"Now I believe I heard something about you needing rest," she added sweetly."Squirrels, really? I could borrow Nova, you know, or get Cait." As serious as he sounds, it's easy to tell he's tired and doesn't mean it.
"Parts of it were fun, Phaeze, and I couldn't have spiked that thing without you. The healing was a great help too. Thank you."
"Nova vs Saffire, the epic battle," she said, rolling her eyes. "And you won't go get Cait because you're so tired you can barely stand up...but I can summon a bear if it will make you feel better," she joked, pulling his arm over her shoulder so he could lean on her rather than actually fall over from exhaustion."Naptime for you."
"And thank you very much for helping him get back in one piece," she said to Phaeze quite sincerely.
Phaezeriel bows to Kitty. ::You are most welcome, both of you. I am glad that I was there to help. I would be happy to remove your tiredness if you would like, Michael, as I did for Vai.::
"Thanks, but I miss my room, surprisingly enough. I think I'll go sleep a bit before dinner."
"Thanks, but I miss my room, surprisingly enough. I think I'll go sleep a bit before dinner."
"Sounds like a good idea to me. I'll just help you get there."
"Really? I hadn't dared hope!" Michael jokes as he(with Kitty's help) goes into the school. "What ever did I do to deserve you?" ;p
"Was Anthony ok? I asked him to, ah, stay close to you."
Kitty laughed and kissed Michael on the cheek before continuing down the hall, letting him lean on her for support.
"I appreciate the thought. Not entirely sure which of us was actually supposed to be looking out for who, but it was sweet either way," she added with a wink.
Michael shrugs.
"Kept him away from the fight."
"You're a good brother. One of the many, many things I like about you."
"Now," she continued as they got to his room, "you rest for as long as you like. I'll just be here watching, so I can see for myself that you're okay." Her smile was a little strained and he can tell that she had been really worried about him in spite of her playful attitude since they'd gotten back.
"Oh, you rest too. I might not be the most perceptive one here, but even I can tell how worried you were."
"Well, you don't have to ask me twice. Naptime sounds like a good idea," she said, handing Saffire a training shuriken to chew on. "Hopefully that will keep him occupied so he doesn't start singing."
"And of course I was worried. I'm just so relieved you're okay," she said, blinking back tears.
"Don't cry. There is nothing to cry about."
"Feeling relieved is a perfectly good reason to cry," she sniffled between sobs, being told not to cry having the predictable effect of starting the waterworks.
Jiminy put a hand on her shoulder after Ryuzo left with Nala. "Thanks. You did good. And I'm afraid there's no rest for the weary...We'll have a lot of work to do now. After all, that's how it works being on the student council," he added with a smirk and a wink. "And you're gonna have a lot of catching up to do if you want to be student council president next term."
"Student Council President is it?" Tyrrin turns to face the amethyst dragon, breaking his contact on her shoulder. "Well, I suppose there is no one more qualified." she returned the smirk. There was going to be alot to deal with, especially with... "I wonder how the meeting with the High Seers is going. I do not enjoy keeping things from my Mother."
Reappearing in a far corner of the garden, Ehos quick replaced his scarf, covering his mouth. He did like the gardens. They were usually peaceful. The plants would leave you alone if you knew how to move so as to not step and break anything. Sadly, the garden was full of people who had just finished the battle. And then there was Anthony running around causing a ruckus looking for him. Ehos stepped out in the light, careful of what was underfoot, and waved to the young man.
"Luckily my clothes meld with me when I transform." Vai said with a smile. She didn't like being naked anyway. It stirs too many memories, ones she'd rather stay buried. "It looks sharp on you Fei, green is your colour." Vai couldn't keep the blush off her face, nor the smile. It was now, of course, that her stomach chose to growl loudly, causing the colour in Vai's cheeks to intensify. "We didn't have bacon at the camp, and I can smell it from here..." she starts, by way of an explanation.
Enre just nods to the metal man, before he walks offs.
"Feeling relieved is a perfectly good reason to cry," she sniffled between sobs, being told not to cry having the predictable effect of starting the waterworks.
"How do I always say the wrong thing when I'm trying to keep you from crying?"
Once Salis has left, Ryo creates a portal and goes through to the High Seer's Tower. He heads to the meeting as fast as he can to avoid being actually late.
"Feeling relieved is a perfectly good reason to cry," she sniffled between sobs, being told not to cry having the predictable effect of starting the waterworks."How do I always say the wrong thing when I'm trying to keep you from crying?"
Whatever her response was it was completely unintelligible as she tried to speak through tears. Saffire flew over to Michael's desk and grabbed a tissue, bringing it over to Kitty and sat on her shoulder nipping at her hair making soothing meep meep noises.
"I'm okay, so please stop." Michael whispers softly, wrapping his arms around Kitty and hugging her tightly. "I'm glad your okay. You have no idea how worried I was that we'd fail. That you'd be in danger..."
Kitty buried her face against his shoulder and hugged him tightly, just focusing on breathing as she tried to calm the sobs.
When she was calm enough to speak again she looked up with a shaky smile. "Obaa-sama told me once that it didn't matter if you cried all the time before and after things went wrong as long as you kept your wits about you when there was danger. He was trying to make me feel better because I was upset about Kyuu calling me a crybaby at the time, but it's still true. I know I cry a lot. I was so worried that I would lose you. And so relieved when you were okay. And I didn't know what else to do with all of that emotion. You're allowed to cry too if you want, you know. I'm here. And we're both safe. And everything is going to be okay," she sniffled. "Probably."
"Probably?" Michael asks skeptically. "You can cry, but to doubt that things will be less than fine when we're involved is silly. If you want another opinion, we could always go look for that alicorn herd. I dare you to try and doubt with that foal around!"
She laughed in spite of herself. "Okay, you win. It's definitely going to be okay."
"And you're supposed to be napping," she added with mock severity.
"Nap with me? Worry is very tiring, I've heard."
She giggled. "Yeah, it is."
She was happy to curl up with him on the bed and snuggle close, the sound of his breathing a reminder that the worst hadn't happened.
"Just don't snore like you did last time." Michael whispers in jest, laying down next to Kitty. "That's probably why Saffire likes to sing so much, you're part of a duet."
"Shinobi do not snore," she muttered indignantly.
"Except you aren't trying to be one anymore. So you snore."
*yawn* "Remind me to talk to the healer about that. Snoring is probably not a good trait for anyone...unless you're joking in which case I assure my revenge will be both subtle and uncomfortable," she joked.
"You mean you couldn't tell?" Michael replies before yawning too.
"Too tired. I'm sure I'll figure it out later."
"Or I can ask the squirrels. They'll tell me."
The ripples throughout the rest of Agartha that followed the knowledge that dragons still lived, and more specifically lived at Avalon were mostly kept away from the students. News trickled in and a few parents withdrew their children from the school, but for most there wasn’t anywhere else for them to go. Ursula was among those who left, but in a rare show of defiance towards his sister, Bradley told her off and insisted on staying. Acceptance would take a long time, but inside the school at least attitudes were beginning to shift.
Thanks to Shara there was an angry mob on the school’s doorstep again that evening. Jiminy dealt with it with a little help from Sadie to keep a forcefield between the townsfolk and him so no one got hurt and from Miss Jones to calm emotions. Once cooler heads prevailed he was able to talk to them and remind them that since he was the primary employer for most of the townsfolk there would be some serious economic consequences to running him out of town even if he was a dragon. He told them that they’d had dragons for neighbors for half a century without even knowing it and there wasn’t likely to be trouble now when there had been none for so long. There were still grumbles and suspicion and the occasional odd incident after that, but by and large practicality won the day. No one wanted to lose a well-paying job in Jiminy’s new factories. And they certainly didn’t want him to move the factories somewhere else where other people would get their jobs instead. It helped that he rarely showed his draconic form. Sometimes he could see that they would forget what he was. He hoped that someday they would remember and it would just stop mattering.
Ephebe was a bit nonplussed to discover that she wouldn’t have months or weeks or even hours to figure out how to run an elementary school as there were already more students than she was expecting. She didn’t recall Uncle Ryo approving her plans, but he must have because when she turned a corridor there were the doors. And when she went through she found the elementary school wing exactly as she’d drawn it. On the ground floor there were classrooms with smaller desks and smaller versions of the gym, library, swimming pool, etc., all designed for younger students. And upstairs were the specially designed dormitories. There were multiple common playrooms for the students and blocks of rooms. Each block had four student bedrooms surrounding a common area. There was also a room for a chaperone. It was designed so that each block would have an adult there at all times since little ones needed more supervision. But right now she didn’t have enough people. She was going to have to ask Mom and Jim to build some constructs for now. Maybe not as good at offering sympathy, but they were better than nothing. Now if only she had a curriculum. She sighed. With the high school students back from their training, she got help from the others to round up the little kids so they could explore their new school and get settled in to their new rooms.
Sorchan and Pyra returned from their trip remarkably quickly and accompanied by several young firebirds. All that Sorchan would say on the subject was that protests by the younger firebirds had gone badly and he and Pyra had felt obliged to intervene. They were followed by a rapid influx of firebird children. The unrest and conflict among firebird society since the world had been turned right side out had escalated to a point that it could be described as a civil war, albeit a relatively bloodless one. Parents who didn’t want their children brainwashed and children fleeing parents who wanted to subject them to the ‘treatments’ were assisted in their escape by those opposed to the traditionalists. For Sorchan del Sol the most difficult thing was finally getting to meet his oldest daughter. It was just as difficult for Fieri. She’d spent her whole life thinking that her father hated her. Finding out that this was just another lie from her grandfather was both happy and painful all at once. It would take time to build any kind of relationship, but Sorchan was determined to make sure that time was something they did have now. He accepted a teaching position at Avalon, as did Pyra although she would be teaching the elementary school children. For her part, Fieri found that she liked her stepmom a lot more than her biological mom. It was strange to have a family all at once after thinking she’d lost her family for good. And suddenly having three younger siblings too. Well, at least there would be no shortage of babysitters once the babies hatched.
About a week after the War games Sadie’s little brother finally arrived. There had been some troubles with the trains and he was wary of adults so it took a long time for him to find his way. Sadie was beyond relieved that Dara was okay and to have him safe, but he was having trouble coming to terms with everything. He still hadn’t spoken a word since his parents were murdered.
Kitty and Michael’s trip got postponed after her family sent her a message not to come. Apparently there was some trouble with another shinobi clan and her family didn’t want them getting caught in the crossfire. She was sad that she couldn’t show him her home, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it.
Oneiro’s trip to get the next book kept getting postponed due to severe weather conditions in the mountains. Blizzards, avalanches, severe flooding from the spring thaws. It seemed like everything was conspiring to keep him from his goal. In the meantime he continued his research with some occasional help from Professor Reading. Jeran tried to help, but libraries weren’t really his thing.
Ori Reading decided that it behooved her to work on getting her own abilities under control. It bothered her a great deal knowing that she was one bad day away from becoming a danger to her students. She asked Professor Agave for help. After all no one knew more about plants and the spirit was a plant creature of sorts. She also started attending meditation classes during her free period.
The summer was an odd one for Ephebe. She was accustomed to only using her dragon form once in a while, but in this case she had to stay as a dragon for weeks at a time in order to prepare for the impending little ones. She and Fieri were both utterly miserable. Thankfully they were both able to lay their eggs with no complications and the incubator room was heavily guarded at all times. Draconic gestation time being what it was the babies wouldn’t be ready to hatch for another ten months. The next term at Avalon would be nearly done before Ephebe and Krays’s babies were ready to hatch. Firebird gestation time being slightly shorter it was possible that Jiminy and Fieri’s babies would hatch first, but the timing was going to be close.
the nondescript human asks you a question in an eerily forgettable voice "Does your library contain knowledge on every subject, Mr. Morgan?"
"To say that is to say that there is a limit on knowledge. New subjects are constantly being added, while old subjects are updated. Any knowledge that wishes to be found will be found. While some areas are proscibed, if you look and ask questions, you should be able to find what you wish."
Flirty stuff with a side of bacon (^-^)
"Then I shall endeavor to keep it evergreen for you, Vai. And we should get you to the Cafeteria, as Adsila frowns upon bacon grease being dripped upon her begonias..." ;P
Krays was beside himself, leading up to Ephebe laying her eggs. He didn't know what to do. Life was not his forte, but he did eventually calm down and was just there for Ephebe through the process. He did enjoy the more than normal time hegot to spend in dragon form though :)
He also helped with setting up the new elementary area, still not quite sure what else he could do once it started up. Perhaps teach? He didn't know...
"Mr. Morgan, how much longer is it till we enter the main office?" the Nymph Dhampir asked curiously with a curtsey. "i'm extremely ill and my health only goes so far."
the nondescript human asks you a question in an eerily forgettable voice "Does your library contain knowledge on every subject, Mr. Morgan?""To say that is to say that there is a limit on knowledge. New subjects are constantly being added, while old subjects are updated. Any knowledge that wishes to be found will be found. While some areas are proscibed, if you look and ask questions, you should be able to find what you wish."
"Forgive me sir, I was not saying that knowledge could be limited. The knowledge that I seek is very old" he says while tapping his ring against his staff, "I hope that I find it here."
"New students already, Mr. Morgan?" she asked crisply, an eyebrow raised as she saw the group trailing after him. "I thought they weren't expected until tomorrow."
For their part the group saw a beautiful woman of indeterminate age trying very hard to look plain, her light hair pulled back into a severe bun and a very plain suit doing a poor job of hiding an attractive figure. She wore horn-rim glasses and sensible shoes and looked sternly at them.
"Hello, students. I am Miss Jones. I teach enchantment here. Follow the rules and I am sure we'll get along swimmingly," she said frostily.