Forum Thread

Mattie gritted her teeth and forced her mind into cooperation. Her feet reappeared out of the floor and she inhaled deeply.
"Lost control for a sec. Must be my nerves," Mattie lied easily. No point in involving Bellatrix in Metis' problems.

[We should totally name the NPC teacher Mr. Pillowings. Kidding.]

---

As the teacher piled his enormous stack of books on his desk, Bellatrix noticed the boy that entered the class earlier was sitting by Mattie. "Hey, hey you," She whisper-shouted. "Who are you? You energy kinda matches Mattie's."

---

Cam froze momentarily before regaining his train of thought. Another girl? How many girls were in this school? Were there any guys at all?
"I'm Cameron Rochester. I just got here a few minutes ago," Cam managed to blurt out while keeping an eye on the teacher.
"Life drainer," Theseus immediately declared.
"You've got to be fibbing," Cam thought.
"No lie escapes this noble tongue," Theseus said seriously.
Cam had to stifle a laugh at this sentence. Theseus had a funny way of speaking. Then again, he wasn't exactly from Cam's time period.

---

"Do you have a spirit like Mattie does?" Bellatrix couldn't help blurting out. She was happy that when Cameron walked in, Metis's presence had trickled back to Mattie.

---

Takei a seat, she put her injured leg on her lap and stated licking the wound.

---

"It appears your sister's host has a friend," Cam noted with interest.
"Impossible. Metis despises mortals," Theseus dismissed the thought.
Cam feebly nodded at the dark-haired girl with pigtails.
"You are getting better at communicating with the ladies," Theseus said.
"Don't make fun of me," Cam groaned.

---

"What's his name? Metis said she had a brother during her time inhibiting me. Oh! I forgot to tell you my name! I'm Bellatrix!" She held out her gloved hand for a handshake, before realizing what she was doing and pulling her hand back, face flushing. "First rule, no physical contact." She reminded herself.

---

"Life drainer, I told you," Theseus said triumphantly.
"His name's Theseus," Cam mumbled, watching the teacher out of the corner of his eye. Metis had inhabited this girl temporarily?
"My sister's host must've shared contact with her by accident," Theseus decided.
"Wouldn't that be excruciatingly painful for Metis?" Cam wondered.
"It would be, indeed," Theseus said grimly. "Us spirits, we're attracted mostly to hosts with more than sufficient life energy to sustain one body. Life drainers take away that energy, and a part of us gets sucked into them. Albeit it is temporary most of the time, it is enough to dissolve spirits completely. Only those with strong willpower can survive.
[Noooot sure if I used the word "albeit" properly, but eh.]

---

"And, if you're wondering, I'm not a full life drainer. For some reason, spirit's tend to mistake me for them. Just telling you because Metis mistook me for one." Bellatrix knew she was rambling, but she couldn't stop talking. It was so exciting to meet someone knew.

---

"At least you don't need to worry about dissipating into nothingness now," Cam thought.
"W-well, um. T-that's nice to know. D-do you think class will start anytime soon?" Cam stammered.
"A fair point, my fellow knight," Theseus nodded.
"I'm not a knight, Theseus," Cam thought wearily.
"Blasphemy! All noble men are knights!" Theseus argued.
Seeing as there was no point in arguing with Theseus, Cam turned his attention back to the rest of the class. He noticed the girl he had met by the door for the first time after entering the classroom.
"H-hey, d-do you know who t-that girl is?" Cam summoned the courage to ask Bellatrix, who was the nearest.

---

"You mean the girl with the victorian dress? If so, then nope."

---

Mattie listened quietly to Bellatrix and the boy's conversation. Her pounding headache had been reduced to a dull throb, and Metis' screaming had faded into fearful whimpers. From what Mattie could read, the boy had Metis' brother's spirit in his mind, and the boy was unusually nervous around the opposite gender. His name was Cameron Rochester. Mattie decided it was time to do a little research.

Mattie concentrated, then let her mind delve as deep as it could go in the layers of reality. This was how Metis gathered useful information, but Metis had explained it was very difficult and dangerous, proving even fatal at times. Mattie's consciousness sensed the stray thoughts passing by lazily through the layers, and it picked them up one at a time, dropping them after absorbing the information. The girl in the Victorian dress was from a wealthy family, and her name was Jora. The other girl who disliked plants was called Crystal, and her friend Violet had the gift of seeing through the timelines. Mattie's consciousness dismissed all of this without a single afterthought; it was not was she was looking for. Finally, it grasped a newer thought, and absorbed the information.

The boy's name was Cameron Rochester, as Mattie already knew. He was an only child, and was loved and adored by his wealthy parents. His powers had showed themselves at the mere age of seven, and Theseus had started talking to him soon after. His parents believed he had gone insane, and after many consultations with all kinds of people, decided to send him here. Mattie's consciousness gathered no more information from the thought, and dropped it before returning to Mattie's body.

Mattie blinked, dazed. That had been the first time she had tried that, and she was feeling slightly nauseous. Another student had entered the room while her consciousness was out of her body, and the teacher had finally finished organizing his piles of books.

---

The teacher turned to the class. "Oh, I didn't see you there! Hello, my name is Mr. Aberty, and I will be your art and mythology teacher. Our first lesson will be outside. Just let me get my textbook..."
He pulled a book off of his desk, causing about half of the other books to slide off the desk.
"This is gonna take a while" Bellatrix mumbled as Mr. Alberty dug through the huge pile of textbooks on the floor.

---

Cam shook his head impatiently, then concentrated on the air currents.
"Not if I can help it," He murmured.
A whirlwind of textbooks slapped Mr. Alberty away from his desk as the textbooks arranged themselves carefully on the desk. A certain textbook landed gently at the dazed teacher's feet. Cam inhaled deeply as sharp pang of pain jolted through his body; it had taken more energy that he had expected.
"Patience is a virtue," Theseus chided him.
"A virtue we can't afford," Cam dismissed him.
Mr. Alberty blinked uncertainly, quickly inspecting the textbook before standing up and brushing himself off. He glanced over to the students. "Thank you to whoever caused that."

[Hooope you don't mind me bunnying your NPC o-o]

---

(Eh, he's available for control by anyone)
(As long as he doesn't act weird or out of habit an such)
Mr. Alberty picked up his textbook. "Well, I guess it's time to go outside! If you brought a notebook or sketchpad, please bring it with." He said as he led the class out into the hallway.

Jora followed behind majority of her classmates, while Bellatrix rushed to the front, dragging Mattie along by the strap of her bag.

---

Mattie patiently let Bellatrix drag her along, while twisting a layer of reality to keep a wary eye on Cam. He had made quite the show with the whirlwind of textbooks, proving he had control over his energy manipulation. As they followed odd Mr. Alberty through many twists and turns that Mattie didn't bother keeping track off, Metis began to regain some composure. They emerged through one last doorway into a beautiful scene of a rippling lake with trees surrounding it.

Cam blinked in surprise at the outdoor sight. He was sure they were still in the school, as they had climbed some stairs less than a minute ago. Mr. Alberty spun around to face them, a content smile on his face.
"This room was created by one of the academy's former students. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Beautiful was an understatement. All kinds of plants grew everywhere, mixing all the smells into one. The grass was soft and healthy under their feet, and the rippling lake lazily danced with the gentle breeze that brushed against their faces. A soft "wow" escaped Cam's lips and he found himself on his knees, examining a nearby flower that swayed gracefully with the wind.

---

Jora was the last to exit the building, and was astonished to see this scenery. As she walked farther into the garden, the plants around her seemed to flourish, reaching towards her as if she were the sun, gently brushing against her skin. She walked past a rose bush, and it's buds flourished into beautiful blossoms.
"Now class, everyone take a seat on the grass with a partner. One of you will be working alone today."
Jora sat down on the grass, pulling out her sketchpad as Bellatrix claimed Mattie as her partner, dragging her into the shade of a large oak.

---

Mattie reluctantly withdrew a part of her subconscious from the layers of reality and opened her doodle pad. She was rather a terrible artist, the pad mostly consisting of random squiggles and stick figures. She waited for Mr. Alberty to issue more instructions as she leaned on the wide trunk of the oak.

Cam stood up and brushed his jeans off before quickly seeking shade at a nearby maple. He saw that Metis' host whom Bellatrix had called Mattie had partnered with Bellatrix.
"Odd..." Cam heard Theseus mutter.
Cam settled against the trunk of a young maple and began to sketch while keeping an eye on "Mattie." After a minute or two, he glanced down at his finished drawing and did a double-take. He had unconsciously drawn the girl in the dress from before.
"I have officially gone insane," Cam decided.
"Or you might just-" Theseus started to suggest but Cam shoved him back into a corner of his mind, not wanting another argument so soon.
Cam snapped his sketchbook close and impatiently waited for the teacher to continue talking.

---

Mr. Alberty noticed that Cam was sitting alone. He walked over to him. "Erm, we are supposed to work in pairs for todays lesson, so would you mind being partners with Jora over there? Thanks."

---

Cam nodded, a little surprised that the teacher had spoken directly at him. And joy, he had to work with a girl!
"So her name's Jora," Cam shoved Theseus back into the corner before he could add anything else.
Cam picked up his sketchbook and pencil, then managed to summon up his courage to walk over to Jora. "Um, need a partner?" He blurted out before he could stop himself.

~~~

Mattie idly doodled in some random flowers onto her sketchpad, until something caught her wandering eye. Cameron had walked over to Jora, and seemed to be nervously talking to her.
"He must be really scared of the opposite gender," Mattie thought.
"Or he's just trying to get your guard down so he can kill you," Metis said darkly.
Mattie found herself shaking her head wearily at Metis' paranoia.

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