Fable - Ask A little slice of life [Dreadkids]

[Chasmine]

The day was overcast but warm, the sort of afternoon a student of the Academy could likely be found spending free period out and about to enjoy the break between days of rain. Chasmine was one such student, but unlike many of the others milling about and being useless, as the Proctors liked to put it, she was settled alone off to the side of one of the training courtyards.

Her face was bruised and scraped, her nose trickled blood, and quiet tears slowly dribbled down her cheeks. She was crying, but for some strange reason she had a small, happy smile on her face. Her eyes, a faint shade of pale magenta, focused on something unseen in her lap.

Just Chas being weird again.

OOC - Open to all Dreadkids or Dreadlords!

 

[Dorian]

"Talking to one of your imaginary friends?"

A mocking voice called out from behind the girl. Footsteps circled Chasmine.

"I keep telling you, that's so fucking creepy, Chassy, you gotta cut that ou-..."

Dorian came to a halt in front of her, slack-jawed as he looked down at her.

"Chas?"

 

[Sable Pembroke]

One such student enjoying the moment of respite was the ever prodigious Sable. Ordinarily he'd likely just have been in the weight room during this time, but today was nice enough that he'd decided to sit outside with a book, one The Titan in the Stars. It was an entertaining read for the most part, if a little derivative.

He'd been content to keep to himself before he'd heard the familiar voice of Dorian just a few yards off. Something of a troublemaker, that one, but clever and having the gumption to suggest that venture into those ruins some time prior.

The immense initiate marked his page and closed his book, tucking it handily into a pocket before standing and moving to see what was up with his fellow students.

"Dorian," He half-barked at the much smaller initiate as he approached. "How many times do I have to tell you, you shouldn't bother peo...ple...."

His admonishing trailed off as he came to see the same sight as Dorian, the concerning sight of Chasmine.
"Ch-Chasmine? Are you alright? Here..." Sable asked before producing and offering a handkerchief from a pocket of his uniform.

 

[Chasmine]

Chas did not immediately register Dorian's presence, even for the teasing words or the sound of his footsteps. Nor did she look up as Sable joined them next, his heavy stride making the ground tremble. It wasn't until a kerchief had been produced and held down in front of her that Chasmine looked up at all.

She blinked at the offered tissue, bleary eyes red, the right one swollen from the fresh welt growing on her cheek beneath the scrape.

"Oh," she blinked at them both, giving a little sniff and gingerly running a hand under her nose at the sensation of dribbling blood. Chas succeeded only in smearing it, and gave a small frown at the red stain left behind on her knuckles, "hi Dor, Sable. Was I bothering you guys? Sorry, I just ... found my cat."

Another watery blink as she glanced to her lap again with her smile, then looked back at the handkerchief still looming before her, "Is that for me? Thank you..." She took it and pressed it under her nose with a small sniff, "Proctor Harkenov doesn't like cats I guess. Haha, imagine that..."

 

[Edric]

Edric's knee came up, smashing into Gregory's face with the force of a brick. There was a quiet crack as the other boy's nose broke, followed quickly by the sound of a drowned out yelp.

Fingers gripped more tightly at the Initate's skin, and with a powerful wrench Edric threw him to the side.

Gregory collapsed sprawling onto the sandy ground of the courtyard, his face a swelling mess of blood. A loud groan escaped him, fingers twitching as he tried to retain some semblance of consciousness. The two of them had been sparring for near enough an hour, going blow for blow until Edric had finally managed to catch the upper hand.

Unlike some of the others, Edric did not waste his time.

Since his ban on sparring had lifted, he'd chased down practically anyone he could for a proper fight. Fermin had refused him, Noel had scoffed, Vance had been busy with assignments, but Gregory had acquiesced.

He made for an acceptable foe, the boys magic being more than a match for Edric's. "You tried."

Edric offered, standing above the still reeling Gregory as he pulled himself together.

His gaze flickered away from the half-conscious Initiate, scanning the edges of the field. There he spotted two of his peers cowing around Chasmine.

Eyes rolled.

"Fucking poltroons." Edric uttered, looking away from the others and down at Gregory. His hand stretched out, offered to the fallen Initiate. "Would you get up already? I didn't even hit you that hard."

"Fuck off."​

The other boy countered, his voice nasally.

"We can't all suck the life out of others to heal."​

Gregory retorted as slowly he pulled himself off the ground. Batting away Edric's hand and placing a thumb on the side of his nose and letting a quiet crack ring out as he set the bone.

 

[Dorian]

As Sable approached, fully prepared to reprimand Dorian for his words, the smaller Apprentice frantically waved a hand as if to urge the larger boy away. It never worked, and the gorilla just seemed to walk faster towards them. As the big lad made his comments, Dorian sighed.

Dorian's expression as he looked down at Chasmine was like water had seeped through the sole of his boot and wetted his sock. He shared a glance with Sable. There was no cat there, but Dorian knew better.

"Yeah, she's a right bitch, huh?" Dorian squatted in front of Chasmine and hugged his knees to his chest. His tone was uncharacteristically soft, but it was how he usually spoke to the frail girl in private. He loathed showing in front of Sable. "What's your cat's name, Chas?"

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Sable could hear the cracking of punches from across the courtyard and he fought the urge to step in or silence Edric, but he knew better. Any spar between the two of them would ultimately become an endurance match, and Edric was perfectly suited to that. If Gregory was stupid enough to step into that, Sable would play no part in putting a stop to it.

What was far more pressing for the moment was Chas's injuries. He offered the girl a sympatgetic sigh. The revolution might have come and gone, but some things at the Academy never changed.

Still, Sable couldn't help but smile at Dorian's willingness to play along with Chas's strange idiosyncrasies.
"I think I have some spare first-aid supplies in my bag...and half a sandwich, if you'd like it, Chas."
He offered quietly.

 

[Noel]

Noel had spent the morning trying to refine her magic under the tutelage of Proctor Mikhail, dismissing Edric’s pestering to spar and skipping most of her free period in the process. She found herself bounding across the lawn on her way towards one of the equipment racks.

When a voice caught her attention and stopped her dead in her tracks…

“Yeah, she’s a right bitch, huh?”

That voice, which sounded like nails scraping a chalkboard, was immediately identified. ”Dorian. Reeve. I swear to god, I’ve warned you a dozen times to stop calling me that.” Noel’s face had taken on a blistering red color as she stomped towards the trio.

It was only when she got nearer that she saw the bloodied cheek mixed with droplets of tears from Chas. ”Are you two seriously messing with her?”

Unbelievable. Noel didn’t even bother to spar with the teeny girl yet Dorian and Sable felt it appropriate to take turns wailing on her?

 

[Chasmine]

Chas wasn't one to swear or speak ill of anyone, so Dorian calling Harkenov a right bitch gave her pause in her response. Maybe Harkenov was allergic to cats?

"Mm, Dandy," she replied, "like a dandelion. He was orange and fluffy." Dorian might pick up on her choice of tense, was. No, she wasn't seeing an imaginary cat in her lap, but she was seeing something. Chas smiled carefully, gave another sniff, and turned a slowly brightening expression up at Sable for his offer of first aid and a sandwich. Truly, that would make her day! "Yes, that's very nice of-"

Noel.

Chas' smile vanished at Noel's accusation and she shifted a wary glance between the two boys, "Maybe I should just go..."

 

[Dorian]

"Dandy, huh? That's sweet, Chassy." Dorian whispered.

What he found odd was that Sable always seemed to carry food with him. Where'd he hide the shit, anyway? Well, he never mocked ox-boy about it since there have been several occurrences of Dorian snagging a quick bite from Sable while on missions.

The guy was still an insufferable moron, though, but this particular idiot was effective in raising Chasmine's spirit, which brought a tiny, sincere smile to Dorian's lips.

Just as soon as it came, it left, and he shot up and whirled on Noel.

"No!" He hissed, one hand balled in a fist at his side, the other forcefully pointing at the raven-haired bitch, "Mind your own fucking business, Schwarz!"

 

[Henk]

Henk had been watching Edric and Gregory's sparring match from afar, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. Both of them were very powerful, but Henk knew before the fight had even begun that Edric had the advantage. Gregory didn't stand a chance, and it made watching this battle the slightest bit disappointing.

His attention had momentarily shifted to Chasmine, being consoled by Dorian of all people. It didn't shock him. Dorian's eyes lit up when the strange young woman was around. Henk wasn't well versed in matters of the heart, but he knew what it felt like to enjoy somebody's presence. The gentle-hearted Initiate was glad that Dorian had found such a person.

"Fuck off."

Henk looked back to the fight, seeing that Gregory lie at Edric's feet with a blood-coated scowl on his face. The poor thing. It wasn't even that he was weaker than Edric, it was that he lacked the innate lust for battle that Edric embodied so. No doubt he would be doubling his training the next day in an attempt to come back stronger. Admirable.

But Henk found Edric's methods unnecessarily brutal, and when so few were able to put up much of a fight against him, it only made him more ruthless. As Gregory stumbled away, Henk himself left his spot against the wall, stepping in to take his place across from Edric.

"Edric. Would you like to fight me?"

He wasn't entirely sure what had come over him, but he was restless. So little had happened today, and Henk was brimming with energy. There was something more though, something that ate away at the back of his mind...

It was that he knew he could win.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Noel. Another whom Sable had previously praised. She was a known perfectionist and a bit of a teacher's pet, from what he'd observed, but in the Academy that usually just meant you weren't being subjected to capital punishment. There was nothing wrong with that outlook. She was, however, too quick to judgment in this moment.

"Maybe I should just go..."

Gently, Sable put one of his mitts on Chasmine's shoulder, and handed her the sandwich from his bag with the other.
"Not to worry." He replied with a smile. Then, he stood up to full height and turned to face Noel as well. Just, less aggressively.

"Eeeeasy, Dorian. Save that energy for the sparring ring."
A hand went on Dorian and pushed him away from Noel like the smaller initiate was made of straw. Then he calmly glanced down at Noel, towering a full foot above her.
"Afternoon, Noel. I'm afraid you've got some things wrong. Dorian's words were directed at a proctor. The same one that did...that," He gestured to the waifish young woman behind him. "To poor Chasmine."

 

[Noel]

The creases on Noel's forehead did not vanish after Sable's explanation. Her vision darted to the platinum blond girl, then back up at Sable. A fraction of her anger subsided although it simply wasn't possible for the dark haired initiate to ever apologize.

"You're an imbecile," she said while staring directly into Dorian's freakishly blue eyes. Insulting a Proctor in the middle of the courtyard was something only he could be dumb enough to do.

Her attention didn't linger on him though, instead casting back towards the frail girl in the grass. There was a decent change the Proctor had struck the girl for failing at something or not following explicit orders. But, Noel had to concede that from time-to-time certain Proctors seemed to enjoy tormenting students for seemingly no reason. "You'll be fine," the slightest hint of pity shone through, "you're a pretty tough cookie."

She wasn't. At all. But Noel wasn't really sure what else to say in that moment.

 

[Spectral Omens]

"Mm, Dandy," she replied, "like a dandelion. He was orange and fluffy." Dorian might pick up on her choice of tense, was. No, she wasn't seeing an imaginary cat in her lap, but she was seeing something.

Soft incorporeal paws kneaded at Chasmine's knees as Dandy, long dead, tried to get comfortable. Dandy didn't have to try for long: Chasmine's presence, wherever the girl went, was the closest thing to home. Her lap was Dandy's Territory, and that territory had just been reclaimed.

A satisfied 'mrrow' rolled through the halls, almost too quiet to hear — unless, like Dorian, Noel, and Sable Pembroke, one was close enough to chat with Chas.

 

[Edric]

Edric frowned for a moment as Gregory stumbled off.

Perhaps he'd been a bit too hard on him. The other initiate had always been an excellent sparring partner, his magic making him a good match. He simply didn't have the will to fight as long as Edric did. Perhaps something to keep in mind for the next time.

He was about to step forward, move to catch up with Gregory and apologize when he noticed someone up on the wall above the courtyard.

Proctor Renou stood there, staring down into the once bloody pit. Her unnerving red eyes did not transfix to any one place, but to Edric they seemed to be staring almost directly through him. The young Initiate froze, his frown depending into a scowl when suddenly a voice called out to him and issued a challenge.

His head swiveled, turning to see Henk.

Edric perked his eyebrow in surprise.

The smart thing would have been to say no. His and Gregory's bout had lasted for nearly an hour. He was tired, and there wasn't much life in the courtyard he could use to recover himself. Not much beyond his fellow students anyway, and the Proctors had strongly forbidden that. Still, his gaze flickered upward towards Proctor Renou's perch.

A heart beat passed, and then Edric turned towards Henk. His shoulders slowly rolled, head stretching to the left, then the right. "Sure, Henk. I'd love to."

He wasn't about to back down in front of the Proctor that had brought him here.

 

[Chasmine]

The business with Noel was quickly forgotten for the proffered food from Sable. If there was a kinder gesture than sharing your lunch, Chasmine did not know it. She quietly accepted the sandwich and opened its linen wrapping to take a small bite. A gentle sigh and a warm smile followed while she chewed, looking down to the happy spectral cat in her lap that no one else could see.

The mrow was a pleasant surprise and she briefly wished she had the energy to phase so she could stroke his ghostly ruff of fur. "I missed you, too," she whispered to her friend and took another bite.

She did look up just then, giving a curious glance to the boys as they defended themselves against Noel and caught the other girl's words. A tough cookie. Chas swallowed her bite, considered these words, and offered Noel a careworn smile, "That's kind of you to say, though I think I prefer soft cookies. Hard ones hurt my teeth."

Noel Sable Pembroke Dorian Spectral Omens

 

[Dorian]

Dorian craned his neck to look up at Sable, mouth ajar and vicious words loaded for the large boy, but he was shoved aside and silenced.
Upon being insulted by the raven-haired girl, Dorian scowled. And upon Chasmine being herself and responding as she did, the slender boy's shoulders slacked, and he let out a deep sigh.

"I wouldn't... hurt her," he uttered a quiet, sincere admission and stared at a patch of weeds growing up through the gravel some distance behind Noel. He spared a glance down to his side at Chasmine, who was happily nibbling away at Sable's sandwich, then met the other girl's gaze. "Ever."

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Well, that was likely the closest either Dorian or Sable were going to get to an apology. Sable didn't mind. That was the way things had always been around here. To most, to apologize was to show weakness. To him, it was just polite.

The towering young man clapped the same hand that had shoved Dorian away down encouragingly onto his shoulder.
"Nor I. I'm this class's living shield, after all."

He turned to look back at Chas and comment on her misunderstanding of an old expression, only to be preemptively interrupted by the disembodied mewing of a phantom feline. Sable blinked twice, heavily.
"Wow, Chasmine, you really did find your cat, didn't you?" He marveled.

 

[Spectral Omens]

Dandy — invisible and comfortably ensconced in Chasmine's lap — returned Sable Pembroke's slow blink. If the orange cat had understood the comment, it might have taken offense at the idea that Chas had found Dandy rather than the other way around.

 

[Noel]

A thin eyebrow arched upwards at Chasmine’s response. She’d forgotten just how strange the blonde girl could be. To top it off the phantom chirp of her “cat” was clearly audible and despite knowing the girl for five years Noel still wasn’t used to her weird ghostly nonsense.

Worse still, Dorian and Sable prattled on about their feelings and whatnot. That was unacceptable, empathy classes were on alternating Thursdays and there wasn’t a chance in hell that Noel was going to engage in whatever emotional epiphany the two boys were having.

”Yeah, soft cookies are great.” Her arms crossed and she clung to the only other topic that was half as interesting as cookies. ”So, uh, you can just like summon ghosts or what?”

Noel had always dismissed the weaker initiate as having a useless power but the idea of communing with the dead certainly intrigued her.

 

[Chasmine]

"Dandy would say he found me," Chasmine replied to Sable, "and he traveled a long way to do so, which was very nice of him. Though it is sad to think he is dead now."

She might've remarked that her mother would be worried or upset that Dandy didn't come inside for dinner tonight, but such thoughts of her family quickly short-circuited in her head, causing the girl to visibly twitch for a moment with a stuttered, broken giggle. It passed and she gently cleared her throat, taking another bite of sandwich as if nothing had happened. All manner of previous slight or offense concerning Noel forgotten as easily as her family, Chas smiled warmly at her cookie comment before shaking her head at her question.

"No, I can't summon them. They just ... find me. I see them wandering the halls all the time, phantoms of students and Proctors. Historical ghost gossip is fascinating, they tell the most interesting stories." She fixed a distant, bloody-nosed smile on Noel before she realized it had started bleeding again. It dribbled on her lap, right through the invisible spectral cat.

"Oh no, sorry Dandy..."

Dorian Sable Pembroke Noel Spectral Omens

 

[Dorian]

Dorian's brows furrowed, and lips thinned as he switched his attention between Noel, Sable, and Chasmine. The paranormal mewling hadn't startled Dorian. Having spent (significantly) more time with Chas than the others, these things became almost normal to the boy. Almost.

Wordlessly, he knelt back down for Sable's handkerchief in the grass next to Chasmine and picked it up to gently dab at the fresh blood dripping from the girl's nose.

Dorian canted his head towards Noel and side-eyed the self-assured girl with a tightly set jaw. A silent warning issued to her: do not mock Chas.

 

[Henk]

In a rather odd twist of roles, it was actually the lack of life that Henk was counting on. When Edric had plenty of opportunities to revitalize himself, he was an extremely powerful foe, but the area in which they stood across from one another was quite empty except for the two of them and a few onlookers. In a hand-to-hand fight with no food for Edric's body...

Henk was unusually confident in his chances. Hmm. What had gotten into him?

Perhaps it was Edric's constant belittling of Henk's power that had slowly sunk underneath his skin. Henk knew that he saw the light-shaping abilities he held as little more than auxiliary. While Henk did not often spar with his classmates much anymore, however, he had indeed been honing his skills. Edric would be wise not to underestimate him. An uncharacteristic smirk curled the scar he bore on the right side of his face upwards. "It's been a long time since the two of us have fought. Things were... different back then, weren't they?"

Henk had still been the whipping boy for the pre-revolution proctors. His kind spirit was something they'd been looking to beat out of him since day one, and they had always enjoyed using Edric as their instrument of punishment on Henk. Of course, he didn't hold anything against his fellow initiate. He'd only ever been doing as he was instructed. The young man who now began to undo the buckles on the long, heavy sleeves that confined his arms was a different person. They were children no longer.

The sleeves hit the ground with a thud, exposing Henks bare arms. He stretched his fingers experimentally, taking a deep breath before spreading his stance and lowering. The scar-faced student was rubbish with weapons, but he'd shown a knack for hand-to-hand combat. Without a further warning, He charged quickly at Edric.

His speed would never match somebody like Dorian's, but the determined flash of fire in the blue-eyes of the initiate spoke to the fact that he would certainly be doing his damndest to try. Henk was no fool though; he knew Edric would be ready for any normal frontal attack. When he closed the distance and brought his hand up to throw a punch, he instead opened his hand as it moved towards Edric's face. A blinding flash of pure light aimed directly at his fellow initiate's eyes.

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric slid his foot back, taking on a defensive stance as Henk moved forward.

He knew with things as they were that he would have to be careful. There was not much for him to draw from and Henk was fresh. He'd always been a brutal fighter but never a stupid one. Edric considered his opponents, their strengths, their weaknesses.

The young Initiate might not have excelled in the classroom, but out here he was in his element.

When Henk charged forward Edric shifted. He didn't move, but his weight fell to the back foot. A breath filled him, and as the other Initiate threw his fist Edric reached up with his palm to grab at Henk's wrist and immediately pull him into a tight grapple. A plan that would have worked, should have worked.

Were it not for the blinding light that suddenly burnt from Henk's palm.

A startled cry or pain escaped Edric's throat, his feet immediately kicking out from beneath him as he bounded two steps back and away from his opponent. Darkness shrouded his vision, corneas burnt to a crisp.

It was a wound that he could have, should have healed immediately. Yet there was so little to draw from. A few blades of grass. An already dying flower in Talea's hair. Some...strange life over by Sable and the others. It wasn't enough. Not for his eyes. "Fuck."

Edric spat, pulling his fists up tight as he waited for Henk to push forward.

No way in fuck was he giving up yet.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Chasmine's words caught Sable's attention. Ghosts of...dead students? He folded his arms across his chest, but his expression softened considerably. He watched with curiosity as Dorian wiped the blood from Chas's face for a few moments before remembering that he actually had some antiseptic he'd been about to offer before Noel's interruption.

As he handed the little vial off to Dorian he couldn't help but ask of Chasmine's...encounters.
"You see the spirits of students and proctors...like those that have passed in the Academy?" He swallowed hard, uncertain of whether he even wanted to hear the answer. "Have you...ever seen a young girl...maybe ten? With long, brown hair kept in a high ponytail?"