Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 9: Everyone's Dirty Underwear

[Ryan Jackson]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Renata shot Ryan a look that would stun a buffalo at a dozen paces.

"Why didn't you TELL us this was what you had in mind?!"

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Oh gee, I dunno, maybe 'cause like, all y'all woulda freaked out an' not actually shown up?" He looked around to the others, "Tell me honestly that you woulda come willingly? That you'da been willin' to hear the teachers out? That's why. I didn' tell ya 'cause this bullshit is gonna get somebody killed if we don't stop fussin' and work together."

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah, I would have!" Renata shoots back. "It was my idea to try to talk to them in the first place! I've wanted to hear them out all this time! But when you have them just show up, taking everyone by surprise, obviously THAT'S not going to end well..."

She takes a deep breath. "Look, Miss Pritchard wait a second!"

Then with a look at the other students, "You guys, this is a chance to get everyone on the same side. I think we should take it. I know you're all angry at her, and she's obviously pretty pissed at us, but I think we need to hear what she's got to say. Okay?"

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean shifted his weight to his other foot and frowned at Ryan's question, then glanced over his shoulder at Swan to give her an apologetic smile. This was nowhere near what he was expecting this more, but Ryan's question was a fair one, if no more palatable.

"I might've been willin' to hear 'em out, Ryan, but I would've given Swan the option to back outta this," Sean reluctantly admitted.

He looked at the retreating Pritchard and the remaining teachers, then glanced at Brahn and Brihn, straining to make them out in the shadowed corners. His expression was dark and his voice was hard. "Doesn't look like anyone's willin' ta be the first ta talk, though, Ren. Least of all Pritchard. Nor admit to who actually wiped our memories or made those damn voodoo dolls."

[Isaac Rotterdown]

Isaac tested his legs by stretching the toes forward and back, rolling his ankles from side to side, then finally raising each knee, "Yeah, I think I'll be alright standing. I gather that this is something that has been going on for some time now..." he left the question implied without trying to make it sound too pointed.

Instead of pressing the subject, he resigned himself to listen and glean as much information as he could from this little gathering.

[Dawn OOC]

Pritchard had swept out of the room seconds before Renata had made her plea, but Boxter lifted his hands. “I’ll go talk to her and I’ll be back. Just for the record, threatening anyone involved in the Doors in any way is a bad idea, isn’t it, First Wing Relana?” His pointed glance was leveled at Swan, who merely looked confused. He left before she could say anything to him.

“Insults are rarely a good idea,” she said softly. Sean felt her grab his shirt on either side of his backpack, as if she were worried about him moving from in front of her. He had no intention of doing so; it struck him suddenly that he was mirroring Brahn.

“While we’re waiting, someone should fill in the young man who is asking questions,” Reaver said.

“How about you do it, since you have all the answers,” Ryan said quickly. He was here to get information and this would be a good way to have the other side spill something.

“Very well,” Reaver said, leaning back against a cabinet. “Thirty years ago, when House Lancaster was built, its position coincided with the location of a weak point between the worlds. We’re not sure who built it, but someone put a door over that spot, making it into a Door-with-a-capital-D. You can use it to travel the worlds and it wasn’t long before one of the students found this. He or she told their friends, they told theirs and then someone told Wilbur Dalton.

“He saw it as a great adventure. Soon he and the kids were off exploring,” Reaver continued. “Dalton formed a Young Adventurer’s Club so that he could organize the kids, but they were largely running around as they pleased, doing as little school work as possible and generally doing exactly what you’d expect teenagers to do. No offense to all the teens here – part of your nature is to act like you are invincible.”

The room grew colder as he spoke, random gusts of chilled air surging from him. Only Frida could see that one of the ghosts behind him, Sherry’s, was the source of that coldness. She was visibly disturbed by his tale and more than once, white chains flared into place around her wrists, chains that led to Reaver’s clenched fist. “Then they ran into their first true hostiles, the Caramine.” He pointed at Swan. “She is one of their kind, though without her memory, she seems to be turn-coating. The Caramine are aggressive and warlike, and they demand tribute of those they conquer. That tribute is twelve people taken by them every three years.

“The Young Adventurers told them to get stuffed, then raided the Caramine homeworld, staging an attack on the Caramine’s sacred Council of Nine,” Reaver continued. “The struck back and surged through the Door, killing a number of students, including some who weren’t involved in the Club. Wilbur Dalton saw that this was no longer some story-tale adventure and he brokered a thirty-year peace with the Caramine. That thirty years is done, next month. The Caramine will return for their Tribute.”

Suddenly he gave a creepy smile and waved his free hand around a bit. “Oh and the worlds are probably were we get our stories of myths and legends from and some of you kids have powers, and I know magic. So that’s all real, young man.” The desiccated man asked, “How’d I do?”

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan nodded, "Good, good, but, what the hell do the Caramels do with the twelve they take? I mean, like, I doubt they give them a nice supper and a cushy day job, but do they eat 'em or somethin'? An' why didn' you all try an' do somethin' about this sooner? Or did ya hope that thirty years later the Caramels would be all, 'Oh, so sorry, we've gone all goody goody, apologies for all the killin' an' stuff.' I mean come on! Thirty years later and by the looks of it y'all ain't even prepared to find your own ass with two hands an' a map!"

[Sylvia Dorn]

With a long-suffering sigh, Sylvia chimed in. "Despite Mr. Jackson's lack of tact, he makes an excellent point. I'm one of those who has been numbered by the Caramine for this tribute, and would like to know precisely what has been done in the intervening thirty years to prepare for the threat."

She paused for a moment, then an eyebrow went up. "And for that matter, I'd like to know if the particular... talents a number of us just happen to have manifested were engineered as part of a defense plan. In fact..."

All those closed doors. All those rejections from every institution. The apparent blackmailing. And then, at the most desperate moment, the position here at Dalton... if I would agree to be House Mother for Lancaster.

"...I'll be blunt. Were we manipulated into being here because of our talents, latent or otherwise?"

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Stepping back a little as Reaver began talking, Ravi glanced down at Mari and smiled reassuringly, though she could feel his tension almost physically. The werepanther was angry and frustrated but working to contain it, at least partially for her sake. He rested a warm hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed, then let go as he sat back against the desk and folded his arms, watching the walking, talking dead man. When Sylvia spoke he broke his silence.

"Begging pardon, Ms Dorn." he began respectfully, cordially, a definite change from the bristling, taunting manner he'd had towards her yesterday morning. "I don't think we were brought here to be a defense. I think we were brought here to be offered up. They wouldn't have tried to keep us ignorant to the point of erasing our memories if they'd wanted us to put up a fight." He gazed at Reaver thoughtfully, his eyes catching the gold hues in the ambient light and gleaming eerily. "Or maybe it's something else, a mixture of something elses? Perhaps some were brought here, others ended up here, and still others were drawn by something like Fate. Which is it, Mr Reaver? Accident or design, wardens or sacrifical lambs?"

[Autumn Keane]

"Okay, so this isn't exactly what I expected," Autumn stated mildly to no one in particular, her startled, wide-eyed expression completely at odds with the neutrality of her tone. Actually, she hadn't really known what to expect at all, but she was fairly sure if she'd had any idea of what would happen, it wouldn't have been this.

It seemed unlikely she'd be getting any clarification right now, with everything being so up-in-the-air, but at least no one else seemed to be on the same page, either. Maybe this would give her a chance to catch up to what everyone else already knew? With a sigh, she braced her palms on the table behind her, leaning back slightly as she tried to absorb the goings-on.

[Atomicweasel]

The nameless dread that had hold of Mari slipped away as Pritchard left the room. She felt Ravi’s hand on her shoulder and the warmth of Renata's hand in her own and her frozen heart began to beat again. She was with friends. She was safe. As the cold wave of fear peeled back from her, Mari started making sense of everything she’d seen. Everything she’d heard. There were still more questions than there were answers, but a picture was forming.

There were worlds beyond the Door. Strange and magical places. Dalton had opened the Door and the magic had leaked through. Somehow it had found its way into Ravi and Ms. Dorn and others. They had been marked, or chosen. The little teen remembered now her terrible dream, so real, of chasing Ravi into the forest only to find the beast. She’d thought the dream had been sent to her to warn him, to protect him...from himself. But that wasn’t it at all. The beast had found Ravi and Ravi had tamed it. Mari turned to look at him. His green and gold eyes looked back at her. Even relaxed as he was, sitting back against the desk with his arms folded across his chest, she could feel the tension inside of him. The hideous strength that lurked beneath the façade of a beautiful young man. That strength was a weapon. A God given gift of power unlike any other Mari had ever seen...Maybe he’s supposed to protect me...protect all of us. Because if anyone could fight the Caramines, it would be Ravi. But he couldn’t fight them alone. He would need help.

“How do we stop them?” Mari blurted suddenly, turning toward Reaver. “How do we fight them?”

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

[Dawn OOC]

“The treaty was lost after Dalton returned,” Reaver said, his expression grim. “Until the First Wing and Shovat arrived just weeks ago to announce the return of the Harvest, we didn’t think we were on a timeline. Since then, we – the Council members – have worked to contain the threat.”

Originally Posted By: Sylvia Dorn

With a long-suffering sigh, Sylvia chimed in. "...I'll be blunt. Were we manipulated into being here because of our talents, latent or otherwise?"

Originally Posted By: Ravi FitzCoventry

Stepping back a little as Reaver began talking, Ravi … said, "Or maybe it's something else, a mixture of something else’s? Perhaps some were brought here, others ended up here, and still others were drawn by something like Fate. Which is it, Mr. Reaver? Accident or design, wardens or sacrificial lambs?"

There was a moment of silence; even the least astute of them could see the cadaverous man weighing what to say in his mind. “Most of you are happy accidents,” Reaver said, his expression uneasy. “Ms. Dorn, I know you were chosen because Constance wanted a good history teacher and you were overlooked. I suspected that she had a hand in that – not directly, but there are spells that could create such a situation. You are a better caliber than we would normally hope for.”

He paused again, his eyes going to Boxter. The black man nodded and Reaver added, “And you, Mr. FitzCoventry – I had learned of your family’s unique genetic traits and thought to study you. We never expected you to change, or even to have your life interrupted by our observations.

“Others of you are expressing your new gifts because of things that happened to your parents. I find it no surprise that Mr. Cassidy is in the thick of things, given who his father is,” Reaver continued, those rheumy eyes coming to rest on him. “And others of you, such as Mr. Jackson, are new to Dalton and are a surprise.”

“You asked how to fight them, Ms. Palacios,” Boxter said, allowing the focus to shift from Reaver. “Sword, gun, magic. I’d rather not fight them – I’d rather find the treaty and see if we can replicate it. Create another. Find the path of peace rather than risking more people getting hurt or even dying.”

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean gave Swan an awkward in apology for his unconsidered words, then stood resolutely in front of her when Reaver pointed her out as a Caramine. He listened to Reaver's recounting, feeling discomfited with how what Reaver said lined up with the small kernel of excitement he felt for exploring the Otherside.

Dad was involved, and more than just finding himself an amazon wife, Sean thought sourly. And either Dad or Vanessa made sure I ended up at Dalton too, even though I thought it was just happenstance.

When Reaver's crusted eyes came to rest on him, Sean shifted his weight to his other foot, self-conscious under his perusal. He hadn't meant to get involved, but from the start, at the Ice Cream Social, he couldn't have stood aside. It would have seemed almost... inevitable, if he believed in something like fate.

Meaning to ask more about his father later, Sean pulled his eyes off the grave-touched administrator, giving Swan's hand a squeeze, then turned to Boxter. He cleared his voice, politely drawing his attention.

"Excuse me, sir. The Caramines, from what I'm understandin,' wouldn't'na stopped just cuz Dalton asked them nice, right? You guys know what he offered 'em?"

[Ryan Jackson]

"Whaddaya mean I'm a surprise?" Ryan narrowed his eyes, he couldn't recall anybody knowing his secret except the other students. "I ain't no were-tigger, or umm ... errr..." Ryan looked at all the rest of the students, searching for something. "Oh! I don' see ghosty-dead people either!" He turned back to Reaver, "So unless gettin' snuck up on, like, I dunno, ALL the time, by Branflakes over there I don' know what you're on about."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Panther," Sylvia uttered in what was, for the educator, almost a reflect action, the tone of gentle but firm correction evident in her voice. "I am a were-panther, not tiger. The former is from South America; the latter from Africa and Asia."

As she said so, a memory from her childhood surface, unbidden. She'd spent endless hour leafing through her mother's journals, looking at photographs of the exotic places she'd been before Sylvia had been born.

Places like the Amazon jungle.

A far-away look formed in Sylvia's eyes.

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

"There's more than meets the eye here." Ravi said to Ryan with a shrug. His green eyes swept over the others. "Not every student here is what they seem and, given that we've all been drawn into this, it's not much of a leap to suggest that few of us are."

"I didn't even know I was... different... until two nights ago. I just thought I was going mad over the previous week." he told the other students in a firm tone. "So my advice to all of you is don't dismiss the crazy, because it might come back to bite. Open your minds to the chance that everything you've been taught about what's 'impossible' might be wrong."

"Mr Reaver." Ravi nodded politely to the dead man, every inch the young gentleman paying respect where it was due. "Thank you for your candor, and for confirming further what I already had come to believe regarding my family. I shall take on good faith what you've said about merely observing me. Now..." Gold shimmered in his emerald gaze as it swung to study Brahn and his sister. From inside his pocket he produced the small effigy and held it up.

"Your turn. Who made this effigy of me?" he asked them in a even tone, his catlike stare not wavering one iota. It was plain enough to all that the shapeshifter was suspicious, and the tension in the air around him seemed to increase.

[SalmonMax]

"Hey," Renata suddenly piped up, looking at Reaver. "One thing. How come we didn't ALL get cool powers? I mean, I guess Mari hasn't been through the door yet, but it seems like I have even if I don't remember it. Why can't I turn into a Thundercat, or see through people's clothes or whatever?"

[Dawn OOC]

“It’s a logically-drawn assumption, Mr. Jackson,” Reaver told him, smiling creepily. “The other children who are involved in the reformation of the Young Adventurer’s Club have started to develop… unique abilities. I had assumed that this true for all of you. Though apparently not.”

“Their harmonics have all changed,” Boxter said as he returned alone. Reaver glanced at the door, a question in his eyes; Boxter rolled his. “It could be ‘taint’ from exposure to the things from beyond the Door. We really just don’t have enough information.”

“Care to explain that?” Sylvia asked, crossing her arms.

“Giles and I have studied our arts, but there’s not really anyone to teach us,” Boxter replied. “Our craft is cobbled together from our studies in our youth and our experimentation since. We’ve guessed about a lot of things in the last thirty years, since the Doors have been closed to us.”

“As in, we all agreed to minimize use of it, for safety’s sake,” Reaver replied. “I have only used it a few times myself, and not in the last ten years. Of course, we didn’t think we needed to use it.”

“So we really don’t know why some of you have powers and others don’t.” Boxter looked unhappy. “We’ll have to do research, which will take time.”

[Isaac Rotterdown]

The questions racing through his mind were driving him crazy. What doors are they all talking about? I've never seen one, but they are apparently around here... he wondered, but the one thing that caught him off guard most of all was what Boxter had just said. 'Their harmonics have all changed'

"What are the harmonics? Have mine changed? Cause I've never even seen one of these doors, let along gone through one."

[SalmonMax]

"Hey, yeah," Renata said, realizing that she didn't know all the faces here.

"Who're the new guys? What about some introductions or something?"

[Isaac Rotterdown]

Isaac was suddenly racked with coughing, he pressed his mouth to his elbow to cover it, and once it subsided, he cleared his throat and addressed the group, "Sorry guys, bit of a cold, always goes to my lungs you see, I'm Isaac Rotterdown, my parents just moved nearby, and, well, here I am. Haven't been going to this school for a long time, and the only one here I recognize is Ms. Dorn, who is a.... er... were-panther? Just how does that work anyway?"

[Frida Ricci]

"Just the way one would expect.. her muscles and skeletal structure all shift within the space of several seconds from that of a human being to that of a panther. She also grows fur and claws. I imagine there's probably some adjustment to her internal organs as well, although that, of course, isn't visible by external observation."

It was hard to tell of the young woman was being sarcastic.. or just exceptionally serious in her answer. The statement was delivered with a very dry sort of inflection, and a slight British accent. Of course, everyone else at this point was starting to know Frida well enough (if they didn't know her from experience before) to know that she was merely answering the question that had been asked, in her oddly concise manner. Issac certainly had no way of knowing that the pale, wraith-like teenager addressing him was the very one who had painted the mural that he had come to study, that he had heard rumors of miraculously appearing overnight. Though it had been a weekend, a couple of the other dedicated artists had made their way to the class for one reason or another the day before (when the current group wasn't in residence), and talk of the mural had spread like wildfire.

Frida had remained mostly quiet up until now, letting the others do the talking. She was tired - tired from lack of sleep, tired from the events of the last few days, and tired from the emotional strain of last night (though she didn't quite realize it). Other people were doing a good enough job of asking questions, so she let it be. But something had been bothering her since the group had entered and discussions had begun, and since she suddenly found people focused on her, she considered that now might be the time to ask. But first she paused, glancing first at Issac, and then turning to Ms. Dorn.

"Should we even be talking to him about this? I mean.. should we be involving students who aren't otherwise involved already?"

She turned back to Issac, tilting her head curiously.

"Why are you here - Issac, you said? It's very early, and it's Sunday. The art room is usually abandoned right now."

[Isaac Rotterdown]

"I tend to have rather vivid... dreams. The kind that most people would rather wake up from," he paused for a moment to let the pale girl with the dark eyes think it over before continuing.

"So when I find myself wanting to escape those dreams, I tend to wander. I had heard a rumor about this mural and decided to see if the doors were unlocked," he gestured at the wall, his gaze momentarily pausing on the images of the were-creatures before turning back once more, "They were, and I came to take a look. Next thing I know, I'm surprised by that guy," he points to the man with the odd eyes, "and someone I didn't see, then the world went black, and I woke up here with all of you surrounding me."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Regrettably," Sylvia said in reply to Frida, "Mr. Rotterdown is already involved. As soon as he interacted with Brihn and Brahn as he described, his involvement began. Once the rest of us came - particularly Swan - and discussion opened, his situation became inextricable short of measures such as Ms. Pritchard's memory work... and even that has proven to have its limits."

[z022]

Lucia finally calmed down enough that Ahvia risked loosening her hold on her friend; when she didn't bolt for the door that Mrs. Pritchard had left though, Ahvia released her the rest of the way. The shadows in the room receded back to their natural dawn castings, the sense of dark foreboding dissipating along with the shadows unnatural reach.

Lucia took one last settling breath and adressed the group as a whole, "Well, lets start with the basics, then. Since Ms. Pritchard blocked people's memories and there have been some new additions, we should start with introductions and some explinations. I'm Lucia Blake, Student Council President; I became involved with this from the Social when the Caramines showed up and started numbering people off. Of everyone here, Ms. Dorn, Renata, Frida, Sean, and Ryan are who I remember from when this all started. Most of the rest of you seem to be new to the school as well as to this...situation."

"When we first found out about the Door and the contract with the Caramine, I asked Brihn and Brahn for the Key to the Caramine world." Her eyes tracked over to the two and she frowned briefly, "Either I was given the wrong Key or the birds in the Science Annex are not exactly what they say they are. Either way, I ended up on another world. Ahvia's world." She motioned to the girl that had kept her from doing...something...to Mrs. Pritchard a few minutes earlier. "She helped me make my way through her world to a Door I could use there. The one I'd come through was giant-sized on the other side." The frown became a slight smile, "I don't think I would ever have made it home without her, and she wanted to come along to help us out with the Caramine and see alien worlds." Her smile moved to the other girl that had come with her, "This is Rosa. She's been my best friend since I came to Dalton, more like my sister. When I got back, I told her what was going on since Mrs. Pritchard stole the letters I'd written."

She motioned to Autumn, "And this is Autumn Keane. She...uh...well, she's involved now because of me. My...my mother went looking for me." Her composure cracked a little, but she took a breath and went on. "Apparently, I'm adopted. My mother was...kidnapped by someone or something through one of the Doors and when she escaped...she found me and brought me with her. I-I don't know all the details, but there's more than just her that this has happened to. I met a friend of my mother's when I tried to find her, and he came to the school and met with me. Autumn stumbled on our meeting and the guy kind of freaked out. He made Autumn and Rosa swear not to talk to with anyone about it or about him or all of it unless they already knew, or they'll go mute. He was weird, too. He looked like some young Asian guy, but he also looked like a really creepy librarian from the 1800's. Both at the same time, like double vision. Rosa said after she swore not to tell, she could see him like that too. I don't know if it's anything connected with the Caramines or not. He called the ones that kidnapped my mother 'the Masters'."

She took another breath and pressed on. "My mother's gone. Yasu -the creepy guy- said that she'd thought that these 'Masters' had come back for me and had gone looking for me. He-he wouldn't give me the Key to whatever world they're from, not unless I could prove to him that I could handle them." She laid her hands on a table, her fingers curling tightly over an edge, "So unless you guys," she nodded to the twins and to Relena, "know what he's talking about and the Key, I'll just have to see if defeating the Caramines will be proof enough."

She slowly let go of the table and crossed her arms, looking around the room. "Anyone care to catch me up on what's been going on Earth-side for the past week?"

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

"Well, let's see...." Ravi began as he lowered the effigy to his side for a moment and thought, organising events into some semblance of order in his mind. It took a moment or two, then he began to lay it out for Lucia and the others.

"I suppose the real strangeness here , apart from the creepy feeling that we'd lost a few days (bearing in mind the brainwashing memory-loss) started with Swan." he nodded to the Caramine woman. "We- that is, Sean, Ryan and myself -found her after she'd been attacked. She was able to tell us she'd been drugged, and we went looking for help. We ended up with a travelling three-ring circus of interested parties before Ms Dorn took charge. We went to the library to confer, Frida producing some of the artwork she couldn't remember making, and we all tried to puzzle out what was going on." He looked at Reaver and Boxter as he continued. "Then Ms Pritchard, who I noticed has not deigned to rejoin us, arrived and attempted to take charge of Swan with the aid of some muscle in the form of two guards." Ravi slipped the effigy back into his pocket and sat on the edge of the desk, relaxing as much as he could.

"There was a fight, mainly because the whole situation didn't sit right with us all. We hustled Swan out of there, took her to Sean's mother's place, and talked over what had happened for a bit before most of us decided to return. Pritchard had been using magic of some kind: Renata saw her turn the guards with her into sticks and straw, like some sort of golem, I believe the consensus was. Ryan, Sean and Swan stayed the night up there, the rest of us came back here." Ravi took a deep breath, then let it out with a sigh. "And then things got very weird."

"Pritchard was lurking, waiting for an opportunity to hit the reset button on our memories I'll wager." Ravi eyed the woman's two confederates, Reaver and Boxter, again, wondering if they would register a protest to the accusation. "She caught Frida with the help of a guard, and Frida sent a quick text my way for help. Never one to refuse a damsel in distress-" handsome lips quirked in a wry smile "-I came as quickly as I could, and saw Pritchard reaching for Frida in a definitely unfriendly way. Frida looked scared, and I got the feeling, somehow, that the old woman was up to no good. It made my hackles rise just watching her. It felt wrong, what I was seeing." Ravi's voice dropped to a low, rumbling tone that reverberated softly in the air.

"I tackled the guard, sent him into Pritchard, and..." he paused, light catching in his eyes and making them gleam eerily as he looked around at everyone. "...and I Changed. There's more to that, of course, but this isn't about me. I Changed for the first time and became a panther, and that's the short version of that story. You heard Mr Reaver talk about my genetics: well, that's what he meant." Ravi let his hands rest on the edge of the desk he was propped against, features calm as he watched faces, Lucia's in particular just in case.

"So I Changed, and I mauled the guard. Then Ms Dorn Changed, doubtless provoked by some instinct even as I was, and together we tore the guard apart." The muscles in Ravi's face tightened as he spoke: the youth was obviously struggling for composure. "I wasn't just in the shape of the panther. I was the panther, free at last and mad as hell. I wanted to kill and eat, and had to fight tooth and nail for even a shred of rationality. I nearly attacked my friends..." Strong hands tightened on the desk with a creak. "And when I drove myself away from two-legged prey, the Beast sought out four-legged: the horses." He nodded towards Lucia, indicating her.

"Ms Blake there disagreed with the Beast's dining choice. We squared off, and whilst the fragment inside that was me frantically pulled for control, she managed to frustrate and face down the animal side of me. Unable to kill her, and unable to eat, the Beast and I made ourselves scarce and went to find something else to eat out in the woods." He shrugged and looked over at Ren and Mari.

"I don't know what happened here after that until the next morning when I snuck back into my room. Another council quickly convened before I could even get the dirt off my feet: Renata, Mari, Ms Dorn and Ryan all arrived full of questions and news. Mr Reaver turned up with some guards and a clipboard. After that... Well, there was this mural, and the Adventurer's Club journals, and a lot of discussion with Brahn and Brihn about the effigies that we suspected Pritchard had of all of us. Funny thing is: Ryan didn't find the doll, did he Brahn? You did." Ravi leveled a flat stare at the Lhesk, then shrugged and turned back to Lucia and the others.

"We can have that discussion in a minute, I suppose. That's my rough account of what's been happening, anyway. Anyone care to fill in the blanks I missed?"

[Atomicweasel]

“Hector. You forgot about Hector,” Mari laid her hand gently over Ravi’s death-grip on the edge of the desk. “Where did he say he was from?” She looked at Ravi and then turned back to Lucia and her friends. “I can’t remember. Anyway, he said he came here because he was following the glow. Um. My glow. I’m not sure what that means. He said a bunch of stuff...about Ravi and Sean and Swan and um, Renata too, but it didn’t really make a lot of sense. Except he called Ravi ‘kitty cat.’”

Mari paused, shot Ravi an apologetic glance and went on. “And there was a cop. Um, a detective, I think his name was Kuhlman, asking around about the night that Ravi and um, Ms. Dorn, you know...” Mari made a vague gesture with her hand, apparently intended to indicate someone’s transformation from person into panther. “And...oh, hey!” Mari turned to Ravi excitedly, “Do you think maybe he was the one that trashed your room? Ravi’s room was like, completely...” Mari threw her hands up and out, demonstrating the likely trajectory of Ravi’s possessions as they were scattered about his room. “...Everywhere.”

More than a little bit of Queens slipped into the girl’s accent as she got herself worked up. She seemed to realize it, and blushed and her tone softened and grew demure again. “That’s pretty much it, I guess...” Then her big hazel eyes got a mischievous glint and she twisted toward Ravi to quietly hum the first few notes of the Pink Panther theme song.

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

[Frida Ricci]

Frida shrugged slightly.

"I'm not entirely sure there's much more to tell. I was, indeed, frightened that night with Mrs. Pritchard. While the things she was saying to me weren't precisely aggressive, there was something about her demeanor that implied ill intentions."

She glanced at both Reaver and Boxter, fixing them briefly with her penetrating gaze.

"As you can see, Mrs. Pritchard's attempts at memory-subversion have escalated this into an entirely more dramatic affair then would probably have been otherwise. She claims we accuse and insult her because we are teenagers, and perhaps in some cases, that is partially true. However, it is also the reaction of people who are confused, a state of being that escalates fear. I know that, untroubled as I normally am by unusual situations, the discovery of drawings obviously mine that I didn't remember creating was deeply disturbing to me. It has, I think, made a difficult situation even more complex. Though perhaps there are many students who have forgotten the events completely, and having no other experiences with anything unnatural - or supernatural - since, have dismissed the previous affair completely. Which I assume was the intention, so I suppose it may be said that she was at least partially successful in that endeavor. And it would appear some good has come of it - if nothing else, it has given First Wing Relana - or Swan, as she prefers to be called now, I believe - the opportunity to come to her own conclusions about us, uninfluenced by cultural expectations."

She paused for a moment, realizing perhaps that she had been, if not rambling, at least been excessively verbose. Her gaze flickered up to the mural - stunning in it's size and composition - and she shrugged again.

"There is nothing supernatural of the mural, that I am aware of. Once Ravi changed, and attacked Mrs. Pritchard and her guards - which I must confess, startled me more than anything else - it drew the attention of many around the campus. The sound of a fight involving a large animal is bound to do that, I suppose. It seemed to have not only drew the attention of the living, but that of the dead. It was the first moment I had seen them - truly seen them. I believe, perhaps, that I had been catching glimpses of them during the week leading up to that night, but hadn't realized what I was observing until then. The sight was..."

Frida hesitated for a moment, and Ravi could see the same haunted, frightened look in her eyes that had been there last night, before he'd driven it away with his passionate kisses.

"...deeply disturbing to me. I ran, and I came here. I don't really remember much after that.. I painted the mural as a form of release, a way of channeling my emotions into something so that I would no longer have to experience them. I'm.. not accustomed to strong emotions, really. At least, not fear."

Her gaze lingered on Ravi for a moment, her expression neutral, and yet full of.. something. She didn't mean for it to.. but he was in the forefront of her mind right then, and she couldn't resist studying him. Then her gaze flickered back to Reaver, intense dark eyes flickering lingering on Shelley, on the misty form that she knew only she could see.

"Which does, indirectly, bring me to my question, sir. Why is it that you are keeping that girl's spirit chained? And the other one? Have they done something that angered you? Or is there presence required here for some reason?"

[SalmonMax]

Renata leaned over towards Mari and said in a low voice, "Chicago, wasn't it? That Hector guy? I thought he said he was from Chicago."

Inwardly she found herself wishing Mari hadn't picked that moment to talk about Hector. He would have made a good ace in the hole. A backup in case the new cooperative spirit of the Hogwarts staff was a ruse, or broke down.

Oh well.

Louder, she spoke up, "I just wanna throw something out there. Do we know Constance did the memory spell? I've been thinking that spell is related to the statues...and if she didn't do the statues..." Renata shrugged.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean shifted his weight, but stayed standing protectively in front of Swan. Stuff was being said, important stuff, but his questions still weren't being answered. And in response to Lucia, how much did he have to add that was relevant after Ravi and Frida? That Swan's sword sucked out souls or something and when he snapped in half, it exploded. He decided on only adding one thing.

"My mother's one the Otherside of the Door, too, Lucia." Sean snorted, then gave a self-deprecating shrug. "Then again, she went there recently, I think, of her own will, along with my sisters. It seems, that's where she's really from. Oh, and from what I'm hearin', my Dad was involved in all this thirty years ago, and involved pretty damn deep. And no, I can't talk to 'im right now."

Sean rolled his shoulders, switching his attention from Lucia to Boxter, Reaver, and the Lheskii. After Frida mentioned the ghosts, Renata brought up the issue about the effigies and the memory wipe he had asked about earlier and nodded in agreement.

"Was 'bout to ask that again, myself, Ren. No one's copped to anything, yet. Cuz, so far, nothing said here has persuaded me from headin' through the Door myself, so I can find my own answers, and seein' what's going on with my own eyes."

[Autumn Keane]

Having smiled and offered up another half-wave to the assembled students and faculty as Lucia introduced her, Autumn then continued to listen. As far as she was concerned, she was really only peripherally involved in any of this; she'd promised to help Lucia, and that was about it currently. That was, naturally, beginning to sound like less and less of a good idea, but she'd never forgive herself for going back on her word. Autumn didn't know what it was like to lose a parent, but the raw despair she'd heard in Lucia's voice tugged at her heartstrings.

She spent a few moments committing names and faces to memory, frowning as she tried to piece together the disparate story elements and personal accounts with only moderate success. The more she listened though, impossible as the information seemed, the less it registered with her. Maybe it had something to do with the off-handed, weirdly casual treatment of supposedly supernatural events, and maybe her bullshit meter had finally hit critical mass and overloaded; she didn't give it much thought.

The one thing that did get her attention was the repeated mention of effigies, dolls, and statues. Eventually, the redhead couldn't contain her curiosity any longer, and finally asked aloud.

"Hey. You guys said something about dolls?" Several pairs of eyes turned in her direction, and she pushed off the edge of the table. "I'd like to take a look at them, if you've got 'em. I know a little bit about that kind of stuff," she added with a slight shrug. Slowly, deliberately, Ravi nodded and produced the clay effigy, green-gold eyes fixed on her measuringly as she approached.

"Thanks," she murmured as she frowned again, running her fingertips over the figure. The wound in its head was an ugly, awful thing, and she wondered if the owner had simply removed the original ritual contents to reuse it later. There was something about the sheen of the hair, even the vague suggestion of features, that reminded her of the young man before her. "This is you, isn't it? Someone made this doll of you," she asked, her frown deepening.

[SalmonMax]

"See the hole in the head?" Renata called over. "I think that's because it's memories have been scooped up. See...most of us have lost our memories of the first week of school. Which was, apparently, when we were learning all this stuff about the doors and the Caramine and all that the first time around. Then...bam. All gone. I didn't even remember Lucia until she came back."

"So if you can tell who made the doll, then that should be who took our memories. And maybe we can get them back."

[Sylvia Dorn]

As others spoke, Sylvia had been pacing a bit, seemingly as a nervous habit. Said pacing had, however, ended with her directly behind Brahn, and it was from there - with just the slightest hint of a rumble somewhere in her voice - that she spoke next.

"So yes, Brahn. How about you tell us about the doll, about where you found it? And for that matter, how exactly you and your sister fit with all of this? Because while you've talked an awful lot about the Caramine, you've said as little as possible about yourselves and how you really factor in." She looked over to Boxter.

"You were there before, Amos. I'd appreciate it if you'd fill in pertinent details that wind up unsaid."

[Ryan Jackson]

"Yeah!" Ryan piped up on the heels of Ms. Dorn's question to the siblings. Everyone looked around for a moment before locating Ryan, crouched in the frame of one of the room's high windows. "An' what's with all the sneakin' up on me an' ... an' where'd you really get that doll thing?!" He swung his legs idly but his gaze was intense and intent, studying Brahn for a reaction, and waiting for an answer.

[Dawn OOC]

Originally Posted By: Frida

"Which does, indirectly, bring me to my question, sir. Why is it that you are keeping that girl's spirit chained? And the other one? Have they done something that angered you? Or is there presence required here for some reason?"

Reaver smiled, a crooked smirk that wasn’t reassuring. “I wasn’t sure of our reception, so I brought guards. You can see them and you didn’t do anything to gain that, did you?”

Originally Posted By: Renata

Louder, she spoke up, "I just wanna throw something out there. Do we know Constance did the memory spell? I've been thinking that spell is related to the statues...and if she didn't do the statues..." Renata shrugged.

Originally Posted By: Sean

"Was 'bout to ask that again, myself, Ren. No one's copped to anything, yet. Cuz, so far, nothing said here has persuaded me from headin' through the Door myself, so I can find my own answers, and seein' what's going on with my own eyes."

Originally Posted By: Sylvia

"So yes, Brahn. How about you tell us about the doll, about where you found it? And for that matter, how exactly you and your sister fit with all of this? Because while you've talked an awful lot about the Caramine, you've said as little as possible about yourselves and how you really factor in." She looked over to Boxter.

"You were there before, Amos. I'd appreciate it if you'd fill in pertinent details that wind up unsaid."

Originally Posted By: Ryan

"Yeah!" Ryan piped up on the heels of Ms. Dorn's question to the siblings. Everyone looked around for a moment before locating Ryan, crouched in the frame of one of the room's high windows. "An' what's with all the sneakin' up on me an' ... an' where'd you really get that doll thing?!" He swung his legs idly but his gaze was intense and intent, studying Brahn for a reaction, and waiting for an answer.

“I found the effigy in the witch’s office,” Brahn said, pronouncing office more like ‘ah-fice’. “It was under the table in the middle, where the drawer is. I was kneeling down and I barely saw it; I think it could not otherwise be seen.

“My sister and I have spies among the Caramine, which is how we learned the truce is coming to an end,” Brahn explained. “We were allies with Dal-”

“Were,” Boxter said, raising an eyebrow. “You cajoled young people to fight and then didn’t join them. You stood back and we died. You should have been with us when they came.”

“I had told you that I would not fight them directly,” Brahn said, his voice growing hard. “We had a hard-won truce with them, and I would not risk it. I helped as much as I could.”

“Bullsh-stuffing,” Boxter snapped. “As much as you could would have been more than bad advice.”

Sensing that this was devolving into an argument, Sylvia said, “What bad advice?”

Boxter snorted. “A full-on assault on the Caramine,” he said. “He convinced Cassidy it was a good idea-”

“Dean had already made up his mind,” Brahn said softly. “I said nothing to change his mind. He merely asked where to strike to hurt the Caramine and I told him.” He looked at the gathered students and said, “I am here to help, as I always have been.”

[Ryan Jackson]

"Somebody is lyin'." Ryan pronounced rather clearly and bluntly. "'Cause you say you found it, an' Connie said it wasn' hers an' she di'n't make it. So either one of y'all is full a bullshit or somebody planted that effy gee ... tha doll, for me ta find, an' that just don' seem very likely." Ryan stalked over to Bran and pointed a finger at him, "You've been doin' nuthin' but sneak up on me fer like two days now, so if there's anythin' you ain't said yet, you might wanna."

Click to reveal..

Trying to sniff out the lie, spending a WP:

7d10.hitsopen(8,10)=2

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean barely heard Ryan confronting Brahn, his chest tight from what Boxter and Brahn had revealed. Standing behind him, Swan could feel the tension radiating off his rigid stance. And yet, something that was said but her on edge too, though her mind would not tell her why, the reason elusive behind her shredded memories.

"So, this war with the Caramines, it's Dean's - my Father's - fault?" Sean rumbled, his tone carrying a wary and weary weight to it. "Who did he attack? And when you set him on his path, Brahn, did you know he would fail?"

Dad always said don't second-guess any decision you made. There could be regrets for the consequences, but what's done is done, and can't be undone.

[Dawn OOC]

Brahn looked at Ryan, calm as the boy stalked closer and leveled a finger at him. Brihn was the one showing fear, huddled behind her twin, almost invisible between his body and the shadows. “I move by the shadows because most of your students would be frightened if they saw me. It was a convenience, and scaring you was never my intent.” He tilted his head a little, somehow looking haughty as he added, “But since you insist we clear the air, I would like to say that you should look into improving your grammar. Your sentence structure and wording degrade as you become more and more nervous. It is an obvious tell and a sign of weakness.”

Then the stranger looked past Ryan to talk to Sean. “No, the war is not your father’s fault,” Brahn said, his eyes intent. “The level of escalation is. The Caramine would have attacked, regardless of Dean’s actions. The Nine are… I do wish that Swan had her memories again. She could explain it better than I. However, I’ll make the attempt.

“The Nine are the spiritual leaders of the Caramine,” Brahn said, his eyes on Sean and his voice in a ‘lecture mode’. “Their abode is known to be the High Citadel in the capital city of Carachous.” He pronounced it KAR-eye-khous and Swan frowned and murmured, “Kar-EYE-kous.” Brahn looked at her for a moment but the lost Caramine just shook her head. Brahn continued, “Dean came to me asking me for their ‘White House’. I told him of the Nine and where he could find them. Did I suspect he meant to attack? Of course. But I never thought he’d go without consulting Dalton. That he did so, that he rallied his fellow students and his other allies without talking to his leader, means to me that he understood that he’d be forbidden to do so. I don’t think he understood that the Nine are more than the leadership; they are the soul of the Caramine. When he attacked, he insulted as well. The Nine are both politician and priest and that I do not think I made clear to Dean.”

As Brahn finished speaking, Sean felt Swan's fingers brush his arm. It was a small touch and far enough behind his body that no one would see it. The brushing became a subtle rubbing motion, clearly meant to soothe an upset person.

Click to reveal..

Ryan, based on your roll, Brahn does not seem to be lying.

[SalmonMax]

"Wow, Sean's dad jumping to conclusions and doing something without thinking it through?" Renata remarked dryly. "I don't think I can imagine that." She sighed. "Then again, I guess it wasn't just him."

"So, okay, basically what happened was some kids back then found the door and worked out how to use it. They got Dalton involved and they all started having loads of fun warping around to different worlds and writing bad fanfics about it. Then the Caramine showed up, and Dalton's gang decided to take the fight to them. Things got way out of hand...some people died...and finally the Caramine offered a treaty delaying everything until now."

"And now they're back. They know about us, but we hardly know anything at all about them. They've already picked who they're going to take. They're ready, we're not. And about the only thing going for us is that some of us have weird powers."

She nodded at the senior staff in attendance. "And we've got some witches and wizards or whatever on our side. Just us, against a whole world."

"That about right?"

[z022]

"Yeah," Lucia finally spoke back up, "we need to figure out what we're going to do, and get to it pretty fast. I'd say one of the first things we should find out is why the Caramine agreed to a treaty with a bunch of kids that assassinated their priest-kings. That seems more than strange. What did the Caramine get out of it?"

She crossed her arms and started to pace, "We could try tracking down the other Doors on Earth, seeing where they are and if the Caramines have ever taken people through them. That might find us some more allies, and it will let us know the other places they might attack if we don't figure out a way to stop them. There's at least two Doors, just like there were at least two Doors on Ahvia's world."

"Also, think, guys. Brihn and Brahn, they're not human. They don't probably think much like us, even if we can communicate. At this point, it looks like they don't volunteer information. They just answer the question you ask. So keep that in mind. Sorry to talk about you two like you aren't here, but hopefully that will help some. I ended up on the wrong world, but that wasn't their fault. Dean's dad and the others, they did something monumentally stupid, but that isn't Brihn or Brahn's fault."

"There's also perhaps another way of dealing with the Caramine issue." Lucia glanced at Ahvia, then back to the rest of the group. "I had some strange dreams while I was on Ahvia's world, about a certain Door. Ahvia said that it was a dream about the Door to Aherinha, a place that is the center of all of the worlds. It sounds a little mythological, but if those stories are to be believed, than whoever holds that place holds "all the worlds in their hands". It might be worth looking for and maybe putting this entire Caramine slave trade Harvest to an end."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean could hear the blood rushing through his views, the heat of rage making his muscles grow tight and hard. He heard a soundless throbbing in her ears. Only Swan's surprisingly strong fingers rubbing the underside of his wrist kept him from exploding, gave him enough time to hear what Brahn and the others were saying, though Renata still earned herself a scowl.

The muscular jock snorted in tired exasperation, a melancholy grin on his handsome face. "Oh, Dad! You always made more promises than you could keep, despite your best intentions," Sean said, his broad shoulders slumping with disappointment, old and new. Gettin' chosen number one for the Harvest sure does seem to make a lot of sense now, doesn't it just?

Listening to Lucia's comments about the mis-communication, it made sense to him, if not make him feel any better about the damage and lingering consequences his father had caused. Mentioning the second door made Sean shake his head.

"Looking for another Door is gonna be impossible! From what I've heard, it can be anything, any bounded space," Sean protested. "And we don't need another Door to find allies. We can use this one - we can ask the Chiderans for help, from my mother if no one else."

Sean turned from focusing mostly on the students to the teachers and administrators. "And yeah, Lucia had a good point. If Dalton did manage to make a treaty with the Caramines, shouldn't there be some sorta physical record of it? If they still use swords and stuff, I'd think they'd insist on something fancy like that. So, what did Dalton offer 'em to stop the fightin'? And if you guys don't know, maybe Vanessa will. Or maybe the Chiderans can help us resist the Caramines. After, from what I've gathered, they've managed it."