Dirk Gray's Academy for the Abnormal

Yasahiro frowned slightly in embarrassment, "I shape shift." he said quietly, but loud enough for her to hear since shape shifting was nowhere near as cool as water and ice. He sighed an emotionless sigh as if he just wanted to get out air despite he didn't need to let out a bunch of air. He thought that what they were talking about might be a touchy subject for Ashlyn so he thought it would be a good idea to steer the conversation away, but she wasn't really making many indications of it and if she was he was missing them.
 
"ah so you are the one i need to speak to about matters then?" kyron spoke it as a statement more than a question as he pulled out a few gold bricks and handed them to the man. "this should pay for the damages that i caused upon crashing to the ground here." kyron always had a way of paying someone for something he did. mostly because he managed to make at least one thing go wrong whenever he got to a new place. " i hope you can forgive me. those f-16 pilots really didn't like me for some reason." he said makeing it sound as if it was normal for him to be chased down by a squadron of f-16's.
 
"Yes, well, if Gray wants it, he can get it," Swiss replied, tossing the bars over his shoulder, letting them crack the stone tile without batting an eye.


"I'm a teacher not a courier. Now, if you want to find your rooms, feel free; I'm done with questions for now."


There was no way the new instructor was going to stick around such a dangerous crowd without any way to defend himself beyond just his fists. Magic was one hell of a game breaker.


"Oh yeah, one more thing. Duels are permitted on property. If you need to settle a problem physically, agree on it, and come to me. Part of my job is to supervise this stuff; not sure why Gray wanted that rule..."
 
kyron headed over to the dorms where he found a wall with no room behind or around it, he then spoke in a strange language "keriu tal hekuros" he said before the wall infront of him became a door. kyron then opened the door and steped inside it. the door lead to a room that was much bigger on the inside. much bigger than the space the wall provided for him. filled with many different things aside from just a bed, work desk and closet. kyron shut the door behind him. the door itself looked as if it lead to an ordenary dorm room exept for the fact that it had kyron Exus and Melody Skysol engraved on it.
 
Shape shifting, Ashlyn's eyes widened ever so slightly.


"Are you serious?" It was hard for her too keep her interest at bay. Though she didn't necessairly like powers, she always thought it shape shifting was an interesting ones.


"Does it hurt? What can you change in to? How long does it take? Do you live longer?" The questions spilled out her mouth.


Letting out a small squeak of surprise she realized that it was terribly rude of her to ask so many questions, with such little knowledge about him.


"I'm sorry, that was terribly rude of me. You don't need to answer those, I'm just curious. I didn't think that power was real..." Looking up sheepishly she gave a small smile in hopes of reducing any damage she may have caused.
 
((Sorry I poofed for so long. I finally moved everything over and got internet in this apartment.))


Ashta lazily glanced over Yusuke as she deliberated his request. Inside she was quite flattered that he had recognized the beauty of her shape, but on the outside she regarded him almost coldly. She had been taught never to reveal her emotions except for when it was necessary. She distantly looked off and wondered how Ari had taken her unintentional silent assault. The girl seemed surprised and maybe even a little fearful. At the very least Ashta was keeping her on her toes by accidentally making the girl think that she already had an enemy. No harm done.


After a great pause she brought her attention back to Yusuke purposefully. She had considered his request and finally had thought of a suitable answer to her, "Ice is too impermanent don't you think? How awful would it be to watch something meaningful melt away?" she said coolly. Her voice sounded cold like ice and it sounded unusual to her because she had not used it for quite some time. There had not been much need to speak in the language of the humans and almost stereotypically she spoke with a soft hiss on letters that made the distinctive 'S' sound.


"My name..." she added with immediate regret, "is Ashta Swiftscale." she didn't particularly want anyone to know, but only her species seemed to put such weight on knowing someone's name. Ashta frowned almost imperceptably after she had relayed her name but then decided that no harm would come from it.
 
after a while of thinking, kyron left the room he had just created for himself. he begain to walk around campus observeing the other students. he came across a couple of them "speaking" of what powers they had. kyron decided to watch these two for they both interested him.kyron tied something onto the creature on his sholder then he pointed to the two who were talking and the bird like creature on his shoulder flew off and landed near the two. kyron now had a way to listen in to the conversation without being close to them or revealing his powers any more.
 
Yusuke ignored Ashta's coldness for the most part. He just assumed that she hadn't warmed up to the idea of being friends with a human yet or anyone who was not a Lamia for that matter. The wording he used in his thoughts were a bit humorous to him as he manipulated energy transfer and he was using terms relating to temperature. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss Swiftscale." He kept his his greeting polite and respectful, trying to avoid being too informal. After all, they had only just met and he did not know very much of the traditions of Ashta's people. He thought it was best in order to avoid doing anything wrong.


Yusuke turned his attention to answering Ashta's question. He was wondering if she would be interested in details or if he should make it short and to the point. He chose the former as opposed to the latter. Plus, it would give him something to talk about and he might find out about the interests of his potential new friend. "I admit that it used to sadden me when I saw the sculptures which I worked so hard on melt before my eyes but I get encouragement from a saying I once heard. All goods things must come to an end. With how quickly ice sculptures start to melt, that must mean that the sculptures must be very good. I have however, found a way to make them last much longer. Would you like a demonstration, perhaps?"
 
Yasahiro was slightly confused by the interest, but the questions startled him, "Live longer? Why would I live longer?" he asked, curious as to what would make him live any longer that anyone else.


After a moment he simply burst out in laughter for no apparent reason, "Erm I wouldn't say it hurts, I don't know the limit really, I wouldn't say it takes any time, but it might be different for other people." he said when it suddenly dawned on him he had never changed fully into an animal which would probably be fun, especially turning into a fox.
 
When he started laughing, at first she felt a bit hurt, and then she couldn't help but laugh with him.


"Well that's interesting, I'm sorry if my questions seem juvenile but it's just a much more interesting power then what I got stuck with." She smiled up at him, and then continued on.


"And I asked why you might live longer because some animals and stuff live for thousands of years, compared to humans who live for maybe 80. I guess I'm trying to make it logical in my head, but not with much luck." Laughing again softly she felt much better then she did originally.


He wasn't necessarily a friend, but at least she had someone she could call an acquaintances.
 
kyron found it amazing how these people seemed to enjoy talking about there powers. he made a strange motion with his hand and the little birdlike creature flew up and landed on yasahiro's shoulder. kyron, having thought the birdlike creature in the perfect place, then proceeded to listen more closely to their conversation. he found it fascinating how they could talk about their powers with little fear of the others reaction or at least that's how it looked to him
 
As far as humans... or whatever he was to place him at Dirk Gray's Academy... went he seemed good or at the very least Ashta had not yet felt the desire to poison Yusuke. She chose to intrepret this as a good thing and a sign that maybe she wouldn't wind up leaving as soon as the place bored or offended her. She was especially pleased when he did not address her as Ashta and rather by her clan name. Maybe there was hope for this lot yet.


"I'm curious." she noted, "I don't see that we have anything worthwhile to do here anyways so I'll... follow you." she nearly gagged on the word 'follow'. She had no qualms following those more important to her, but she was used to being a leader. Maybe this school could teach her a little humility however. She was choosing how she was reacting to things at the academy by how they hurt. She had attacked the man outside and she had shot the nasty glare to Ari, but nobody had been hurt in these two actions of hers so there was nothing wrong with them. She couldn't see how following would hurt more than her pride so she decided that she would let Yusuke lead her away. Besides she was dying to know (which one couldn't tell from her icy countenance) what he meant by claiming that he could slow how ice melted.
 
"I can make the statue here and now, actually. I have a feeling that the staff might not approve of me leaving ice sculptures all over the campus so I may have to move it to another place later." He shrugged. "Such is the price one pays for being an artist sometimes." He took a few steps away from Ashta to get suitable space within which to do his work. He had heard that Lamia hibernate in the event of cold weather and he would not want her to be so close as to end up being put to sleep by the temperature changes he would trigger. He looked to Ashta for a moment as he spoke. "May I request that you not move while I sculpt? It would make it much easier to capture your beauty that way."


Yusuke breathed deeply before exhaling. He put out his arms and opened his hands. He started pulling heat rapidly from the area in front of him. This caused the water in the air to undergo sublimation, going straight from the gas state to solid. Over a course of a few minutes, this process continued and soon caused the formation of a large block of ice. He stepped to the side and gestured to the ice block. "Voilà, now I have ice to work with. The next step is the actual sculpting and finally will be my special method of preservation."


Yusuke turned his attention to the block of ice. His hands began to glow a fiery red-orange colour as he began manipulating the heat energy he had removed from the air. He started using this heat energy to carve the ice, shaping it like wet clay and with an unusually high level of detail. As the ice melted, he pulled the excess heat away to ensure he would not melt too much of the ice.
 
"Of course." Ashta murmured to his response about standing still and she believed that she would be able to resist moving a muscle at the risk of ruining her representation. If the sculpture was going to turn out less than perfect she didn't want her movements to be to blame. Yusuke seemed to take on an air of concentration and Ashta wondered not for the first time where he supposed that he was going to get ice from standing in the middle of a room?


She didn't ask, but she wished that she had because she was taken aback when a chunk of ice practically materialized in front of her. She made a small movement backwards because she had not anticipated this and her face momentarily revealed how surprised she was until she hid her expressions back behind the mask of indifference and composed herself to the same position that she had been in before as to not wreck the sculpture because of her surprise. When he began to chisel away at the giant block of ice seemingly with his mind Ashta wasn't surprised. The ice chunk had taken her off-guard but she was now prepared for anything. In retrospect she felt as if she should have known... especially by the fact that she was in Dirk Gray's Academy for the Abnormal. Why did she fail to realize that he was in here for some reason?


Ashta silently watched a shape take form as the ice seemed to melt away both quickly and perfectly. She was used to being still for hours when her clan was hunting. They were ironically named Swiftscale, but she felt when they hunted her clan used their wits more and the process was very formal and methodical. They spent more time hiding and waiting for their prey to fall into their hands then outright hunting. But then again aside from climbing or swimming they were slower than their prey. It was good practise because as Yusuke sculpted she never found impatience or soreness. Ashta was actually looking forward to seeing Yusuke's final embodiment of her form.
 
"..."


Sooki silently stared at the large gate that stood in front of him. He had a deep purple bag that hung over his right shoulder, a good-bye present given to him by Mala, his guardian. Apparently, he would be living here for the next, four, five, six years of his life? Sooki didn't even know. He just knew that he would be here for a long time. Maybe not too long though, since he was nearing his awaited adulthood. Anyway, that didn't matter now. He approached a semi-large crowd that was hanging near the front, although most had already entered the building. He did the same, one foot at a time, and at his own slow and steady pace. Everybody has a mountain to climb, but you might as well enjoy the scenery, right?
 
Yusuke kept working on the sculpture, glancing back at Ashta every few moments to keep her pose fresh in his mind while he sculpted. He wanted every single detail which he could see to be captured and when it came to his art, he wanted it as close to perfect as he could manage. As he sculpted, he put in some of the most minute details as if he was creating an exact duplicate of Ashta out of ice. One could see the level of concentration he had as the only things he paid any attention to were the sculpture and Ashta, the person he was making the sculpture of.


After fifteen minutes of working on the sculpture, he was finished with the sculpture itself. The red glow on his hands died down as he took a few steps back to admire his work. His eyes quickly scanned his work, searching for even the slightest imperfection which existed which could be corrected. He released a sigh of relief upon finding that his work held no visible defects. He had lived up the standard he set for himself once more. Now he just had to go about preserving it. He turned to Ashta for a moment as he said "Now will come the part where I prevent it from melting. You may move freely now."


He started drawing in heat from the air around his work, cooling it rapidly. He cooled the water vapour to form a box of sorts around the sculpture. He took his time when crafting the casing he would use to preserve his work, ensuring that he cooled the air which would be inside the casing so as to ensure the air pressure inside would be low enough to meet his needs. After a few minutes, the casing was formed. It looked like glass and one could see through it for the most part but from certain angles, reflections would be seen instead. "There, it is now finished."
 
When Yusuke announced that she could move around freely Ashta did not take his prompt. She merely stood where she was as silent and unmoving as a statue as she watched him finish it. She waited until he claimed that he had finished his piece and she slowly slithered forwards as she joined him at the front of the sculpture.


Ashta did not glance at the sculpture until she had found her place beside Yusuke in front of it. Once she was in the proper placing to view the sculpture she greedily raked her eyes over it. Ashta was ashamed to note it, but she felt her jaw drop open as she reveled in the sculpture.


It was far more than she had expected and the sheer perfection of the ice sculpture actually made her feel strange. As she took in what were supposed to be her features she could only blink in awe. Could that really be her? The figure etched in the ice looked so much more majestic and powerful than she thought herself to look. She spared a glance at Yusuke wondering if this was her imagination and perception of the sculpture or if he had altered it slightly to show how he saw her... that would depend on how he saw her. Either way she was completely floored.


"It's incredible." she breathed, "You have such talent." There was no way that Ashta could justify keeping her walls up around Yusuke anymore after this experience. She felt a raw bond of connection forming, she found it impossible to believe but she actually liked this human. She found amusement in this realization... she had not come here expecting to get along with anyone.
 
Yusuke smiled. It seemed that Ashta was warming up to him and the two would be able to consider each other as friends. "Thank you, Miss Swiftscale. I am glad to know that you like my work. I hope it has sufficiently captured your beauty and majesty. Ice is such a wonderful medium to work with. While it does not have the permanence of rock or metal, it displays a level of detail and beauty which cannot be obtained when working with other mediums. It is unique, like all of us here."


It was the first day and things were already turning out so very well for Yusuke. He had made two friends, four potentially. He had found someone who enjoyed his work and the best part was that this same person was the one who seemed to be the most anti-social of everyone. At this rate, it seemed everything would just get better and better but he wasn't counting on it to stay that way for too long. Things can happen and when they do, it is good to have people there for you but while things are going well, you might as well enjoy it.


Yusuke turned to Ashta. He paused for a moment. He was curious and wanted to ask her a few questions such as what her life was like before coming to the academy and he wanted to inquire about her culture and customs. He was worried that his curiosity might come off the wrong way. "May I inquire as to what your life was like before coming here and a bit about your culture and customs? I am very curious and you are the first Lamia I have ever met."
 
Ashta considered Yusuke for a moment. She had no issues with discussing most aspects of her tribe and species but she was almost amused with how polite his boldness was. If he had tried to interact with her in such a manner before she decided that she liked him she might have poisoned him or at the very least found herself greatly displeased with him.


"What do you want to know? Admittedly I don't know enough about humans to know what will be mundane for you." she murmured as she considered what she was going to tell him. She was choosing to feel honoured that he took such interest in her of all the students. Yusuke understood the importance of her species and she was going to reward him with knowledge once she was able to separate what he was interested in hearing about.


"Oh let me note how unusual I find it that humans don't travel in tribes. That's why my name is Ashta Swiftscale. I was born into the Swiftscale tribe. Lamia travel in close-knit tribes and generally we don't have much to do with anyone outside of our tribes, even in our own species. Every so often we arrange marriages to improve relationships between tribes, but we usually interact within our solitary tribes." Ashta seemed to pause for a moment before she remembered something, "Actually when I'm done with this school business I am going to report to my tribe and then I'm going to marry Sylvanir Redfang to unify our tribes... What do you care to hear about? Our diet? How we hunt? What we do for our spare time?" Ashta asked and while she was quite enthusiastic to educate a human on her species she wanted him to be amused by what she had to say so she was unsure of how to proceed with Yusuke's request.
 
Yasahiro nodded, understanding what she meant, "Oh that would make sense, but probably not true at all; well you never know it might be." he said. He started to see Ashlyn as a friend even if she did not see that in him. He thought since she had demonstrated her power he should, but he didn't want to cause a scene and completely change however it was very hard to change one part of his body so in the end he scrapped the idea unless she were to ask him he wouldnt change.
 
Yusuke smiled. He found what Ashta was telling him to be quite interesting. The customs which she had mentioned were not too far away from those of humans at some point in time. It was really something to him that so far, Lamia seemed quite similar in culture to humans. "I am honoured that you would share such information with me. Most humans know nothing of Lamia and I admit that what I know is very limited. What I do know is that Lamia do not often socialize outside of their tribes as you mentioned and quite a bit of their anatomy. I find what you say very interesting and the customs you have mentioned thus far are actually similar to some customs which humans either used to practise or currently do. As an example, where I come from, humans used to operate in clans which are very similar to the tribes you mentioned and arranged marriages were used to create peaceful and friendly relations between clans. More often than not, those involved in the arranged marriages did not love each other at any point and would at times, sneak off to see those who they were really in love with."


He paused, worried that he might have gone on too much about humans and the similarities in cultures. He had asked Ashta about her culture and species and ended up talking about his own species or at least the one he considered himself to be of due to all the similarities. "I apologize. I must have been boring you with my talk of humans and culture similarities." He hoped that he had not offended her in any way. By humans standards, he did not see anything wrong with what he had said earlier but he was not sure if by Ashta's standards if he had said anything offensive or not. "I would find it very interesting to hear about the diet of your species and what Lamia do in their spare time. I always was curious about that. Also, I wonder a bit as to how Lamia close their mouths without dislocating their jaws because of the fangs."
 
"It wasn't as painful to listen to as you believed it to be. Perhaps if I was more acquainted with humans..." Ashta shrugged nonchalantly only feeling the slightest stab of irritation for being compared so readily to humans but she continued, "Well I think we have much of the same diet except... well..." she frowned unsure of how to continue what she was saying for a moment before she regained her confidence, "We are generally quite partial to human children. We also consume blood more than you humans seem to."


"We forage off of the land so we usually spend a lot of time hunting and foraging. Aside from that we have a number of hobbies. Some of us like to fish, some of us collect rocks or collect and categorize plants, we also have games that we play in our spare time but personally I'm quite fond of stargazing. We have looking glasses not too unlike what you humans call telescopes and I find the cosmos quite a fascinating place."


When she was about to respond to Yusuke's question of her fangs Ashta let a slight smile fall upon her lips as she leaned forward and bared her fangs for Yusuke to see.


"They're retractable." she explained and as she spoke her two sharp fangs slid back into her gums, "My other teeth just fit together easily like a human jaw." she mentioned of her two rows of pointed teeth when she noticed offhandedly how dull his own teeth appeared to be.


"I'm sorry for not inquiring but if you wish to ramble about humans for a while I would oblige to listen."
 
Yusuke was completely un-phased by what Ashta had said of her kind consuming human children and blood. "Human children? I guess you do what you have to in order to survive. Every species has its quirks. Some humans eat other humans but that is greatly frowned upon. I guess it's because they don't like the idea of being anything less than the top of the food chain. As for blood, humans generally do not consume it for various reasons ranging from superstition to religion. I think it's one of those things that make you special. If every being on the planet was the same for the sake of conformity and normality, the world would be a very boring place. As a note however, if you want blood then asking nicely might actually get you some depending on the person."


Yusuke was intrigued and smiled lightly as he heard the various activities Lamia spent their free time performing for recreation. They sounded quite interesting to him actually. He was always one for the natural world and captured it in his art. He seldom did ever venture too far from civilization no matter how far he travelled however. After all he was a travelling artist and he did need to sell his art to get by at that point. "By any chance, have you every tried drawing imaginary lines between various stars in the night sky to find that they make some very interesting pictures?"


Yusuke was a bit unnerved when Ashta leaned in and bared her fangs. For a moment, he thought she might actually bite him but he brushed the thought aside. They were friends and as far as he knew, Lamia didn't bite their friends out of the blue. Fis fears were relieved however when she simply spoke and he watched as her fangs retracted. He was fascinated by rarely seen creatures such as Lamia and Ashta was no exception. Though to think of her as a creature as opposed to a person was something far from what he had intended. At the moment, he was near speechless. "Amazing..." That was all that could escape his lips.


Yusuke paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. Was Ashta actually inquiring about humans but saying it so did not sound like she was particularly interested or simply saying that she would not mind hearing about them? He could not tell but he was happy that she would listen if he did decide to ramble a bit. "It is fine. I would not expect you to inquire about humans, especially after the way the majority of them are. If there is perhaps anything about them that you might want to know, I could inform you to the best of my knowledge."
 
Ashta listened to Yusuke as he spoke and she calmly asked, "Would you be willing to give blood?" She wasn't sure what she was intending with this, but it was her attempt at making a joke. The humour that she had was a little darker than most, but the attempt was positively butchered in this language. Ashta hoped that if he had no interest in giving blood he would at least interpret it as a joke. No matter how he reacted she felt herself swell a little with pride at Yusuke's apparent awe of her retractable fangs. She was going to have to keep him as a friend because he was so apt at rewarding her compliments.


"I would like to find someone who hasn't done that in their life." she murmured, "Like the Drinking Gourd? It's shaped like a pot... do you humans get to spend much time outdoors?" she trailed off leading into the question seemingly randomly. Offhandedly she wondered if she was going to be as moderately pleased with the classes and the rest of the school as she had been in for meeting and speaking to Yusuke.
 
Yusuke thought about the request, interpreting it as as actual request as opposed to a joke. Lamia do drink blood for nutrition according to Ashta but Yusuke wondered if his blood would be suitable. He was unsure of whether or not it might carry any odd effects relating to his powers such as heating or cooling as he often found himself passively drawing in heat from the environment unless he actively released heat to counter it. Then again, what could be the harm in letting her have a little? "I would but depending on the amount to be taken. If it is a rather small amount so as not to cause health complications then sure."


Yusuke was pleased with Ashta's knowledge of the topic even though the names for various constellations were different for her species and his. He smiled lightly, having found someone with similar interests already. He wondered if she might be interested in being an artist? He put that out of his head for the moment to answer Ashta's question. "That is something different for a lot of humans. Some are too busy for that, others choose not to spend much time outside of their own homes, even fewer spend a lot time enjoying nature and having fun in the outdoors while the rarest which I believe I am one of, are those people who spent more of their lives outdoors as opposed to indoors. I used to travel by myself for a long time and I only spent nights indoors. The rest of my time was spent outdoors."
 
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