Realistic or Modern Crystal Rivers Academy: The Occult Detective Club

[BackSet]

When Bianca made a comment on his pun Drakon smiled. He had hardly talked to her and she seemed like the shy quiet type. It was very unexpected when she exclaimed her consent to being blindfolded very enthusiastically. That was so,etching Drakon could appreciate. He decided to cheer her on. "That's the spirit!" He said giving her a hearty pat on the back. "Anyone else want to completely defy my negative expectations of them and basically be awesome!" At this he glanced at the eccentrically dressed girl who called herself Quincy. He was hoping she would turn out to be less of a snob than he expected.

Cinderlily Kylesar1 Steve Freeling (good luck) CoolGuy GrieveWriter The Cobalt Killer

 

[The Cobalt Killer]

Julien raised an eyebrow at Bianca's minor albeit still slightly uncharacteristic outburst, but smiled regardless. He laughed along with it all, however, that smile of his soon turned into one of awkward concern as he scratched the back of his ear nervously. "Actually, er, I am afraid I do not understand what is so funny." He looked between the two, hoping for an answer. Not simply because he had missed out on the joke, but because he wanted to gain a better understanding of his teammates and their sense of humour.

Cinderlily
BackSet

 

[BackSet]

Julien was confused at Drakon's joke. No problem. Drakon was ready to explain. "To blindside means to attack unexpectedly at an opponents blind spot." He explained. "We're being blindfolded so we will be blind. Everywhere will be our blind spot. It's a play on words." Drakon laughed. "Also it's kind of amusing when people ask seemingly out of character." He added in.

Cinderlily The Cobalt Killer

 

[Cinderlily]

Bianca flushed slightly. Getting approval from Drakon was oddly satisfying. She wasn't the type who had very many friends so things like this were foreign to her. She didn't dislike it, though. Bonding and all that. She had also wanted to gain companions out of this as well. She grinned at him in response.
Apparently the pun went right over Julien's head. He expressed his confusion after initially laughing. It had her laughing once again. Was American and French humour that different? Perhaps it was a language barrier thing. Either way Drakon explained and as he did so a wave of...something washed over her. A sense of belonging. She had found her niche.

Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer GrieveWriter CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[CoolGuy]

Ariel kept talking about the demon. At this point, it was getting a little bit suspicious. Max had entertained the thought of the tattoo not containing a demon, but perhaps it really didn't. But then, why would they even get it? And what was this about their inner demons speaking if they did? He had no idea. Ariel was on a completely different level from the rest of them, it seemed. Regardless, the Occult Club was already proving itself mysterious, and a terribly serious affair.

Max would have likely continued over analyzing the club, trying to understand everything about it, but Drakon made a joke. It wasn't a good joke, granted, but it lightened the mood. He laughed far more than the joke deserved. Even if he was curious about things, it was still a club, and a club was meant to be fun. He smiled a bit, thinking about the future events. Fun would be the second priority, but it'd still be on the list. Then he mentally caught up with the conversation. "Wait, did you say that you had negative expectations of us?"

BackSet

 

[GrieveWriter]

Quincy seemed satisfied with the range of weapons she had to choose from, and merely shrugged before silently allowing their Club Leader to continue speaking. The others began talking about the weapons they wanted, and eventually Ariel told them they'd need to go to the SCA HQ blindfolded. In comparison to some other places she'd been this was actually quite lenient.

And then the Drakon boy made a pun and Bianca took humor to it, was somewhat beneath Quincy to comment on such a matter but she just kept her usual cheeky grin plastered on her face. The deliverer of said pun then turned an eye to her expectantly, and she merely shrugged at him when the French boy admitted to not getting the joke. And then Drakon commited the sin of trying to explain the joke.

"Oh darling," Quincy sighed before turning to Julien and casually gesturing to him "take no shame in not getting the joke. Perhaps those you've interacted with in the past have been less on the nose in their humor? Either way, I'm sure given enough time in his presence, you'll be able to interpret the young man's little antics far more effectively."


Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[BackSet]

Antics eh. Drakon thought. Looks like this girl was not going to downplay his negative interpretation of her. He decided to address Max's question. "Yes I did have negative expectations of... A few of you." He gave a slightly scathing glance at Quincy. "Let's see negative interpretations." He thought for a few seconds. "I expected Bianca to be more shy and... I can't think of the other word but that's besides the point. Turns out she's not. Julien downplayed any negative expectations I had of him yesterday. Ariel kind of scared me at first but she's proving to be pretty fun. You," he pointed at max. "Did not get any negative expectations. You seem like a pretty great guy. And Quincy is just... Okay she downplayed nothing. I still don't like her." Quincy still seemed like an uppity smug jerk. He seriously hoped she would turn out not to be that but at the moment it didn't seem to likely.

CoolGuy GrieveWriter Cinderlily The Cobalt Killer Kylesar1 Steve Freeling

 

[Kylesar1]

Ariel Osler
Room 502​

"Because you're all suspicious of each other. How about a little bonding?" she asked in concern. More like mock concern. "You'll need to have each other's backs on the field." She didn't seem to be kidding at this point about the danger of the job "I'll do everything in my power to ensure your safety even in unsafety."

"I'm Ariel Osler, your club president. My favorite color is purple and I love hotwings, cats, and I can play the piano. I use a gold and silver engraved Rugar with Silver Bullets, Salt Rounds, or Iron Bullets. It's been enchanted already. You get that about halfway through the year." Ariel looked at the students in the seats and pulled out her Ruger. Her real, true Ruger. An actual gun in this school. If a teacher looked in, she'd be arrested and expelled immediately. She didn't point it at anyone though. If there was any sort of doubt about how serious she was, it was clean out the window now. If anything, this probably shattered the attempt to lighten things up

She stared at the deadly weapon and sighed. She fidgeted with it while she spoke, not looking up. "This Ruger was passed down to me from my late grandmother, may her soul rest in piece. My great grandmother was an army wife, this gun given to her as a self defense weapon while my great grandfather went to fight overseas. This Ruger is a tradition, passed down to the women in the family as a sort of rite of passage into womanhood and maturity. This was the gun I used to lay to rest many a spirit." She gained a look in her eyes, one uncharacteristically serious, one looking back in retrospect. "I can understand fully why you'd want to choose a weapon you already know and are familiar with. Use them, but don't bring them in the school." She placed the Ruger beside her on the desk gingerly, delicately, not wanting to set it off. "Do you know why I put demons in those tattoos?" It was rhetorical of course. "..........To protect the rest of us."

Ariel stood up. She was dead serious. "We're diving into some seriously deep shit, if that tattoo told you nothing else." This was probably the most transparent she's been the entire time. "Deep Shit. Information that'll get us all killed if someone blabs type of deep shit. My life is literally in your hands as we speak." And if you blabbing puts us all at risk, you're done for. "I would like for this club to be a friendship. You know? One of those types of friendships that can only be formed by saving each other's lives."

She was back to her old nonchalant self. "If you're all ready to be blind for about the next hour or so, we'll get going. Don't worry about it too much. You can still listen to music if you put it on shuffle. I could play an audiobook. May I suggest the greatest poems of Edgar Allen Poe? Telltale Heart is my life."

Cinderlily
CoolGuy
GrieveWriter
BackSet
The Cobalt Killer
Steve Freeling

 

[BackSet]

Jesus frikken Christ. Drakon had no way to react to that at all. Perhaps now would be the best time to pretend it all went over his head. He put on his characteristic grin and pulled out a pair of ear buds and an iPhone. "Time for some deep crap then." He said as he stuffed the ear buds into his ears and put on some Disney songs. "Blindfold me now before I do something we all regret." His tone was actually really serious here. He was ADHD. A known spaz. If he did something wrong and got them all in trouble he would never forgive himself. He'd willingly accept the death the demon would probably put him too. "let's do this!"

 

[GrieveWriter]

"Yes yes, let us no longer be slaves to our inherent pettiness and get on with what really matters." Quincy said as she stood from her chair and fixed her hair "I do request that I not be jostled too much, I wouldn't want to miss out on any extremely relevant information due to spending an inordinate amount of time fixing myself."

For emphasis she patted her dress down with a smile before folding her arms across her chest in a fluid, practiced manner.

"But I won't require something such as tunes to keep me still," the eccentric girl waved the thought off "I spend enough time ruminating on my thoughts that remaining motionless poses me challenge. Oh, but what manner of fabrics are these blindfolds? Do we get to pick our own colors or are they uniform?"


Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[Steve Freeling]

A snake had been tattooed on his back and now he was going to be blindfolded. Okay... Most everyone who knew Steve knew him for being calm in just about any situation and this was no different.

"So, when do we start?" He asked with adventure in his tone.

Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy GrieveWriter

 

[BackSet]

Drakon just sat there shaking his head. Who worried about what color blindfolds were. It reall dosnt matter. When a new voice chimed in he looked over to its source. It was a boy he had seen yesterday but hadn't talked too. "Sweet!" He said upbeat as usual as if his serious moment had never happened. "Another enthusiastic type! Enthusiasm is awesome!"

Steve Freeling Kylesar1 GrieveWriter CoolGuy The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily

 

[Kylesar1]

Ariel Osler
Room 502​

"Silk," she said. This question was actually unheard of. She was expecting more of a why than a what. "and I have the generosity to let you pick your own colors. My only rule is that if you can see through it enough to tell where you are, tell me. These aren't my orders, these are orders from the SCA themselves. As gov't agency, putting information in children's hands is not only risky, but actually reckless. They trust us and this school. Why? They didn't tell me, but they do." Ariel brandished about 20 blindfolds made of the best quality silk in 20 different colors.

"Take one and keep it. You'll put it on when we get on the van. Come come. The quicker you choose, the quicker we can get started."

Ariel watched as they all chose. She hoped this group was worth it. They seemed enthusiastic enough about doing this. Was this just a child-like wonder that would disintegrate the moment they stepped into the actual field? Or would they stick around with her. While she held her nonchalant smile, her mind was a thousand miles away, deep in thought and fear

Cinderlily
CoolGuy
GrieveWriter
BackSet
The Cobalt Killer
Steve Freeling

 

[GrieveWriter]

Quincy placed a hand to her own chest in a touched manner, "Why Madame Osler, how you accommodate us."

With that she stepped closer, eyeing the blindfolds before picking a dark magenta one she know doubt chose solely because it matched her attire. Once in her hands, she raised the blindfold up and peered deeply into it. Adjusting her glasses a bit, the eccentric rich girl considered it in the light for a moment before bringing it close to her nose and beginning to give small little sniffs.

After apparently being satisfied by what she smelled, Quincy reached up to move her pigtails out of the way before wrapping the Blindfold on her forehead above her eyes.

Once it was secured she gave a tilt of the head as she looked around the classroom then turned back to Ariel "Madame, what about our possessions? Shall we leave them too be collected once we return? Will there be room for luggage such as mine on the trip? I do wish that my items be protected if we are to leave them somewhere, quite a number of documents I'd have trouble remaking were they to be lost in some manner."

Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[Steve Freeling]

Steve stepped closer and gingerly removed a simple strip of black silk before testing it against his eyes. To Steve's eyes everything was pitch-black dark through the blindfold. No seeing out of that. That will do, Steve thought in a moment of silence as a satisfied smirk briefly flashed across his face.

Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer GrieveWriter Cinderlily CoolGuy

 

[BackSet]

Drakon just grabbed the first piece of silk he could see. Once he wrapped it around his head he couldn't see crap (captain). He sat down immediately afterwards to avoid killing himself. Now he just had to wait for the word.

 

[Kylesar1]

Quincy placed a hand to her own chest in a touched manner, "Why Madame Osler, how you accommodate us."

With that she stepped closer, eyeing the blindfolds before picking a dark magenta one she know doubt chose solely because it matched her attire. Once in her hands, she raised the blindfold up and peered deeply into it. Adjusting her glasses a bit, the eccentric rich girl considered it in the light for a moment before bringing it close to her nose and beginning to give small little sniffs.

After apparently being satisfied by what she smelled, Quincy reached up to move her pigtails out of the way before wrapping the Blindfold on her forehead above her eyes.

Once it was secured she gave a tilt of the head as she looked around the classroom then turned back to Ariel "Madame, what about our possessions? Shall we leave them too be collected once we return? Will there be room for luggage such as mine on the trip? I do wish that my items be protected if we are to leave them somewhere, quite a number of documents I'd have trouble remaking were they to be lost in some manner."

Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

Ariel Osler
Room 502 -----------> Outside​

"You can take or leave them," She said. "No one's dumb enough to try stealing at the SCA, lest they lost one of the best jobs of their life and go to prison. Plus, they have lockers there. As for here, I'm locking the door when we leave, so you can leave it if you want." Ariel grabbed her keys and her bag. She placed the Ruger in the bag (safety on, of course) and put it on. She was taking her stuff, if only to be able to take the Ruger outside without being arrested. "Let's go ahead and head out."

 

[Cinderlily]

It was odd. Being in complete darkness was a fear of hers. One of her worst nightmares in fact. But being led single file, hand in hand with her fellow club members in complete darkness was... comforting. The only thing she was truly nervous about was that Ariel might steer them into a wall. She giggled a little at the thought, unable to keep it in. As messy as that would be it was a little funny to imagine. Bianca had faith in Ariel, though. She had to. Their esteemed leader was the only one of their motley group who could see.

Kylesar1 BackSet GrieveWriter CoolGuy The Cobalt Killer Steve Freeling

 

[The Cobalt Killer]

Julien approached the blindfolds with the same expression that anyone who knew him would have expected. He suspected that Ariel, too, was smart enough to have read it on his face. His signature visage, so to speak, an arching eyebrow. It was the same expression of piqued interest that he made whenever he was making observations. Still making deductions about the group, he was unsure as to whether or not the others had actually picked up on such nuances as that but he had faith that their intellectual capabilities were at least almost on par with his. He very nearly cursed himself out loud; it was wrong to underestimate anyone, even his allies. Nevertheless, he did hope that no one else had a thought process quite the same as his. It was a dangerous thing for sure.

Reaching out a hand, he picked up a blindfold - any blindfold, it didn't matter to him - and held it in his hands as questions raced through his mind. He took one look at Ariel, hoping to capture something. Nothing. For the first time in a long time, he had been able to perceive nothing. Even without the thing in his hands wrapped around his face, Ariel had him truly blindfolded him. Or perhaps, blindsided, as Drakon would say, he thought. Quelle folie. He rubbed his thumb up and down the blindfold. There was no doubt about it, this was a nice piece of silk. That wasn't, however, the thing that bothered him. What he was confused by was the number of blindfolds in front of them all. Twenty. Why twenty? Sure, they were all different colours but that did not really matter. The group surely would have accepted any colour without much care - he glanced over at Quincy - so it shouldn't have matter. There was no need to bring twenty of them. But more importantly, why even have twenty?

Taking a step back, Julien found himself should-to-shoulder with Drakon. While testing out the blindfold, he uttered a few words. Although they were directed at Drakon, he did not look at the boy he addressed. Rather, his focused stayed on the silk he manipulated his hands and pressed against his face. "Enthusiasm, mon ami, can be a very dangerous thing." Truthfully, he had not intended to sound rude. Perhaps he had capture the wrong tone due to some sort of language barrier, or maybe he was just too distracted to think his words through. Regardless, he had not wanted to sound offensive. In fact, he found that Drakon and Bianca were the two members of the club that he found most agreeable. He liked them, both of them, very much. But they were not now on his mind. Slowly, he gazed up at Ariel. Madame Osler. She was the one he found most fascinating. In many ways, he admired her as much as he had looked on Bianca with admiration before. More than that, however, he was in awe of their leader.

Having tried on the blindfold, Julien was convinced that it was a fine article indeed. Wearing it, he was submerged in a complete abyss of darkness. It was so dark, in fact, that it was almost suffocating. Not that Julien was afraid of the dark, not anymore, but instead there was just something about the darkness that felt different to simply shutting one's eyes. Removing the blindfold, he examined it again. Yes, it was good quality but he wasn't convinced. Was there something else to it? Something magical? Accepting that he was still clueless about too many things, he submitted himself again to the darkness. His blindfold on again, he was ready to leave.

Kylesar1
Cinderlily
CoolGuy
BackSet
GrieveWriter
Steve Freeling

 

[GrieveWriter]

Quincy was satisfied, smile growing a bit wider at the answer she was given "Well then..."

She grabbed her bag and pushed down on its handle, making it retract before pulling open a flap and sliding to straps out. Soon she wore the large bag as a regular backpack, an oversized backpack yes but a backpack no less. Hefting it with ease, the Rich girl sauntered over to the door before leaning against the wall beside it and watching the others choose their own.

"Shall we get on with it then?" she said before standing near the door and slipping her blindfold down over her eyes

"One can tell a lot about a person depending on a color they enjoy, as colors can be easily associated with feelings." Quincy commented as they left, finding time to voice her own thoughts with a smile despite the blindfold mostly robbing her of her vision "Like any other preference, it can mean a lot or a little depending on how much an individual wears their thoughts on their sleeves. Quite interesting to an extent."

Kylesar1 BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[BackSet]

With the blindfold on Drakon couldn't see crap. He only had to hope that he wouldn't accidentally bump into a wall when Ariel lead them. The thing about the blindfold was that it wasn't completely dark. Not really. Yes he couldn't see anything but it wasn't because his vision was obstructed. Rather he could see nothing because there was nothing to see. Just empty blackness. This wasn't so much a blindfold as a vision into a void between worlds or something along those lines. Drakon definetly couldn't keep quiet about this. "This blindfold." He said out loud with a curious but still upbeat tone. "It's not normal is it."

Kylesar1 GrieveWriter The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[Kylesar1]

Ariel Osler
Van​

Ariel filed the group onto the van and into seats, placing them all into seats. There was no particular order or system that she used to seat them. Just wherever she felt they should sit. The only differing factor in the seating was who was getting the sunlight. There was an AC vent over every seat, so if the air was too high, they'd all freeze.

"Hello, Occult Students. Call me Ms. B. I'll take you all to your destination. Make sure those blindfolds stay on." The voice was that of a black woman. She sounded motherly and all the authority she resonated came from the place of kindness, not intimidation. "If any of you need to stop for anything, bathroom, food, anything, just tell me and we'll stop. Ariel will tell you what to do next."

Ariel sat in the front seat and looked back. "This trip will take about 20 minutes, so I hope sitting in darkness won't be too bad. This will only be a one time thing though. After you take the Gov't oath of secrecy and are issued your SCA entrance badges, you'll be granted free access to most parts of the SCA buildings."


Then Drakon asked about the blindfolds. "Yup," she said with a nod no one could see. "They're normal silk scarves. You're just not normal everyday people anymore." They to interpret that however they wanted. Now the van cranked up and began running. They could all feel the van moving off to their official destination. The SCA building.

GrieveWriter BackSet The Cobalt Killer Cinderlily CoolGuy Steve Freeling

 

[BackSet]

Well that certainly answered nothing. The darkness was all enveloping. Void between worlds for sure. Drakon started to wonder how long it would take for him to start seeing things. Apparently not too long as the dragon came right out of there. The same dragon that visited his dreams every single night. Hello there Xenophilius. Lucius the dragon said in dragons head. What do you want?! Drakon thought at him. Too have a pleasant chat is all. Lucius said back to him. Drakon sighed and leaned back. This was gonna be a long 20 minutes.

 

[The Cobalt Killer]

The choice to believe Ariel or not about the blindfolds seemed trivial but it was certainly a significant one. And Julien's decision to trust her finally gave the nagging in the back of his head a bit of closure. Besides, that wasn't the concern now. Now they were on their way to some unknown place. Worrying, perhaps not, but Julien was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. That said, the only trail his mind followed was that of a warm voice floating gently through the air. It touched him like a soft heat wave but, as it set in, it did so firmly with a kind of parental authority.

This woman seemed quite the contrast to Ariel and there was a certain maturity about her which escaped any of the other passengers in this van. Julien listened closely to the way she spoke. He pursed his lips as he contemplated the information he was taking in. Being blindfolded would not stop him from making observations and his keen ears twitched like those of a rabbit. It was somewhat surprising to him that the woman addressed Ariel on a first name basis but even more surprising was how she was only inclined to introduce herself as Ms. B. Nothing more. Or rather, nothing less.

Kylesar1
Cinderlily
CoolGuy
BackSet
GrieveWriter
Steve Freeling

 

[CoolGuy]

They weren't normal people anymore? That was... foreboding. Max hoped that answers would come when they proved themselves trustworthy. He rubbed the blue silk that covered his eyes. Twenty minutes blind wouldn't be too hard, he imagined. It's not like they'd be in sensory deprivation. He shuffled in his seat. For all he knew, he was seated next to two actual demons. He couldn't even take off the blindfold to look, or he'd be punished. He also didn't want to talk, keeping in mind Ariel's earlier warning. Even though he didn't have anything to say, the fact that he couldn't distressed him. There was a Greek myth that was kind of like this. At least in the sense that he couldn't satisfy his curiosity. He kept his ears open. He needed to hear if anyone said anything important.