Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Monster Academy - Chapter 6c Christmas at the Academy

[SalmonMax]

For all her human looks at the moment, Aria was a spider. There was only one thing she really 'ate,' and it had no business in a human-appearing cafeteria. "Just water is fine," she replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I don't usually go for juice or milk or any of that kind of thing."

Nope. Just water, blood and dissolved body tissues. But since dessicated corpses kind of kill the mood, I'll wait until I get home to eat.

[Erilynn]

Eri tilted her head and says with a burst of energy, "well we will make it a nice water!" She was coy and reserved earlier, she may be forcing a bit of energy, but she wants to be cheerful. She places her hand over her eyes to shade them as if on safari scouting game. Spying a drink vendor she exclaimed, "there!" Eri walked the two of them there quickly, "the best bottle of water you have please."

The vendor was a little taken aback by the pale energetic girl, "of course miss here you are."

Eri pays him and holds out the artisan water, "here you are Aria." She offers a bright smile, "I would like some tea."

[Justin OOC]

The Man at the counter smiled and Fixed her a glass of iced tea, and Kiba nodded. "Sweet Tea, please." They were given theirs, and Kiba paid for both before Eri could. "I would have paid for Aria's too, had you not beat me to it." He smiled appreciatively.

He led them to a booth so they could sit and drink in relative comfort. "So, How are you both liking the school this year, so far? It's not too boring is it?" As a Senior, this would be his last year here.

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For Darrik, it was getting harder. He could feel the magic within him at war with his own mana.

"Evil"

(Soul roll DC 20) EP cannot be spent to raise it.)

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The Ravens, now numbering in the dozens. Looked at her. "Go wait where you found it", they spoke as one. "I will be there soon." The voice was neutral, and clearly a product of magic.

[Lumah]

She looked around frantically, not wanting to be closed in by the ravens. "Do I look that gullible? Just come back, give the book and all will be fine? It's not that kind of book, and the people who own it are not that kind of people!"

There must be some avenue to escape, some way of getting out of this. She concentrated, hoping to catch the sound of people, some glimmer of hope or magic that would allow her to get out of her predicament and get this book in the hands of people with more age and skill than her.

[Erilynn]

"it's interesting, it's not very challenging, except that there's so many people here, you can just get swept up." Eri sipped on her tea, she could be very shy at times despite her previous vigor.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik groped for a word, but the interference was beginning to prevent him from focusing on the words he needed. He was locked with a sheen of sweat, holding down the mana and magic, but unable to finish this part...

Soul roll:

Jeremy *rolls* 2d6: 5+6+7: 18

So close.

[SalmonMax]

Aria coughed as she drank her water and nearly had to spit her mouthful out.

Boring?!

She started laughing...an extremely rare sight indeed. Her shoulders shook, and while she managed to swallow her water first, she still covered her mouth with a napkin just to be polite. A few seconds later though she was full-out laughing into that napkin. There was more than just mirth...the combined tension of months was coming out in a burst of uncontrollable hilarity. The vampire stalker who got murdered. The missing clothes. The monstrous hounds at the springs. The fight in the gym to destroy the glyphs. The play.

Boring.

Aria finally managed to calm down, and the attack faded to just giggles and dabbing at the tears in the corners of her eyes. She should feel embarrassed at such a display, but the reality was that she felt much better. It was clean inside her now, like rain had just fallen after months of drought.

"Definitely not boring," she replied with a wry smile.

[Justin OOC]

Kiba looked at her curiously. "Well that was unexpected. Even as a senior I know that's something you don't do generally. Still I'm glad you're enjoying the year." he looked at Eri and nodded. "Ten thousand students and over a thousand faculty, yeah there's alot, it's like a mid sized university in the human world."

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for Darrik the results were a mixed bag. He couldn't maintain the training, and in an instant he felt the mana cascade beyond his control. The results didn't hurt, but left him feeling weak as a kitten, as his own mana was drained away as well. Unconsciouness was closing fast, and Ruby caught him. "Relax, you'rell be fine with some rest. I'll arrange a proper nurse for you, until we can try this again." Then blackness claimed him.

When he awoke it was late at night, and he could hear someone in the kitchen of his room. He didn't have the strength to even get out of bed, sitting up was rough. Still when Jezebel walked in she was clad in a short skirt nurse's outfit. "Now tell me Darrik, where does it hurt?" her voice was the same sultry teasing tone she often used for him, but her eyes betrayed her real concern.

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For Lumah, the voice took on a female quality. "You don't understand. Return to the cabin and I will meet you there. I will grant you formal safe passage, to and from there, if you agree to go back and return the book. I am on my way now."

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik managed a smile, despite the almost omnipresent pain in what seemed like every part of his drained body. Exerting muscles felt like dragging a massive boulder with a rope tied around his waist. He ended up surrendering to the need to collapse, and slumped back onto the bed. "All over, Nurse Jez. Though you might want to take a look at my chest." Somehow, the teenage hormonal game still played out despite the state the warlock was in.

Despite her concern for her boyfriend, Jezebel sashayed over and sinfully crawled over on top of Darrik, and his shirt soon found its way off his body. However the massage she gave was less inherently sexy and more focused on soothing his aching body, which worked quite well. "Thanks." Darrik whispered. "I owe you for this."

[SalmonMax]

"How do you know so much about the human world?" Aria asks Kiba curiously. "Is it in your classes, or are you just interested in the subject?"

[Lumah]

Lumah was a quick thinker, and she did not at all appreciate the idea of having the shots called like this. Still she realized that things could get real bad, real quick unless she'd somehow assuade the unknown figure. "Safe passage, pfaw!"

She snuck into one of the unguarded doorways, hoping for a small manner of privacy. She knew she'd have to dodge the Ravens, no matter how short a time. She would have to use her abilities to craft an exact-looking copy (although not exact in power obviously) of the book in question, while hiding the real one she carried. Maybe the woman had proper intentions, but she wouldn't want to be caught without bargaining chips.

Golden ethereal pages flipped between her fingers in mid-air as she looked for the words of artifice and conduits of power she needed to form the frame, as well as the illusiory power required to fool the woman into believing the book would be real. "Let's hope she doesn't know I completed it yet..." Lumah thought as she prepared the mental preparations and slowly released her reality-altering powers to assemble the book's simulacrum.

[Justin OOC]

Jez smiled. "Don't worry Darrik, I'm not kee[ing score." She laced her fingers together behind his neck as she sat on his lap and nodded. "I do hope you recover by Christmas though, it wouldn't do for me not be able to give you the gift I have planned. She kissed him, and it was a kiss that for once wasn't teasing in any way. "You'll like it, I promise."

Kiba nodded. "I was raised in Tokyo for the better part of ten years, before my dad brought me back to the monster world. As a Valedictorian Senior, I get to go back regularly, though it's mostly for Academic competitions." He smiled. "I have a feeling you'd be great on the team."

Lumah could hear the flutter of wings and then a very feminine hand opened the door into the room where She hid. Standing there was the woman she'd met only a handful of times, and never really spoken with, the headmaster's assistant, Ruby Tojo, The Ravenwitch.

"Honestly Lumah, you were sent here to help me. And you truly have, completing the book of mine that was damaged during the previous incidents, I had faith you of all here might be capable of finding and restoring what was missing."

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik chuckled. "Push this too far, or you'll tempt me to spoil the surprise." And honestly, whirring in his head was the feeling that Jezebelle needed a gift too. And going through his mind was the determination to recover so that the design taking form in his head would become reality and be bestowed upon her. "I'll recover, Jez. And I think you'll like the gift I have planned for you."

[Lumah]

Lumah stared at the Raven Witch, at first not believing this to be real. "Summoning the Dark? A book that's illegal to possess even a page of?" She carefully held out the book to Ruby, like a foster would return a newborn baby to its mother. "Why would you need such a book? And what incident could damage it so?"

[SalmonMax]

"Depends on the subject," Aria hedged. Truth was that the idea of sitting in a classroom full of human beings gave her the heebie-jeebies something fierce. Was her disguise right? What if she got something wrong? She'd be stuck in the middle of a human horde, with nowhere to go and no way to escape. There was a reason the jorogumo stayed out of sight, in the fringes and places humans rarely tread. Though the spiderfolk had not fled to another world, they knew to respect the destruction human beings were capable of en masse...when riled up properly.

"It's pretty unusual for one of us to live in a human city," she commented. "Especially before graduation, and without oversight. How do you and your father manage?"

[Justin OOC]

Jez smiled and kissed him lightly, pressing herself against him, and he could feel the stress in his body melt away. "You don't have to get me anything Darrik, but if you want to, I'll accept anything." She continued massaging his muscles, playfully teasing him as she dis so, the nurse's uniform straining against her, revealing most of her long shapely legs.

-------------------------------------------------------

Ruby looked at her. "My ancestor helped pen the book Lumah, it's been an heirloom I refuse to part with." As she took the book, Lumah could fee "Elation" from the book if it could be said to be self aware, at being returned whole to its master. "I need it to teach certain things to others, and because it contains some of the most powerful magic within it. More than that, it contains several means of combatting our foes."

She smiled and nodded. "The Shinigami are more than willing to search for this book. They know there are things that can hurt them within it. The page has been missing since the attacks. A number of them were taken ruining my ability to teach others, and some of the spells even I haven't mastered, spells I'd need to defeat one.."

She shrugged. "We're going to need it, if these things keep happening."

----------------------------

Kiba looked at her and nodded. "My dad Graduated from here, and I was born in the human world. I went through my first change at home, and Dad beat me pretty soundly, We went on for another year before I was brought here, and picked on pretty roughly."

"We got to stay so long I think because Dad kept me in line, until I was old enough. Also, when Mom died, the Hengeyokai lord took some pity on us, and gave us dispensation to not return home until we were ready."

[Erilynn]

Eri was silent, she had resigned to drawing again, she kept looking at them, to show she was listening. Taking a moment to take a sip from her drink she paused from her drawing, "I have never once been in the human world, I would like to some day." She brought her attention back to the drawing at hand and nodded to herself as she looked up at them once again.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik seemed more engrossed in mouth to mouth contact with Jez, teenage tongues exploring each others depths and manually exploring the length and width of his succubus girlfriend's impressive legs and ass, but the way she seemed to coyly decline his gratitude did seem a little strange. Playfully, he pulled his head back and murmured, "I don't have to?" Of course he would, he was in love and wanted to show it, but still... "What are you up to Jez?"

[Lumah]

Lumah smiled, for some reason her spirits lifted from the worries and the unspoken terrors of the book. "Very well, I can relate to that. Magic's interesting as a subject, and while I can't say I practice the Art itself all that vehemently, there's nothing I love better than a book."

Her thoughts lingered on the Shinigami. "We'll need to know more about them I guess - what do they want, what are their goals here? There must be more to their attacks here..."

[SalmonMax]

"I was born there," Aria said simply. "Grew up there. To me, this world is the mysterious one, though my mother did her best to let me know what to expect."

She eyed Kiba. "Your father doesn't sound like he handled your change very well though. It can't have been a surprise. You've my sympathies."

[Justin OOC]

Kiba nodded. "I'm sure you'll get to go, especially if you formally join the newspaper club. They always get to go there more often than other clubs."

He looked to Aria, and his eyes narrowed. "It's different for wolves than spiders. The biggest problem was that no one was supposed to be around when it happened, yet there were campers, and certain other factors came into play I'd prefer not to discuss."

"No one died, but there was alot of inconvenience because these people were somewhere they shouldn't have been at the time."

---------------------

Rubi looked at Lumah and nodded. "I know. The headmaster supplied me with a small portion of essence from the one he and Lady Aoi sealed, so perhaps it can help us with our magical research. As to why they're attacking us,well, it could be a grab for more power, and most decidedly upsetting the balance between the monster lords and the three primal realms is a big part of it."

"Now before we continue, let's go to my cabin, where there are no potentially prying ears."

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Jezebel kissed him and reached down to stroke his pants with a very suggestive manner. "I think the better question is what are you up to, though I already know that answer."

She looked at him and her tone changed. "Do you understand why I've not rushed into my decision, as Delilah did, Darrik?"

"I really care for you, but there's a great deal of importance attached to taking the final step the first time for we succubi."

She stroked his cheek gently. "Can you wait a little longer for me to reconcile some things?" She had a very earnest vulnerable look on her face, and this wasn't manipulation, just a rarity, total honesty.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik understood entirely. Delilah was... Delilah, but he had gathered the sense that succubi did not in fact, take their first time lightly of all things. And all things considered... "It's your prerogative, Jez. And besides," he added self-deprecatingly, "It's be a few days before I have the strength to engage appropriately in that activity, making the point moot till such as the time comes anyway.

[SalmonMax]

Aria nods. "It is different," she agrees. "I was always a spider. Changing into a human was something I learned. This..." she held up a hand and looked it over, turning it this way and that, "has never been anything other than a clever disguise for me. One of the Seven Transformations. The second easiest, in fact."

She looked at Kiba. "So you believed yourself to be human, then changed unexpectedly? Or was it simply the timing and circumstances of the change were bad?"

[Justin OOC]

"It is the opposite for all Mammalian hengeyokai. Unless we're halfbreeds, we're born human." He smiled and chuckled. "The timing of my change and everything was normal, and my father had properly planned for it. Sadly, there were last minute complications in the form of humans where they shouldn't be."

After that he brought me here, where I've spent lots of time coming to better understand and control myself."

[Erilynn]

"I don't know much about my people, we kind of are spread out, I just know my mother doesn't have the wings I was given, but this form still isn't really different for me," she added breaking her long silence. "Is it painful to change so much, I mean it's like an illusion to me, but, I mean I hope I am not intruding or being too direct."

[Justin OOC]

5cp