The Daily Grind

Raia grimaced at the unpleasant odor that wafted past, and turned to regard the banged-up man. He seemed rough but not malevolent, though he was causing a stir. And the poor barista was intimidated. No wonder -- the tough sorts usually ended up at the Upstairs, not his little coffee shop. Angels and so forth were normal. Bleeding men? Not so much. The professor sighed and slid to her feet, tucking her book away in her coat pocket.

"How are you doing, Frank?" she asked, approaching the counter. Frank glanced at the man with dreads uneasily, but shrugged, passing over the second coffee. "Not bad, Miss Raia. Can I get you something?" "Another raspberry tea, please." She gave him a thin smile along with exact change, and turned to look at the man with the stitches. She didn't think he would cause trouble, but she wasn't going to let Frank take the worst of it if he did.

“Cheers, Frank.” The man took the coffee and held it to his lips, but this time took a sip in a more civilized fashion as he watched Miss Raia over the top of his cup. White hair must have been a trend in this town. “Fruity tea, boring if you ask me, but you didn’t.” Why would she? He flashed a weak half smile and turned to leave, lifting his cup in mock salute as he did so. Theo was accustomed to being considered undesirable company, and he wasn’t really feeling up to troubling anyone today. Not after the events of last night anyway. Before leaving the shop he stopped at the utensil counter and swiped a few napkins that he used to dab up some of the mess on his face.

The Daily Grind

Raia watched the man go as she waited for her tea. When it came she took it with a nod, grabbed her coat off her seat, and exited the establishment. "Wait a minute," she called after the man. She hurried to catch up. "You look like you could use a hand," the woman said bluntly, indicating his face. "And you need something more for those stitches than just napkins." She considered him again. He'd found the coffee shop, so clearly he wasn't an ordinary person. Despite appearances, he didn't seem dangerous, at least at the moment. And if he was, well. Raia's hand touched the hilt of her sword, now cloaked by a concealment spell so as not to attract attention. She didn't wear the weapon for show. "Why don't you come with me, and I'll see if we can't patch you up a bit better?"

If the man was willing, she brought him with her back to campus. The path from the Daily Grind to her office went past where Mel was practicing with her slack-line.

Nalta was fiddling with the pendant that he wore on a long, durable leather necklace line when the Frankenstien monster walked in. He watched with calm, studious eyes as he moved about. Clearly pain was of no consequence to this man, and now the angel was waking up. Nalta sipped at his beverage as he eyed the other sword master. She clearly held some kind of authority, based on the way she carried herself, and he was eager to her reaction to such rudeness.

"That's almost correct." Nunque said, delighted, "/He/ was lucky you got here as quickly as you did." He added with malicious amusement.

Suddenly the seriousness left him entirely and he returned to his childish nature. He already looked like he was barely eighteen, but his personality was much younger. "What's wrong with here?" He asked, looking around. Then he realized, "Oh! You must not have seen it yet!" He shouted, taking off down the street. He rounded the corner and slammed into a big, smelly guy, but this was of course no accident. He latched onto the man. Looking up at his face with enthusiasm as the man bled. "Hi!" He greeted.

Interested, Nalta watched the woman as she acted. He learned her name, Raia, to his disappointment. She wasn't who he was looking for, but she was interesting.

He touched the pendant again, a circle quartered with a "Z" centered in it. It was a gift, an artifact of powerful magic. At least that's what he told people.

When the two he was watching exited the shop, it seemed all too abrupt. Something was either happening on a deeper level, or this "Raia" was just a kind soul. Either way he rose from his seat, his lanky body moving with deliberate grace, and followed them after a final sip of his coffee.

Nunque was all laughs and giggles as he held on to the unsuspecting man; that is until a drop of blood hit his forehead. He slowly climbed down off the man, standing with his head hung. His eyes were darting around at all the dead people that only he could see standing around him. They were all moaning and groaning and some where shouting in pain. He could hear voices, whispers of demons and fiends clouding his hearing. Any speaking the others were doing was muffled. In Nunque's eyes they were all dead too. All of them except one. "Amuné. Amuné. AmuneAmuneAmune, help me, Amuné.." He gasped between terrified gasps. The voices and visions intensified further and further until he couldn't take it anymore. He belted out a blood curdling shriek, holding it for a full fifteen seconds before dropping to the ground, gripping his head from inside the sleeves of his jacket as he struggled to catch his frantic breath in between sobs.

Everything was dark and bloody and beaten, except her. She was not marred by his insanity. He saw her clearly.

[nice Edward Elric avatar btw. ??]

So now this. Theo let out an audible sigh as he slowed to allow Miss Raia to catch up. His strides were usually long as he stood a good six foot seven inches. But he was in no great hurry and found himself somewhat amused by her concern. Was she some sort of doctor? On any regular day Theo would have outright refused her help. But generally he was always more compliant the day after a communion. “I require no hands, but any spare livers or spleens would be a gift.” He smirked to himself ignoring the pain it caused in his face, not bothering to give her any sort of explanation.

However, he followed her despite his desire to be left alone. Besides not having anything better to be doing at the moment, someone was trailing them. Lucky for Theo his traveling partner was armed and probably skilled. People didn’t just walk around with weapons that large, even if he couldn’t determine exactly what it was she was concealing. He figured that if the person tailing them was looking for trouble, well then perhaps this woman's willingness to help would extend into drawing her own weapon, ultimately saving Theo the headache of having to command his own.

Teasingly Theo scoffed. “You take all the broken things you find home with you then?” She seemed to neat to be a hoarder, maybe she was more the black widow type. ~ With his thoughts on the people both beside and behind him, Theo hadn’t the wherewithal to perceive another closing in fast from the front. He was rounding a corner when suddenly he had stopped his forward momentum, and it felt like he was being squeezed. “The hell…” Blinking down at what looked like a kid on some sugar high, Theo’s expression dropped into a frown causing a drop of blood to slip from his wound and land with a splat, smack on their face. Served them right.

What happened next was even more unexpected. Staggering back away from the previously shrieking mass now huddled on the ground, Theo had half a mind to put the poor thing out of its misery. But considering the company he kept, he figured that wouldn't go over so well. Instead he grumbled at Miss Raia. “Is everyone in the town so friendly?” He spoke the last word like it tasted bad on his tongue.

[i was unclear, the man Nunque slammed into was Theo. My apologies, ]

((( OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo lol, you know I had a feeling. Let me re-work this. My bad! X3 ))

[no worries! My fault lol.]

Mel spun wildly, pinwheeling her arms at the sudden shriek the split the air. Her footing wobbled as her body didn't know what to do, jump, hide, or roll into a ball. Regaining slight composure she lept down off of her line and turned to see who was making the noise. A rather large man seemed to be accompanying Prof Raia somewhere, but he didn't seem to be the one letting out that awful scream. A writhing mass stood in front of the pair, she doubted her armed instructor would have done anything, so she wondered what the big guy had done to upset the person. Curious she abandoned her line and wandered over. "What'd you do?" she asked mildly, looking between the squirming boy and the two standing people.

((I'm feeling really sick right now, so I'll post in the morning. -.- ))

started this thread at my request, so you'll have to talk to her. I'm sure she won't mind.

Fairhaven Memorial Library and edge of campus

Amuné just gave the man an incredulous look. Was he insane? You didn't mess with the police. Even if you avoided them giving you trouble, the supernatural community's own peace-keepers would take you in for attracting undue attention. "Not everyone knows about people like us," she started, trying to take a firm tone, but the man was already off across town.

"Wait!" With a sigh, she jogged after, and Jareth followed.

"You disturbed Frank, and he's used to this sort of thing. I don't think risking an encounter with the normals is a good idea. And Dr. Thomas won't mind. It's everyone's responsibility to keep our community safe." Raia's explanation was pragmatic, but the corner of her mouth twitched in a hint of smile. "Besides, I have to admit I'm curious as to what--"

She did not get a chance to finish her sentence, for Nunque came around a corner and collided with the man with the dreads. Two students she vaguely recognized were not far behind, but Raia's attention was focused on the new man. It took a moment for her to realize that his strange coat was actually a straightjacket, and her expression turned into a scowl. What the heck did he think he was doing, running around in that?

Amuné started to apologize for the man she'd been chasing as she tried to even out her breathing. He'd not slowed for the entire way back to campus. Jareth was outright panting. He didn't work out as much as she did.

But then the stranger in the straightjacket suddenly started babbling her name. He shrieked, and curled into a sobbing ball. Amuné gave the disapproving professor a helpless look. "I think he Sees things," she said, wording it carefully so tht those who needed to would understand, but the ones she'd not seen before -- the man with the dreads, and the approaching girl who seemed to be another college student -- wouldn't hear anything too revealing, if they didn't already know about the supernatural. Amuné knelt to try to calm Nunque. Bracing herself against a possible vision, she took his hand, covered by his sleeve, and used her own sleeve to wipe the blood from his face. "Hey. Look at me, alright? Don't worry about anything else. Can you do that?" After a moment of hesitation, the young woman put her hand under his chin and tilted it up. She hoped the contact would serve as a focus to help him fight off whatever demons he was seeing.

Nalta watched it all unfold from a rooftop overlooking the group of people. Whoever was casting the concealing spells that kept bystanders from noticing all of it was powerful. He was impressed, and that didn't happen often. They were close enough to campus now that he supposed the establishment's genjutsu-like wards would aid, so he wasn't /that/ impressed. Still, this was quite a spectacle and not a human soul was concerned about it.

Nalta trained his golden gaze on Raia, searching for clues in his only lead so far.

Nunque's scattered mind was beginning to shatter when Amuné touched him. It all stopped and everything came back. He was happy to see her. He snuggled against her, and in her touch he felt an intertwined fate. Though her touch also drew something from him. The dark energy inside him, the demon that gave him life. These things were shown to her and a tale of the decades he had spent looking for his sister, Amuné.

He calmed down and took her hand. "Let's go, class starts soon." He said, looking at her with his smoldering Amber eyes just before the sound of students moving around began to arise from campus.

Frustrated with a lack of answers, Nalta retracted and moved back to ground level. His particular style of magic was unique, having modeled his abilities after the only source of teaching he had. He was not coming to the campus to learn, rather the other end of the spectrum. He emerged from the alley approaching Raia, his new colleague, with an especially bored expression. "Could you take me to my classroom? I have an orientation with a certain... Raia Therust? I'm supposed to be some sort of co-professor or something." He said, handing her the card he had been given by the dean.

[img align=left]http://i65.tinypic.com/24wx0fo.jpg[/img]

(( Hm. A white tiger might be workable, but you're going to need to come up with a way to keep normal humans from seeing it and causing a fuss. A glamour or a concealment rune, or something. I'm fine with her being able to communicate with him. Also I seem to have missed posting my response to you, somehow. I thought I'd already replied! I require basic coherence, and that's pretty much it. ^.^;; ))

[IMG align=left]http://i.imgur.com/br6Nl3T.png[/IMG]“Here is your schedule, miss! Your first class will be starting soon.” the administrative advisor, sitting behind the oakwood desk ushered a small slip of paper forward with a friendly smile. Ghostly pale fingers retrieved the small piece of paper and nostalgically placed it in the small white folder without bothering to look to see the name of her first class. Returning to a rather rigid composure, arms were crossed along her chest with mild apathy and discomfort. Loose strands of muted plum tendrils lazed beside right risen sculpted cheek and jawline. “In a general one would have to wait until next semester to start, however due your... circumstances, you've been placed in classes that were available. You'll begin your core classes, next semester instead.” The stranger woman chimed with an overly cheerful and optimistic tone. Nickel stained eyes hardly gave formidable eye contact, lips barely parted to speak. Instead she spent most of her time in the small cubical office, listening to the white noise of senseless ringing of or chatter of voices communication by phone, or the clicking of fingers against keyboards. Walls were painted in a stale white, the flooring of the cheap, hard carpeting though held with promising cleanliness. “May I go now?” Soft croon would escape from alto cords as the newly acquitted student fixed her stoic gaze towards the over-ambiguous advisor. Morgäna watched the womans' shoulders drop with defeat as she sighed a rather noticeable huff, and nodded. Quickly, Morgäna retrieved her messenger bag making her way from the room and out the building.

Heavy doors groaned as they were pushed open with a heaving thrust of the petite maiden. Bright sunlight shone in her face causing her to wince slightly as she took a step back, before regaining her composure. “Well?” lowly purr rolled like the ebbing tides of ocean waves. Large feline paws danced against hard concrete, long snake-like tail brushed leisurely against the indigo fabric of her jeans. Left hand absently reached to tangle delicate fingers into velvet hairs of the large feline decorated in abstract stripes against white base. Pyrite lantern squealed as handle had been clasped between sharp talons with a white flame burning upon indigo within glass walls. His face was littered with scarring and his eyes bled with intimidating indigo-black. To conceal himself of human norm, a small obsidian pearl hung around his neck making him appear to be a typical domesticated house-pet. “Petty.” she murmured coolly, gaze watching the small crowd building in the square.

The afternoon sunshine was accompanied by cerulean skies and fluffed nimbus clouds welcoming a mild-tempered day. The canvas of the university painted of lively youthful aspen and the occasional birch which homed avian and cicada creatures. Bodies would pass either in groups in cacophonous banter of the latest gossip or minor loners hurrying to either their lunch break or class. “It is only temporary.” the nameless feline rumbled quietly, his gaze watched cautiously of the individuals though taking no interest in the activity. With one hand on her shoulder strap, the other now, casually toyed with the small amethyst gem which had been hung around her neck, tied with fine black leather. Small little electrical currents had sparked from the gem against poor control. “Temporary – yet long term.” she would remind him, gaze would turn away as she began heading towards the building she'd been directed to – where her first class would be. She'd only captured the room number but never the type of class it would be let alone the instructor – rather she was going into this blindly just as she'd blindly agreed to attend the college.

“You won't make friends brooding like that, Uciliece.” the tiger would tease awkwardly light as he would pace leisurely at her side.

Whatever was going on, Theo had decidedly had enough of it. Sure making small talk with one random stranger was whatever, but now the pair had more than doubled. And what’s worse, someone was pointing the blame at, you guessed it, the guy who smelled like a liquor bottle ashtray. At least the shrieking had stopped, although his ears still rang with the sound of it. If that wasn’t enough, the person who had been following them had moved from behind to above and was now approaching them head on. Whatever that was about, Theo couldn’t care less. “Wrong place at the wrong time.” Was all he managed to mutter in his own defense to the girl who had first approached to see what all the commotion was about.

According to one of the other new arrivals, apparently the kid on the floor was some sort of seer. Theo squinted down at him suspiciously while the one girl who named him as such cooed at him. Generally seers were better trained than all that yelling nonsense. But to be fair maybe he had been set off partially due to Theo’s blood hitting him basically where his third eye would be. It wasn’t toxic by any means, but it wasn’t any regular old blood type to be sure. Probably too pure for the kid to handle. But maybe that was narcissistic of him to think so and it really was just an absurd coincidence.

“Yeah… I’m just guna…” He trailed off and side stepped to the right with every intention of breaking away from the group at his earliest convenience. Looking across the yard he almost had a hard time believing what he was seeing. Was that a tiger? People had tigers here? This town really was weird.

Edge of the Fairhaven campus

Raia sighed. It was never just one thing around here, was it? It was time to organize this chaos into something resembling order. She took the card the newest arrival held out to her and glanced at it. "Mr...Wolfe, is it? There are a few things I need to do first." At least the sobbing Seer had calmed down. The professor placed the face of the girl helping him. Amuné Ris, herself a Seer. Good, then she'd be the one best suited to helping him. "Amuné, you and the young man with you should take your upset friend inside somewhere. I will want to speak with you -- both of you -- later about this. Go."

Amuné shook off the last remnants of what touching Nunque had shown her -- and it had been a lot. All she really understood of it was that he had demonic blood, and was looking for her for a long time. "Yes Miss Raia." She stood and used the hand she held to pull the man to his feet as well. "Come on, Jareth, we'll go to your dorm." She headed off towards ESH, her friend trailing behind her.

Raia didn't watch them go, instead turning her attention to the man with the dreads, who was trying to sneak off. "Hold up. You didn't do anything -- that was hardly your fault. And I still intend to have Dr. Maxwell take a look at you, unless you have strenuous objections. You're a mess." And besides, she wanted to find out what was going on with him, and if he would pose a danger to her students.

She glanced at Mel next. "I assume there is something productive you should be doing, yes? Perhaps studying the chapters assigned in your Literature class? I hear the professor is planning on having his pupils write an essay...."

Alabaster eyes would roll at the feline's comment of her rather brooding nature, evident of her mild frustration. Pyrite lantern was retrieved from the tigers jowls with a euphoric squeal. Pausing briefly she finally took a moment to open a folder with a free hand and take another glance at the small slip of paper with a hand written schedule. Other information such as her name, age and field of study, and a side note something to do with some form of record missing, had been in the right hand side of the small slip though the hand writing was utterly atrocious. Due to the sloppy hand writing, Morgäna was only able to make out a few letters. She would scoff with disdain, giving her the only other option to seek out where she was to be directed. Pale fingers would pull back muted plum hairs behind her right ear in quiet thought. Maybe she could just wing it? Then she considered the possibilities of walking into a class unannounced and it end up not being the right classroom. Morgäna shook her head at the thought – it wasn't worth the humility. Damn it. she cursed to herself, grip of her lantern had tightened. ”We have eyes.” the nameless tiger murmured. Cold gaze would turn without her head turning to see what she assumed to be a student beginning to creep away from cluster of commotion. ”Just you.” she sighed, extending Envy back to the tiger with her left hand, the messily written schedule in her right. Maybe dreadlocks over there could point her in the right direction?

With heavy reluctance and her eyes trained on the ground, tiger at her side. “Excuse me I -.” she cleared her throat as she glanced up to see that the ridge of his nose was bleeding. It appeared as though it had been stitched once already, however aggravation seemed to have reopened it. Morgäna frowned at this. Having some knowledge in the medical field, and her career path for personal reasons, she felt the work was poor and sloppy. Before continuing, she opened her messenger bag and fiddled around in it, searching around. She pulled out a small aid kit and opened it, and offered him a bandage and gauze nostalgically. ”You should probably get that cleaned up before an infection festers it – if it hasn't already..” she mumbled almost incoherently under her breath. This wasn't the reason why she'd approached him to begin with. After closing her bag and adjusting it on her shoulder, with folders and notebooks resting in her arm, she extended the small slip of paper to him, should he retrieve it from her.

“The woman in the admissions office wrote this and I'm having difficulty comprehending it. I captured the letter “W” but I can barely make out my own name with her script.” Morgäna paused for a moment to find her words. White tiger found himself sitting comfortably with a rather astute posture like that of a guardsmen protecting the kingdom gates with the lantern within his jowls burning amiable flame. ”... I just need to know the name of the professor.” She would pull back loose strands of her muted plum hair behind her ear, careful not to snag them on her brow studs. The shifter didn't quite catch the departing duo, however glanced at what she could only assume two professors trying to maintain the growing crowd. She then turned her white gaze back to the boy, anxiously awaiting a response. The quicker he replied, the faster she could withdraw herself from the conversation and to her next destination.