"sorry, I'm not the best at the whole social rules thing... Your mom actually gave me a data pad regarding social rules after I.... Well there was a series of shenanigans involving my inappropriately reacting to ninja squirrels and firebird biology and hearing that someone managed to turn someone into a dragon... I've been trying to read up on them, but it's a lot to go through and most of the rules don't make sense."
Switches to darkvision to see if he can make out the bugs better...
"Well, we got acid-spitting bugs..."
"sorry, I'm not the best at the whole social rules thing... Your mom actually gave me a data pad regarding social rules after I.... Well there was a series of shenanigans involving my inappropriately reacting to ninja squirrels and firebird biology and hearing that someone managed to turn someone into a dragon... I've been trying to read up on them, but it's a lot to go through and most of the rules don't make sense."
"Apology accepted," she said with a shaky smile. "And let's just assume that self-mutilation is on the list as not a good party trick. I'm guessing that a lot of the not making sense comes from having to learn the social rules of a lot of different cultures all at once," she said, desperately trying to turn the subject away from the whole self-mutilation thing. Bad memories. Very bad memories. That needed to stay put away.
Switches to darkvision to see if he can make out the bugs better...
"Well, we got acid-spitting bugs..."
"Wonderful. Cause bugs weren't problematic enough without spitting acid," she said from the window. She looked around carefully before following him into the room. "You got a visual yet?"
"Uhhh...yeah, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at, honestly. They don't appear to be natural. They look like puzzle piece bugs? Four legs, two wings..."
"You think they're machines or something?" she asked uncertainly.
Ryleh stood up and checked the readings on the scanner once again.
"It would appear that there is nothing else to do besides wait. Are you going to stay here?" she asked Vai.
Vai nodded. "I'm sure he'd do the same for me."
"Very well," Ryleh said, patting her granddaughter on the shoulder. "I will be back to check on you in a little while, but I would like to go and check on your mom for a while right now. She's been being stubborn and not getting enough rest."
She set the system to alert her if there was any change in Phaezeriel's condition, and then went to Aananda's room.
She shut the door behind her when she saw that Aananda was crying. She sat down beside the bed and smoothed her daughter's hair out of her face. "I'm here when you want to talk about it," she said quietly.
adon chuckles a bit nervously, knowing full well he snuck into that "secure place" a while back.
"Okay, so off to the library then. We'll let you know what if anything we find. Thank you, Headmaster," Sadie said, preparing to leave.
"It's ok. I just don't do blood very well. And even if you do heal from it, I don't want you to be hurt for no reason."
The cat turns back around and bristles like a studio Ghibli character before cleaning Dave's arm off with a little magic.
"You're learning like everyone else here."
He nods and turns back to Andromeda.
"So, uh, pink. I met a halfling girl in my magic crafting class that makes hair dye in the alchemy lab. We could talk to her about finding a color you like."
He looks back up at Dave.
"What about you, shiny? How bout some blues and reds up there?"
He's pretty good at subverting topics. Just part of being talkative.
"I'm here to help, even if it's just letting you know the library is a place to start."
Djalos stands in the utter blackness of the music room for a moment. He can feel his blindfold slowly turning damp. He deeply breathes. "Hold it in." He breathes again. "This... this is trivial. Why am I..." He stumbles into a corner and slides down the wall. [smaller]"Nothing really to do... this about. I'm..." He begins sobbing.
"You think they're machines or something?" she asked uncertainly.
He nods
"Robots, I think. They're not familiar... I think I'll move toward the construction equipment, and see what's going on over there."
"I can use illusions and transmutations but I think im good with gold hair" he says trying to facilitate the moving on to the next topic of discussion
Jaiye rolled her eyes. "Boring. As usual. I've explained how blocks work like five times since we got here. She still chews on them instead of building with them. An actual toddler would learn faster. I'm starting to wonder if she's got some kind of medical condition that prevents her from retaining memories, but the infirmary staff swear she's fine."
Her brother closes his eyes for a few moments and suddenly 5 small puppies appear and go over and play with Cho(I think we were using that as her name, right? Short for Chosen?).
He thinks for a few moments "Would the infirmary staff know anything about dangers or damage specifically to the mind? Especially if such effects were magickal in nature?"
Jaiye rolled her eyes. "Boring. As usual. I've explained how blocks work like five times since we got here. She still chews on them instead of building with them. An actual toddler would learn faster. I'm starting to wonder if she's got some kind of medical condition that prevents her from retaining memories, but the infirmary staff swear she's fine."Her brother closes his eyes for a few moments and suddenly 5 small puppies appear and go over and play with Cho(I think we were using that as her name, right? Short for Chosen?).
He thinks for a few moments "Would the infirmary staff know anything about dangers or damage specifically to the mind? Especially if such effects were magickal in nature?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure Phaezeriel does. And probably Nala too," she added wrinkling her nose a little. "It's possible that she was just born with brain damage. Or didn't develop properly in infancy. They might have made her this way, but they might have just picked her because she was simple and that made it easier to use her for their prophecy. It's possible that she'll always be like this. Given that the infirmary staff has found no trace of damage or any particular tampering, I'm inclined to think that she was born like this," Jaiye said with a shrug. "Which does beg the question of how we're supposed to arrange long-term care for her."
"Yeah, why not. Alchemical hair dye. I mean, it's just hair. It'll grow out eventually," Andromeda said with a laugh.
"You think they're machines or something?" she asked uncertainly.He nods
"Robots, I think. They're not familiar... I think I'll move toward the construction equipment, and see what's going on over there."
"Be careful," she whispered, watching suspiciously. There was an awful lot of skittering going on in here.
"Uh, guys, they're in building two, and it's kinda full of some kind of robot bugs," Etain said abruptly, bringing the rest of the group up to speed on what was going on.
"I'm here to help, even if it's just letting you know the library is a place to start."
"Alright. Thank you."
adon looks to Sadie, and quickly heads out the door.
Djalos stands in the utter blackness of the music room for a moment. He can feel his blindfold slowly turning damp. He deeply breathes. "Hold it in." He breathes again. "This... this is trivial. Why am I..." He stumbles into a corner and slides down the wall. [smaller]"Nothing really to do... this about. I'm..." He begins sobbing.
He'd been partway down the hall, but his keen hearing let him know that he needed to turn around. Keme sighed. He wasn't even sure how to deal with his own emotions, let alone someone else's. But he couldn't just leave. He walked back to the music room.
Soft, nearly silent footsteps approach Djalos followed by a pat on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay. That's what they keep telling me anyways."
"I'm here to help, even if it's just letting you know the library is a place to start.""Alright. Thank you."
adon looks to Sadie, and quickly heads out the door.
Sadie followed Adon out the door. "Okay, well....library then?"
Her datapad dinged from her bag. "Oh, hang on a sec. Let me check. Huh. It's from Djalos. I guess he got lost in the SIM and that's why he wasn't participating in the game. Want me to let him know where we'll be?"
"I'm here to help, even if it's just letting you know the library is a place to start.""Alright. Thank you."
adon looks to Sadie, and quickly heads out the door.Sadie followed Adon out the door. "Okay, well....library then?"
Her datapad dinged from her bag. "Oh, hang on a sec. Let me check. Huh. It's from Djalos. I guess he got lost in the SIM and that's why he wasn't participating in the game. Want me to let him know where we'll be?"
adon stops, for a moment.
"Ah, yeah. Might be a good idea. Got kinda lost in... Well, all this."
"That's true. You have really cool hair. And I'm not sure how well dye would work on spun gold anyways. And I'll talk to her on monday, see if we can meet you guys up sometime, Andromeda."
He takes a seat back on the work table.
"So, Andromeda, Dave is having a birthday party tomorrow. You maybe interested in coming? Unless you already invited her, that is."
He glances back to Dave, wondering if this had come up already before he got there.
"I hadn't invited her yet, no, but that is a good idea"
"Sounds like fun. I'd love to come. Is it alright if I bring a friend? I'm not actually sure how he feels about parties in general, but Jasper needs to get out and meet people about as much as I do. So if you're cool with it, I'd like to bring him along. Presuming he agrees to it. Which he may not. I don't know. But you know how it is. Us socially awkward people have to stick together," she said with what she hoped was a nonchalant smile, but looked more like a panicked grimace.
"oh sure, I was planning on inviting him myself actually, he seemed like he could be a fun guy...I mean, assuming he wants to join us"
"Uh, guys, they're in building two, and it's kinda full of some kind of robot bugs," Etain said abruptly, bringing the rest of the group up to speed on what was going on.
"Then we need to catch up with them, and now," Fei replies as he goes back over to the shuttles and activates their security systems, patching them into his neural lace so it can keep tabs on the vehicles.
"Give Spitfire our rough location, and let her know we are on the way."
Pausing only for James to engage another telepathic 'collective' for the team, the young monk does his best to get the others moving with purpose towards Building 2.
Djalos stands in the utter blackness of the music room for a moment. He can feel his blindfold slowly turning damp. He deeply breathes. "Hold it in." He breathes again. "This... this is trivial. Why am I..." He stumbles into a corner and slides down the wall. [smaller]"Nothing really to do... this about. I'm..." He begins sobbing.He'd been partway down the hall, but his keen hearing let him know that he needed to turn around. Keme sighed. He wasn't even sure how to deal with his own emotions, let alone someone else's. But he couldn't just leave. He walked back to the music room.
Soft, nearly silent footsteps approach Djalos followed by a pat on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay. That's what they keep telling me anyways."
Djalos stiffens up slightly at Keme's awkward shoulder pat, before managing to rein himself in to a slight sniffling. "This... this has been happening for the past few days. It's... it's called crying, I believe. 'An emotional release.' But there haven't... been anything. Not significant, anyways." He gives a slight, strained chortle. "I've only had emotions for the past week, anyways. Real ones, not simulated ones."
"Be careful," she whispered, watching suspiciously. There was an awful lot of skittering going on in here.
Ghalen takes a second considering making light of Elektra's concern, but decides against it. Instead, he offers a smile, and nods, then heads further into the building...
"Sure, sounds like fun. The more the merrier. Usually. All the misfits gotta stick together right? That's like the whole point of this school. I just wish all the students would remember that..."
The cat produces a couple bottles of root beer from Dave's tool box and flicks them to frost them over on the outside before offering them to the others. He immediately has trouble unscrewing his and he spends a few moments attempting it before huffing and making the cute grumpy cat face he gets when he realizes he can't do something himself before offering the end of his bottle to Dave, the designated strong guy of the two. He doesn't say anything, unwilling to vocally aknowledge his failure, trusting Dave will pick up on the silent request. It wasn't the first time this had happened and it never got any easier to admit he needed help for anything.
"I'll send you a flyer about the when and where. Other than the guest list, I'm trying to keep most of it a secret from this guy. And trust me, it's not easy. I've seen him pick out flies from across the cafeteria before."
He grins at the Aasimar, recognizing his incredible perception as both amazing and at times a challenge for the feline.
David chuckles as he deftly removes the cap on Tybalt's bottle "you know, it's probably be easier to open if you did so before you froze it" he considers simply breaking the top off of his own, but decided against it, thinking it'd be rude and simply opens it."Sure, sounds like fun. The more the merrier. Usually. All the misfits gotta stick together right? That's like the whole point of this school. I just wish all the students would remember that..."
The cat produces a couple bottles of root beer from Dave's tool box and flicks them to frost them over on the outside before offering them to the others. He immediately has trouble unscrewing his and he spends a few moments attempting it before huffing and making the cute grumpy cat face he gets when he realizes he can't do something himself before offering the end of his bottle to Dave, the designated strong guy of the two. He doesn't say anything, unwilling to vocally aknowledge his failure, trusting Dave will pick up on the silent request. It wasn't the first time this had happened and it never got any easier to admit he needed help for anything.
"I'll send you a flyer about the when and where. Other than the guest list, I'm trying to keep most of it a secret from this guy. And trust me, it's not easy. I've seen him pick out flies from across the cafeteria before."He grins at the Aasimar, recognizing his incredible perception as both amazing and at times a challenge for the feline.
"are you talking about last Thursday? The only reason I noticed was because there was this slimy skinned kid who was eyeballing them, I swear he would have eaten them if they got within a score of feet of the guy"
Djalos stiffens up slightly at Keme's awkward shoulder pat, before managing to rein himself in to a slight sniffling. "This... this has been happening for the past few days. It's... it's called crying, I believe. 'An emotional release.' But there haven't... been anything. Not significant, anyways." He gives a slight, strained chortle. "I've only had emotions for the past week, anyways. Real ones, not simulated ones."Djalos stands in the utter blackness of the music room for a moment. He can feel his blindfold slowly turning damp. He deeply breathes. "Hold it in." He breathes again. "This... this is trivial. Why am I..." He stumbles into a corner and slides down the wall. [smaller]"Nothing really to do... this about. I'm..." He begins sobbing.He'd been partway down the hall, but his keen hearing let him know that he needed to turn around. Keme sighed. He wasn't even sure how to deal with his own emotions, let alone someone else's. But he couldn't just leave. He walked back to the music room.
Soft, nearly silent footsteps approach Djalos followed by a pat on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay. That's what they keep telling me anyways."
"Well, that explains it. Look, everybody's different, but from what I know, you don't usually cry about the big stuff. It's usually something little. And it can be because you're angry or frustrated or confused or overtired or sad or even happy. If you had your emotions suppressed for a long time, you're probably just dealing with a lot of them popping up, and you don't have any coping mechanisms yet. That's all. It's no big deal. Crying is fine. Don't try so hard to fight it. I'm pretty sure this is one of those only way out is through kind of things," he said, grimacing with discomfort at being put in the position of dispensing advice. He was usually so clueless himself that this just seemed wrong.
When Melody comes around the corner, accompanied by a frantic, barking puppy, she sees Ginni in full demon form, being held up by Tami because she hasn't yet got the hang of walking on hooves.
"Melody!" Ginni exclaimed happily.
Mel stops for a moment, taking in the new look. she seems a bit confused at first then she gives a smile.
definitely nice to see you too. I see you finally decided to come out of your ahhh, shell, so-to-speak.
When Melody comes around the corner, accompanied by a frantic, barking puppy, she sees Ginni in full demon form, being held up by Tami because she hasn't yet got the hang of walking on hooves.
"Melody!" Ginni exclaimed happily.
Mel stops for a moment, taking in the new look. she seems a bit confused at first then she gives a smile.
definitely nice to see you too. I see you finally decided to come out of your ahhh, shell, so-to-speak.
"Uh, yeah, kind of a lot of things happened, and it wasn't so much a decision as an inevitable change kind of thing. I can give you all the details if you want. We were just headed for the waiting room to eat some dinner. They're not quite ready to discharge me I guess. And I'd love to hear about what happened to you....you were so far away! But I understand if you want to put that conversation off until later."
Andromeda giggled. "That sounds like Todd. It might not be. I have been gone for a year. But he's the only frog lycan I know of who seriously likes eating flies."
"I'm here to help, even if it's just letting you know the library is a place to start.""Alright. Thank you."
adon looks to Sadie, and quickly heads out the door.Sadie followed Adon out the door. "Okay, well....library then?"
Her datapad dinged from her bag. "Oh, hang on a sec. Let me check. Huh. It's from Djalos. I guess he got lost in the SIM and that's why he wasn't participating in the game. Want me to let him know where we'll be?"adon stops, for a moment.
"Ah, yeah. Might be a good idea. Got kinda lost in... Well, all this."
"Don't worry about it, Adon. It's a lot to get dumped on you all at once. It's okay if you need some time to process."
"I'll just send a message back to Djalos and if he wants he can join us in the library and help us look for anything that might help us figure out how to help you."
Aananda wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I need you to not tell the kids any of this yet. We want to wait and tell them when we have more information. Asch, Amada, Jim, and Enre were out on a rescue mission tonight. It went badly. They're all dead. They were barely more than children," she said, dissolving into tears again.
Ryleh hugged her and patted her back until she was able to calm down again. She didn't say anything. There weren't any words that would help with this.
Eventually Aananda pulled back, blew her nose, and mostly got control of herself. "I'm going to have to figure out what to do without Jim. I need to find someone to teach his classes."
"Aananda," Ryleh started to say, before Aananda interrupted her.
"Don't bother. I already know. I can't do it. I can't keep up with the security job. It's not good for the babies," she said dully. "I already know that. And without Jim Rivets to help with the extra work it's even more impossible. I'm not at my best and I can't protect the children the way I should. I'm failing at my job."
"They're just frosted over. Extradimensional space doesn't come refridgerated, at least not as far I know. And I would've used magic to just pop it, but soda reacts badly with that. And I like this shirt."
He straightens his black v-neck and takes a swig from his root beer, still offering Andromeda one if she wants it.
"May be him." He nods. "Party might be a good place for you to meet some of the new folks around this year. We're both new, so people from our classes are likely to be new to you. Always fun meeting new people."
Andromeda giggled. "That sounds like Todd. It might not be. I have been gone for a year. But he's the only frog lycan I know of who seriously likes eating flies.""Before seeing this guy I didn't know there were any frog lycans. I thought they were all land mammals"
Dave chuckles "so what I'm hearing is, you don't have a way not to frost them and you don't have a bottle opener in that collection of shiny things you carry around everywhere"They're just frosted over. Extradimensional space doesn't come refridgerated, at least not as far I know. And I would've used magic to just pop it, but soda reacts badly with that. And I like this shirt."
He straightens his black v-neck and takes a swig from his root beer, still offering Andromeda one if she wants it."May be him." He nods. "Party might be a good place for you to meet some of the new folks around this year. We're both new, so people from our classes are likely to be new to you. Always fun meeting new people."
"I don't know, I feel like I've kinda made a mess of the whole friend making expirence.. With a few notable exceptions"
As he gets farther into the building and nearer to the equipment the noise of the creatures gets louder. He sees glimpses of large groups of them. When he moves to investigate the assembly line's control panel, a laser welder suddenly springs to life, swinging towards him.
Serrin sits quietly at dinner in the cafeteria, enjoying her meal. While she is all alone, she doesn't mind, as she's glad for some peace and quite after what had been a crazy week or so for her.
Shifting into bird form, Ardiente takes to the air. ::"I need another pair of eyes. We'll split up, and cover two different sides. Who wants to come with me?"::
When his puppy comes running back, leading Melody to them, Ace calls her over to him. He scratches her ears "Good girl Squeaky. You want a treat? Of course you do, cuz you're a good girl!" He says in the same voice almost every sentient being uses with their pets, and reaches into one of pouches, pulling out a decent sized chew stick for Squeaky. She jumps for it, and begins to happily gnaw on it as Ginni and Mel catch up.