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Entering Ground Zero, music blared from Callan's headphones as she kicked at a pebble on the ground. The rain pattered on her umbrella and, with every gust of wind, smacked at the back of her hood. The poor citizens of GZ fought the storm through raised elbows and tilted umbrellas, but for all of mother nature's harshness, Callan remained unphased and lost in thought. The news about Marcus and Emma shouldn't have come as a surprise-- but it did. Perhaps hope was something she should be a little more careful with in the future.

Some GZ man suddenly ran into her shoulder, ricocheting sideways as if he'd run right into a brick wall. He seemed to be in too much of a panic to notice, however, as he simply resumed running without so much as a second glance. Removing her headphones, the screams became more audible as several more people rushed by. Up ahead, she spotted Zoe. Finishing up with... some... whoah. Not of her own accord, she started to tense up. Callan quickly returned her free hand to her pocket, trying to seem more relaxed as the redheaded aberration took notice of her.

"Uh," she tore her eyes away from the grisly scene. She was probably just sating her stigma. This was normal. Perfectly normal. "Hey Zoe. How's it... goin'?" She smiled, but it was easy to see she was a bit perturbed. Of course, by now she was familiar enough with Ground Zero to know its true purpose. These people weren't real and Callan was well aware of that. She was able forget about the carnage wrought by Misery several days ago thanks to that very fact. That was not her concern.

Zoe's ability was incredible as well as incredibly spooky. She'd melted through that person in seconds. No wonder her cuff had gone off as soon as she started melting that blonde kid's face.

Zoe was almost disappointed by the distraction, irritated as she watched the remainder of the people run away. She'd lost herself in the fight there, for a while - Forgotten about everything she'd had to deal with over the past few days. Still, there'd been more than enough time for her to sate her stigma. It almost begged the question of why she'd kept going past that point, but that wasn't something she really wanted to think about right now. Too much else came with it, too many questions she didn't know how to answer.

She looked at Callan with a shrug, noting the other girl's obvious discomfort. "About as well as I could expect, considering." Glancing at her hand, Zoe quickly melted away the last of the gore, not really bothered by it herself but figuring it didn't exactly scream 'approachable'. "Something bugging you?"

Urgh, he seriously hated the rain. Ernie squinted as the wind and rain battered his face, his legs working furiously to speed-walk him to his destination as quickly as possible. Even with a heavy, blue parka and umbrella, the weather was a total pain in the ass.

He'd checked at the dorms first, Room 201 as Angelique had told him. The dorms first because goddamn, who in their right mind would be out in this mini-cyclone? Unfortunately for Ernie, the only result he'd gotten from loudly knocking and calling from outside the door was angry threats from the neighbours. So he was forced to head out to Ground Zero but not before stopping by his own dorm to fetch some things. His coat, for one, but also his tomahawk and pistol. If him and Zoe were going to have some kind of training-bonding moment before the mission, Ernie wanted to be properly prepared.

Ernie arrived after a short while, seeing a conspicuously tall ginger further down the street as screaming Ground Zero fakes raced past him. A ginger girl that was tearing through a crowd of pseudo-civilians like a rabid animal. Oh boy. Ernie could only pray that she'd have her crankiness worked out before he had to work with her.

He was only about a block away but stopped in his steps as he saw a familiar head of aquamarine go up to Zoe. Cal? After finding out her crush was into another girl, Cal, an Arbiter, came to Ground Zero of all places? Strange coping mechanism, but understandable. He wasn't quite close enough to catch the conversation yet, though.

At Zoe's casual dimeanor, Callan's smile turned more genuine. "I'm just glad you're on my team," she laughed quietly. Her posture relaxed considerably, but she still held on to the tiniest sliver of caution. The feeling was similar to yesterday-- when Sander had informed her that he could probably take on Misery. However, in lieu of wanting to test Sander's limits, Callan felt significantly less inclined to do so with Zoe. Even so-- the embodiment of Supergirl could probably survive disintigration... right?

"Guess I'll take that as a compliment. Not gonna be much help today, though." Zoe smiled slightly, though it didn't seem quite right to her. If anything, she still felt like a liability - but she'd take it at face value for now. No denying that her ability was at least effective when it worked, anyway. Raising her eyebrows, she looked at Callan questioningly. "So what're you doing here? Just last-minute training or what?" Unless she'd gotten something confused, the other subnatural wouldn't have a stigma to deal with.

"Actually," Callan visibly perked up at the question, folding her umbrella as she continued, "I'm here to practice my new trick."

"New trick, huh? Sounds fun." Zoe grinned, figuring anything that distracted from her own powers was a good topic. Hopefully whatever Callan did was less disturbing. "So what's it like? You just get stronger or what?"

"Haha," her smile widened, "Pick a weapon and I'll show you." Callan's expression didn't change even as the she started to second guess her decision to show Zoe. She didn't know the girl well enough to really trust her and this shift in her ability... it was still Misery. She'd come here to test it out on her own. Perhaps she was getting too carried away.

Zoe shrugged, thinking for a moment. She'd figured Callan's powers were just the whole super-strength deal, but this was interesting. "How about a knife? Nice and simple." It made sense to Zoe not to try anything too complex - they weren't exactly in a position to waste anyone's energy today.

"A knife?" The question was steeped in dissappointment. Staring down at her shadow, Callan couldn't help feeling like the suggestion was a bit underwhelming. Knives were small.... but maybe starting off small would be best.

At her will, Callan's shadow darkened and writhed about on the ground. Almost as if in protest to what she was about to do. Suddenly having so much power over the very thing that had caused her so much trouble. It almost seemed wrong and yet she couldn't be happier. Crouching to greet her shadow, she set down her umbrella and pressed her palm against the wet cement that currently housed it. Following the steps she somehow knew by heart, Callan began to draw the weapon from the ground. As she pulled, her shadow shrank-- like a shockingly black cloth being picked up from the center.

At first, the dark mass did not resemble a knife in the least, aside from its size. As a small ball of black smoke with tendrils and sentience, it squirmed weakly in her hand. Against her skin it felt cool and irregular. She furrowed her brow in concentration, imagining the smooth handle and sharp edge of a knife. No sooner had she solidified the thought when the wispy black tendrils tensed outward and snapped into the shape she desired. The rest of the smoke slowly started to fade, revealing a stark black kitchen knife. A cheeky grin spread across her face. What had she been so nervous about?

"Well!" Callan turned her eyes on Zoe as the knife finished forming, "That was eas--HURGH"

The sudden weight completely caught her off guard. Nearly yanking her arm off, Callan's body lurched forward and sideways. She might've caught herself if it hadn't been for the merciless rain. Her inside foot slipped out from under her, knocking the other foot aside as it went. With a wet smack, she landed on the pavement, catching her fall on her elbow and hip. Fortunately, her body seemed unmarred by the incident.

"Whoa. What the--" Callan grunted as she moved to her knees, ignoring the uncomfortable dampness. "This thing is-- hella-- heavy!" She at first tried to lift the knife with one hand, but to no avail. Resorting to the use of two, she regained her footing and held the immensely heavy little object up for inspection.

"Woah, hey!"

At the sight of Cal falling, Ernie's walking pace had sped up to a heavy jog. The girl managed to get back on her feet before he arrived, but her hands were weighed down by something she pulled... from the ground? Could she summon weapon now?

"Is that a new trick?" Ernie asked, giving Zoe a small apologetic wave as he greeted Cal first, "It looks, uh, hard to work with."

Recognising Ernest, Zoe nodded in acknowledgement of the greeting before turning her attention back to the scene in front of her. Strange, really. It wasn't a large weapon at all, but there had to be something unusual about it if it weighed that much. Whatever it was, Ernest wasn't wrong about it looking like a pain to deal with. "No kidding. Maybe save the 'that was easy' stuff until you're sure you won't fall on your ass next time." She remarked, a slight smirk unconsciously appearing on her face. On the one hand she knew it could be hard getting to grips with new powers, but on the other Callan didn't seem to be hurt from the fall so Zoe didn't feel too bad about finding it entertaining.

Callan chuckled sheepishly, but her expression quickly grew more serious. "No," Callan disagreed, contemplating her dilemma. She wasn't going to give up on this new trick of hers so easily. "I think I just need something... bigger...? Something a little easier to hold in two hands."

"You want to hold more?" Ernie raised an incredibly skeptical eyebrow. That was some stubbornness worth admiring. Or maybe it was just stupidity. Ah well, no harm done, "Okay. Want me to hold your umbrella for you?"

At least she was determined, if nothing else. Ernest seemed to be going along with the whole idea anyway, although he didn't seem too certain about it. Zoe wasn't entirely convinced herself, but figured she didn't know enough about the power to question it. If it weighed the same no matter what, then maybe it'd make sense to use a larger weapon. Had to wonder if there was a restriction on the size, but pushing that kind of limit seemed better for another day.

Shrugging, she took a step back. "Your call. Just don't hit me with anything." A little rich for Zoe to worry about someone else hurting her, considering everything, but she didn't really feel like dying 'cause Callan dropped something on her head.

"Yeah. Thanks, Ernie," Callan smiled. A mental command to dissipate allowed her hands to close through the shadow knife. The matter dispersed through her fingers in all directions before slowly sinking back down into the shape of her shadow. Watching the display with reserved awe, she did her best not let on how cool she thought her newest trick was. Geeking out over a thing like this probably wasn't the best thing she could do. Especially considering everyone's current predicament.

Picking up her umbrella, she handed it to Ernie. It was nice to see that he wasn't hung up on her out of place comment during lunch. That was one thing she liked about Ernie-- he was generally really positive and few things ever seemed to really bother him. Save Sander apparently-- though she wasn't about to bring that up any time soon.

"Might as well give it a shot, right?" Stepping back for extra girth, Callan repeated the summoning process again-- this time imagining a large hammer. Drawing it from the ground, the handle was a great deal longer. As the tendrils snapped into the form, she braced herself for the sudden increase in weight, holding the heaviest end at a downward tilt. Once finished, Callan held on to the handle as the head fell and hit the ground with a heavy crash, leaving a good sized dent in the concrete. It wasn't anything ornate. Just a generic war hammer with a spike on top. Perhaps if she did a bit more research, she could come up with something better. This would have to do for now.

Callan pulled, managing to lift the hammer off the ground. It was still heavy. She could tell that swinging it around wasn't going to be a picnic, but she could probably land a few blows with it before tiring herself out... probably. Carefully holding it upright for a moment to further test the weight, she rested it on her shoulder with a strained grunt, shifting her body to the side to help balance the weight. Though her arms shook precariously with the movement, she smiled triumphantly.

Ernie stifled a laugh at Cal's unsteady stance. Her determination was almost cartoonish to him. Kind of adorable, in that clumsy, blind, and three-legged puppy sort of way.

"Wanna take a few test swings?" Ernie glanced up at the sky, squinting irritably at the rain, "Maybe somewhere less wet? I don't think I'll be able to umbrella you safely while you fling around that hammer."

Zoe had forced herself to ignore the weather for the most part, but Ernest's suggestion made her keenly aware of the fact that she was both cold and soaked to the bone. Probably should have brought a jacket, 'cause her stubbornness wasn't doing her any favours right now. She laughed awkwardly, looking away from the pair of them. "Now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind finding some cover. I'm, uh, kind of freezing to death here. Didn't exactly dress for the weather."

"Uh, Callan adjusted her shoulder beneath the uncomfortable weight of the hammer, "Yeah... Not sure if swinging this thing indoors is a great idea, though. Probably gonna have to change my clothes after this anyway. So you don't have to worry about 'umbrella-ing' me."

"Huh. Alright then," Ernie looked to Zoe, spying an abandoned clothing store behind her, "I guess we'll wait inside then? Maybe find something so you won't die of hypothermia? Cal, we'll get you something too."

CLANK. Callan set the hammer head-down on the pavement. "I don't need anything," she said, pulling up the hood on her maroon windbreaker. "The cold never bothered me anyway," she joked, cinching it tighter.

After a second of silence, Zoe grinned, shaking her head. "Right. Just come find us when you're done I guess. Shouldn't be too far away." Zoe glanced at Ernest, shrugging as she turned towards the abandoned store. "Come on, let's get out of her hair."

Ernie snickered all the way to the store, nodding at Zoe's suggestion. "Sure thing."

As they walked in, Ernie noticed that the selections on display were predominantly... black. Oh, he should've guessed from the font of the store logo outside. With his phone flashlight, Ernie flipped through a pile of cartoon graphic tees. Nothing warm enough. Maybe those gaudy leather jackets would help better? He turned to his future teammate.

"So, you're Zoe, yeah? With the melty powers?"

"That's not exactly how I'd describe it, but yeah, I'm Zoe. And you're Ernest, right?" Zoe had been waiting for Ernest to start questioning her, and sure enough, there it was. It was logical to try and have the discussion, at least. Turning away from him, she searched through a heap of crumpled hoodies, eventually just sighing and picking one up at random.

"Lot of this stuff isn't exactly practical, huh? Just toss me a shirt." It'd hopefully help to keep her slightly warmer, if nothing else. Zoe just couldn't be bothered spending a long time searching around for clothes. If they got this out of the way they could move on to something that was actually important.

A tee emblazoned with the emblem of some punk band he'd never listened to was tossed to Zoe. Seeing Zoe holding a fluoro green Invader Zim hoodie made Ernie's eyebrows shoot up and he struggled to contain a smirk.

"I like that colour," he grinned, completely failing in his efforts, "But yeah, I'm Ernest. Everyone calls me Ernie though. Are you pumped for the mission?"

"Oh, you know, I was going for the 'subtle' look." Zoe chuckled as she looked at the hoodie. Yeah, that was definitely a colour of some description, but putting it back now felt like an admission of defeat. After pulling on the shirt, she spoke, her smile fading.

"Not this time. I'd be happier if I could actually be any help. Last time we got sent out, a lot went wrong, I had to bail several people out, and I kinda got eaten alive." Still hadn't been enough to save everyone, but Zoe stood by most of what she'd done out there. This wasn't the same situation. "And now this time I'm gonna be stuck on my ass without the ability to do anything about it when things go wrong. You know, metal enemies and all."

"Yeah, I've been there," Ernie replied distantly, recalling his own missions that had gone downhill, "The 'lot went wrong' stuff, not the getting eaten alive. Wow, you've got to tell me that story sometime."

Zoe's mention of the impracticality of her powers triggered something in Ernie too.

"My power only really makes me harder to kill. Guess they wanted me to play as some sort of human shield for the healer, since I'd be useless anywhere else on the battlefield. Looks like got paired for the safest job. Biggest danger we've got is pulling a leg muscle from all that running and healer transportation."

He didn't dare reveal that he was happy with that promise of security.

"Go team useless, huh? I feel like you're tempting fate here, though. Saying 'we shouldn't be in much danger' basically guarantees we get chased by something." Zoe shook her head, not quite sharing Ernie's optimism about the situation. Besides, even if everything did go right for their group, it didn't change how frustrating the whole thing was.

"Nothing we can do about it though. Whatever happens, happens, we can think on our feet and deal with it. It's the others I'm worried about." She trusted most of them to handle themselves, but there were some issues weighing on her mind about the whole thing - Issues that she wasn't sure the others would cope with.

"Heh, yeah. Can't mess with those jinxes," Ernie smiled and looked out the window, seeing Cal practicing with her hammer. She still looked ridiculously clumsy. On a whim, Ernie began recording the spectacle. That was how athletes improved their technique, right? With taped matches? He addressed the rest of Zoe's comments as he watched.

"Well, we're the ones with the healer. It's up to us to keep the others on their feet," Ernie paused briefly, remembering the talk about games and missions, "This is a game of endurance. We're gonna be the ones juggling the health of the support team. The strike team's the timer, yeah? If... or when they take down the big guy, that's when the match is finished. So we just gotta make sure he doesn't run out of blood before then, I guess."

He observed Cal finally taking out a small building after a few too many clumsy misses. She was the most sensible of the strike team, from what Ernie had seen on Monday. Not really inspiring for the small fry like him and Zoe.

"You're right, but that's not what I meant. The problem is, we're fighting another subnatural. Another person. I'm more than capable of doing what needs to be done, but I'm not likely to have the chance. The others..." At the sound of a loud crash, Zoe gestured towards the doors.

"Well, take Callan out there as an example. She could probably snap most of the people here in two if she wanted. Almost definitely one of the strongest in our little group. I've not talked to her too much, but you tell me - Do you honestly think she's capable of killing someone? Not in retaliation, not by accident, but making the decision." Zoe's expression had darkened, a hint of the girl that had attacked Gregory visible on her face.

"Even if they make the choice, I don't trust that they'll know how to deal with it afterwards. They're decent people." 'They', in this instance, not including her, although she didn't realise herself how telling that was. Just didn't think of herself as one of the good ones.

Ernie peered at the girl curiously, feeling a tentative spark of... something light up in him. The closest thing to respect he could muster for someone he'd only just met. Perhaps admiration?

Zoe was a real Aberration. Not like Angelique who was still coming to terms with her new identity. Not like Emma who was far too 'normal' for Ernie to ever be comfortable with. Not even like Sander, who hid his true nature behind meek smiles and an infuriating calm. Ernie was reminded of the patrons back at Reno, the ones he'd learned to fear and admire in equal measure. He was reminded of Owen. Suddenly, he was very glad to have Zoe on his team. He turned to the windows again.

"I don't think Cal could hurt anyone," Ernie hoped that Zoe wouldn't see the continued smile on his face despite the somber topic. He couldn't really do anything about that. After all, he'd only just received the good news that he'd been paired with a mental powerhouse, "But she's got Sander with her. He'll probably be all the muscle she needs to get her head on straight. As for the rest of them..."

Running through his mental database, Ernie was mildly surprised to see how little he knew about his classmates, even the ones he'd talked to. Well, he'd only known the lot for a week.

"They're... we're all just a bunch of teens. We've got so many rookie mages who've only had their powers for like a week or two. That, on top of having to kill someone?"

Ernie chuckled ruefully. As if he had any experience in that area. He refused to think about Rain.

"I'm gonna be honest here. Majority of our classmates aren't people I trust with that sort of thing. The best thing we can do is just hope that when the time comes, they'll do the sensible thing. Decency's got no place in a warzone."

It was cold, he knew that. But he didn't want to get trampled by a robot just because some kid lacked the balls to do what had to be done. The dark-haired Aberration sighed. It seemed that Cal was finished with her practice. She looked exhausted so Ernie chose then to step out.

"As long as they don't leave it too late."

Zoe hadn't noticed Ernie's expression, instead too caught up in her own thoughts to really pay attention to it. Maybe Ernie was right. She expected he was to an extent - There weren't many people who wouldn't kill to save their own skin when it really came down to it. The question was how far they'd have to be pushed first. If they overestimated themselves, waited too long when the opportunity appeared, it would lead to a whole lot of trouble.

But in the end there was nothing she could do about it short of threatening them herself. With a shake of her head, she followed his lead, heading back out into the street where Callan stood.



Don't think about it.

Another swing of the hammer sent her dancing sideways.

Ugh, why is this thing so damn heavy??

A swing and a crash as she took out another wall of the building in front of her.

I mean... what's so great about Emma anyway?

Another swing and a crash.

Well, she dresses better than you. For starters. And she doesn't dye her hair for attention.

A swing and a miss.

I do NOT dye my hair for attention.

She swung the hammer downward, crushing a blue city mailbox like a pepsi can.

So... heavy....

With a heavy thud, the top of the hammer's head hit the ground as Callan leaned against it, out of breath for the first time since Tuesday. Needless to say, the school still seemed to be working on a proper training regime for the girl who couldn't turn off her ability without sending a giant shadow monster chasing everyone down and murdering them. Was that why? Callan couldn't say much when Marcus brought up what a pain afternoon training was. Not like Emma. It was hard work for both of them. Not her.

"Urgh," she grumbled, pushing back some stray hairs that had stuck to the side of her cheek in her collection of rain and sweat. Since Ernie and Zoe had left, she'd been trying to keep herself from dissecting the conversation at lunch. It wasn't complicated and it wouldn't do her any good to try and make it so. Hell, it wasn't even that big of a deal. She'd had a few crushes before. Maybe she was just getting everything mixed up. She was still pretty sad about the whole ordeal with her parents. Perhaps that was why she felt like she needed Marcus around? To cheer her up? Make her feel happy?

But that was ridiculous. Apparently he and Emma had been dating since Tuesday and he hadn't spent any less time with her and Siena because of it. So why? Why did she feel so jealous?

Callan did her best to shake off the conundrum of feelings clouding her brain as she noticed Ernie and Zoe approaching, each donning some spiffy new clothes. From Hot Topic, if she had to guess. She offered them an exhausted wave and smile as they approached.

Looking Callan up and down, Zoe met the other girl's gaze with a mixture of surprise and irritation. It was apparent that she'd been pushing the limits of her stamina, seeming genuinely tired out for the first time Zoe could remember seeing. It didn't occur to Zoe that there would be much of any reason behind it, considering how annoyingly relaxed and easygoing the others always seemed to be - As far as she was concerned, without any context it just seemed like a case of poor judgement.

"You do realise we're fighting later today, right? Swinging yourself out's not gonna do anyone any favours." She spoke sharply, though it was at least clear her words came from a place of concern. Whether that concern was about Callan's well-being or just the worry that it'd affect the fight was anyone's guess.

"Heh," Callan smiled apologetically, pressing her foot down on the hammer head to disperse it, "Don't we still got like five or six hours before we have to leave? Plenty of time to sleep it off. Don't worry, I'll be back at 100% by the time we get there." Probably. Callan hadn't expected to tire herself out so much, but, while she thought she understood Zoe's concern, she simply wasn't worried about it. Maybe because she had other things on her mind.

"She's right, Cal," Ernie handed back the umbrella, realising too late that Zoe would be completely uncovered again. Whoops. He shrugged apologetically, hoping that the girl wouldn't mind too much, but continued addressing Cal, "Don't let us catch you doing any more hammer stuff. You should be resting now."

Zoe shot Ernie an appreciative look before turning back to Callan. At least he was backing her up here - Made her feel like her concerns were at least somewhat grounded in reality. She smiled, speaking before the girl could raise any objections. "You might think you're totally fine and I get that, but I really don't care. Quit the training for now, or I will personally drag you outta Ground Zero and make you get some sleep. We clear?" An unlikely-sounding proposition, but Zoe sounded just serious enough that it was hard to tell whether she was joking or not.

"Woah, alright alright," Callan chuckled, raising both hands in defeat. The last of the hammer sank into her shadow. "No lie-- a nap sounds like a pretty good idea right about now."

Zoe's gruff attitude and Cal's relaxed tone brought a quiet giggle out of Ernie. It was pretty nice, seeing normal conversations right before a mission.

"Yeah, get some rest. Some place warm and not wet preferably," Ernie stretched, but in a strange manner that still kept the umbrella fixed above his head, "We wouldn't want our MVP to be tuckered out or sick during the big mission."

The trio made their way out of the broken city together, with Ernie constantly constantly fretting over the allocation of umbrella space. Talk of preparation for the mission kept the looming uncertainties from crashing down. It made things better, for Ernie at least. The smile on his face was genuine. He hoped that it would stay that way, since he knew what exactly kind of teammate he had now.
HOSHITANI YUUGA

Collective unconscious? Did that mean they were unconscious…together?

Yuuga rubbed his chin. Maybe that’s how they all got to the moon. Man, of all places to get kidnapped and taken to...

At the mention of Strange Gospel, the long-haired boy frowned. He quit that app ages ago, back when all the creepy stuff started happening. He could understand a tech whiz like Motoyama being called to solve whatever this goddess’ problem was, but a guy like him? Kids like him? No offense, but what was this girl thinking?

Yuuga was unable to deny the mystical aspects of these revelations. Even if this was some elaborate scam or advertising campaign for the app, they wouldn’t have been able to hack his dreams, right? All this stuff about β€˜Apocrypha’ and β€˜hollow space’… He’d just have to learn about these things in his own time. Hopefully Tsukuyomi would explain it.

Still, the whole thing about them putting a stop to whatever these Strange Gospel problems were still troubled Yuuga.

β€œEr… yeah, Yamada-san has a point. Shouldn’t you be getting the police or…” Yuuga remembered that they were on the moon, β€œI dunno, some astronauts to help you out? We haven’t even graduated high school yet!”


---don'tlookSun Roomdon'tlook---


Franceska laughed, the headmaster's words as fearsome as a light breeze against her back. Remedial history lessons sounded far more appealing than a ceremony to watch the insignificant bond. As if the world cared who bonded with whom when power and wealth controlled the upper class far more effectively than a single, maudlin tradition, one that felt dreadfully ludicrous the longer she stared at the girl meant to be her--she grimaced at the thought--soulmate.

"Maturity, dignity, and eloquence is wasted upon the undeserving rubes," she remarked, resting a gloved hand on her hip, "and I'll name my lessers what I please. Calling a worm by any other name doesn't change what it is, does it?"

She flicked the curled tresses behind her, eyeing Jeanette with the asperity of a queen who had just sampled a dish of rotting fish. Though even that sort of abominable cuisine was consumed somewhere, she supposed. Certainly not by anyone she would associate with, at least.

Her father had wanted the best for her, in his typical, disconnected fashion, but to think he would expect her to lower herself this far while upholding the Vrodiskovich name. The man certainly tried her patience the most of all the people she had encountered throughout her life. And then there was the matter of this absurd tradition--particularly now when touching her selected partner seemed as appealing as swallowing strychnine after their little tΓͺte-Γ -tΓͺte.

She generally reserved her best behavior for the extravagant parties and hubs of socialization she had grown up with and rarely extended such regard for anyone below her station, but if her father thought she would come running back home after something like this, he was grossly misinformed. Of course she despised the commoners she couldn't understand, and no amount of poorly timed conversations in her father's study would change that disdain now, especially not when he summoned her during her leisure time.

But in all things, there were games to be played, and if these pathetic excuses for traditionalists wouldn't yield, she'd find another way, sooner or later.

That still didn't make Franceska want to touch the filthy thing in front of her, of course, but she supposed she had entertained worse types pecking at the back of her hand like they deserved to even breathe the air around her.

"Well, if you insist on imposing this..." her prim lips pulled into a cold smile "...living sewage upon me, I'll simply have to wash the filth away more often."

She clasped and unclasped a hand slowly in front of her, watching the movements of her fingers and letting the seconds tick on, before finally extending it towards the Druid with a carefully neutral expression.

"But you're right. Let's not waste any more of my time standing in front of this poor thing." Franceska let a cool gaze linger on Jeanette's eyes a moment longer, catching the glare there with a glimmer of amusement in response. "She looks liable to faint from my mere presence."

@Raijinslayer@onenote


---don'tlookSun Roomdon'tlook---


Franceska was quick to go back to what she was doing before, which was to say that she was seething at their brutish headmaster. How dare this vile idiot keep someone of her status waiting. She briefly played with the idea of making her father purchase the school so she could instill a sense of discipline into this dog and pony show they call an academy, but she pushed that thought away. These peasants didn't deserve Vrodiskovich money, after all.

"Jeanette Blackwood and Franceska Vrodiskovich."


By the time Jeanette's name was called along side her own she had forgotten who 'Jeanette Blackwood' was. Franceska didn't care to waste her energy on remembering the names of faceless mongrels like the girl who had accosted her only minutes ago. She walked towards the podium with none of the other girl's enthusiasm, instead taking each step in a careful and measured manner, her cocky smile painted onto her face. A Vrodiskovich, of course, always must be the height of style and coolness.

When she saw the Blackwood girl her smile turned into a distinct scowl. She looked towards the headmaster and then the two druids in confusion. "Do you think that I'd bind myself to this vicious clod, let alone touch them?" she announced aloud, her voice strong enough that several of the students towards the front of the room could likely hear her. However, Franceska's expression turned into a slight grin after a moment of contemplation, a chuckle breaking out of her, "Ohohohoho~! I understand, this is a joke. I'll give it to you headmaster, this jape is mildly amusing, sending this simpleton to annoy me and then presenting her as my servant. Very funny, but let's send the real one up now, don't want to keep the rest of the peasants waiting."

Whether Franceska was being condescending or if she actually thought Jeanette's presence was a joke remained to be seen.

@Raijinslayer
Ernest Mars


𝕄: π•Šπ•–π•‘π•₯. πŸ™πŸœ, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / π•Œπ•Šπ”Έβ„π•€π•ƒβ„• 𝔼𝕒𝕀π•₯ / / π”Ήπ•¦π•šπ•π••π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝔹 / / 𝟘𝟞𝟘𝟘


Pathetic fallacy.

Thomas Mars, the movie junkie he was, had tried to explain that fancy-sounding term to a half-asleep Ernest some million years ago. They were watching some film about real estate, something with way too many adults and way too much talking for a kid to care about. Lots of swearing, but still talk he didn’t understand. Ernest hadn’t been paying attention. But even so, the memory of being tickled awake by his laughing father was prominent enough to brand those words into Ernie’s mental dictionary.

His father had gotten yelled at for showing a nine-year-old a movie with so much profanity. They laughed about it afterwards.

Shitty weather for his shitty mood. Ernie didn’t like it. If he was going to be miserable and afraid, he wanted to do it in the sunshine. Sunday was spent holed up in his dorm, blankly sorting through the requisitions he had received earlier in the week. By the time he was rudely awoken by the persistent guards on Monday, the paralysing fear had thinned out to something manageable. USARILN staff ruining his sleep hours before class with no warning? It probably only meant one thing. Ernie yawned as he changed and reached for that weighty backpack he kept in his closet, the one he never used except for occasions like today.

β€œYou’re not leaving yet. It’s just a briefing right now.”

β€œOh. Right.”

With five missions under his belt, Ernie naturally assumed that he had the most combat experience in the room, though the word β€˜experience’ was a stretch. All he’d done in those battles was stand in the back and shoot from a distance. Guard duty for the less offensively inclined in his team. In the end, experience was jackshit compared to power or skill, and he’d gained neither of the latter from his missions. But it was that deadweight duty that had kept him alive to this day. Not a really good achievement, considering his current circumstances.

Ernie didn’t realise he’d zoned out until his name was called out with the rest of his team. Christmas and Zoe, huh? Geez, someone in the higher ups had a cute sense of humor, putting a bully and his victim in the same team. Not only that, they were going to be grouped with a psychotic face-melter. Ernie recalled Savannah’s summary of the redhead’s powers. Living things only. So with the complete lack of organic enemies (and from that, their team’s complete lack of offensive ability) Ernie and Zoe were just deadweight. A glorified taxi service for the precious healer. They’d be starting on the backlines, something Ernie was grateful for, but as the battle raged they’d have to navigate the battlefield, praying that they’d reach their injured classmate before a monster robot slaughtered the lot of them; casualties, escorts, healers, and all.

Slaughtered… Battlefield…

Ernie clamped his hands together, interlocking his fingers to hide the uncontrollable shaking in his palms. Had he known that it would come so soon he wouldn’t have spent the week prancing around and acting like such a piece of garbage. Maybe spending his last week in ignorance was infinitely better than the knowledge that the class would be facing death against that brass monster. But for Ernie, for the past few days, Death had loomed around a little blond boy. Whether the dark-haired Aberration’s life came to an end inside or outside of USARILN grounds was of little importance. The cold dread in his heart told him the end would be here soon.

God, don’t let me die while I’m like this…

Like this? Like the selfish coward he’d been since he’d gotten shot and captured on that filthy, cold street in Reno? Ernie shook his head, berating himself silently.

Empty hopes. Words with no substance. It was fucking pathetic to start wishing for something like that at a time like this. Wishes triggered by such primal emotions had no real meaning. The intentions behind them would dissipate along with whatever danger that created them in the first place.

As they were dismissed, Ernie fiddled with his umbrella. He’d need to talk to the decay mage soon. Preparation and communication were going to be absolutely vital. The rain created a noisy barrage against his umbrella as it hit and Ernie was reminded of that old conversation, back before the roof had collapsed and his father’s DVD collection had been shattered to pieces. Ernie had never found the nerve to look for his parents under all that rubble. He’d never found the nerve to do many things.

I can’t see you yet. Not while I’m still like this.

He shook the intrusive thoughts out of his head once more. Thinking could come later. Right now he just wanted to eat.
HOSHITANI YUUGA

I should’ve changed beforehand.

Yuuga blinked. This was… not ideal. He had no idea where he was. And he was still in his kyudo uniform. Which meant that all his stuff was back at school.

Can’t even call for help. Phone was in my bag.

The towering boy looked about, taking in the surroundings. Looked like an opulent place. A fancy karaoke room maybe. Definitely something out of the price range for a usual mixer. But he digressed. What stood out to him most was the number of people he knew that were with him. Yuuga ran through his mental catalogue again, trying to get some bearings of these schoolmates. Perhaps there would be a trend among them?


All in all, no real rhyme or reason why these particular students were brought here. Nothing that Yuuga could think of, anyway. By the time he finished examining the last person, a small girl in some kind of miko outfit (cosplay?) had bounded up to the group. Yuuga failed to muster any intelligible response besides a quiet β€œOh…uh…wh-what, where are we?”

The Hound and Motoyama had already asked the necessary questions. Yuuga regretted missing his chance to make some sort of rousing comment.
Timeline for Interaction Week 2 (Post-Flag Football Collabs)

Can't be bothered double checking the links. Have fun.















Ernie upgrade unlocked.

Ernie's rope now has a length of 10 metres. He is able to toggle between his standard rope and a new 'auto-latch' ability with which he can automatically manifest a tight noose around any target in his range. For human targets the noose wraps around their necks, while for larger, non-human targets, it simply appears around an appendage. If he latches an inanimate object, the rope will manifest in a manner that grips the object properly. However, he is unable to move from his spot while his rope is on 'latch' mode. On the other hand, almost nothing can move him. Durability while rope is active has increased to the point where he would be mostly unfazed by a building collapsing on him.

Rope now lasts 20 minutes. Cooldown remains the same.

When his rope and durability are active, Ernie emits a subtle, golden glow from his body.
γ€Žπ”Ήπ•£π•–π•Ÿπ•₯』 γ€Žπ”Ύπ•£π•’π•Ÿπ•₯』 γ€Žπ”Όπ•£π•Ÿπ•–π•€π•₯』 γ€Žπ”Ύπ•£π•–π•˜π• π•£π•ͺ』




π•Šπ•–π•‘π•₯. 𝟠, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / π•Œπ•Šπ”Έβ„π•€π•ƒβ„• 𝔼𝕒𝕀π•₯ / / π”Ήπ•¦π•šπ•π••π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝔸 / / ~𝟚𝟘𝟘𝟘


Was five pounds worth of wings enough for three people? Though he had already finished cooking at this point, with five different platters of wings arranged on styrofoam plates, Brent couldn't help but wonder if they were better off with ten pounds instead. Or maybe he should toss up a salad...but who even ate salad? The arbiter tapped the back of the knife against the counter. The 'buy big save big' package of chicken wings he had purchased from the supermarket looked big, but now that they were crispy, sauced up, or what have you...

"Too small."

A part of him wanted to cheat and just steal a ton of wings from the cafeteria, but cheating was for losers. Maybe the problem here was not taking advantage of those party-size bags of Lays that were on promotion? That would be something nice to munch on after the real meat ran out. But fries were a nice option as well. Would give him a chance to practice julienning potatoes as well, and the batter shouldn't take too long to prepare. Salt and pepper were in abundance anyways. Hm...

"Yo, Grant," Brent called, turning to face his perpetually bedridden roommate, "Chips or chips?"

While Brent was busy struggling over his enigma, Grant had been spending his own downtime comfortable in his bed, his back turned toward his roommate. Only when his name was called did Brent elict any movement from Grant, who turned his head just enough to look back at him for his question. The said question was met with silence as his mind chugged along before he finally just answered simply with, "...Chips." After giving his answer, Grant laid his head back where it was previously, closing his eyes once more.

...well, that was awkward. Expected of Grant, but still, awkward. And now even more awkward was trying to explain the joke to the ever-impassive youth. "I'll rephrase that. Potato chips or french fries?"

Another question from his roommate, but Grant didn't turn around again. Just as it seemed as if he had probably just fallen asleep, the eternally tired boy spoke up. "Chips. They'll last longer." Was what he answered with.

"Practical," Brent remarked, "I like it." Made sense as well, having food that didn't go bad once it got cold. Same logic as popcorn and all: if you were in for the long haul, it's better to have temperature-neutral food. "By the way, couple of classmates are coming over tonight. Movies and chill and all that. Think you can sleep through that?"

With Brent's remark, Grant shifted to get into a more comfortable position, thinking that'd be the last of his questions. Little did he know, his roommate asked another question just a little after that. "Don't worry about me." As long as there was no direct disturbance to him, he'd be just fine with the coming company.

"Cool, give me a shout if you want something to eat." Brent paused. Grant shouting? What alternate dimension was this? "Or just say something."

"Understood." Grant said lastly to that before going back to his usual silence, but he still couldn't bring himself to fall asleep at the time.

A loud knock sounded from the door. "Brent?" Ernie called out, "This is your dorm, right?"

"No," Brent replied flatly, "It's Bob's. I just tied him up and tossed him in the closet. Dude's got a killer kitchen."

A pause.

"Door's unlocked, by the way."

Ernie peered in, glancing around the room. Once he noticed Brent, he exhaled a sigh of relief. The Aberration walked in, carrying a rather noticeable canvas bag with the top full of chip packets, the ones you could get from vending machines. He looked ready for a sleepover, trackpants and a comfy jacket worn for maximum comfort. His hair was also tied up.

"Let's hope Bob won't be making too much noise in the closet tonight," Ernie quipped. He noticed another boy in one of the beds, sending a small "Hi" his way.

"Spent all morning practicing how to gag people. Shouldn't fail me now," Brent grinned, glad that he didn't trigger some PTSD episode from Ernie with that joke. Motioning towards the granite counter on the kitchen, the amethyst-eyed youth grabbed a large plastic bowl, intending on popping open all the bags that Ernie brought and tossing them in.

"Hopefully Greg brings soda or something. All I have stocked up is milk."

"We could make smoothies or something. You can do a lotta stuff with milk." Ernie opened the packets one by one, flattening and folding the emptied ones as he went along. They created a neat pile when they went into the bin. "So where we sitting?"

How neat. Mimicking Ernie's meticulous chip-packet disposal method, Brent glanced over to the living room. "Probably by the TV. Already got food prepped over there, as well as movies other than 'Hazel vs The World'."

The bowl was rapidly filling up. Perhaps another one was needed.

"By the by, didja smooth things over with Angelic?"

Ernie spun to meet Brent with a dazzling smile. The goofy expression of innocent delight seemed so deeply engraved on the boy's face that it seemed that he'd forgotten to answer. When he finally did, his tone was quite excited.

"More than smooth, bro! We talked things out and I think we're kinda friends now. I even got her number!"

"Dude?" Brent raised out his fist. "Niceeeee."

Ernie completed the fistbump with a laugh. "Right? This is, like, a dream! I didn't think I'd ever be in the same class or even the same school as Angel. I've been having some kinda weird, happy freakout all day."

"She used to be a rock star or something, yeah? Guess you can live the fanboy dream now." Brent emptied another bag in the slowly-growing pile of assorted chips, before looking up at Ernie once more. "So, what's up with Montreal anyways?"

Was it a smart thing to do, to gossip about another person's trauma behind their back? It wasn't really the moral complications Ernie was worried about, rather the chance that Brent would do the same thing as he did and go blabbing it right to her face. Sounded like a recipe for scream-scrambled brains, for both boys. But in the end, Ernie decided to just go for it. Brent was a cool guy, right? Plus, all the information was there on the internet. Anyone with the sense to google the name would have easily found an article on the concert, probably as one of the first results.

"Her last concert on some Homecoming event thing. She kinda outed herself as a Subnatural during a song and well, you know how her power works. Didn't get to hear the close details but a lotta people got messed up."

A pause.

"Guess it's a sore point for her. Makes sense. Definitely a can of worms to avoid, when we hang out again. Don't wanna be scream-shouted across campus, yeah?"

"Ah..." So that was the landmine he had avoided when he went shopping with her. Considering all the other bombs he totally stepped on, that was probably a good thing. Still, a lot of people got messed up? How strong WAS Angelic back then? Gained her powers a couple weeks ago, but the scream she had there in the gym, during her breakdown of sorts, didn't even manage to knock over any of the objects, while the screams she had against the dragon were meant to intentionally damage.

Huh, what the hell happened during that concert? Brent visualized the chain of events. Gained powers before the concert, KNEW about how her powers worked, and then went on for her concert regardless? He narrowed his eyes slightly, before nodding.

"Yup. Definitely wouldn't want to get blasted by our resident dragon-slayer." He dusted off his hands, before lifting up the almost-overflowing bowl, a couple of chips tumbling onto the counter. "At least subnatural life means a second chance, eh? Can only go up from here!"

Debatable. For Ernie, 'subnatural life' had consumed the last seven years of his existence. Everything before that...

Ernie frowned. He hated thinking about these things. Hated thinking about-- wishing for-- things that could've been. What was the point? He was here now, at USARILN East. Far from the safety and casual luxury of West. Far, far from Reno too. His subnatural life was likely to end within the next few weeks. Then nothing could go up. Nothing would matter. Memories flickered in the corner of his thoughts. Despite having his Stigma sated by his morning encounter with Angelique, Ernie couldn't help but feel a longing for home, whatever that meant these days.

He hated it. Hated feeling this way, hated having to think, having to remember. So he stopped thinking. He shoved the intrusive thoughts into the back of his mind once more, far too eager to put it behind him.

Subnatural life, huh? It didn't go up. Not for, well...

Ernie wanted to say Aberrations, but he knew it would only be a part of the truth. He had known formidable X-marks, mages who were stronger than he ever would or could be. Aberrations weren't the missing part of that statement. Subnatural life didn't go up for people like Ernie. That was the answer.

"Well, y'know," the longer-haired boy responded vaguely, "Life's what you make of it. Going up is... something we gotta work for, I guess. But if there's anything that helps with that work, it's optimism."

He took a chip and ate it, ignoring the hypocrisy of his words. A memorised smile worked itself back onto Ernie's face.

"That, and knowing how to handle yourself and your powers. But that's a buncha stuff for some other bummier time. What are we watching tonight?"

Tink. It sounded like a rock had thunked against the kitchen window. Tink. Tink. If anyone bothered to look outside, they'd notice Gregory standing below with a few more rocks in hand and his phone in the other.

A few moments later, and the text showed up on Brent's phone. "Guards won't let me in without one of you vouching for me."

That smile. Dislikeable. Brent suppressed the bitter taste in his mouth, really wishing that he had something sinfully sweet to drink now. Thoughts drifted towards that drugged up x-girl that he had met in the hospital during his first 'real' day in USARILN, but he found himself nodding to Ernie's words anyways. As the topic of movies came up though, he chuckled.

"Yeah, sounds like a topic that'd be better brought up while getting hammered," he replied, "And I got a whole bunch of nature documentaries lined up tonight. The entire uncut, uncensored, remastered version of Planet Earth: Awoken! Education and entertainment, all documented in super high risk environments! Also got stuff like Mad Flaps: Yuri Road and the live action for Metal Smear Avengeance, but think we're set f-"

A tink on the window, and then Gregory's text, brought Brent out of his own bit of gushing.

Kk, I'll pick you up from the lobby then.

"Looks like Grego's here already. I'll go fetch him."


Ten minutes later, the door to the dorm opened up once more, revealing Brent. "Welcome to Bob's place," he gestured with a grin.

Blinking a few times as he took off his shoes, Gregory wasn't too surprised at the difference in living accomodations he supposed. The dorms here were supposed to be shared right? "Huh? Your roommate's name?" If there was a joke to be got, it cleared his head without any trouble. A few metallic clinks came from his backpack as he finally noticed Ernie and raised his hand in greeting.

"How many others are coming?" he asked as he unzipped the backpack and began to pull cans of soda out.

Man, what a weirdishly convenient turn of events. First with Ernie bringing in chips and now with Gregory bringing in drinks? Was there some sort of cosmic force influencing everyone's decisions, ensuring that no one had any sort of overlap despite the fact that there had been zero communication? How strange. Maybe subnaturals had some sort of sixth sense for these events.

"Bob's the dude in the closet," Brent replied, bringing the cans to the table by the TV, "And naw, everyone's here now. Only bothered inviting team 4 peeps. Sav was PMSing and Emma was 'busy'."

One by one, those assorted soda cans formed a pyramid.

"Ooh. We haven't met yet," Ernie chirped, extending his hand, "Ernest, but everyone calls me Ernie. You were hardcore in the game, man."

Blinking a few times, Gregory glanced towards the closet with a dubious expression before he muttered, "Riiight." Tossing aside the backpack once it was emptied, he turned his attention to the other boy in the room. He frowned a bit at the mention of yesterday's shitshow, but otherwise didn't seem to let it bother him too much as he shook Ernie's hand. "That's one way to put it... Gregory, but Greg is fine."

"Yeah, your power was hella interesting. Just that Hazel hard-counters literally everyone else here," Brent replied, before motioning for the blond to sit down, "Anyways, I got like, one disc for every continent for Planet Earth. Where y'all wanna start?"

"I'm voting Africa," the dark-haired Aberration plopped himself on the far end of the couch, "I wanna see those crazy giraffe-lion fights!"

'Wasn't that the truth...' Clicking his tongue, he took a seat on the other end of the couch and then shrugged. "Sure, let's go with Africa. Australlia afterwards?"

"Oho, Australia with the illegal kangaroo baiting rings?" the arbiter nodded with approval, "Sounds like we got the first three hours lined up!"

With that, he slid the disk in, before popping back onto the floor. As cameras panned over desolate landscapes and drones flew over mutated monstrosities, a baritone voice waxed poetic on the glories of the landscape and the savagery of DC's creatures. Soon, the orchestra crescendoed, 'Africa' popping out from the screen.

Brent grabbed a chip.

"So, one-line impressions of Hazel vs Everyone?"

Ernie began working through a chicken wing. "Kinda glad I was too tazed out to get strip-smacked by her. Looked rough."

The can hissed before Gregory took a sip, and it was hard to tell if he was frowning from the burn or question. "A shitshow of bad decisions?"

"Yeah," Brent laughed, "Doomed from the start."
γ€Žπ”Όπ•£π•Ÿπ•–π•€π•₯』 γ€Žπ”Έπ•π•π•šπ•€π• π•Ÿγ€



π•Šπ•–π•‘π•₯. πŸ™πŸš, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / π•Œπ•Šπ”Έβ„π•€π•ƒβ„• 𝔼𝕒𝕀π•₯ / / π”Ήπ•¦π•šπ•π••π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜ 𝔹 / / πŸ™πŸ˜πŸ›πŸ˜

Collab with @VarionusNW and @banjoanjo


The week had been a pretty mixed bag for Ernie. Plenty of ups, thanks to new friends like Brent and Angel. Far too many downs though. Ernie was fine with forgetting those more negative moments. Completely erasing them wasn't possible, but drowning them out certainly was. So it was on this fine Saturday morning that Ernie plugged his Karcher CV 30/1 into his room's power socket and began his weekend cleaning routine.

Ah, what a calming yet powerful roar this machine produced. Ernie could feel his spirit lighten as dirt and grime werelifted from the disgusting berber carpet that occupied his dorm. Within minutes, the small dorm was freshly cleaned, with a stripe pattern decorating the carpet of the room once he finished. Good god, he really was in denial. Or he was just bored. He really needed to make some more friends. All these aimless days were going to get to him before long.

Ernie glanced at the power socket, lamenting the briefness of his cleaning time. Urgh, these East dorms were so stupidly small. There was barely anything to occupy his time. Unless...

The Aberration peeked out from behind his door. The hallway was empty. And carpeted. That was the important detail. Ernie felt anticipation build, an excited smile slowly creeping up his face. This would be a worthy time-waster.

The vacuum was quickly plugged into one of the hallway's outlets. His noise-blocking headphones were worn this time. Such lengthy tasks demanded some sweet jams.

He vacuumed as he sang, completely uncaring of anyone he would be disturbing. It was 10:40am anyway. What kinda loser would still be snoozing in their room at this time?

Allison mumbled in her groggy state, the sounds of the previous night replaying in her head. She had been up late into the night with Angel, re-learning how to play the guitar. Allison didn't remember when the stopped, just that she had walked back to her room tired, with aching fingers, and collapsed into her bed. She was now slowly waking up, the sound of the guitar still humming in her ears.

As the girl continued to lay in her half awake state, she began to notice that what she was hearing sounded less like the familiar miserable strumming of the guitar at her fingertips, and more like a constant hum, aided by some other loud, obnoxious noise. Someone was singing. The obnoxiousness grew louder and louder as she regained consciousness, finding it more unbearable as time passed. She threw her pillow over her head and tried to lull herself back to sleep to no avail. Allison's peaceful rest had been stolen from her, and there was only one thing to do.

Allison rose from the covers, mournfully wiping the sleep from her eyes. She put on the first clothes she could find, a sleeveless purple shirt and jeans, and shuffled her way to the door. She felt gross and uncomfortable in her lack of sleep, which only helped to worsen her mood. She was ready to destroy the property of whoever decided to vacuum the hallway of the aberration dorms. Who in their right minds would thing such a thing was a good idea? And whilst singing, no less. Allison threw open her door.

The obnoxious singing and constant hum of the vacuum cleaner only got louder once Allison stepped into the hallway, the culprit in clear view, though facing away from her. Long hair, relatively tall, and clearly smug despite his face not being visible. Ernie Mars. Of course it would be the guy who stabbed her in the eye, no one else one floor would have the complete lack of concern for others required to fill the halls with such pointless noise. She had half a mind to walk up and smash the machine, but the reasonable part of her told to at least give the monster that was Ernie a chance to prove himself to be not a complete asshole.

"Ernie!" She spoke up, too tired to force a full yell. "Hey Ernie, can you quiet down, please?" Despite her attempt, Ernie kept on vacuuming, his music probably drowning out Allison's half-hearted call. "Ernie!" She called again, her voice still not piercing the boy's ears. Allison, having given up on calling out to Ernest, walked over with all the grace of someone who had just woken up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I tidy up your room! You tidy up my-- huh?"

At the sudden tap on the shoulder, Ernie turned to see a rather irritated girl. Allison, the girl he'd kinda accidentally stabbed on that first day. That 'accidentally' part was debatable. He'd definitely meant to stab someone, just not her. And he'd tried to apologise--uh, sort of. Okay, he might have been a bigger dick than he needed to be on Monday. Ernie tugged his headphones to his neck, shouting over the roar of the vacuum.

"Allison, right?" Ernie was barely audible, "Did you need something?"

"Could you not vacuum the hallway in the morning, or at least get a quieter vacuum? Actually, why are you vacuuming the halls in the first place?" Allison's assumption was that Ernie was just being a dick, but there were much more affective ways of being a dick than vacuuming the hallway. Allison found herself both tired and confused.

"Uhh, cos it's super dirty and gross?" Ernie answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dozens of Aberrations would have tread this hallway daily, and Ernie didn't trust anyone to keep things clean better than himself. Really, the school should be compensating him in some way, having him do the work for whatever poor excuse the USARILN janitorial team was. Besides, Allison's complaining made no sense. Ernie switched his machine off to better talk.

"What kinda slacker is asleep at almost 11 in the morning anyway? And no, I'm not gonna pull out the quieter one. It doesn't have the power to get the shit out of the carpets like this baby does," Ernie tapped the side of the vacuum fondly.

"Fair enough" Allison said to the comment on the floor, staring down at the ground around her. It really was rather gross. It wasn't cleaned all that regularly, and the janitorial staff was likely too underpaid to care. "It's 11 already? How late were we up?" Allison mumbled to herself. She stifled a laugh at Ernie's fondness for his vacuum. "Alright then, Ernie the janitor. To think there'd be a student here willing to vacuum the miserable floors, and the guy who stabbed me in the eye, no less." Though Allison was still angry about being stabbed in the eye, she mentioned it lightheartedly, her overall mood seeming to lift at the strangeness of Ernie's character.

"Oh yeah, that," Ernie cringed at the memory. Guess it had been too much to hope that she'd let go of it easily. Still, he'd prefer to minimise the number of people who hated him in this new environment. Now that his Stigma was cleared and he was lucid enough to think things over, Allison didn't seem like someone who deserved to get temporarily disfigured like that. She'd reacted reasonably enough to his cleaning ruckus. For starters, she didn't try to destroy his vacuum unlike some people he could name at West. He'd realised a lot of the wrong things he'd done this week. So even if he didn't mean it (though he probably did), a proper 'sorry' was what she deserved.

"That was a really shitty apology I did on Monday. I shoulda put a lot more effort into it," Ernie scratched his head. Apologising was... awkward, "Me with the table leg... That was just a really stupid overreaction and I got caught up in the fight and lost my cool. It's a pretty obvious rule to not stab classmates but..."

Geez, this sounded really bad out loud.

"It was a dick move. Way outta line. Sorry for hurting you like that."

"Thanks." Allison, though she didn't let it show, was shocked that Ernie could actually seem sincere, considering her last encounter with him. Of course, some part of her still thought he was lying, but she pushed that down as much as the thoughts that permeated the back of her mind. Maybe Ernie wasn't as bad as she originally assumed. She remembered her conversation with Zoe from Tuesday, how she had given Zoe a second chance in her mind, and refrained from just calling her a monster outright. How could she not give the same treatment to Ernie. Maybe there was some good to Ernie. Allison knew for certain that truly good people didn't exist, maybe the same held true for true evil. "I think I can understand why you did it, and while I'm still angry about being, you know, stabbed in the eye, I don't hate you. I certainly can't hate a guy who vacuums this disgusting floor, even if he does it without regard for people sleeping in late." She let off a light chuckle with the last line.

Ernie smiled gratefully. So Allison wasn't going to stab him in his sleep. Wonderful! He could definitely use more friends in this new environment. However, he had no sympathy for late sleepers. Ernie was tempted to call her out but settled for a milder approach.

"Yeah, you might wanna get that sleep schedule checked out. You never know when you might get sortied so you don't wanna be fighting monsters on only a few hours' sleep."

"Alright, alright. I'll tell Angel that I can't hang out with her at night by authority of a janitor." Allison remarked. After she said it, she wasn't sure if Ernie knew who Angel was, realizing it was probably dumb to drop her name.

"Oh hey, you're friends with Angelique too? We should all hang out sometime! There are still some places in town I wanna check out," Ernie beamed excitedly, "And yeah, janitor's orders. Don't want any pesky kids dirtying my floors at 3 am."

"I'm surprised you know her. Yea, I guess we'll have to hang out at some point." Allison laughed at Ernie's last comment. "Well, Ernie the Janitor, I guess I should leave you to your work. You don't get payed to stand around talking to people. Well, you also don't get payed to vacuum loudly and sing, but that's besides the point." Allison stretched her arms, realizing that she had completely failed at what she had come to do, and ended up completely awake as a result. She wasn't getting her beauty sleep, it seemed. "Oh, and your singing is absolutely terrible. You sound like you're choking on a dying cat. You're not choking on a dying cat, are you?"

"Getting paid, huh?" Ernie rubbed his chin, considering the possibilities. He'd done something like that at West, helping people clean their dorms and such. Whether or not he had their approval was a different matter. But when they did ask him to do it, he usually got paid in snacks or cakes and such. It wasn't like he was short on cash or anything, but the thought of hoarding favours did appeal to him. Allison's next comment caught him off-guard, leaving that train of thought for another day.

"Aw man, you're hurting my feelings!" Ernie shook his head ruefully. He didn't know he sounded that bad. Ah well, he wasn't aiming for a music career or anything. It was all in good fun, "Ew. No cats here, they shed like crazy."

"Would just mean more for you to vacuum up." Allison shrugged.

"Not just vacuuming, clothing too! I don't wanna have to buy a bunch of lint rollers for my shirts just because of some nasty fluffball."

"Alright, second decree of the janitor, no cats allowed. Do you want me to write that down? How many decrees should I expect? Will it be 'Ernie's 10 Janitorial Commandments'?"

"What, like 'Thou shalt not leave your washing machine unattended'? Stuff like that?" Ernie laughed, "I could think of a lot more than ten in that case."

"Guess I should ask for a really big stone tablet, then."

"It'd be pretty easy for you, yeah? With your power and all," the boy nodded, "A really big rock. You'd have to update it often too."

"Alright, guess I'll carve it into the side of a mountain, then. Will Everest be big enough?"

Another round of laughter. "Hahaha! Hopefully!"

Man, this was an important lesson he learnt today. Don't stab people before you get to know them. He didn't think that Allison would've been so fun to talk to. He hadn't thought anything of her, really. He was glad to have been mistaken. Ernie glanced at the ground, reminded of his earlier chore.

"Yeah, guess I really should get back to work. I might do the other floors of this building too, if this one goes quickly. Talk again some other time?"

Ernie paused briefly, thinking.

"Can we swap numbers? I was serious about hanging out. You seem alright."

"Yea, sure." Allison said, realizing that her phone was still in her room. She had barely touched the device all week, spending very little time aclimatizing herself to the strange thing, and even less memorizing her own number. "I'll have to go get my phone, though, be right back." She went to grab her phone from her room as quickly as she could, returning just as fast.

"Sweet!"

The two Aberrations exchanged contact details. While he could, Ernie snapped a picture of an offguard Allison for her contact page in his phone. Hm, he'd have to do the same for the others too.

"I'll see you around then?"

"Yea, see you around. I'll let you get back to work." Allison walked away, leaving the strange boy to his vacuuming.

Ernie waved the girl goodbye, getting back to work like Allison had suggested. Ah, he would have never expected mornings at East to be so refreshing. He restarted the vacuum, popped his headphones back on, and began singing again with even more vigor than earlier.
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