Roleplay

@ AbyssRanger @o0ArcaneAura0o @Akivara @Scryzze @Cuddleh @HerdOfTurtles @AnonymousBooks
((I'll start us off! :3))

The courtyard Arkwright Academy looked pretty much how it had the year before when students had gathered for the orientations of their grade levels: filled to the brim with a crowd of loud people. The sound could be heard before you could even get to the courtyard and it filled the orange haired young man with a slight feeling of anxiety. This was his second time walking up to the courtyard on this kind of occasion. Last year, Orion had been nervous and without friends at this new school. This year, he was a little less nervous but had only gained a few acquaintances. It wasn't really anyone's fault. Most of the people were nice to him, so that wasn't the issue. It was that this young man was very awkward around other people. Whenever the opportunity arose to speak with another person, he would freeze up as he stressed over every word. Would he say something wrong and anger them? Or say something dumb and embarrass himself? Thoughts like these would cloud his mind and prevent him from making any intelligent conversation. Which left the people with mixed impressions of him.

With so little social interactions, at least his studies had progressed significantly. His parents had been thrilled by how much he had managed to get accomplished in one year. Both of them, along with the majority of his family, had gone to this academy and all of them had had excellent grades and were supposedly quite popular. His parents pushed for this kind of school life for him as well, so he lied to them whenever they asked about his social life. Orion had himself out as someone well liked and well involved. Well, at least he didn't have to lie about his grades. His teachers had commended him on how his magic was progressing. He could already summon a lesser elemental from every element except lightning along with some other things. While Orion really did love his summoning magic, not even if he was controlling it could he bring himself to summon anything lightning related.

To be honest, Orion didn't really care about being incredibly popular or anything. Just one or two real friends would make him incredibly happy. Someone to laugh, talk, and joke around with was all he really wanted. Maybe this year would different from the dull previous year? The young man certainly hoped so as he made his way into the courtyard and steeled himself to make it through the crowd.

The ocean of students blended together in a collective current of uniforms. A large crowd of them appeared to have amassed in the center of the courtyard. People ran around greeting each other and telling each other of how their summers had gone. However, as most of the people were conversing in some way, the noise became a loud buzzing of chatter rather any anything distinguishable as words. While the majority of students chose to interact in the center, there were small groups on the outer reaches of the crowd that were also conversing and even those that chose to stand or sit on some of the outlying benches in ones or twos. Orion was one of the people that chose to sit alone on a bench, away from the crowd. All the noise and movement was far too much for him and made him anxious. This spot, however, was nice. Although, he did wish to talk with someone like those other in the crowd did. But, oh well.

There seemed to be something different about the crowd this year. Due to the school's new policy, other species besides humans had been let in. They seemed to acting no different than the humans. Some conversing, while others seeking to be alone. He didn't mind them being here at all. In fact, Orion welcomed it. More opportunities to meet people.

(( Aaaah long, intimidating long opening post. No pressure. And I didn't tag everyone becaaaause...well, none of this is really aimed at any particular character xD Openers... ))

It was finally time, first day of the new school year. Even under normal circumstances, it would be a cause for at least moderate panic for the average person. Eve could remember the day that Mitch started high school at this place, a full two years ago; his first months had been filled with unease and discomfort, and that was as someone who fit right in with the other students.
This year, things had changed.
The school, previously a magical school selectively open to those of the human persuasion looking to learn some type of magic, had decided to open their gates to other species. To those who would, by anyone's measure, be considered not normal. Who had something different about them. Which was exactly why Mitch had suggested that she enroll right along with him.
A long time ago, back when Eve had been more limbs and less attitude, she'd met a scrappy kid with a mess of golden blonde hair. She'd squished his brownie on the playground in the process of launching herself off of a swing, and somehow that had told the then-young Mitch that this was someone he wanted to be friends with. The inner workings of the male mind are not something to be understood. They'd grown up together, gone through the birth of younger siblings and divorces and all the typical things that any human may endure.
Until the day Eve had caught the tree in her front yard on fire.
It had been in the heat of the moment, she'd been defending her younger brother from her mother's screaming at him about losing their dog ("Mom, he's only six, he wouldn't know any better!). It wasn't doing anything but making Ethan feel progressively worse; Eve got progressively angrier as her mother continued to ignore her, the only thing breaking the tirade a bright flash of lightning. Things had gone more than a little off track after that, as Eve tried to get her baby brother away from the now-burning tree, her mother's arms around her waist.
It wasn't until after Ethan's burns had been treated that her mother's reasoning came to light.
She'd held Eve back because she'd been glowing blue. And that was not something humans could do.
Of course her mother hadn't known how to handle a...non-human child, and her only mechanism for facing the situation was sending Eve away. Months of bouncing from boarding school to boarding school, causing increasing amounts of trouble with every move filled the next years of her life. It was bad enough to have to come to grips with the concept that she wasn't human, but to have to do it away from her family and the only friend she'd ever known? It was only natural for her to act out, desperate for any type of attention she could get.
"Eve?"
Eve shuddered and blinked a handful of times at the sound of her name, realizing she'd entirely zoned out for the entirety of whatever Mitch had been telling her. He looked concerned, his head tilted quizzically to one side as he looked at her; she heaved a sigh and looked toward the milling crowd of people in the courtyard. "So there are other not-humans in there. It's not just me. For once."
It was easy to be flippant about her being...something else with Mitch, even though it was something that typically kept Eve up late at night. There were no explanations for what she was, for why she had the weird gashes on her back or-
"...really, we're all kind of weird here-you're still not listening, are you?" Mitch said, gently hitting her shoulder with his free hand. His expression was entirely too understanding; he often knew where her mind was, despite years spent apart with nothing more than emails to keep them in touch. "I know you're going to try to get some answers while you're here, but that's not what today is about, okay? Today is about trying to actually talk to people that are not me."
"Do I have to?" Eve whined, her eyes narrowing as someone passing by bumped into her arm. She didn't know all that much about how to manipulate the lightning that she could apparently control; funny enough, wikipedia and textbooks didn't deal all that much with the supernatural. But she'd toyed around with her power for long enough to know how to manifest an electric current over her body, for no other reason than to cause discomfort to anyone who happened to touch her. Incidentally, it was this habit that had gotten her accused of practicing witchcraft and getting kicked out of her last school. "You know me and people. I'll fake it but-"
"Just try, for me, would you?" Mitch interrupted. He was wearing his stern dad face, which Eve knew meant she had no room to argue. "Pretty much everyone here is as weird as you, lightning girl, but at least you look normal. People will be more receptive to you than to say-" He tilted his head toward a blue-skinned creature that had just slipped into the crowd. A slight smile split his face. "Just be charming. It won't kill you and, who knows? Maybe you'll find someone other than me willing to deal with your-"
"GOT IT," Eve snapped, rolling her eyes. "I'm going."


Eli laughed to himself as Eve headed into the mass of people; even from this distance, he could see her bright head of hair, looking something like a firebrand when the sunlight caught it. He adjusted her backpack strap on his shoulder as he turned to find one of the housing helpers, as they'd handle taking her backpack and suitcase up to whatever room she'd been assigned to, and then he'd go about...making sure she didn't cause too much damage the first day of being on campus.
He paused for a moment and sank down onto a bench after passing off her bags, watching curiously as she did what she always did in crowds: she flitted from person to person, offering a few comments before disappearing, already starting to set up a network of acquaintances. Those who weren't paying attention wouldn't notice that she was uncomfortable and edgy, her smile hiding the fact that she really didn't want to have to be starting up at another school; they'd see someone who could learn the names of everyone in the room in record time, who appeared to be a people person happy about a fresh start.
Eli sighed. Things hadn't been all that easy for either of them; between her boarding school stints and his family problems, they'd both hardened in ways. Eli had become all to attuned to the emotions of those around him, while Eve had painstakingly perfected the art of causing trouble. In her defense, she'd calmed down in the last school, her reason for getting kicked out was more of a she held too much in for too long and kind of burst rather than her usual I decided to steal the keys to the headmaster's car and drive it to get myself lunch because the cafeteria food is beneath me.
He hadn't even had the opportunity to tell her about the things he'd found out about his mother. About why he'd gotten on so well at the school, why his typically spot-on intuition had been growing progressively spottier. The last summer had been...a summer of a lot of changes, none of which Eve had really heard about. Eventually...
But until then, it would be best to keep her occupied; a bored Eve was a dangerous Eve, and she had the fine skill of being able to be disinterested in the middle of the crowd. Then again...new school, slightly tamer Eve...she'd be fine on her own, right? She'd just make her way over to the benches once she figured her people time was served, or find her way to her dorm to get away from the people. Which was the exact opposite of what Eli did: he got to his feet and happily threw himself into the crowd, eager to catch up with those he'd met the year before and those new faces who looked like they needed a friendly smile.

( I did that, though it might still be nice to ping a specific person when a post is directed mainly at them? I'm not sure what method would be best. )

Eve had paused to look over to the fountain, where a crowd was now gathering, just in time to avoid being knocked into by an overly large, all-too-familiar guy as he, once again, took himself out in a way where just about everyone would notice. He slid some distance before slowing to a stop, his outfit now accented by dirt and stones. "Way to go, Eggs," she said before she could stop herself.
Of course, it'd be just her luck for the first person she interacted with to be Josh of all people. Of all people.
"Just have to have all of the attention on you. And people say I have a look at me complex," she tacked on, one eyebrow quirked as she offered him a hand to help him up, the gesture somehow seeming condescending.


Eli, meanwhile, had been in the general vicinity of the fountain when the excitement there had started up. In a flurry of motions, luggage had ended up safe while a girl had landed herself in the fountain, looking all too startled at her ending. He somewhat shooed a few people away as he approached, knowing that he wouldn't want a bunch of people staring at him if he'd been in her position, but all too many people remained by the time he actually reached the fountain.
"I know it's a bit warm out so you may feel the need to 'cool off,' but this is a tad ridiculous," he joked gently, uprighting her bag to prevent any further damage from occurring to its contents. "Are you alright? I can grab you a towel-you definitely need a towel..."

Orion looked out at all the commotion that was occurring within the crowd. The sounds of laughing echoed from around the fountain. From the glimpses in between the moving bodies of those within the crowd, it looked as though someone had fallen into the fountain. He hated how people just stood around and laughed. However, it looked as though a decent person had gone to help whoever had fallen in. Then came a very heavy sound of someone running. A hulking, rather messy looking person came running along. There was no way that someone could possibly be that tall naturally. Orion knew he wasn't a short guy, but whoever that was would probably dwarf him. That guy had to be part ogre or giant or something, right? Then, suddenly, the large person seemed to trip and hit the ground hard, skidding along as he did so. A very similar scene to the one before played out as someone came to help. Well, the young man certainly was happy that he was over here. There was too much action out there for him.

That's what he thought, until he heard someone to his left ask if they could sit at the same bench as him. Orion's body stiffened and he didn't even look over at whoever it was. It sounded like a girl from the voice, but that's all he could tell. Why, out of all the benches, did someone have to choose his? As he stressed over the words to use, he simply decided to shake his head a bit to indicate that he didn't mind.

New school to explore. New faces to see. New species to meet, and words to learn. Normally they'd be anxious, but at the moment, they were much too tired to care. Waking up early wasn't their thing, and had been late multiple times because of that. However, today they had somehow managed to get up early enough to be here on time. Maybe it was because it was the first day, or maybe they subconsciously wanted to show off the fact that they were totally a reliable person and knew how to act appropriately.

Suppressing a yawn, Keila wandered around the courtyard, slipping between the numerous taller people around them. Unlike what seemed to be everybody else, they didn't have someone to talk to or any faces to seek out. They didn't mind. It wasn't like they couldn't find a new person. There were so many; they knew that someone would be her friend. If not, she was fine on her own. It wasn't like she needed someone to talk to or anything...

Though, it would be nice for some help. They didn't know what the school expected, or what was expected of her, as a second year. They'd transferred there at the last minute, due to the last school she went to had closed, for reasons, and the other academy didn't accept Aerogods for students. Why wouldn't they? Who wouldn't want her marvelous kind within their walls? It was an offense to all who were blue and had wings. It was probably because they were jealous of their looks. Yeah, definitely that. They didn't want the other students to feel inferior to the Aerogods.

She flinched as the sound of splashing played behind her, and she whipped around. Did some creature see the fountain and think it was some kind of pool? That'd be hilarious. They didn't doubt there was someone out there who was dense enough to believe that. If it was, she wanted to see who it was. Lightly trotting over, they, in fact, discovered it wasn't some idiot and the person had apparently fallen in accidentally. That was way less funnier, and they felt sorry for her. Coming closer with a somewhat worried look, she stopped in front of the fallen girl, offering a hand to at least help her out of the water. It wouldn't do good to just let her sit there, right?
Keila made a few stuttered sounds, like she was trying to start a sentence and stopping after the first syllable. Her eyes slid away, before turning back after a short moment. "Are you okay?"