[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/6zc773j.jpg[/img][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr][center][color=silver]π•Šπ•–π•‘π•₯. 𝟟, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / π•Œπ•Šπ”Έβ„π•€π•ƒβ„• 𝔼𝕒𝕀π•₯ / / π•Šπ•–π•”π•¦π•£π•šπ•₯π•ͺ 𝕆𝕦π•₯𝕑𝕠𝕀π•₯ / / ~πŸ™πŸ‘πŸ˜πŸ˜[/color][/center][hr] The paper bounced harmlessly off Fredric's shoulder. Ms. Lachance had so far been very vocal about her opinions concerning the match. Even amidst Rosa's panicked shouts and his many attempts to assuage her nerves, this fact hadn't escaped him. Muttering something into his phone, Fredric lowered the device and turned to face the fuming young star with his usual smile. [color f7976a]"Ms. Lachance,"[/color] he said, the composure in his voice a betrayal of the irritation bubbling underneath. [color f7976a]"At least have some consideration for the trees if you don't care to follow instructions."[/color] He remained where he stood, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear without matching her volume. [color f7976a]"I suggest you refrain from raising your voice and throwing things at the staff if you have a disagreement. I've seen more maturity from Ms. Churchill. I'm sure you're used to being pampered, but I'm afraid we don't have the time nor resources to entertain your every whim today."[/color] [color f7976a]"Those who would like to follow instructions, please [i]hand[/i] me your evaluation sheets."[/color] The smile dissipated into a exhausted scowl before he turned back to the screens. One of the nearby guards tensed when Grant's chain appeared, but when nothing untoward occurred, the man slowly relaxed. Uncaring, Fredric jogged the stack of evaluation forms against the desk, slapping a Post-It of concerns and considerations on top of the sheets before tucking them into the clasp of his clipboard. With a real healer on hand, the Director certainly didn't care about pulling her punches, that was for sure, and he'd have to go over the footage with her and a few network-technicians-turned-temporary-video-editors later to pull the most compelling parts. Hiring an outside team to professionally splice and produce the footage was still out of the question for now, at least until later. Too much risk that they'd spill the information, which had to be kept under wraps in case the Director's attempts to cinch herself an officially sanctioned team fell through. And there were so many ways for it to fall through, especially considering the slow decay of Shane's team over the past two years. [color f7976a]"All right, let's get you guys out of here,"[/color] he nodded to the guards, who gathered up the students once more. In the other observation room, Rosa checked her phone for a text message and did the same, relieved that no one had died and nothing further had occurred. The Director could request Benediction, but with a reason as small as "a student died," Rosa doubted the man would have come, even if the Department of Defense had cleared his deployment. Both rooms of students were escorted outside, the groggier kids woken up and nudged at gunpoint into the chilly night air. The two groups converged at the building's main entrance where more guards than usual were present, most of them arriving to switch shifts. Rain's eyes roamed the group as they walked. Though he would've liked to spend more time with his new roommate, perhaps it would be more productive to give him some space. They'd have plenty of time to theirselves afterwards. Instead, Rain looked to the participants of the second game, most of whom were sporting hospital clothes. One particularly dejected looking fellow caught his attention. Rain recognised him as one of the more violent players from the game. The boy had brutalised that poor girl's face. But he'd also shielded a little girl from a three-storey fall. How intriguing. A brief skim through the folder revealed his name as Ernest. [b][color=FFCCFF]"You were quite savage out there,"[/color][/b] the pink-haired youth sidled up to the Aberration. [color=00a99d]"Huh?"[/color] the other boy snapped out of his thoughts and turned to find Rain's intent gaze fixed on him. He immediately reverted to a more cheery vibe, [color=00a99d]"Oh, the eye thing? That was a dumb move. Got tazed for all that trouble and it didn't even help us win."[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"That's interesting,"[/color][/b] Rain touched his chin, as if lost in thought. Ernest had seemed more occupied with getting tazed than the fact that he'd brutally stabbed a table leg into someone's face. That sudden change in attitude was strange too, [b][color=FFCCFF]"You're not really affected by it, are you?"[/color][/b] The dark haired boy raised an eyebrow. [color=00a99d]"Are you trying to make me feel sorry for it? I already told the girl I was."[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"No, I was curious!"[/color][/b] Rain giggled lightly, [b][color=FFCCFF]"I wasn't expecting to see such a dramatic game when I woke up today."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"Yeah?"[/color] Ernest seemed to have gotten into the groove of conversation now, smiling effortlessly, [color=00a99d]"I didn't think I'd fall from a collapsed building today. Or stab someone's eye out. East has a habit of surprising its Subnaturals, I guess. Not in the good way."[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"Sounds like you have quite the grudge."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"Yeah, well, getting shoved into a 9am class and tazed has a habit of doing that to you."[/color] Another laugh from the effeminate boy. [b][color=FFCCFF]"Well, I hope our time here gets a little better,"[/color][/b] he smiled, extending a hand, [b][color=FFCCFF]"My name is Rain."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"Ernest. But everyone calls me Ernie. Awesome to meet you."[/color] As they shook hands, Ernie's gaze fell past Rain's lithe fingers and towards his feet. One standard suppression cuff with a silver modified cuff resting above it, both on the same leg. [color=00a99d]"Dang. They clamped you with double cuffs, huh?"[/color] Ernie remarked at Rain's left foot. The other boy followed his line of sight. [b][color=FFCCFF]"Oh, yes. I found both of them on me when I woke up,"[/color][/b] Rain replied, suddenly conscious about the weight of the two limiters, [b][color=FFCCFF]"I'm not quite sure what the silver one does but I'm guessing that it's on me because of my power."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"Power?"[/color] Ernie quirked an eyebrow, [color=00a99d]"Must be pretty spectacular to get you a second cuff. What's your thing?"[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"Intangibility."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"What now?"[/color] Rain let out a delicate giggle. [b][color=FFCCFF]"It means that I can go through things. Well, it only works when I hold my breath."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"Ohh, that's why you got the second one. Makes sense. Wouldn't want you setting off alarms and going through a wall every time you sneezed, yeah? Your prison break would only last like two seconds!"[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"I suppose so,"[/color][/b] Rain laughed and twirled his hair idly, [b][color=FFCCFF]"Honestly, I don't think I'd get very far, even if I managed to get these two off."[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"C'mon, have some faith in yourself!"[/color] Ernie nudged his companion lightly. His grin seemed to hold the barest amount slyness now, [color=00a99d]"I bet you'd have the best chance out of all of us. If you really wanted to... you know..."[/color] Ernie eyed the guards as he uttered the last part. [b][color=FFCCFF]"Hmm, you may have a point there,"[/color][/b] Rain entertained the boy's idea with a smile. Ernie's suggestions did hold some validity to them. Ah, what was he thinking? Rain dismissed the creeping thoughts with a slight huff. This was the sort of talk that would get him shot again. Or worse. Even so, the idea of freedom was too alluring to wave off so abruptly. Ernie kept his eye on the pink-haired teen, smirking as he watch his verbal nudges come to fruition. It was great how he could say stupid things and have people take it seriously. Would this girl be dumb enough to try it though? Ernie hoped not. He didn't want that sort of nonsense tripping his guilt. Still, intangibility was a neat power. It'd be rad if he could call in some favors with it down the line. This called for a demonstration. [color=00a99d]"Show me."[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"Pardon?"[/color][/b] Rain raised an eyebrow in confusion. [color=00a99d]"Show me your power!"[/color] Ernie chirped again, more insistent this time, [color=00a99d]"You can't just leave me hanging after telling me something so cool. I wanna see what you can do!"[/color] Rain blinked. [b][color=FFCCFF]"O-oh, of course!"[/color][/b] He handed his folder and map to Ernie, [b][color=FFCCFF]"Hold my things, would you?"[/color][/b] [color=00a99d]"Yeah, for sure. C'mon, show me something good!"[/color] The pink-haired boy quickened his pace to stride up to a telephone pole. He was eager to impress. Finally, someone here who was actually eager to learn about him, instead of shutting themselves off behind the cover of a book. Making sure that Ernie had a clear view, Rain clamped his mouth shut and swung his left leg at the fixture. But something shuddered through the boy as he activated his power. A jolt, a wave, a quake? Rain couldn't find the exact word to define it. But [i]something[/i] happened. Something that surged from the Hephaestus-crafted silver cuff on his ankle, cascading through his whole body. It was like being electrocuted, but in the way that made him more awake and lighter than he'd ever been before. His leg passed cleanly though the pole. Nothing had changed there. Then it all came apart so quickly. An ear-piercing screech tore through the sound of quiet chatter. Hands were clamped to ears as the armed escorts surged forward, their weapons trained on Rain. They formed a tight circle around the effeminate teen, shunting students and staff mages alike away from the scene. [color=f7976a]"On the ground, now!"[/color] the lead officer bellowed, his harsh orders only just audible over the din, [color=f7976a]"Hands behind your head!"[/color] [b][color=FFCCFF]"Wh-what?"[/color][/b] Rain's heart jackhammered from the abruptness of it all. The sudden cuff alarm, the guns and shouting, the [i]surge[/i]. Complete sensory overload. Rain complied, instinctive tears threatening to spill over as he knelt slowly. One look at his lower body told him exactly what had happened. Only the silver cuff remained on his ankle. His first cuff, the standard suppression tool all the other students wore, was on the ground by the telephone pole, deafening everyone in the area. Rain stared at the source of the alarm, realising the extent of his ability now. [color=f7976a]"Get out of the way, dammit!"[/color] Rosa struggled to shove past the burly soldiers who circled Rain. The short woman shouted from her position instead, the jagged, white lines surrounding her eyes as she desperately tried to push through. [color=f7976a]"Rain, don't move a muscle! Your cuff went haywire so just stay there and--"[/color] [color=f7976a]"I said, on the ground!"[/color] the officer roared again, jerking his rifle closer towards the subnatural. The guards on Rosa's side shuffled closer together to keep the staff mage away from the potential danger. Fredric stood in the background, speaking rapidly into his phone. With the piercing noise and all the guards in the way, it would be difficult for the students to ascertain what was going on. Even without the barked orders and the screeching, Rosa's pleas would have fallen on deaf ears. Rain was still staring, grasping everything that came with the release of the first cuff. Move, don't move. Which damned option was he supposed to take? The tears flowed freely now as he glared at the ground, at the cursed silver cuff remaining on his ankle. They'd shot him, they'd drugged him and kept him in captivity for days. And now everything was screaming and pointing at him and he wanted to just [i]leave[/i]. His family had sent him here to protect him. But what part of any of this was protection? Rain stared down the barrel of the officer's weapon with furious tears. The soldier yelled again and Rain [i]swore[/i] that he saw the trigger finger twitch. Because if he didn't, everything that went wrong from that point on was completely unjustified. It was only a brief moment of poor thinking, spurred on by the fear and panic clamping his heart. Rain saw the finger move and everything in him moved by sheer instinct. The surge from earlier burst through him again. His ankle seemed to burn. Waves of energy poured out from the cuff, filling Rain with the drive he needed to take action. He activated his power. More power spilled from the cuff, but now it was more like a fist to the stomach than a jolt of electricity. A geyser, not a wave. He fell. There had always been certainties, principles to his ability that he'd always accepted. No, taken for granted. The silver cuff had done something to the very fundamentals of his power--and it felt like he'd been thrown into a raging sea with no lifejacket. Something powerful as much as it was dangerous. He'd never felt so alive. He'd never felt so [i]wrong[/i]. There was no wind as he dropped, only a never-ending darkness. Rain clamped his mouth closed with both hands. He didn't dare to breathe, not as he fell to inevitable death. But that thought hadn't reached the front of his mind yet. The only thing he needed to do at this moment was to hold his breath. After that, he could let himself think whatever he wanted. The seconds passed like hours. There was no friction, no indication of how long or far he had travelled. He felt the pain in his lungs expand, right next to the cold dread creeping through the rest of his chest. The darkness remained painfully constant, until a flash of light revealed he had fallen into a well-lit room and was still falling. A containment chamber, much like the one he had woken up in. But his instincts were faster than his desire to release his power. The room was flooded with a writhing mass of colors, all sharp edges and deadly, rapid movements, slamming and scattering against the walls like an ocean tide of mosaic glass. Death no matter what, but some cruel hope thought, as the brief second of that sight vanished back into the darkness of the ground, he might find another room--a safer room. His power, strength beyond him--too far beyond him--phased through the shards of color and he was aware that [i]shouldn't[/i] have happened. Not now. Not yet. Not like this. Thoughts faster than lightning and his lungs burned as the layers of bedrock flashed by him at terminal velocity. Then suddenly open air and an open room and when the solid ground was no longer around him and through him, Rain gasped for breath, uncaring of the impact if he hit something. Breathing came first and he was only vaguely aware that this cavernous space he had fallen into was monstrous. Catwalks and uniformly lit scaffolding caught his eyes as he fell further down what he now recognized was an immense, circular hole and towards a white, faintly glowing mass at the very bottom. Primal instincts knew danger, but even as he sucked in his breath again and became transparent, his body still found collision with the object that was so substantial he had no definition for what it was--so large it was like falling into a river of white light. Given time, he might have seen enough of it to understand. But that was a pointless thought. It tore into him, not with claws or teeth, but with its mere presence. He couldn't fall through it, and where he touched it with his immaterial body, it shredded those parts of him to particles, and he barely registered the pain as his body fell apart. Letting go of his intangibility now was death. Holding on to this broken, unstable form of it was equally damning. Even that doomed choice was taken from him when his arms disintegrated and his head pitched forward into the dim light and scattered into miniscule fragments beyond sight and sound. What was left of him sloughed off the side of the object, the splatters of flesh, blood, and long locks of braided, pink hair remaining for only a second more before wicking away into nothingness as well. [hr] She'd screamed when the boy fell through the ground. She couldn't stop her mouth from making that horrid shriek when she saw him plunge into the concrete. Rosa finally made it into the circle of guards. She dropped to her knees where Rain was last kneeling, the thick, glowing lines on around her eyes resembling a painted mask as she strained her sight through the asphalt. The wispy trail that extended from the sky to Rain was descending rapidly, far too quickly for her or any of the guards to react properly. They were running out of time. Rain's end of the trail fell further and further, the journey lasting around forty seconds before it came to a halt. Rosa breathed a shortlived sigh of relief. He'd managed to stop his descent, hopefully in one of the containment chambers below. Judging from the distance of the trail, the boy would have ended up in-- Oh no. [color=f7976a]"No..."[/color] she breathed and clapped a hand to her mouth. She looked to Fredric, desperation in her solid white eyes, [color=f7976a]"Fred. Down there, t-the--"[/color] She fell silent as she saw the sky behind the towering man, one of the trails dissipating mere seconds after Rain's landing. Rain's trail was gone. And Rosa could do nothing but let out a small choke. Fredric's mouth thinned in response, but where Rosa panicked, he remained calm--as calm as he could be at least. The Director's clearance came through and he shut off the shrill cuff with a few taps on his phone, hands steady despite it all. All that remained of Rain was the suppression cuff on the ground, the standard one everyone else had. They had made a mistake. Or Hephaestus had made a mistake and they had allowed it to propagate. Now a student they had meant to save was dead. [color=f7976a]"Director,"[/color] he spoke into the phone, leaning down and rubbing Rosa's back as she continued shaking. A moment while the Director's cutting voice stung his ears. [color=f7976a]"Right. I'll take care of it."[/color] His movements were stiffer than usual, lacking that fluidity that always accompanied them, and as he turned to the rest of the gathered students, it took a deep breath to steady his voice for the shout. [color=f7976a]"All of you, disperse! Now. [i]Do not[/i] loiter in the area. Go back to your rooms. Go eat. Go into town. Just. Go."[/color] He waved for the guards, more of them spilling out from the outpost behind him in response to the alarm. The majority of them shoved the students away quickly, brokering no protest and forming a tight perimeter around the area as Fredric resumed talking with the Director on his phone, mouth a blur of movement while he rattled off the events leading up to the incident. The words were indistinguishable through the soldiers shouting off orders to each other, a large contingent of them escorting the remaining students back towards the main cluster of buildings before finally leaving them alone. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr][center][color=silver]π•Šπ•–π•‘π•₯. 𝟟, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / π•Œπ•Šπ”Έβ„π•€π•ƒβ„• 𝔼𝕒𝕀π•₯ / / π”Έπ••π•žπ•šπ•Ÿπ•šπ•€π•₯𝕣𝕒π•₯π•šπ•§π•– π”Ήπ•¦π•šπ•π••π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜: π”½π•£π•–π••π•£π•šπ•”'𝕀 π•†π•—π•—π•šπ•”π•– / / ~𝟚𝟚𝟘𝟘[/color][/center][hr] Rosa was crying in her office, and Fredric was too busy to deal with it, looking over classroom forms and current attendees scattered across the polished surface of his hardwood desk, the papers organized into rough piles depending on the classes they were in. The staff had all known the risks of putting the untested cuff on Rain, but they hadn't thought it would result in something so severe. Enough power that the standard suppression cuff hadn't even fazed it and now Rain was gone. One of the rare mages gone along with Padma, Alexis, and most likely Aaron. If he had to count the students as the number of chances they had against the worst--the number of lives in a video game, even, then they were losing lives at an alarming rate. Rosa had checked, double-checked, and checked yet again that they had gathered a set of powers not only strong, but absurdly unique in ways far less than obvious. And they had been abysmally careless in keeping those students safe. Too little freedom and the kids would chafe. Too much freedom and they would run away, only to be taken in by one of the mage factions that the government had no effective way of fighting against without devoting too much of the Precursors' time. That, or simply killed by irate citizens blaming the wrong people for the world's problems. If they were lucky, one of Dreamcatcher's monsters or a Precursor would give them a swift end. In the end, the balance was hard to strike, and they had wanted to keep Rain contained for longer given his power, but it was Rosa who had proposed the solution of the second cuff. [i][color f7976a]"It can mimic the properties of their powers, right? As long as we can track him with it, it shouldn't be too much a problem even if he runs away. I just don't think we should keep him in there any longer. It seems too cruel. He hasn't done anything."[/color][/i] Mistakes had been made, but Rosa no doubt blamed herself the most. Fredric placed the thought aside, as carefully as he would a spun glass sculpture. He wasn't neglecting Rosa. He certainly didn't [i]want[/i] to. But work needed doing, and he was doing her share as well to give her time alone. Uninterrupted. [i][color f7976a]Sorry, Daisy.[/color][/i] The mental apology gave him nothing but more guilt, so he thumbed through a sheaf of papers instead, looking for the earmarked form from Nicholas proposing a steady training regime without powers so the kids could build up a healthier baseline. 30 minutes of light warm ups--jogging around the track, followed by lifting weights and some simple stretches, then into squats, deadlifts, lunges, calf raises, bench presses, bent-over rows and overhead presses--10 of each for three full sets, and a note followed that anyone who fell behind could take a lighter load until they were more fit. A ten-minute break followed the workout, followed by another ten minutes of high-intensity interval training involving rapid ladder drills using a jump rope. Ten minutes of break after that and students would walk around the track for half an hour to cool down, totalling a rough two hours of fitness training every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Fredric approved it with a quick signature and put the form on a much neater stack to the left of his keyboard, flicking through yet more papers detailing electives and room partitioning. He was shuffling a lot of students and professors around to cater to the school's special group, and while that task itself wasn't hard, it was all the organizational paperwork that had him reeling. He could understand Rosa's aversion to this work. Staring at ink on pages all day nearly every day was taxing and he wondered how the Director managed it all the time, especially now that she was revving up to jump over the mountainous hurdles of forms and signatures that sanctioning an entirely new team would require. If they even made it that far. Just getting to that starting line was a different kind of war. One that involved the public eye and rules shackling their throats. He would have his work cut out for him in the coming days if they managed to shift the tides of public opinion onto the side of mages for once. Not that he wasn't buried in work already. Lecture Building Z would be cleared out of other students for the week and repurposed with the majority of the elective classes on the same floor as the special unit, for the sake of keeping them all within easy access. That meant stoves and sinks and island counters needed to be installed in one of the rooms [i]after[/i] everything inside had been removed, and they would have to smash down one of the walls dividing two of the rooms to make sure there was enough space for all the cookware. And that was just the worst of the renovations that needed to be done. It would have been simpler to let them move around to the different classes and buildings on their own, but the Director was slowly reprocessing the building as something of a team headquarters--though for now it would simply be classes within easy reach. Fredric checked the upcoming schedule, a small note on next Monday when renovations should end and when rooms should be finished rearranging. He made a mental note to hand Gregory and Christmas their elective forms at the next class period, preferring the more personal touch when he could spare the time. Sophia and Lilianna, unfortunately, would get theirs Tuesday evening, after the guards had finished sorting out the chaos of earlier and checking if Rain's fall had changed anything belowground. Between the mess of preparing rooms, dealing with the real aftermath of the flag football game, and preparing for the future, Fredric had his hands full. Just free period for their electives this week, then, though they would have to remain inside the classroom, boring as it was. The Director wanted order. And she wanted them to become used to order, or at least tolerant enough of it that they would become comfortable. Failing that, at least obey, however reluctantly. For all she was, the woman had never advocated the harsh isolation and callous experimentation of other research facilities, nor did she approve of the carelessness with which Director Kleinfelder managed his school of weaker miscreants. She was, after all, looking to a future they all wanted. Her methods were simply less than kind. But under all that, she wanted the semblance of normality. The persistent reminder that they were more than just mindless machines meant to fight in a war no one understood against creatures no one had asked for. Not that the Director would ever put it in such clear terms herself--not that part, at least. Fredric disliked her. But not because she was heartless. That disposition unfortunately came with her status. He disliked her because she was too comfortable playing the villain when real monsters lurked on their doorstep. Had already taken one of theirs. For just a second, he wished she'd drop the pretense and send out a group to find Aaron. But the mask had settled onto her like a fine dust and she was making no move to shake it off. So he looked back to the binder clips and reams of papers, then to another stack of manila folders detailing the powers of USARILN West's unlucky arrivals, with plenty of Rosa's addendums and corrections. Resting above that stack were the evaluation forms and Fredric groaned, remembering that he still needed to make copies of those and sort them out so each student had a stapled packet of the other teams' thoughts. They'd get those in class on Wednesday, too, he decided, taking the excuse to leave his desk and head to the photocopier machine. Sarah could probably do this faster, but he didn't want her reading some of the scathing remarks on the sheets. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr] [hider=OOC Interaction Tags/Notes] [@Snagglepuss89] [@VarionusNW] [@Lasrever] [@ERode] [@VampireOracle] [@Zombehs] [@GreenGoat] [@Diggerton] [@banjoanjo] [@Baklava] [@RedDusk] [@Piercing Light] [@Dragonmancer] [@Riffus Maximus] [@Deathmyster] [@Chasers115] [@PapiTan] [@Kyrisse] [@January] When Lily gets back to her room later, there are five boxes of variously flavored and styled donuts in her room, with a note from Rosa apologizing because the place she ordered them from was slow to process and deliver. Rosa also apologizes for the other parts of her request that the school can't fulfill. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/15QoJlaTB7QxhSrAw7cREuMbwDV_ajA6XOMraj214lKE/edit?usp=sharing]Eval forms[/url] come around to you guys on Wednesday. Every person gets a stapled packet with all of the evaluation forms for both teams clearly designated. Gregory and Xmas got elective forms on Wednesday; Sophia and Lily got theirs delivered to their rooms Tuesday night (include the form turned in at some point during Wednesday or Friday class). Elective periods are free periods for this week while the school sets up more conveniently located rooms. Training is mandatory for all students in this class. Students who asked for CQC instruction can talk to Nicholas during training sessions for more help, though for now he'll insist you guys need better physiques first, and will only give light instruction and only if you finish the exercises with time and energy to spare. Weather is cloudy and cold all week. Overcast. Worsens by the end of the week. No rain. People who didn't fill out electives (you know who you are) will have courses chosen for them. Electives will be good points in the day for interaction while doing something productive, so if you don't decide by some point in the week, the GMs will shove you off into an elective course at random. You have two weeks to work through a week's worth of IC interactions. Keep in mind the general thoughts on initiating/participating in IC interactions. If everyone gets all their interactions in before the time limit, we'll move on, as has always been the policy. [hider=Wednesday After Training: Lily and Christmas Taken to See Rosa] Guards grabbed the two healers still sweating and tired from the exercise, ignoring any protests. The two were taken to the administrative building and to the second floor, into a large office filled with plush, white sofas and colorful paintings on the walls depicting bright landscapes and picturesque family settings. Stuffed animals peppered the couches and chairs around the room while a large, circular ceiling light shone soft shades of white and pink across the space. At the long desk near the front of the room sat Rosa, hunched over a mess of papers with her mussed hair down, looking like she hadn't slept for days. She wore little makeup most of the time, and now none at all, revealing the bags under her eyes. Several minutes of silence passed before she finally looked up at the two of them with an uneven smile. [color f7976a]"Hey, you two. Just give me a bit, okay? Sit where you want."[/color] She nodded at the guards. [color f7976a]"You guys, too."[/color] Her voice was dry and the words scraped through quietly. The soldiers remained standing by the healers, despite her offer, but one gave her a quick [color f7976a]"Thanks"[/color] in return. The lines of white drew themselves outward from her eyes, broadening and angling sharply, overlapping until the top half of her face was almost masked. She simply stared at them for a long time, looking down occasionally to write something on the back of a sheet she carelessly grabbed and flipped over. Almost 10 minutes later, the lines retracted rapidly and she blinked back to tired, brown eyes. A quick wave from her and the guards escorted the healers back out, leaving them once they reached the main crop of dorm buildings. [/hider] [/hider]