Completed First Annual Solstice Ball [Dreadlords]

[Noel]

Noel returned Henk's shy smile and issued one of her own. "Don't be hard on yourself," her words were softer than normal, it pained her to hear her assigned dance partner disparage his looks. "Your scar is superficial, it doesn't define who you are."

The trainee would've brushed aside his additional comment too had the music not come on. She was not some delicate rose that Henk could accidentally trample or some porcelain vase he might crack if he danced too extremely. She was a warrior who... oh...

His fingers locked in with hers and to her shock his hand latched gently, yet firmly, unto her hip. Her body suddenly got far closer to him than she was expecting and they moved in tandem with the music. Noel was close enough to feel his breath, his movements strange yet familiar as the two of them moved with the rhythm of the song.

All she could think was how silly she was being as her heart pounded in her chest.

She'd killed people. She'd broken the bones of some of the students in this very dancehall. Why was she getting nervous because scarface here was holding her and moving with her to some stupid song? Lost in thought she also must have lost track of the beat as her heel landed on Henk's foot rather than the dance floor.

Her face went flush with red as she stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I must not be as good at this as I thought I'd be," stupid. She was being so utterly stupid.

 

[Henk]

Under any circumstance where Henk wasn't focused entirely on not making an ass of himself, he would have found the sudden softness in Noel's voice striking. The two of them had always worked well together in combat, but the gentle tone that left her usually icy lips was one he'd never heard before.

Certainly he didn't dislike it, and while he would always be aware of the permanent mark left on his face, her reassurances did soften the edge of his embarrassment, at least for the time being. That was one of the reasons he was so determined to make the experience bearable for her, most likely.

To say that he wasn't similarly affected was fallacy, however. His heart was pacing at a similar speed, his skin alight with a pink color that made him quite glad it was only his face that was exposed, and hidden with a small layer of makeup at that. There was no denying Noel's beauty, and to have her pressed flush against him was a rush not unlike the feel of a victory in battle. Perhaps he could see why people grew addicted to the female form.

Henk kept a firm but gentle grip on the curve of Noel's hip as he guided her through the movements. He vaguely noticed some of his peers growing competitive, but he'd expected that. Henk didn't have anything to prove, and instead let his smile grow as Noel mis-stepped, catching his foot. "You're doing wonderfully, Noel, It's not like either of us have much experience. Just follow me..."

His voice was soft as his breathing slowed once more, a high point in the music approaching as Henk's hand left her hip and he pulled away, holding onto her only by her hand before pulling her back with a spin so that her back pressed to his chest with his arms around waist. A bit dramatic, but Henk found he was actually having quite a deal of fun now...

Noel

 

[Edric]

His touch was not harsh, his grip on her no tighter than it had been before. Edric continued in his steps, unpracticed and yet somehow perfect. The rhythm was one he simply lost himself to, the same motion that she had demanded from him at the start.

Edric followed the motions, just as he had been told.

Just as he'd been told all his life. "There are better homes."

There was no cut to his words. No bite or cruelty. He was not Liliana, drowning someone with the press of her hate. He was not Jax, breaking them simply for the fun of it.

No, Edric was different. He didn't care. He regarded those below as simply unwarranted of his time. He'd never particularly noticed those who fell by the wayside. Their names were irrelevant, forgotten almost as soon as they came.

He was not being cruel. No, in his own way he was being kind.

"Where they don't beat you." Edric continued. "Where you're not left behind a wall to die."

Briefly his gaze flickered to Eleanor. "Where you're not forced to kill to stay where you want to be."

His eyes drifted over Noel before finally settling back on Chas. "Where you could belong."

 

[Noel]

"Thank you, I'm trying," she started but forced her lips to close. She wasn't going to apologize to Henk. Wait, she had already apologized to Henk. Ridiculous.

Had they spiked the punch? Noel hadn't even tried anything from the punch bowl. Maybe Chasmine had slipped something into her lunch that day? Or maybe there was some sort of magic afoot at this dance. That had to be it, the Proctors had not only paired them off to dance but had cast some sort of spell that caused them all to act...

Her thoughts were interrupted as Henk stepped back and twirled her into him. For a fraction of a second she had to resist the urge to tense her muscles, to fight against someone trying to move her body against her will, but ultimately she went with the motion.

It was surprisingly fun and Noel found herself facing out to see other students engaged in much of the same revelry as she as her back rubbed against Henk's chest. A thought flickered, realizing that the platinum that dotted her emerald dress could easily be flung outwards. Sharpening and extending to impale the man who held her so close.

But... there was something... almost intimate about that too. He had trusted her not to kill him when it would've been so easy. Or, more likely, he wasn't even thinking about that. Noel tried to wipe the thought from her own mind too. "You're really good at this," she said with a tremble to her voice.

While she'd have denied it tomorrow this was shaping up to be one of the most fun evenings of her life.

 

[Eleanor]

“I was only apologizing so you didn’t think I was holding a grudge when I kick your ass in the ring.” The redhead smiled up at Vance with her sweetest I could kill you easily smile. Eleanor didn’t want to admit that she was enjoying dancing with him and having his hands on her. Her physical attraction to him had never wavered even though he had disappointed her greatly.

They were both silent as they continued to dance. Part of her wanted another couple to take a break from dancing so they could, but the other part was content dancing with him. Why had they gotten paired up together? Why were the fates cruel?

Ella tried to focus on her feet and not on her feelings. She was not weak. She did not like people. When you liked someone, you got hurt. After Zana had abandoned her, she resolved to never let anyone get that close again. Granted, Zana was like a mother to her so it hurt worse than anything else ever could.

“Are you ready to graduate? I know I am…” She was ready to be done with school and the proctors. She was ready to be a full-fledged dreadlord and start a life away from her classmates.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Meredith seemed to be looking out for Chasmine, a sentiment that he could certainly appreciate. Chas was one of the more...frail students in their class, one that Sable had happily stepped up for on occasion. She was a good friend, though her antics did tend to get her into trouble on occasion. If she was paired with that scoundrel Edric, it was likely worth keeping an eye on her.

In the meantime, Sable continued the steady pace of their dance, not eager to try anything overly fancy lest he accidentally cause a spill. Meredith's reply to his question threw him slightly, nonetheless. How had they not talked much until now?
"I'm...surprised I haven't seen you in there! I suppose it's because I'm usually pretty focused when I visit." Had he really been so stuck on his own interests that he hadn't noticed Meredith's presence in the library? Now that he thought of it, wasn't she the top student in terms of academics? Lords and Ladies, Sable was going to have to start paying more attention around the school. If she'd been an elven ambusher, he would've been dead in a ditch by now. "I usually find what I'm looking for and go right back to my room to dig in. What, um...do you usually go for?"

 

[Meredith]

Sable was leading them well in the dance, he had really paid attention to the lessons earlier in the week. She could appreciate the quick study, more than most. She was still worried about Chas, she seemed to be a bit upset, and that concerned her. She wanted to focus more on Sable and the dance, but she couldn't help but keep and ear out. Chas either had very good friends, or very cruel enemies. Some people just could not handle how wonderful she truly was as a person, they focused more on her weaknesses.

Meredith looked up at Sable as he spoke, a small teasing smile on her lips. "I've seen you on occasion, but you always seem so focused. I'm not one to bother someone with conversation either, most people avoid me." Her words held a bitter tone in them, but she tried to rid herself of it. She wanted to enjoy chatting with Sable, not make him want to avoid her too.

"I prefer relaxing in the library, I find I finish books to quickly, and I don't like having to make additional trips." She laughed softly, she was happy to talk about something she loved with him. Especially since it seemed to be something he loved as well. "I read everything! History, autobiographies, spell books, you name it I've probably read it." She pondered him for a moment, he was surprising her more and more. Sable wasn't what she thought he had been like at all. "Maybe we can relax and read together sometime, share fun things we read about." She didn't have many friends, maybe he would want to be one.

Sable Pembroke

 

[Chasmine]

"There are better homes."

While everyone around them seemed to be generally enjoying themselves and making friends with students they may have previously considered enemies, Chas felt her own joy for the evening slowly withering with every word uttered by her partner. He'd lost her gaze already, her pale eyes staring into the general vicinity of his chest, unfocused and pining while the circuits in her mind desperately attempted to reroute.

"Where they don't beat you."

Because you're just a fucking NobODy.

"Where you're not left behind a wall to die."

WEAK. Wanting. You can't even-

"Where you're not forced to kill to stay where you want to be."

KILL.

"Where you could belong."

Chasmine drew in a quivering breath and stopped her steps in their dance, her pale skin taking on a faint glow as she phased out of Edric's grasp to leave him stepping away by his onesie.

You don't fucking belong anywhere.

The girl shuddered where she stood, her hands having slowly dropped to waiting listlessly at her front while her thoughts continued to unravel. Her spectral form, a dimming, hazy blue, flickered as Vance Calgrave and Eleanor danced right through her.

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric's face turned into a startled mask as Chas suddenly slipped from his grasp and became little more than an incorporeal ghost.

His feet did not stop moving, no, he knew better than that.

The Initiate danced backwards quickly. Two, then three steps as he shifted between the moving figures of his peers. All the while his gaze remained fixed on Chas' ghostly form, his own magics drawing his eyes directly to where she stood.

As he watched her nothing but pity filled him, pity tinged with disgust. How were you ever going to survive this place.

He thought to himself coldly, remembering how things had been a year ago. Knowing what they should have been like now.

You can't even handle a conversation. Edric finally came to stand in place, letting the others dance around him as he peered at his ghostly companion. He did not understand her. Did not know what she thought or how she could ever consider this place a home.

It wasn't a home. Not even for him.

It never would be.

 

[Walter Banick]

Walter finally caught sight of something interesting through the mass of dancing initiates.

Chasmine. He observed her powers. Two other dancers, Vance and Eleanor, went right through her as if she were a ghost. Hmm. If anything, it was a reminder that these children gathered here in the dining hall were anything but. They were warriors, warriors of martial and magical prowess--or, at least, they were meant to be. And they were all here, each and every one of them, to learn the trade of the warrior.

How to kill, and kill well.

Walter made a reckoning of the girl's emotional state. Sadness. Defeat? What joy she was having previous had been drained from her. Whatever the boy Edric had said had gotten to her, a wound likely deeper than any a sword could inflict. Words had the unique characteristic to be weaponized so.

Walter stood by the refreshment table and took casual sips of his drink. Watching Chasmine and Edric alike.

Chasmine Edric

 

[Dorian]

"It ain't so bad," a muted response as he was focusing on keeping up with Kristen's more trained and natural movements.

And it wasn't. Truly! If it wasn't for what was to come, Dorian would have thanked Kristen for the dance and her innocent, naive smile that distracted him from everything, even if it was only for a moment.

Killing. Sparring. Trips to the infirmary. More killing. The rigorous, brutal training. Killing. Killing.

Yeah, it was nice to forget about all of that.

"You sure are demanding a lot from me tonight," Dorian teased his partner. Smirked. "Sure, let's give it a whirl."

They stepped. Stepped. Turned. The moment felt right, and the timing was there. As he steadied himself, ready to twist at his waist, he caught a glimpse of Edric alone. Curious.

Twisting with the momentum of their last turn, Dorian swung Kristen down 'til she was near parallel to the ballroom floor.

Then in his periphery, he saw Chasmine flicker. And the young Lady slipped between his hands.

"Shit."

 

[Mars Pallatrix]

As Grey flickered in and out of the material plane, and Reeve dropped the young Lady Pirian, Mars' head slumped, and the retired Dreadlord audibly groaned.

 

[Vance Calgrave]

She had sparked a smile from him. A genuine, albeit arrogant and smirking, smile. "That so?" He pulled her in closer, holding the small of her back a bit firmer as he leaned down "If we weren't expected to be on our best behavior tonight, I'd ask you to try it."

Her threat was not idle, he knew this. Her telekinesis could not stop his lightning, but it could stop him. He'd felt it too many times, an invisible, crushing force bearing down on him. Hands that came from nowhere, that couldn't be outrun. They had all heard the stories of Zana, heard what she could do. Vance still wasn't clear on where he stood with the founding revolutionary, but power might have been the only thing he knew to respect in this world.

Of course, it didn't hurt to use this chance to show that he himself had strength. Physicality didn't matter against someone like Ella, but the two of them had both grown considerably since the last time they were this close. He wasn't a mountain like Sable, but he was no weakling. Carrying a few extra pounds of metal to each training session had that effect. Maybe here, where she couldn't risk flattening him with her mind, the tactic would work.

“Are we even having a graduaUaAGH!!” An icy shiver ran through his entire body as they traipsed right through Chasmine. His contact with Eleanor broke and he tried to figure out what in the heck had just happened before his eyes landed on the ghost. Like someone startled by a harmless moth, anger replaced confusion.

“Gods, watch it with that! What are you even doing?”

 

[Roul]

“Can you believe these fucking assholes?” said a square jawed youth very loudly to no one in particular, wine sloshing in his cup as he gesticulated.

“Look at that one moping in the corner crying about how hard life is and brooding.”

The youth gulped down three mouthfuls of wine and paused, swaying on his feet.

“Or,” he hiccuped, “that one. With the hair in his eyes. Did mummy and daddy die in an accident? All the fucking same.”

Toren Urahil, tawny haired with bluest eyes and a sturdy jaw, a son in a house full of sons, stopped talking and stared at the ground.

“I miss my brothers…”

Then his face twisted in a scowl and he hurled his glass at the floor.

“Just japing you fucks.”

A nearby servant to flinch away.

“You. Get me another.”

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor smirked back at Vance as he pulled her closer and leaned down to answer her challenge.

"If we weren't expected to be on our best behavior tonight, I'd ask you to try it."

“I expect to see you in the ring tomorrow then, Vance.” She looked up into his gray eyes and felt that odd sensation again. Was this fucked up Dreadlord flirting?

Their dance continued in silence until he answered – well tried to answer – her question about graduation. His face contorted a second before the icy sensation hit her and her entire body shuddered. She stumbled back as Vance let go of her, but she caught herself and looked to where her dancing partner was glaring. Of course, Chas had poofed.

She went to grab Vance’s arm to lead them off the dancefloor so they could get a drink and compose themselves when Dorian dropped Kristen. Actually dropped Lady Kristen Pirian. Ella pressed her lips together to keep from chuckling.

She did grab Vance through and managed to get them to the side of the dancefloor before all hell broke loose.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen took the tease literally, missing the good-natured humor of it, and her cheeks lit up with flushed embarrassment. Oh my, he was right! She was being terribly forward, wasn't she? But it seemed that Vance and Ella, Sable and Meredith, Chasmine and Edric (she'd yet to see the latest development), even Henk and Noel were having fun. Doing well. Or well enough. In either case, that competitive fire was loathe to see her outshined. Not here! Maybe out in the sparring yard, of course there, but not here.

So the dip. Oh, it would be so splendid! To be handled with such tenderness once again...and with Dorian...it set her heart aflutter.

He did as she told him. A quick study! Nay to those foolish rumors about him!

Lower.

Lower.

Oh gosh! He was quite bold! This was the farthest she had ever been dipped in a dance, the ceiling and the chandelier clear and flat in view as she stared straight up at it. Her smile was brilliant. Cheeks on fire with--

THUD.

Kristen lay there on the dance floor. Still staring up at the ceiling. Still with that brilliant smile on her face. The only thing that was different was the confused contorting of her brow.

W-What? What just happened?

It was all taking a moment...quite a long moment...to truly process.

Dorian

 

[Walter Banick]

Walter heard the THUD, and his attention was diverted momentarily from Chasmine and Edric.

He saw through the crowd of initiates some of them parting, giving a little space. There in the clearing--

Kristen Pirian. Flat on her back.

Walter was taking a sip when he saw her and he nearly spat it back into the glass, turning for a moment away from everything and covering his mouth with the crook of his elbow as he coughed and struggled to contain his laughter.

What a delightful show! Seems the young Pirian, true to her House, found her proper place:

Beneath everyone else.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

So it'd been Sable's fault that he hadn't noticed Meredith. That was...hmm. Maybe he'd have to pull his head out of the clouds a bit more often. It was clear he had been missing the beautiful sights that the ground had to offer. He'd never have intentionally avoided someone like Meredith if he'd bothered to look.

"I'm a bit particular when it comes to my books, I'm afraid. I do love history under the right circumstances, but epics and fantastical tales have my heart. I tend to read the same ones over and over." He explained, a wistful smile on his face.

"Maybe we can relax and read together sometime, share fun things we read about."

That was a prospect that excited him very much, surprisingly so. In fact, he found himself suddenly beaming.
"I would like that very much! In fact, I--"

THUD.

For the first time since they'd started their dance, Sable led the pair to a quick but gentle stop. That loud, dull sound drew Sable's attention in one direction for a moment; Kristen, poor Kristen, flat on her back on the ballroom floor. Dorian in a very compromising pose. Oh bollocks, it had to be two of the initiates he cared most about, didn't it?

“Gods, watch it with that! What are you even doing?”

And again, Sable's attention was pulled in another direction, this time towards where last he'd seen Chasmine. She was standing still, quite far from Edric. She looked...unwell. What had he done? What had he said to her? Edric was not exactly known for his tact. Something about that set his jaw rigid. Sable turned to look back at Meredith.
"You and Chas are close, right? If you need to go to her...please do. Thank you for the dance." With a polite bow, he pardoned himself from her.

Mer could deal with Chas. Dorian could clean up the mess he'd made of Kristen. Sable had to know if his assumption was correct. With a quick and purposeful stride, he approached Edric.
"What did you do, Edric?"

 

[Henk]

The unusually intimate moment he was sharing with the beautiful Noel was enough to distract Henk from the commotion at first. How could he worry about what the others were doing with a visage like her in his arms? Henk had honestly never seen Noel as anything but a peer, but the way she allowed her body to press back against him, trusting him as much as he was her, that small tremble, that vulnerability in the voice of the one he'd always admired for being so stalwart, so unmovable...

It sent a shiver down his spine, and he found himself wanting more. It was a sensation he'd not felt before, but one he could grow very attached to.

Undoubtedly this was no picnic for Noel either. Both of them had been raised and trained to be naught but killers, to cast aside feelings of weakness and worry only about serving, about efficiency. When the revolution had changed everything, so too had these human feelings been allowed to fester within them all more freely. Perhaps there was no better example of that than tonight, than her. It was with another flourish that he spun her around to pull her back into his arms and continue their dance

Still, despite the spell of platinum and emerald she'd cast on him, he could not ignore the thump of Miss Pirian hitting the floor, and he raised his gaze over Noel's shoulder to see the befuddled Kristen staring up at the ceiling as Dorian stood frazzled looking between her and Edric, who was dancing with... himself? Vance was screaming and Ella was tugging him away with an amused look on her face, while Sable had left Mer's side and was confronting Edric now as he'd stopped dancing.

A low sigh left his lips, brushing the skin of Noel's neck as he realized this dance may end prematurely. "Our classmates are being... themselves..." He muttered. "If you wish to stop, I won't hold that against you."

It was rather obvious though, that he would have been willing to ignore the needs of his peers, just this once.

Noel

 

[Meredith]

Meredith was enjoying Sable's company immensely. It seemed they had much more in common than she had initially thought. He was quickly endearing himself to her, and she did find that she wanted to know even more about him, spend more time with him. She smiled at his wistful look, her eyes shining with newfound appreciation.

"I do love reading those as well, we'll have to compare thoughts on some of our favorites." She beamed up at him, but this moment wasn't about to last. He had begun to agree to spending time with her when they both turned to a rather loud thud. Sable brought them to a stop, and she turned her head to see Kristen on the floor.

What just happened? She followed where Dorian was looking, and felt the heat of anger wash over her as she saw the state Chasmine was in. Sable excused himself, but she was too angry to respond. She was just seconds behind Sable, peeling her gloves off as she walked.

Sable stopped to interrogate Edric, but she walked past him as slapped the taller man. "How dare you upset her." She could already feel the power from him but she ignored it. She had just wanted him to feel the sting of her hand.

She turned, casting a deathly glare at Wdric before attending to Chas. She approached the girl slowly, worried replacing the anger. "Chas, hey Chas, I'm here. It's okay, talk to me please?" She wanted to reach out and hold the girl, but in this form it was impossible. She just wanted Chas to focus on her, that was all she needed.

 

[Noel]

Feeling close to someone was an alien experience. Sure, there was the time when they were all nine and Proctor Amoto had forced them into a pit, raining water down upon them and they all huddled together for warmth. This though... this was different.

And Henk never allowed that closeness to linger too long. To overstay its welcome. Just as they'd be a bit too close for too long he'd swing her around or twist her arm to force a spin. It was so enrapturing that for a few moments she forgot that Henk was, technically, her competitor. She forgot that they were in the Dreadlord academy where every action was watched, studied, evaluated, and even scored.

For those brief moments her heart was allowed to flutter, her face allowed to get warm, and her mind was able to dream of a different life. A better life.

Noel was practically clay when she felt his presence against her neck. His words informing her of what she'd missed while she was captivated by the dance, by Henk, and slowly her vision re-acclimated to their surroundings. Slowly the giddy teenager who had been enjoying her first dance faded back into the merciless killing machine the academy had spent thirteen years honing.

Kristen was plopped on the floor. Nothing new there.

Chasmine was... trying out her magic? In the middle of the dance floor? Gods that girl was just so very unusual. It was admirable that she'd want to improve her talents, what with her lack of control of her abilities, but there was a time and a place for such things.

Ella and Vance tried to excuse themselves, Dorian and Meredith and Sable all rushing around... Edric by himself...

Noel let go of Henk's hands, fingers gracefully sliding free, and under her breath she simply said, "thank you," to her dance partner. In a huff she stomped over towards the congregating students, her hair sprawling out behind her. The shoes they'd provided her looked lovely but they made getting anywhere in a hurry such a chore.

"You all had one task," her index finger pointed upwards as she neared the smattering of students, "one! Just dance! Easiest 'mission' of our lives!" Splotches of crimson were already beginning to spread across her cheeks as she stepped over the fallen Kristen Pirian so that she could close the gap between herself and the others.

 

[Dorian]

Talk about making a twat of oneself.

Years. Years of forcing himself to the edge of everyone's sphere of attention, and he did that. He'd dropped the big bitch right on her back, in front of all the others to boot! During a formal ball, no less!

Embarrassment rose as a blush across his pale cheeks. He stammered, gaze switching between Chasmine and Kristen. One second, two, then a third passed, and he'd completely absorbed the situation and came to terms with it.

"Sorry, Kris, rea-"

"You all had one task! One!"

Dorian recoiled as Noel stepped over Kristen and likely would have flattened him under those clacking heels hadn't he avoided her. As the Iron Maiden (which, still, really made no sense to Dorian) went into a fit of hysterics towards the students, Dorian's attention returned to Kristen.

He bent down and offered a hand.

"I'm really sorry," he whispered.

 

[Chasmine]

“Are we even having a graduaUaAGH!!”

The geist of Chasmine Grey flickered unsteadily as the two red-headed Acolytes twirled through, the wisps of ether fog twisting away with them. Chasmine gave a gulping, twitching gasp as the defaming words circling her mind caught the padlock on that mental box and tore it off like a leaf in a building torrent of wind.

“Gods, watch it with that! What are you even doing?”

She shivered visibly, ephemeral, flickering as a candle flame does.

"Chas, hey Chas, I'm here. It's okay, talk to me please?"

Somewhere in the faint presence of her mind she saw Meredith standing before her but only as if she were looking at her through a raging gale.

"You all had one task, one! Just dance! Easiest 'mission' of our lives!"

Ghost Chasmine's hands curled in the air before her, every doubt and fear and lingering bout of self-loathing and regret, pain and torment, began to leak out of that broken box. A sob echoed out, strangely distant in sound, echoing in from the spectral realm.

"I don't want to leave, Mer-" she sputtered to her dear friend, finally making eye contact and shaking her head frantically, "I don't want to go. I belong here."

The deluge flooded in and she shrunk away, hands lifting to clutch at her head, digging into her hair, sinking into her scalp.

"Nooooooooo~"

They would all feel it, the sudden undertow current of energy siphoning inwards on Chasmine not very unlike the feeling they got when Edric himself drank upon their life force. Chas drew in a deep and shuddering breath against the construct of visions flooding her mind

and let it loose

in one

single

long,

ear-splitting,

glass shattering,

soul-wrenching,

explosively powerful-

S C R E A M

click

 

[Edric]

”Fuck off, Sable.” Edric said as he began to turn away from the other boy. ”Go be a white kni-”

Before he could finish he felt the sting of a palm race across his face.

Rage flickered within him in an instant, a veil of red drawing over his eyes as his head turned back. He barely heard Meredith speak as she whirled away and moved towards Chas, her voice lost in a chasm of anger.

He felt his magic slip away, drawn from his flesh and leaving him with naught but that pool of life at his very core. The loss of it was like losing his eyes. A sense torn away in an instant. It was an uncomfortable, almost intolerable feeling. One that made his anger spike to new heights.

How fucking dare she.

Sable was completely and utterly forgotten. Edric gritting his teeth, before taking half a step forward and moving to grab Meredith. He didn’t need magic to smash her face into the fucking floor.

Before he could get too far Noel swept in front of him. Her fury burning towards him and the others as her shouts filled the air, but it wasn’t her that stopped him.

It was the figures moving towards the bickering Initiates that halted his steps. The Proctors and gathered adults who had until now stayed on the edge of the dance. They moved towards the commotion, anger flickering over their features as their thoughts very likely mimicked Noel’s angry shouts.

Edric grimaced as he watched them approach, glancing briefly towards Meredith.

Fine. I’ll just break her fucking arm next time we spa- His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a sudden tug on his very soul. His eyes flickering instantly to what pulled at him. A curse escaped his lips, and then suddenly a shattering scream echoed out through the Hall.

It ruptured over the room like a wave, exploding glasses of champagne, rupturing eardrums, and then finally shattering the crystalline chandelier that hung over them all.

Thousands upon thousands of crystals exploded in a mass of blade like shards. They rained down on Student and Proctor alike, sharp enough to rend flesh.

 

[Vance Calgrave]

Chasmine was freaking out or something, Sable was speaking to Edric (side note: daring) while Meredith was also going to- oh well would you look at that.

Vance was beginning to feel his initial anger being replaced with amusement, especially at Edric getting slapped for... well he wasn’t exactly sure what. At least the dance was getting interesting now. Ella’s hand at his wrist didn’t even reawaken that queasy feeling in his stomach, and he stepped back with her just in time for Chasmine’s shriek to erase the smirk from his face.

It was like slamming spikes into his brain, and Vance clapped his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound. His hair stood on end and several flicks of lightning cracked from him to the nearest metal objects, Ella’s jewelry, if she were wearing any, being quite close indeed.

He could feel the rain of crystal on his head and a few sharp nicks as broken glass glanced his face and hands. It was all he could do to cover his face.

“You alright?” he asked through squinted eyes as dust settled.