook his head, 'I'd prefer a rifle, easier to drop something with an Enfield.'

'Yeah, well you can't hide an Enfield in your belt now can ya?'

David gave a chuckle. Yeah, things would be fine here.

---

Dietrich Fleischer
Telekinetic
Marena Sainō Academy, Thailand

Someone was laughing about something, and that made Dietrich feel uneasy. Unwarranted laughter in such a situation would make anyone uncomfortable, it either meant someone was a nutcase or noticed something he didn't. Neither of which he liked. The kid laughing wasn't too far away, less than a few feet, so Dietrich popped the question to the kid, "What's so funny?" The look on the kid's face changed from mirth to seriousness immediately, another red light for Dietrich.

"Nothing, just clearing my throat."

Dietrich raised a brow, his mouth opened a bit to press the issue further, but he relented. Everyone here had powers like his, and while the large man was a bit of a dick, he knew that the kid beside him could probably light him on fire, and he didn't feel like re-enacting his grandfather's job of shoveling corpses into an incinerator. The man only said he worked at a camp incinerator, not a single word outside that. Dietrich couldn't blame him. Out of all his family members his grandfather was the only one he really got along with, perhaps because Papa Wolfram's childhood was so similar in some aspects.

Dietrich mentally digressed as he continued to look across all the others in the room. The pink haired Fräulein standing not too far away was a bit too close to him in physique to make the man feel comfortable, the fact that the tin wall she was leaning on was slowly buckling under the weight of her didn't help a bit either.

The tattooed gal in the same area had a look of a fish to her, her eyes were about as empty as the Aral Sea. Yet for whatever reason, her skin seemed exceedingly alive. Dietrich had to blink when he saw a full on vein shift across the girl's neck.

The German youth shook his head as he mumbled, "Schraube alles darüber."

---

Amelie Chevalier
Titan
Marena Sainō Academy, Thailand

Everyone in this room would probably break if she accidentally bumped into them. That was her life, it had been for quite a few years now. Hell even the wall she'd been leaning on had buckled a bit.

Then there was the much smaller kid among the crowd. Rattling on about a rescue team and percentages, in all honesty it was probably a case of little man syndrome, but for all Amelie knew he was just an asshole. How wonderful it was that somebody was already showing attitude.

---

Cameron Oosthuizen
Bodyshifter
Marena Sainō Academy, Thailand

'Let's try this again.'

*zap*

'Fuck.'

Cameron was in a pickle. She had accidentally OD'd on amphetamine based stimulants... again. Now she was in a state of mild panic as she tried to restart her heart, all the while just barely flexing her diaphragm and controlling her own flow of blood to her brain and other vital organs. The fact she could do so with such ease was a paramount as to how often she did this.

'One more time, then I fall off the barrel for outside help.'

*zap*

*ba-bump*

Cameron inhaled rather abruptly, as he blurry tunnel vision cleared to high def and her hearing returned to her. The first thing she did was look around a bit to see if anyone noticed that -by technicality- she had been clinically dead for the past half hour. Seeing as no one was looking at her directly, she took that as a sign that she hadn't been too obviously dead, and that was a good thing. Although by the number of people present having increased since she was last conscious, she figured she'd missed a lot.

Though the ending snippet of the pint sized thesarus made Cameron guffaw, "Hah, funny." the fact that the little shit honestly thought his ass would be saved now of all times instead of at an earlier point made it quite clear that -although smart- he didn't have a grasp of common sense... or basic manners for that matter.

[Goflnheim]

Isaiah Raja Pasaribu
Eastern Thailand

"Well," I looked around the hangar with a duffle bag on my back, "This surely beats going to prison." I mutter in my breath, but not long after I say that sentence would a little kid throw a little tantrum about his imaginary business partners. How could a little kid such as him could've gotten to a nowhere place like this? This I don't know, but judging from his little rant, I guess that he must be a tad smarter than most of us here. Or he's fucking mental.

Speaking of the others, I see plenty of people of different ethnicity, and some that are just plain freaks. Perhaps some of them knows more to this place than I do. As for the.. siblings which I found are not physically alike, they seemed alright. Nothing unusual. They claim themselves as student councilor so I assume this is what the 'Hand' folks meant when they gave me a choice of going to prison or being sent to some nowhere school. Still, like I said, it's better than going to prison. I still wonder what kind of school this is that they decided to send me here.

'Only thing that I could right now is to observe, I suppose.' I thought as I whistle a few rock tunes in order to pass the time.

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Adinda Shintawati
Hangar

The hangar's huge, for one. Perhaps because of her family's backing, she laughed bitterly about it. Everything about her and the family of hers are bitter, literally and figuratively. Perhaps it was not the best thing to be talked about between them. Well, anyway, now that she is here she could've talked to new friends, since it seems that all of them have the different set of powers, but still not just normal human. The councilors asked them about questions that wanted to be asked, which of course she asked for one.

"What is the main purpose of our existence here, in this academy? Are we going to be trained to be soldiers? Or just to defend ourselves?" her accent is still strong enough, but the English itself is clear enough to be heard.

If no one drowns it with loud voices.

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Hanger, Marena Sainō Academy
Lora/Gwen

---

In the back of the rest of the students, watching everyone, and listening closely was a certain girl, who could control light. Her name was Lora. And she had a horrible few days. Her father had just past, and now she was taken to a different country. She didn't realy get time to mourn, and now she was standing amoung a bunch of strangers.

Dad... why'd you have to go... why'd you send us here... why... she thought, trying her best from breaking out in tears.

---

Hanger, Marena Sainō Academy
Minny Cochiti

---

Also in the back of the other students was another girl. Like Lora, she was watching and listening, but unlike the other girl, she seemed to be much more nervous. Her hands were in her pocket, and she kept looking at each and every other student, as if trying to figure out if they were a danger. But thats only how it seemed, the truth was, this girl had a nasty habit of being forgotten. Her name was Minny Cochiti, and all she wanted was to get this over with, and not be forgotten.

[Forest State]

Kenji and Riko Okamura

It didn't take an emotion manipulator to sense that there was unease in the room. And that was understandable, since everyone here had been brought far from home, under the pretense that they would face great danger if they didn't come. Well, that was the truth. The school never forced anyone to come here, but because of circumstances, that was what it could be like for some. Kenji glared at the short boy who had made the joke, while Riko looked more amused. "For your information, we're bringing in students from all over the world. We had to keep everyone here to make sure that everyone gets introduced at the same time," Kenji explains, while focusing his attention on creating the illusion of a large tarantula crawling down the boy's face.

"You're going to learn everything you would in a normal school, except with some things added in because of your abilities. You'll all learn to control them and not accidentally kill yourselves, for one. You'll also learn how to fight back against the people that would rather see you wiped out," Riko replied when Viola asked about what they'd be learning. Her accent was a strange one, that was a cross between Brazilian and British, indicating just how many places she had been. It wasn't long before another girl asked what they were here for. "Soldier is such a harsh word, love. I don't think we'll be soldiers. Protectors is more like it. We want to teach everyone here to protect their own kind, which might involve some fighting, sure. Most of all, we want you to be able to protect yourselves from the MEA."

She sounded bored as hell. She was a natural trickster, someone who messed with people just for reactions and who claimed to feel nothing. Having to read answers that she had already studied was boring her immensely, and she decided that she was going to start messing with these students. Even if it got her in trouble as a councilor. "In fact, I've been told that we're going to decide the room assignments by single combat," she chuckled, the somewhat crazy gleam in her eyes making it impossible to tell if she was joking around or if she truly meant it. "I can get you out of that, though, with uh... Some money and a favor. Fair trade, right? Since half of you look like you'd die if you got into a fight."

It was funny that she was making that remark, because in this form, she was just a diminutive pink haired girl who looked like she'd go down in one punch in any kind of fight. But she spoke confidently, as she always did, and watched for a reaction.

[Kita-Hinode]

Filipe da Silva Gomes

Filipe paid attention to each answer. For all his faults, he did like to listen to people a fair lot and figured it'd be of the best interests to hear the staff out. He took clear notice of the broken accent of one of the two, realizing there was someone else from his old place. Although after a couple of words later, he realized that she's probably from São Paulo. Ah, hell. Probably calls a cookie by biscuit., he thought.

And then he heard of the methods for room assignments. He realized his chances were pretty dim. He held nothing under his mantle, there didn't seem to be any rocks or anything he could throw at people... and pretty much everyone around him looked like they could smash him with a punch. Even the little kid.

"Uh... I'm sorry, name's Filipe. Any chance we could make that two favors? I'm really strapped on money."

[Higher Japan]

Viola

"I know what you truly are." Viola said, walking to the front to face the female student Councillor. "I know that this isn't even your true form, but should i care? Most likely no, but if anyone dies during single combat i'm not to be held responsible." She said, loading an empty bullet in as she pointed it up towards the sky. "If you're serious about it, then i won't hesitate i suppose." Her finger was now on the trigger, almost ready to fire the resonance bullet. "To simply put it, let's just say my connections would've revealed what you truly are, but i suppose blood can cover for it."

[Charlia]

Breathe.

Breathe.

Yeah, there's a lot of people. They're not touching you. And if they do, they'll pay for it. It's as simple as that. So don't panic, don't freak out, just keep breathing. Everything is fine.

She was standing in the corner, as far away from the others as she could get. Reaching up with white-gloved hands, she loosened the thick scarf wrapped around her neck, even though she knew that it wouldn't do much if her respiratory system decided to screw her over again.

She wondered if her parents were okay, if the doctors had managed to save them. She'd never found out.

She wondered if Alice was okay.

At least I know for sure that he died. I just... hope I didn't kill anyone else.

They weren't so bad, for humans.

She thought she might laugh at the pink-haired girl's words, about single combat. That would be easy. Shake their hand before the match, hold on for a bit longer than usual, and they're done.

Simple.

---

She stood in the crowd, glancing about nervously, the tiny doll in her hands feeling as if it was the only thing grounding her in reality.

She didn't feel well. She wanted to go home.

She wanted to see Rachel.

I'm sorry, she thought for what must have been the thousandth time, trying to hold back tears. I didn't mean to. I'd never hurt you on purpose. You're my best friend... my only friend.

Or... I guess you were.

I'll probably never see you again, huh? And even if I do... well, it would only be fair for you to hate me.

I'm so sorry, Rachel. Please... please don't hate me...

She lifted the doll to her face, maneuvering one tiny arm to make it seem like the doll was trying to comfort her. It didn't help very much. Now that she knew what it felt like to have a real, human friend... her dolls just didn't feel the same.

Maybe people wouldn't think she was a freak here, though. Maybe.

Yeah, right.

The comment about the room assignments didn't much faze her. She didn't have any money, so the option of getting out of it wasn't really an option at all, but she knew she could hold her own in a fight...

Rachel's agonized screams still hadn't stopped echoing in her mind.

---

They hadn't let her go to the hangar to see the new students. She knew that making friends with them would be a bad idea, but she just wanted to look. She wanted to see what they were like. Maybe she could pretend for a little while that they could be friends, that she wasn't a walking time bomb waiting to go off, a grenade waiting for some unfortunate fool to pull the pin.

She waited by a window, staring out and hoping to catch a glimpse of some of them before they entered the school. She'd leave once she saw them, of course. It wouldn't do to stay and meet them. Something bad might happen.

She reached up and touched the ribbon tied tightly in her hair, just to make sure. Yes, it was still there. No, it hadn't loosened. That was good. She didn't like having to wear it constantly, even when she was trying to sleep--but it was necessary, for everyone's safety. She didn't really understand it, but she'd been told that if she ever, ever took it off, then she'd wake up surrounded by bodies and covered in blood, again.

And at least it wasn't something awful. Just a ribbon. Innocuous. Nothing that appeared to be high-tech or simply out of the ordinary. If you looked at her, you wouldn't think she was dangerous, or unusual. Nothing stood out as bizarre. Just a young girl with a ribbon in her hair.

She wondered when the new students would appear. She wanted to see them, if only for a second.

I wish we could be friends.

[Forest State]

Riko and Kenji Okamura

"Muito inteligente, meu amigo!" said Riko, a grin spreading across her face when Felipe said that he'd offer two favors instead of paying. That was what she liked. Having people wrapped around her finger, ready to do her bidding. Well, she had a smile on her face until the other girl came up to her, clearly seeing through the act. Her eyes narrowed, but a bit of the smirk still remained, as she looked up towards the other girl, Viola. "True form? Not everyone here has 'forms' and things like that. Some of us are just normal humans with extraordinary talents," she said, cocking her head to the side in a 'cute' manner and sticking her tongue out. In her head, she was working on planting the idea in Viola's mind to shoot herself in the foot.

"There's a good chance my sister is just screwing with you," Kenji remarked, watching the situation with some amusement. "If there's single combat, I wasn't informed of it. However, I wouldn't discount the possibility completely. That's the thing with Riko. You never know when she's serious."

Harper Ryang Rose

There was one figure that was still at the back of the crowd, leaning against one of the parked aircraft, and she stepped forward and unsheathed a hunting knife that had been at her side, standing on her tip toes to look at Riko. "Single combat is no problem for me. I'll skin anyone here," she remarked, and then leaned against the plane again and watched Riko's reaction.

"I'm just fucking with you all. This time," Riko finally admitted, seemingly intimidated by Harper waving the knife at her. Of course, that was because she'd read the file beforehand, knowing that the slim girl could easily kill her with her bare hands if she wanted...

[Faal Lot Himdah]

Hanger, Marena Sainō Academy
Lora/Gwen

---

At the thought of having to fight, Lora began to become much more nevrous visibly. She knew that fighting would only lead to one thing, her. And Lora didn't want her to get involved, not now. Well, at least she didn't have any friends yet for her to hurt. But is she did get out, then Lora knew that getting friends would be hard. So she continued to panic.

That was until Riko admitted she was just messing with them. At that moment, Lora's breathing returned to normal and she was able to calm herself.

"N-Not funny..." Lora said to herself, and then looked to Riko, before speaking louder, "T-Then how are r-r-rooms assigned?"

---

Hanger, Marena Sainō Academy
Minny Cochiti

---

Good... No fighting. Minny thought to herself and relaxed a bit. She didn't want to fight, or any of the other options. Ultimately she would have had to use her power, and she didn't want to do that. She listened to the other girls question, I was just thinking that...

[Goflnheim]

Isaiah Raja Pasaribu
Eastern Thailand

'Some of the people here don't screw around do they?' I thought when a girl with a gun stood up to Riko. Hell, she looks like she came straight out of some James Bond movie or some B-class spy flick especially with that dyed hair, but more importantly is why the hell are they letting people wave a gun around like it was just a toy? Whatever the reason, I had better tread carefully around that girl.

Enough about her. There doesn't seem to be much of a welcoming party other than these two siblings. In order to, ahem, pass the time and satisfy my curiosity, I decided to raise my hand and spoke loud enough to be heard by everyone,

"Are there any chance that we may even go back to our normal lives?" Assuming some of these people even have a normal life. This is something that I feared the most which is to not be able to see my family nor friends anymore, "Or should we just kiss goodbye to what's behind us?" Sure, I didn't had the most exciting life, but it was what I got and I intended to make every second of it worth it. Well, until I got here of course. Perhaps my life would be better here, who knows?

[Shadowwell]

James Williamson

Near the back of the hanger, behind the crowd off assembled students, there was a slightly tall figure, clad in black. He had dark hair and wore sunglasses, a strange occurrence for being mostly indoors. He was blind, in the conventional sense at least, though his abilities relieved that burden in some regards. The absence or rather nonexistence of his sight, was the least of his problems however. He had few memories, none in fact, well none from before the MEA started experimenting on him, if there even was a before, he didn't know. James stayed silent for the most part as the others asked their questions and inquiries, all the while he stayed attentive, wondering where exactly this place was, and why he had been brought here, the answers thus far were satisfactory, in part.

[The Land of Golden Blobfish]

Alex Newton

"And you believed that this-" the boy stopped mid sentence as he felt something hairy making its his face. He instinctively tried brushing it off and was met with the totally calming sight of having one big tarantula landing on his hand. "Tarantula!" Alex screamed as he fell back, quickly stumbling away before coming to his senses.

Focus, Alex, get some sense in you. It's just one harmless arachnid is all… one… harmless…giant… arachnid that is more afraid of you than you are of it, probably.

He closed his for a quick second but when he looked back to to it, to the boy's surprise, the spider was gone. He turned to where it had been, then up to everyone else.
"Well? Where did it go?" he glared at the others, who appeared to have no idea what he was talking about. The boy picked himself off the ground, defeated by the inexpiable phenomenon that had occurred before him, and made his way towards the group again. This time however he hung towards the back to avoid the eyes of anyone who witnessed his idiocy just a few moments ago. Speaking of idiocy, he made a note of the student leaning against the airplane beside him

Violent outburst followed by vulgar threats. Not exactly what I would consider pleasant, wonder if she stuck that stick up her ass herself or if she was born with it. Figuratively speaking of course.

"You know," Alex turned to her, "hostility isn't the best way to make people's first impressions. Please refrain from such undesirable behavior further on, yes? I don't think anybody would like to see anyone here hurt." Whether that was a threat or just healthy advice, who knew. But that was one thing Alex always hated. No one takes you seriously when you're half their height and look as if you're still young enough to get a discount on Disneyland tickets.

[Forest State]

Kenji and Riko Okamura

Riko was visibly flustered, not really from Viola but from Harper's threat to skin anyone who challenged her to combat. Once you'd read the student files, you had a good idea of which ones were the harmless ones and which ones were the killers. She wanted the killers to be the ones that were loyal to her, but she wasn't off to a great start with school politics. She couldn't even trust her own brother not to mess with her plans, for his own amusement. That was fair, she supposed. She would do the same to him, or anyone else.

Kenji was the one to answer the question about going home. "Any of you are free to leave at any time. It's not advised, though. You're all here for a reason. It's dangerous to go alone. The MEA is in just about every country on earth, and this is one of the few corners of the world that they haven't forced their way into yet. The moment you leave here, they'll likely have eyes on you. It's a miracle that we kept this place a secret since having the idea for it. As for the rooming assignments, it's first come, first serve. There's enough room for everyone, I believe."

A slight smile crossed his face when he saw his illusion work, but he suppressed it. Better to not reveal all his cards right away, because he had his own goals in school politics that would be helped by an element of mystery. It was then that the doors opened further, and Kenji gestured to the outside. "I believe the time has come to reveal the campus to everyone. If you'll just follow me, we'll head down to the dormitories..."

Harper Ryang Rose

Harper slumped back down against the plane, and she stared into the knife for a few more seconds before closing her eyes and inserting it back in the sheath. She had a look on her face that said that she didn't give a damn about anything that was going on, and she folded her arms and looked like she was maybe sleeping. She'd start paying attention when they let her out of this damned hangar. She opened one eye and raised an eyebrow when the boy who'd run to the back of the room talked to her.

"Oh, shut your feckin mouth," she muttered on instinct, also moving her hand to the handle of the knife. Then, she stopped herself and remembered that she was at least making an attempt at being normal. She forced herself to take two deep breaths, closing her eyes again. "Some... Some of us don't know anything else, you pretentious prick," she eventually said, before clenching her teeth again as she realized that it wasn't what she wanted to say. "The name's Harper. Rose. I can't remember the first fifteen or so years of my life, so I'm not great with social skills," she added, almost in a self pitying manner.

She extended her hand to shake, though she looked somewhat self conscious because of the long leather gloves that she wore to cover her 'infection'. If anyone removed them, they'd find that her hands were like stone. Obsidian, specifically. Good for hitting people with, but it wasn't a good sign for the future. But then the doors started opening, and she retracted her hand quickly. It was time to go. She stood, and then started towards the door while looking over her shoulder. "You're not going to last long here without protection," she said, stopping. It was a suggestion, one for a pact. Whether he showed interest in it was up to him, and she stuffed her hands into her pockets and blended into the crowd.

[Charlia]

As the doors of the hangar opened, one girl immediately darted out, relishing the brief freedom from being surrounded by so many--so many humans. First come, first served, was it? Well, she sure hoped she wasn't going to be asked to share. And if she was--if she absolutely had to share a room with one of them, it had better be a girl. Then again, just fill the room with poison and chances were that no one would want to share, so that was always an option if there was a problem.

Adjusting her scarf yet again, she followed after whatever-that-guy's-name-was with a heavy sigh. Might as well get this crap over with now.

---

Another girl, instead of immediately moving, looked around briefly, allowing the crowd to basically push her out of the hangar in their collective movement, her grip on the tiny doll she held growing ever tighter. However, allowing herself to be swept up in the crowd was a poor choice for her, and she found herself surrounded by all sides, knocked about mercilessly until--

A particularly hurried-looking student ran into her, knocking her off her feet. She tried to regain her balance, but failed--and with a cry of alarm and some pain, went crashing to the floor.

---

She watched the hangar doors open, staring intently at the people exiting and trying to commit them to memory. There was a girl who looked like she was about to experience a Russian winter leaving first--another with long, dark pink hair--a small, blonde boy--another girl with brown, somewhat curly hair--oh, what was that? She stared at the rapid movements before realizing that it was someone falling, no doubt caught off balance by the crowd. She squinted, trying to see if anyone was helping the fallen person up--and then realized that she had lingered for too long, they were getting close enough to notice her presence, and quickly ducked down, out of sight, preparing to make a quiet retreat.

Please don't have seen me. Please.

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

James Williamson

Near the back of the hanger, behind the crowd off assembled students, there was a slightly tall figure, clad in black. He had dark hair and wore sunglasses, a strange occurrence for being mostly indoors. He was blind, in the conventional sense at least, though his abilities relieved that burden in some regards. The absence or rather nonexistence of his sight, was the least of his problems however. He had few memories, none in fact, well none from before the MEA started experimenting on him, if there even was a before, he didn't know. James stayed silent for the most part as the others asked their questions and inquiries, all the while he stayed attentive, wondering where exactly this place was, and why he had been brought here, the answers thus far were satisfactory, in part.

Adinda Shintawati
Hangar

Adinda looked on as her question went answered. Not the best answers, right? Perhaps it was for the best, she thought to herself about that. Anyway, now that she knew about her questions, she moved on to the other persons that she saw. She saw someone, who stayed silent for the most part. "Hello there," as she approached him. "Kind of silent watch, these days?"

[Song-Lu]

Isagani Florentino y Mikhailov

---

A multitude of questions whizzed through Isagani's train of thought all at once. Firstly, the queer couple standing in front of the crowd. Not only that they have mismatching hair colors for a pair of siblings, they seemed to be of different race despite what their names would tell. Riko and Kenji, Isagani deduced, were of Hispanic/Iberian origin. Spanish? Portuguese? Perhaps, Brazilian?

He would immediately digress his attention from the siblings as small blonde kid made prattled with rescue helicopters. With his pre-judgement, the kid seemed rather snooty and mature for his age, which would invariably irk some people. Yet his gut feeling goaded him there is something... abnormal with this kid and unfortunately it had to be applied to seemingly everyone else.

His ears perked up to a laugh. His ears worked to pick up the location of the source, which led him to brown-haired Caucasian man conversing with another black-haired man. The conversation seemed short, but profound according to Isagani's educated guess, as the black-haired man (somehow European of origin, Germanic or Southern Slavic perhaps) took and exchanged glances with other seemingly-nondescript fellows.

Isagani snapped his attention back to physically mismatching siblings, only to raise an eyebrow as another, queer girl with candy-colored hair (this time purple) stood up to Riko. Much to his amusement, she was waving a gun around. That girl had some spunk, to go bold and brassy to a total stranger who was just as abnormal as her, let alone a student councilor. Why would authorities allow teenagers to bring guns, and then wave then around as if they were Nerfs? To Isagani, however, it was more of curiosity rather than questioning the sense of another person.

After a few more rounds of Q's and A's, Isagani finally drew a relieved sigh as it was about time to reveal the campus he was attending in. He was tired of standing, and somehow exasperated of the inane prattle his new colleagues were making. The questions that only made sense came from an 18-24 year old Southeast Asian (Indonesian? Filipino?) military man. His question made him shiver as much as Kenji's response did. He had never heard of the MEA, nor he knew his purpose in attending his new school until now.

"It's basically Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted 2.0" Isagani extrapolated upon himself.

For some reason, he didn't stick out like a sore thumb. (Yay!) To the student councilors, he was just a nondescript, mundane, transferee student. No one noticed him or started a conversation with him, that's for sure. For some reason he decided to excuse himself as he trudged his way in front of the crowd. No one could ever hope to know why a hooded bespectacled boy would do such a thing.

But he didn't mind, he didn't care anyway.

[Kita-Hinode]

Filipe da Silva Gomes

Filipe kept quiet after hearing about how the whole fighting thing was a ruse. Or at least, sort of. He didn't really trust it. Oh, and then someone pointed a gun. You know, fun times. Beyond that, however, Filipe took note that he could leave at any time. Like, hell I'd show up back home. he thought, smirking under the mask.

Finally, the doors opened. The rules for rooming sounded pretty simple, as in you really only had to come first. Eh, it's not like someone would kill me at my sleep or anything of the like. I should just take whatever comes. Filipe thought, focusing on not putting any effort at it. ...Maybe I should just take a look at the campus first. The guy seems good enough and as long as I don't mention anything about cookies, I'm sure the girl won't go after my head.

The teenager simply followed the rest to the campus, holding tight to his mantle, just in case.

[Forest State]

Riko and Kenji Okamura

The siblings stepped forward and led the way for the oncoming crowd, along the path that went around the main hall and towards the dorms. The dorms were on the north side of campus, of course, and it wasn't apparent which side the students should move towards. It wasn't a long walk before they would find a couple of condo buildings, where each of them would stay and have their own apartment. "We were told that the headmaster might be around, but he prefers to manage things from the background while staying away from his students. He believes that it's better that people figure things out for themselves," Kenji explained, looking around. "Someone is going to come unlock these in a few minutes. Don't trample each other. Like I said, there should be more than enough rooms. Emphasis on should."

Harper Ryang Rose

When Harper blended into the crowd, she looked around and observed some of the others, to see what she would be up against at this school. That was her analytical, cold, and competitive side coming out. She never knew when she'd have to fight, and so her notes on the others started as soon as she arrived here. She decided that she needed an ally, which would help her with what she wanted to do: become a little more human while she was staying here.

She picked someone that she thought she could push around, and it ended up being the girl named Minny. She didn't know that yet, but she approached the girl from behind and put a hand on her shoulder, clamping down hard. Her hand moved towards the girl's neck, setting her up in a sort of headlock. Whatever the move was called, it was a threatening one. "Hey. You're going to need someone to protect you here. You know, from bullies and shit. I could do that for you in exchange for, you know... Being my friend," she said awkwardly, maintaining the lock. "What do you think?" she added, as if she was just suggesting and not threatening.

"I'm a good friend, I promise. I just have some trouble with emotions and things like that," she continued, not knowing when to stop talking. "And if anyone messes with you, I'll break their skulls. All I want in return is someone to teach me to act like a normal person."

[Faal Lot Himdah]

On to the Dorms, Marena Sainō Academy
Lora/Gwen

---

Lora was just trying to keep to herself, but as fate would have it, well, that just can't happen. She watched as a person hurried out and knocked down a girl who was already having trouble move through the crowd. Another girl saw this and just left, as if she didn't want to be seen. No one was helping the girl, but then she cried in pain. At that was it. Lora knew that she could help her. She had to help her. As much as she could ruin it. This was a possible friend, but more importantly someone in pain.

And with that Lora made her way to the other girl. She knelt down beside the girl. "H-H-Hey..." Lora started, "A-Are you a-alright?"

---

On to the Dorms, Marena Sainō Academy
Minny Cochiti

---

Minny froze the moment she felt something on her shoulder. The hand moved and locked her in a headlock. Now her eyes were wide, not because she was scared for her own safety, but because who ever just grabbed her was going to find that they were lossing memories. That is what she thought, little did Minny know that Harper would be completely unaffect. So, of course Minny was going to freak out.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME NOW OR ELSE!!" She screamed and started to flail around, attempting to hit Harper with what little strength she had, "LET GO OF ME!"

[Charlia]

On to the Dorms, Marena Sainō Academy
Lora/Gwen

---

Lora was just trying to keep to herself, but as fate would have it, well, that just can't happen. She watched as a person hurried out and knocked down a girl who was already having trouble move through the crowd. Another girl saw this and just left, as if she didn't want to be seen. No one was helping the girl, but then she cried in pain. At that was it. Lora knew that she could help her. She had to help her. As much as she could ruin it. This was a possible friend, but more importantly someone in pain.

And with that Lora made her way to the other girl. She knelt down beside the girl. "H-H-Hey..." Lora started, "A-Are you a-alright?"

She was still getting used to having fallen over, yet again, when she heard someone speaking to her, sounding concerned. That was the girl from earlier, she realized--the one who'd asked about how the rooms would be assigned. She seemed nice. Stuttered, which meant she probably wasn't a total jerk.

Even if this new girl did end up thinking she was a freak--and she almost certainly would, even in a place like this it wasn't as if her little 'behavior problems' were anywhere close to normal--she probably wouldn't be cruel. So she sat up slowly, checking on the doll she held--no damage had been done, thank goodness--and managed a smile.

"Yeah... I'm kind of a klutz," she replied, trying her best to laugh it off. If she laughed at herself, it wasn't quite so bad when everyone else laughed at her, too. "Thanks for worrying about me. I'm... sort of used to it by now, though. If I don't have at least five bruises at any given time, I don't feel like me," she joked. "Speaking of me, my name's Mariel... Who're you?"

On to the Dorms, Marena Sainō Academy
Minny Cochiti

---

Minny froze the moment she felt something on her shoulder. The hand moved and locked her in a headlock. Now her eyes were wide, not because she was scared for her own safety, but because who ever just grabbed her was going to find that they were lossing memories. That is what she thought, little did Minny know that Harper would be completely unaffect. So, of course Minny was going to freak out.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME NOW OR ELSE!!" She screamed and started to flail around, attempting to hit Harper with what little strength she had, "LET GO OF ME!"

She was lost in her own thoughts when she heard it.

Screaming.

There was a girl, screaming.

"No! Let go of me! Let go--Mmm--" Her protests are cut off by cloth in her mouth, and her eyes widen as she fights to breathe.

"I told you to stop shouting. Don't be so hostile, you'll thank me for this later. I promise."

She closes her eyes tightly, tries to pretend she's somewhere else, anywhere else, and cries.

Before she really registered what she was doing, she was pushing through the crowd, heading for the source of the shouting. She found it in the shape of a girl being held in a headlock by another, trying to fight, flailing about ineffectually.

She pulled off her gloves. Even if the one being trapped was a human... even if the situation wasn't the same... the screaming in her mind wouldn't let her hold back.

"Hey, you," she said in a low tone. "I'll give you one chance to let go. If you don't, you'll regret it."

I don't care what you can do. All I need to do is touch you, anyway. And I don't care who you are...

You're just a human, after all.