[color=coral][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/8YWoK6x.gif[/img]

[sub][color=daa520][b]Location[/b][/color]  [color=white]•[/color]  Apollo Cafe
[b][color=daa520]Time[/color][/b]  [color=white]•[/color]  8AM-8:30AM
[b][color=daa520]Interactions[/color][/b]  [color=white]•[/color]  Luciana [@Allycat]; Gus [@Lionhearted]; Brief mention of Emma [@Rockette][/sub]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/NuzKzTH.png[/img]
[/center]
[indent][indent]Silence and Vivian Lucasta never did get along but neither did she and crowds. Not that the group that was gathering over where she had spotted Dal was upsetting her in any way, but something that Vivian could feel swirling in the pit of her stomach was the anxiety that she always felt when unwarranted loud noises were upon her. She felt it, too; the sensation that crawled up the back of her spine and all the way up to the nape of her neck. It always happened when Vivian, through no fault of her own, of course, retreated into a social bubble that always had her withdrawing herself from Confident Vivian.

But Vivian kept smiling. It was her default reaction for everything -- good or not. It was an unhealthy coping mechanism but it was one that didn’t make anyone suspicious of how terrified she got sometimes. As she curled her mouth and showed her pearly whites, she felt a small bump from Emma, that Daughter of Nyx who saved everyone. When she quietly apologized, Vivian nodded. [color=daa520]“No worries~”[/color] She didn’t know if the girl heard her, but soon she was gone almost as soon as she left. Vivian caught the sight of her holding two drinks as she left the cafe.

Gus spoke up, which prompted Vivian to internally panic. She had no idea of knowing if he was perceptive enough to spot how much she was struggling to keep up her positive energy and just smile, but when he specifically mentioned Dallas’ general area, she let out a breath of relief. Never had she felt such a weight being lifted off her shoulder. [color=daa520]“Oh, no it’s okay. Besides, he’s busy and--”[/color] 

Vivian was cut off by both the sounds and sight of her dearest friend in the entire world (or at least at the school), Luciana. Almost instantly, Vivian stood up and embraced Luci in a tight hug, jumping around just briefly. Just by doing that, whatever positive energy Vivian was giving off would have been felt throughout the entire cafe and magnified almost twice. Only the feeling one got when their best friend showed up so randomly would generate such a reaction from a girl who was about three seconds away from falling out of her chair.

[color=daa520]“Luci!!! I’m so happy you’re here!”[/color] Vivian said, still holding onto her friend, still embracing her as tightly as her slender arms would allow. [color=daa520]“Yesterday was so miserable. You wouldn’t believe how terrible it was.”[/color] She sighed, exasperated. [color=daa520]“And oh my god, I know! I haven’t checked my roommate yet. I don’t think mine was even here when the names were said to us yesterday. Who do you got? Or have they not told you yet?”[/color] [/indent][/indent][/color]
[hr]
[color=gray][center][indent][indent][img]https://i.imgur.com/3VGaV53.gif[/img]

[sub][color=6c697e][b]Location[/b][/color]   •   Olympus Academy — Hestia Housing Building, Apartment 2D
[color=6c697e][b]Time[/b][/color]   •   Sometime after 8:00AM
[color=6c697e][b]Interactions[/b][/color]   •   Emma [@Rockette][/sub]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/T69oJMB.png[/img]
[/indent][/indent][/center]

[indent][indent]When the fight had ended and the group was escorted back to the apartment building, the overall morale wasn’t high. A lot seemed sour about how the staff came in and assumed direct control of a fight that was pretty much near its end. Damien didn’t feel anything one way or the other. During the entire night, the amount of raw void energy he siphoned from Emma was enough to kill him. He knew this because, by the time he had reached his room and collapsed near his bed, the swirling madness inside him had finally done what he had feared.

The first hours that had Damien on his bed, face down no less, felt like he had overworked his entire body and every muscle in his body was being consumed by some flesh-eating parasite. Every second that seemed to pass only made it worse. Despite having the desperate urge to scream, despite every fiber in his being wanting to take his power of shadows and end it right then and there, Damien didn’t take the coward’s way out. That wasn’t who he was. That and he knew it was only temporary. No matter how bad the pain got, once he gave it two or three hours, it would subside.

...Only it didn’t.

Throughout the night and after the rays of sunlight illuminated the darkness from his room, Damien was hunched over on the floor, holding his stomach as though if he were to remove his hands it was going to explode. Groans slowly made their way from his mouth and Damien was experiencing a first: genuine fear. The times before were nothing like this. His intake of his sister’s power, though it was substantially larger than previous times, didn’t dissolve after a couple of hours or even by the time morning came. It remained and the anguish growing deep inside him only seemed to make it worse. 

[color=6c697e]“Why won’t it dissipate?”[/color] 

Words felt like poison as his lips burned and his voice was lower than a murmur. Damien’s eyes opened and he saw only the color of a blinding red but everything he saw was like blood seeping through the cracks of each side of his room. When he turned his head one direction, a deep crimson consumed his vision and hid the white walls from him. Additionally, the pain in his stomach expanded to his head. It was about to explode and Damien had no way of knowing whether his body was going to consume itself or if when his new roommate came in was going to find nothing but the clothes on his back covered in black goo.

For probably the first time, Damien wasn’t okay. A depressing, sickly feeling crawled up his spine. It was at that exact moment did Damien feel the hours of gradual fatigue hit him at once. His entire body lifted itself into the air like he was a man possessed and his limbs contorted themselves. First, his arms folded inward, cracking limbs and bones as Damien couldn’t hold it in. His legs soon did the same as they twisted like a rope and soon Damien’s body was a ball, every inch he was in his vertical frame was reduced to this ball of human flesh wrapped in black leather.

And with a needle of white coming from the sides of the walls and Damien Black felt it pierce through him as easily as a hot knife sliced through butter. With this spike inside him, Damien’s ball-like form had exploded, splattering the walls of his room, the furniture near his bed, and the windows in a black goo that should have been red…

Suddenly, Damien rushed upright, heart heavily with how fast it was beating and the overwhelming sense of dread coursing through his body. [color=6c697e]“It felt so...real.”[/color] He was so thrown by what he just experienced that the Son of Nyx wasn’t sure if what he experienced was a dream. There was no way that could have been a dream. [color=6c697e]“It was so vivid and ...real.” [/color]

If it was indeed a dream, then what caused it? Surely it wasn’t his sister’s powers. Could that happen? Oh, what was he thinking? Anything was possible and he knew his sister inside and out. If there was one thing about Damien that he took an unbridled pride in, it was how close he was to Emma. They knew each other’s deepest secrets, including the extent to their powers. Both knew how dangerous the other’s powers were and them being side by side was the only way they knew to keep them in check.

[color=6c697e]“That had to be it.”[/color] 

He was throwing out guesses at this point but it was the only thing that made sense. Or at least, maybe since he had just awoken from that dream, he wasn’t thinking clearly. The only thing he knew was the last time he siphoned her powers, he felt more empathetic than he usually was. Now, it was the dreams. How many more times can he do this before it consumes him like what he just drempt?

As he thought on that, the question would have to be answered another time. It wasn’t long until he heard the door to his apartment open and instantaneously, he smelled the intoxicating aroma of black tea mixed with green tea enter his and his roommate’s apartment. He put on a pair of gray sweatpants and walked out of his room. To his surprise, he didn’t see his roommate (whoever that was) but instead, his darling sister holding what he could only assume was a black tea with one splash of milk from Apollo Cafe.

[color=6c697e]“I was wondering who that was.”[/color] Damien laughed, smiling lazily. He was trying to hide it but the bags under his eyes and disheveled hair was a clear indication that he slept like shit and he felt even worse. [color=6c697e]“I’m kind of surprised you didn’t sleep in. Nobody would blame you if you chose to hibernate for the entire semester.”[/color] He remarked as he took a sip of the semi-bitter tea, just as was exactly how the Gods intended black tea to taste like. [/indent][/indent][/color]