[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/TjytTdM.png[/img][/center]
Emma returned to find a dorm bereft of Lawrence. She was not too surprised, after all she had no doubt he had classes to attend and any number of other things to do than hang out in a room by himself (Not accounting for, of course, the ever so important company of Lizzy). For the next couple of hours she worried over her phone in sulken silence, hoping against hope that Val would respond to her text which had now become texts.

Of course no response came. Emma's head by now was spinning a number of stories that were helped along by her stigma- Maybe Val hated her because of her powers, or maybe she was hurt when Emma was captured, or any number of potential scenarios. It was hard to separate her actual worries from those that stemmed from her stigma. 

Her stomach rumbled. All she had today was ice cream.

Emma glanced over at Hazel, considering that she could perhaps invite her to lunch, but decided against it. No doubt this morning's antics had been enough of a system shock to the girl who Emma viewed as sheltered. Emma left with no announcement- she had a severe lack of mirth, and she doubted that Hazel would mind either way.
[hr]
Emma had been nigh constantly surprised by the luxury that USARILN afforded its students. It was a prison all the same, albeit a very comfortable prison. Emma had been feeling somewhat encouraged by now- the food looked surprisingly good with an ample selection to boot, and all of the stimulation was calming her stigma. She may have only recently received her power but she was learning the ropes- the stigma may always be there, but it becomes more bearable if she kept active. To this end she resolved to begin introducing herself around; Emma, after all, was a social creature so going around and talking to new people wasn't overly difficult for her. No doubt the cafeteria was full of potential friends, or so Emma had thought. 

Her selection of food was modest- most would be tempted to gorge the first time they saw the enticing buffet, but Emma was a teenage girl which lent to the fact that she was to no small degree image obsessed. Her appearance was one of the few things she could take pride in- even when she was down she was still able to recognize that she was [i]fabulous[/i]. Gorging herself on food, of course, would detract from this and the morning's ice cream already felt like enough of a splurge for her. 

Emma would spend the next hour wandering from person to person, trying to make friends, collecting contacts, and learning more of the world of USARILN. She succeed more often than not in getting along with the groups she met, as was completely natural to her. No doubt she would soon become well known among the students and staff of USARILN.
[hr]
Emma's return to the dorms was unceremonious. She gave Hazel a greeting than sat back down. She heard some interesting tidbits regarding USARILN that she wished to learn more about- and that led back to Death and Taxes, of course. It was a name she had heard in conversation, a secretive forum for subnaturals- [color=8A3DFF][i]Mages.[/i][/color] Emma corrected, realizing the term subnaturals was in poor taste among her new community. She set in with her phone, resolving to learn as much of her new existence as she could. She poured over the stickied topics, and there was one term that she came upon that particularly interested her.

[color=8A3DFF][i]Animus? An Aberration with no Stigma?[/i][/color]

Emma blinked. 

Of course she wanted to get right of her stigma. It had been everything that had been holding her back, was it not? But hurting people was out of the question, of course. 
[hr]
The alarm was scary and the beeping from the anklets of everyone in the dorm certainly did not help. She listened to the mechanical voice, almost not believing what she was hearing. 

[i][color=8A3DFF]Menagerie? So it's true, a Precursor is rebelling...[/color][/i]

The next bit of news, of course, was much scarier. Emma froze. There was no way, absolutely no conceivable way that what she was hearing was accurate. They were going to send new students to fight a Precursor, a mage of incredible strength with a fount of experience when it came to fighting... and she was one of those students? 

She glanced at Lawrence and Hazel. It did not appear that this was a bad dream. It was, in fact, reality. A reality that absolutely terrified her. 

[i][color=8A3DFF]I'm scared... I don't want to... I could die...[/color][/i]

Her self-pity was interrupted by Lawrence, who was now barking orders, to Lizzy and to her. The door. She had to open the door.

She complied, now moving out of instinct rather than intent. She didn't even realize she moved, in fact, still feeling frozen in place. How could she possibly fight someone, let alone a Precursor? She was a high school girl, what did they expect? 

She was on the truck before she knew it.
[hr]
[hider=Note]
Full details of this section in Snaggle's post
[/hider]
Emma sat, wallowing. She perceived the arguments, she nodded along, she shook her head in disagreement, but she wasn't really present. It wasn't until and argument broke out that she suddenly snapped back to reality and she realized she had to fight. There was no choice. No arguing it, either fight or die. She spoke up but wished she hadn't.
[hr] 
She was standing on the battlefield. She realized where she was and the thought felt strange in her head- standing on the [i]battlefield[/i]? It didn't feel like the right thing to think, there must have been a mistake, but in reality that was in fact where she was. She didn't have time to think about the naked man on the ground screaming.

[i][color=8A3DFF]Wait, naked man on the ground screaming?[/color][/i]

Apparently she did have time to think about that, because she gave a curious glance and then quickly averted her eyes. He really was naked. Why was he naked? What was wrong with him? Was he some kind of pervert?

The loud bang of a shotgun brought her back to reality. She realized that the fight was beginning- she was really in battle. She hesitated- Lawrence was fighting and the others wouldn't be far behind. She had to do something, didn't she? She couldn't let everyone down, could she? She didn't really make the conscious decision to start fighting, but she was getting ready to before she knew it.

She didn't quite 'get' her powers yet, but she did have a vague idea. Emotions created the creatures, and she could tell them would to do. They all had different abilities. She ran it over in her head:

[color=8A3DFF][i]Force pull... suicide bomber... quicksand... strong guy... and... energy drain?[/i][/color]

She was uncertain, but felt like she had got it right. There was an innate feeling in her about what she could and couldn't create and what they were tied to. Only two had responded when she called on them... was she unable to really feel the emotions of the others? 

Determination and Devotion rose from the ground. They were creatures of churning shadow collapsing against itself, seeming to be fluid but with a definite shape. They were about the same size as her, almost seeming to mirror her proportions... and Emma now had to fight with them, she realized. Her eyes locked on the dog-like creatures. Lawrence had shot the eye-boot thing, and she would follow up by attacking them.

[color=8A3DFF]"A-a-attack the dogs..."[/color] She said unceremoniously. 

They did not move. Devotion seemed to look back and give her a glance of curiosity, tilting its head. At least Emma registered it as curiosity- it was hard to apply emotion to the shadow creatures. She would have to be louder.

[color=8A3DFF]"Attack the dogs!"[/color] Her voice was shaky but louder. The creatures complied, Devotion first and then Determination after a small delay. The latter seemingly needed to think about the action. Notably Devotion did not use its ability- they both ran blindly at the nearest dog, with the intent to simply hit it as commanded.