Fantasy Hawthorne Academy

[GreatWest]

~Rafaela~

​

Rafaela watched in amusement as Sam apparently looked for her, she was at the other side of the room, so she approached him. It looked like he had recognized her, since he had smiled, though it did seem a little bit forced. Well, she didn't like forced smiles, so she would just make him truly smile. Not a hard task. She hoped.


"Hey, uh, you're the one with the bird right?" Rafaela chuckled at that. Really? Is that how people recognized her? As the girl with the bird? She would have to have a talk with Tom, for taking all of the attention for himself and only.


"Yeah, I'm the one with the bird. That damn pigeon, stealing all of the attention for himself." She joked. "Anyway, I'm Rafaela, or Raph. Whatever you want to call me. The Bird Girl. Oh. I like that name." Well, no one ever said that she was good with names. Though she did like to call herself the 'Animal Whisperer'. Yeah. Really original.


"Um, sorry for bailing on you earlier, it's just, uh, well, um, you know, " Rafaela let out a loud "Pfffffff!" as she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. She didn't care about that, she could be oblivious, but she could see when someone was embarrassed. And she wasn't a heartless bastard to make fun of a guy who was embarrassed enough to disappear in thin air.





"Nah. Relax. Don't worry about it. You had to see me when that Cylvanna... Cylvia... Cyra... Uh... Cyranna..." See? Not good with names. "When that Cy girl showed up. I swear to you, she just appeared out of nowhere! I wasn't prepared. My heart wasn't prepared. The result? I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, dude. I swear to you. I saw Death." Raph resembled one of those fishermen while telling a story. Her eyes were intense as she told the moment of her near death experience. Of course, none of that happened, but Raph has quite the creative mind. And she liked drama. Is there any more destructive combination? I don't think so.


@Qwerto

 

[Qwerto]

~Sam Polaris~

​

"Nah. Relax. Don't worry about it."


Sam breathed a sigh of relief. It would appear that for now at least, she did not hate him. Although she seemed mildly amused by how he only recognised her by the bird. He reckoned should remember not to do that in future. She had a fairly distinctive face so it should be relatively easy.


"You had to see me when that Cylvanna... Cylvia... Cyra... Uh... Cyranna..."


Sam grinned at her difficulty, then felt guilty for doing so. He was definitely relieved to see that he wasn't the only one that sometimes found it difficult to talk though, it made himself feel a little bit better for his screw up earlier.


"When that Cy girl showed up. I swear to you, she just appeared out of nowhere! I wasn't prepared. My heart wasn't prepared. The result? I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, dude. I swear to you. I saw Death."


Sam blinked.


"Uh, ok. Are you, uh, you know, okay now?" Sam forced, unsure as to how to respond to her somewhat nonsensical speech. He smiled faintly, he was beginning to warm to her, she seemed pretty cool, even if she was a bit weird. Then again, so was he. "So, um, Raph, do you know if we had to bring anything to this lesson, or do anything, or, uh, yeah?" Sam was beginning to feel a little more comfortable talking, and decided that for now at least he would try and forget the earlier event.


He wondered when the lesson would start, it seemed most of the class had arrived by now.


@GreatWest

 

[GreatWest]

~Rafaela~

​

"Uh, ok. Are you, uh, you know, okay now?" Rafaela nodded. She had a triumphant smile on her face, she was honestly thinking about making a tattoo that said "Cheated Death". Or maybe not. No, that would be stupid. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just the shock at the moment."





"So, um, Raph, do you know if we had to bring anything to this lesson, or do anything, or, uh, yeah?" Raph looked up to the ceiling, making a thinking face for the first time. It was... Unusual. Not that she didn't think, she was that kind of person that went with the flow. Whatever happened, happened. She scratched the side of her head, her eyes squinting. "Uhm... I...honestly don't know. Maybe? Maybe not? I'm sorry, you asked the wrong person. I'm not really good at school stuff." The brunette smiled apologetic. Well, that wasn't really a lie. Since she found out about her power, she had been bullied at school, so the memories that she had of it weren't really good. At least in the asylum everyone treated her equally.


"If we had something to bring, which I did not, you think the teacher would punish us badly?" Rafaela was praying over and over in her head so that, maybe, the teacher would let her go this time. But if he did not? Would he force her to wash the bathrooms? Or to make an essay about the Otherworld History? She cringed at the thoughts. Suddenly, she missed the jungle that she lived back in Brazil. At least, there, she didn't need to wash toilets or to write giant texts. And she could stay naked.


@Qwerto

 

[Queen Rai]

~Otherworld History~


~Professor Liam DiFranco~

​

Liam suddenly emerged from his office, a stack of papers in his hands. He stumbled around for a moment before successfully locating his desk and heaving the stack onto it. What was it? That day's lesson! Liam doubted that they'd be able to follow it all, so he'd go a bit more slowly. . .they just needed to pay attention. The man quickly scrawled the topic of that day's class onto the chalkboard.


Why People Are Gifted


Liam turned back towards the class, pushing his circular glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He cleared his throat, and then said, "Alright, students, quiet down. It's time to start. . .now, have any of you ever wondered why you have an ability?"


Nearly all of the hands in the class shot up, and Liam grinned. This was going to be a good class after all. . .he had been worried the night before about coming up with something that the students would enjoy, but it seemed like there were enough curious kids in the class to make it work out just fine.


"Now, some of you were born with your powers, and some of you were not. Something might've happened to you that made you. . .different. Now, whether or not you were born with powers doesn't matter, what matters is that you were touched by the Otherworld in some way. What does this mean, you may ask? This is one of the many mysteries of the Otherworld. There is no sole way people are gifted. There are many ways. Some say when you are born, so is a monster. . .and if that monster wants to, it will simply transfer its powers into you. Of course, nobody can really prove this theory. Some people even say that there is a goddess who will simply kiss the forehead of a baby or young child, and they will have a gift. It is definitely a mystery. . .are there any questions, concerns, ideas, thoughts?"


Lyra slowly raised her hand, and was immediately called on. She stood up (as Liam would throw a fit if she didn't), and asked, "I have a thought. . .if there is some sort of goddess. . .well, how did this theory come to be? Surely somebody must have seen her or something. . ."


"Excellent question!" Liam said cheerfully, writing down her question on the board (for some reason). He tapped the piece of chalk on his chin, and said, "Actually, the idea originated from one of the humanoid villages. . .I won't go into much detail about this, but as you may know, the forests around Hawthorne are only gateways. To the ungifted, the forests will merely stretch on until they've walked straight through it. To us, it will never end. Most of you went through this forest and into a clearing. . .when you were in that clearing, you were no longer on Earth. You'd. . .transported, for lack of a better word, to a completely different dimension with mountains, rivers, villages, kingdoms. . ."


He cleared his throat, and turned his attention back to the chalkboard, "Now, answering Lyra's question. There is a considerably large humanoid village that we call Du'rocke. Of course, they don't speak English, but thankfully, I gained fluency in their language within a few hours. They were quite kind, actually. . .even though most of their food was poisonous to humans and I didn't want to offend them when they gave me a basket of their delicacies. . ."


Liam scratched his neck, shuddering at the memory of the hives that covered his entire body once he ate the food.


"Anyway! They had taken me on a little tour of their village. It was all amazing, but I was especially intrigued by their temple. There was a giant, marble statue of an absolutely beautiful woman, and I asked who it was. They explained that her name was Flos, or, 'the one who kisses flowers', and that she was their goddess. I soon discovered as I visited other villages that Flos wasn't only important to the people of Du'rocke. When I asked them why she was called 'the one who kisses flowers', they explained that in the spring, she would kiss every single flower to make them grow, and that she often appeared to people who were sick and dying and kiss them, leaving them feeling better than they had ever felt before. . .so Lyra, I hope this answers your question."


Lyra, who had been standing throughout the entire explanation, slowly sat down, nodding.

~Meditation and Focus~


~Professor Crysta Chime~

​

As students began flooding into her room, Crysta began pouring cups of tea and handing them out. Even if the student declined it, she made them drink it anyway. Why? Tea cleansed the soul, in her opinion. It somehow made everything clearer to her within a student. . .the woman, when she wasn't giving out tea, was lighting the lavender incense in front of each of the mats. When all of this was finished and everyone was seated with their tea, she took her place of her own bamboo mat and smiled.


"Welcome." she said gently. "I hope you all had a nice weekend. . ."


The woman sipped her tea silently. She hadn't really thought of what she wanted to do with her class. . .


"I suppose I should get this out of the way. . .on Thursday, which is three days from now, we will be going to one of my favorite places in the Otherworld. It's a garden full of the most amazing flowers, none of which grow in our world. . .it's an amazing spot for meditation. . .but for today, we are simply going to discuss emotions. Now. . .most of you actually went to the Otherworld today. Tell me, how did that make you feel? Where you scared? Happy? Perhaps angry, even? What sort of aura did you feel in the atmosphere?" she asked breezily.

 

[Holo]

~Basic Healing and Protection 101~


Anthony gave a sigh as his monster was alive and now in a very submissive position. "Ha I tamed you now you will be my p...." The happiness Anthony had was destroyed when the creature burst into flames. " That was so not cool." Anthony muttered having been about to claim the monster as a equal and friend before the combat professor blew it into flaming chunks. "Well there goes that plan." He then started to follow the others mumbling that he never got the nice things. 'I doubt the teachers were watching me anyways I always do my best work when left alone. He was a little disappointed the training and class had ended without him meeting his partner but oh well.


Anthony walked into the otherworld history class on auto pilot and plopped down right in the back setting the homework sheet on his desk. He had done it disliked the answers and redone it before writing a few letters to people back home.

 

[AshenLily]

OH, GODS. WHY?


Sure enough. Geno. She leaned forward on her mat, hoping he wouldn't recognize her. After a few minutes she looked up, and glanced around the room. Either he had noticed her, and just didn't feel like sitting by her, or she'd avoided detection, for the time being. She breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back up, in a cross-legged position on her mat. Whatever the reason for him not sitting by her, she was fine with it. Cylva hoped that if she just didn't talk to him, and wasn't forced to interact with him for a few hours, maybe he'd forget about the whole awkward occurrence at lunch. Maybe. Uh oh. What about the date later? Do I still go? She panicked, not sure of what to think at this point. Eventually, she decided that since he hadn't formally cancelled the 'picnic', it was likely still on. Very well, then. I've just got to get to the end of class, and then I'll have another hour to be able to get back to my normal self, while I'm finding some new clothes...





Action plan decided, Cylva turned her attention to the professor. Crysta? Yes, I think that's it. She looked down at the beverage in front of her, and picked it up, examining it closely. Never having tried it, she took a small sip. Well, it's not horrible... but it's not exactly my cup of tea. She laughed silently at her rather lame joke, before returning her attention to the front of the classroom, yet again.


"Now. . .most of you actually went to the Otherworld today. Tell me, how did that make you feel? Where you scared? Happy? Perhaps angry, even? What sort of aura did you feel in the atmosphere?"


Melancholy. Cylva had remembered feeling as if the forest contained a great sadness, strange though that sounded. Unsure of whether or not the professor actually wanted an answer from everyone in turn, she remained silent for the time being, though now that she thought of it, she couldn't help but wonder over why the forest had felt so sad.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

--------------------------------------------- Ambrogino Friar ---------------------------------------------

​

"Welcome. I hope you all had a nice weekend..." He had learned to like Crysta's creepy voice. With his head sunk into his hands, he contemplated if he really had had a nice weekend. Yes, yeah he had. How could he say anything else after meeting with Calista. That was the greatest day of his life, easily. There weren't a lot of other good ones to compare it with anyway. "I suppose I should get this out of the way. . .on Thursday, which is three days from now, we will be going to one of my favorite places in the Otherworld. It's a garden full of the most amazing flowers, none of which grow in our world.." Lame. He wasn't a big fan of flowers, but he was sure she had some sort of idea with it. Regular meditation clearly didn't work with him.


"it's an amazing spot for meditation..." It better be. He needed something amazing to allow him to do it. "but for today, we are simply going to discuss emotions. Now. . .most of you actually went to the Otherworld today. Tell me, how did that make you feel? Where you scared? Happy? Perhaps angry, even? What sort of aura did you feel in the atmosphere?" The words stung. It made him think back. He hadn't liked it at all, in hindsight. He didn't notice it too much at the time, but thinking back, wasn't there something bothering him all along? And not only then. Saturday too. Something had scared him, or at least made him feel uneasy.


A chill went through his spine. What about what he felt before running from the field? That feeling, that there was something there. There might've been, but there was nothing to prove it. He quickly responded when Crysta finished; "Paranoia." Still with his face in his hands, and his hair hanging down. Maybe something was going on with him. He should probably talk to Crysta about it later. It was like something was growing inside him.


@Rai\-Chan

 

[Queen Rai]

~Meditation and Focus~


~Professor Crysta Chime~

​

"Paranoia."





Crysta's eyebrows knit together. This was the exact answer she didn't want to get. Usually, the Otherworld would have a calming effect on people, but since the whole incident with Kinya's little purple monster, the atmosphere had been very dark. . .and if the students were able to feel it, too, then there was a big problem.


"Oh, alright. . .very good, Geno." Crysta said after clearing her throat. She took another sip of her tea, silently praying that at least one student would tell her the Otherworld made them happy. . .or calm. . .maybe it was just Geno, right? Wrong. As she scanned the students, she could see that not one of them were effected very positively. She needed to talk to Kinya about this. The put down her tea-cup, and then asked, "Anyone else?"

 

[AshenLily]

"Anyone else?"





Cylvaara looked around. No one seemed to be very forthcoming on the matter. She slowly raised her hand, and spoke. "Th-This might sound silly, but it almost felt like the forest was... w-well, sort of sad. I-I felt paranoia, as well. I don't know very much about the monsters in the forest, but they s-seemed to be behaving differently than I'd imagine they would. B-But above all, I think it felt sad." The idea sounded even more stupid when spoken aloud, and she quickly lowered her face, wishing she hadn't spoken.

 

[Queen Rai]

~Meditation and Focus~


~Professor Crysta Chime~

​

"Th-This might sound silly, but it almost felt like the forest was... w-well, sort of sad. I-I felt paranoia, as well. I don't know very much about the monsters in the forest, but they s-seemed to be behaving differently than I'd imagine they would. B-But above all, I think it felt sad."


Crysta bit her lip, and then shook her head. She said, "No, Cylvaara. That doesn't sound silly at all. That is a perfectly legitimate observation, dear. Good job."


"The forest connecting the our world from the Otherworld is not like any other forest. It's alive. It has emotions. I know, it sounds a little weird, but hey, you're at a school for people with strange abilities. Normal isn't exactly a word we use often around here." the woman explained with a small smile.

 

[Qwerto]

~Otherworld History~

​

~Sam Polaris~

​

"Uhm... I...honestly don't know. Maybe? Maybe not? I'm sorry, you asked the wrong person. I'm not really good at school stuff."


Sam hoped there wasn't, the last thing he wanted right now was to be told off for not having homework.


"Nah, don't be like that, uh, I'm sure you good at lots of, uh, stuff!" He hoped he sounded genuine. She did look pretty smart, although you can't really tell from just looks.


"If we had something to bring, which I did not, you think the teacher would punish us badly?"


He certainly hoped not, and was about to reply saying so, when the teacher came out of his office carrying a rather intimidating stack of paper.


"Alright, students, quiet down. It's time to start. . .now, have any of you ever wondered why you have an ability?"


Of course he had wondered that in the past. He wasn't really sure when he got his powers, but he knew he wasn't born with them. How exactly he ended up with them was something he thought about regularly, and had never come to a real conclusion, but that didn't mean he was about to risk his life putting his hand up.


Sam sat still, arms firmly planted on his desk.


He listened distractedly as the teacher spoke, to be honest it wasn't anything he hadn't heard before. He had done quite a lot of reading on the subject before he came to this school, although there hadn't been much information out there, and he had spent almost the entirety of Sunday taking advantage of the library and reading about abilities on top of the Hollywood sign, on the round part of the "d" specifically. Sam had a thing for reading on (not about) famous landmarks, and had pretty much been at every well known place at least once.


Maybe he would do pretty well in this, after all, if this kind of thing was all there was to Otherworld History.


The stuff about the village, was new, however, and Sam actually found it quite interesting. Not too interesting though as to prevent him from drifting off and daydreaming every now and then.

 

[Larry]

Luke noticed the entrance of another student, turning his head slightly to see who the person was. Although not knowing the man personally, he recognized that he was indeed Gwen's brother; the resemblance helped to ease the deducement. From what he could gather, he seemed like a popular fellow around the school not that the Irishman himself minded at all. 'To each man his own,' he would constantly murmur to no one in particular, especially when he was told to do something that didn't concern him. Nonetheless, they didn't look like they were on good terms when he was approaching them. The lad in the whole equation seemed very annoyed by the presence of his younger sibling. Whatever the reason, he decided to leave it be. But that only begged the question, where was Gwendolyn? The last he saw of her was when the woman in question looked as if she was heading in the direction of the dining hall, which seemed to be the preferred destination of all the students in this school bar him. Now that he thought of it, his legs felt awful stiff, even for him. So, before the final bell goes, he might just walk around see if he can pick a few stragglers who may not know the actual way to the classroom. That tended to be the case of all his peers in this school, always getting lost and he was the guiding shepherd.


But the the bell did indeed go, and thus, his foregoing-action was stooped.


After hearing the teacher herself ask the class what they thought of the Otherworld this morning with a few occasional sips of tea, Luke himself pondered to himself what he thought of the whole experience.


"To be honest miss," he began, doing his best to voice his message, "It felt...out of sorts for some reason."

 

[cojemo]

"Maybe we can get some dinner after the student council meetings today. . .though I've been thinking of cancelling it. I haven't seen Blake or Veronica all day, and I'm just really tired and. . .do you think that would be okay?"


"Yeah, that sounds fine to me. Just make sure to text the others that it's cancelled as well." Mars nodded, then turned to face the front of the class as Liam emerged. "We can talk more about it later." The idea of going out to eat with Lyra seemed perfect to Mars. Since there apparently wasn't much to talk about regarding student council, he could focus on finding an opportunity to tell her how he felt. They'd be able to have some small talk, get her over the fact that he'd abandoned her before, and then he would go for it. He still wasn't sure exactly how he was going to say it, but he had lots of time, he could think of something by then, right?


Mars listened as Liam talked about the village and the theories of how people attained the powers they had. He always found the topic an interesting one, but not something he would fret over too much. It wasn't too important how he got what he had, what mattered was that he had it. Still, as far as his belief on how people gained their abilities, it was much more grounded in science than the mystical tales that many others preached. Like everything, he wanted solid evidence grounded in reality to support claims, and just like the ones Liam had said, many sounded like fairy tales that a mother would tell to their child. He wasn't completely sure about his own theory himself, but since the teacher had asked for the classes thoughts, he decided that this was the perfect time to have his own idea fact checked, though he was pretty sure it fit more into science than it did history. Raising his hand and standing, he began. "I don't know how widely considered this particular theory is, but is it possible that there is a specific gene that gives rise to these powers? Just like how a disease can stay unnoticed in a family line for centuries, this particular gene may be recessive, and only 'unlock' when the trait becomes homozygous in an offspring. This would mean that at some point in time we likely descended from these Otherworld creatures. Is this a valid theory, or have there been discoveries that discredit this?"

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

--------------------------------------------- Gwendolyn Friar ---------------------------------------------

​

She was panicking. She had no idea what she was doing, and there was nobody around. Like, nobody-nobody. She started running through the corridors at random. Her sense of direction wasn't exaclty bad, but she had never been to this class! After a bit of running around she found herself by some arrows on a wall. She looked through the arrows to see if any of them pointed towards meditatation or something. The final bells rang. She panicked more. It took her about four times looking through all the directions, but she eventually found something that looked like Meditation and Focus, except it was badly scratched. Not strange she didn't recognize it then. She shot off in the direction it was. She skidded to a stop outside a door with the sign saying "Mediation & Focus". She took a deep breath and went inside.


She found out that she was last, too. Or at least so it seemed. There was no information about how many people were in the class, but it looked like it was as full as it was supposed to be. "To be honest miss, it felt...out of sorts for some reason." She looked at the class. She recognized the voice, and it was her partners'. She looked at the teacher. "I'm so sorry for being late! I got lost in the corridors!" She said with a bow. She hoped she'd get excused, the teacher here looked nice, and with her experiences in teachers, women had tended to be the nicest to her. She cringed at the thought of one of her male teachers. That guy was an asshole.


She quickly scanned the room for an empty place to sit. She quickly noticed Cylvaara, and hurriedly headed over to her and sat down. She looked at her, and whispered "Hey Cylva... Did I miss anything important?"


(Geno later... Too tired..)


@Rai\-Chan

 

[Queen Rai]

~Otherworld History~


~Professor Liam DiFranco!

​

"I don't know how widely considered this particular theory is, but is it possible that there is a specific gene that gives rise to these powers? Just like how a disease can stay unnoticed in a family line for centuries, this particular gene may be recessive, and only 'unlock' when the trait becomes homozygous in an offspring. This would mean that at some point in time we likely descended from these Otherworld creatures. Is this a valid theory, or have there been discoveries that discredit this?"


Liam nodded as Mars spoke, and then said, "Actually, that is one of the more popular theories. It's believed that around the 1700s, some of the humanoids of the Otherworld had found the gateway, or, the forest, and crossed over into our world. Not being able to find their way back, they tried to blend into society. You know the town that's not far from here? Some humans were already settling there and very slowly building a town. Apparently, in exchange for the labor of these newcomers, the humans would give them hospitality. And they did. . .and of course, erm. . .some of the humans. . ."got with" some of the newcomers. . .um. . .you know what I'm trying to say. Some believe that these "children" were the very first gifted. Of course, this is only a theory and we really have no proof. . .but I hope this answers your question, Mars."


Liam nervously tugged on his collar as some of the students snickered. he cleared his throat, and said, "Alright, well. . .I. . .we still have about thirty minutes. . .why don't you all partner up, we're going to do a project, alright?"

 

[AshenLily]

"No, Cylvaara. That doesn't sound silly at all. That is a perfectly legitimate observation, dear. Good job."


Whew. Cylvaara sighed with relief, pleased that her answer hadn't sounded as strange as she thought it might. Though, now that she thought about it, how did the professor know her name? She'd missed Friday, and the professor was wearing a blindfold of sorts. Not to mention Cylva herself had never met the girl. Not only should she not recognize her voice, but she especially shouldn't know her name. "Th-Thank you, Professor."


She listened as another boy shared his feelings about the forest. It seemed like everyone was on the same page, in that regard. She nodded slowly to herself, unsure as to whether or not that was the kind of feeling everyone was supposed to be getting from the forest, and was surprised as Gwen burst through the door, apologizing frantically for being late to class.


"Hey Cylva... Did I miss anything important?"


She offered a quick wave to the girl, remembering with some amusement the last time they'd met. "Heya, Gwen. Not particularly. She announced that we're going to be taking a trip to a certain garden within the Otherworld on Thursday. Apart from that, she was just asking what feelings everyone was having, in regards to the forest, earlier." Cylva paused, appreciating how easy it was to speak to the girl. Did she actually have a friend? Honestly, she was quite surprised when Gwen had picked her out of the class, and taken a seat beside her. It was actually quite nice, though. "It's a little weird, though. I've never met her before, and she knew my name just by hearing my voice. I mean, I guess it's a school for people with 'special powers', or whatever, but it just didn't really occur to me that our teachers would have abilities, as well." If her professor knew her name, without asking her, what else did she know?


@Kriyze

 

[GreatWest]

~Rafaela~


Rafaela prepared to sit on the closest desk, that was beside Sam. However, she seemed to reconsider her choice and chose to sit behind Sam. She hated the front row, too close to the professor for her own likeness.


"Alright, students, quiet down. It's time to start. . .now, have any of you ever wonderedwhy you have an ability?"





"To f*ck our lifes up." She muttered darkly. Well, she didn't know about the others students, but being gifted, as Liam put it, certainly did no good to her. She spent most of her childhood being bullied because she talked with animals, and then lost two years of her life in an asylum. Now, don't get her wrong. She absolutely loves the animals, there nothing wrong with them. But, you know, it could be different. She could be with her family right now, not here taking classes about controlling the power that she didn't even chose to have.


The class passed on a bliss, she wasn't really interested in the history of this place. And the class was boring as well. She suddenly remembered how much she hated school.


"Alright, well. . .I. . .we still have about thirty minutes. . .why don't you all partner up, we're going to do a project, alright?"





Raph's world seemed to brighten up at that. She touched Sam's back excitedly, whispering his name.





"Hey, hey. Sam. Let's partner up!" Raph did one of her famous puppy look. She got everything she wanted with that look, it was her secret weapon.


@Qwerto

 

[Queen Rai]

~Otherworld History~


~Professor Liam DiFranco/Lyra~

​

As Liam asked the class to partner up, Lyra immediately shoved her desk up against Mars's. She smirked at him, and teasingly said, "I hope you didn't have anyone else in mind, Mister Treasurer."


She reached down into her bag, quickly pulling out her notebook and favorite fountain pen. She also took a sneaky glance at her phone, distraught to see that her mother still hadn't texted back. This wasn't like her. . .it had been over an hour. She had better text Lyra back with a great excuse. . .


Liam cleared his throat, and then said, "Alright, students. Once you get with your partner, I want you to to take turns talking about how you got your powers. Whether you were born with them or not, if you have any strange memories that might relate with your gift. . .you get it. I want you to take notes on what your partner says, and if you can, try to associate it with one of the three theories I gave you. A monster given gift, a goddess given gift, or a genetic gift."





Lyra tapped her pen against her chin, raising an eyebrow at Mars as she said, "I guess I'll go first then, if that's alright with you? Get out your pen and paper, sir!"


There was a short pause while Lyra gathered her thoughts, and then she began.


"I know that everything I'm about to say is gonna sound totally wacky, but hear me out. When my mom was pregnant with me, she got sick. Really sick. I remember that she told me that she had lost a bunch of weight, since every time she tried to eat, it would just come right back up. . .she could barely even leave her bed, it was so bad. Doctors thought that carrying a baby was just putting too much strain on her body, but she had already had a child, Isaak, with no complications. When she went into labor, the pain was just too much. . .and she passed out. This part of the story is a little fuzzy, as she made it clear that she couldn't really remember much. . .but she did tell me that she could see this really bright light. . .but before she could go to it, a woman appeared in front of her. My mom told me that she had said something, but she couldn't hear anything. . .and then, the woman kissed her on the forehead, and then she could hear me screaming and crying and throwing an absolute fit. Apparently, her heart had stopped. The doctors called it a miracle, as she made a complete recovery after I was. . .erm. . .out of her system. She always told me that the first time she held me, she knew that something was different about me. Of course, this was pretty much confirmed when I was four and accidentally smashed a boulder through our dining room. . .but yeah. . ."


Lyra blinked, staring down at her blank notebook.


"The weirdest thing is. . .I have dreams all the time about this. . .lady. I remember her clearly. She's got long, blue, wavy hair. . .like the sea. Her eyes are a vivid green. . .her skin is warm and golden, like the summer sun. . .she's wearing a dress of flowers. . .and. . ."


Lyra coughed, and then said, "I'm sorry! Getting carried away, ahaha!"

 

[cojemo]

Mars sat back down, half happy at the answer he received from the teacher and half disappointed. On one hand, it turned out that a theory he had come up with himself turned out to be quite popular, but on the other hand it was popular. He'd preferred if it wasn't widely considered and that he'd made some sort of world changing realization, but after so many people have been coming up with ideas, that seemed unlikely. Either way, without evidence, it was just another baseless theory. Unless someone could somehow look into their genetic code and pinpoint the gene, then it would remain that way. The gene itself could behave abnormally for all he knew, making that impossible. Well, every mystery solves itself eventually. Some just take longer than others.


"Alright, well. . .I. . .we still have about thirty minutes. . .why don't you all partner up, we're going to do a project, alright?"


Mars turned in his seat to face where Lyra was sitting, but before he could say anything she'd already smacked her desk against his and declared him her partner.


"I hope you didn't have anyone else in mind, Mister Treasurer."


He chuckled, pulling the notebook he'd designated for history out and taking a pen out of his pocket. "I was just about to say the same thing to you. Well, almost the same. Without the mister and treasurer. " He was pretty sure he'd be able to act normally now that he knew exactly what the feelings were. Unless she did something especially clingy, more so than usual, then he guessed it would be fine.


"Alright, students. Once you get with your partner, I want you to to take turns talking about how you got your powers. Whether you were born with them or not, if you have any strange memories that might relate with your gift. . .you get it. I want you to take notes on what your partner says, and if you can, try to associate it with one of the three theories I gave you. A monster given gift, a goddess given gift, or a genetic gift."


As Lyra claimed the first to share their story, Mars opened his book and got ready to jot down the important details. As he listened and wrote, it was apparent pretty quickly which theory this lined up with. Though it seemed obvious that it was a goddess given gift, he decided to be skeptical. People would often have hallucinations when they were in a near death experience, so this women could have just been a figment of her mothers mind. Still, that didn't explain the dreams Lyra had about this lady. No point in arguing that now, though. "No, no, there is no getting carried away. remember what he said, ANY strange memories. Anyways, it seems pretty obvious what gift that is, a goddess given one. I don't quite see where those dreams would be from, though. I'd be interested in hearing about those later if you don't mind."


"Guess it's my turn now, right?" Pushing his notebook to the side and placing his pen along with it, Mars sorted through the important information in his head before speaking.


"Well, to be honest, there are quite a few gaps where I don't remember things, but it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a theory. According to my parents, while my mother was pregnant with me, it was very common for her to pass out randomly on account of her temperature being abnormally high for most of the pregnancy. Anyways, after birth my memory is very foggy until I reached age 6. When I turned 11, I discovered that my parents apparently had me on these drugs that were supposed to suppress my powers. My parents had friends in high places so they were able to get a hold of these and use them to hide the fact that I was different. According to them, I had nearly burned down the house at age 2, and a year later was when they started drugging me. My guess is the drugs are the reason why my memory is foggy, but I have no proof of that, and it's irrelevant either way. It was then that I had stopped taking the drugs and when my powers first officially started to show signs. After that, things went normally from there. Well, normally as far as shooting fire from your hands could go, anyways." He chuckled mildly, though his face was slightly distressed. He didn't hate his parents for doing what they did to him. He just considered it a necessity they needed to do. "That's all I've got. Kind of makes things slightly harder with that gap in my mind, but you've got to work with what you've got, right?"

 

[Queen Rai]

~Lyra~

​

"That's all I've got. Kind of makes things slightly harder with that gap in my mind, but you've got to work with what you've got, right?"


Lyra carefully wrote down a basic summary of what Mars was saying as he spoke, though she could feel a pit forming in her stomach as he told her that his parents had. . .drugged him. It wasn't her place to say, so she wouldn't, but what kind of parents would do that to their own son? Especially at such a young age? Of course, maybe they were doing it for his own safety. . .and their own. Lyra still didn't like the idea.


"Yes, I suppose. . ." Lyra smiled, putting down her pen.


She bit her lip, puzzled about which theory to assign Mars's powers with. She rapped her pen against the surface of her desk, and said, "It could be monster given, but my best guess is genetic, as you didn't mention anything about monsters. . ."


Other than your parents.





". . .unless you have some sort of connection with the monsters or something weird like that?" Lyra asked, glancing back up at him to meet his eyes. "Are your parents connected to the Otherworld, do you think?"


When she noticed that Mars looked slightly distressed, her expression softened. She reached over, and then gently took his hand, giving it a light squeeze. She didn't say anything, only smiled weakly at him. What could she say?

 

[Haruhi Suzumiya]

Maria Scarlette


Maria sat up and listened to the conversation going on in the class - She looked up at her teacher, whom she thought she should focus most of her attention on, and listened.


"Normal isn't exactly a word we use often around here."


"Here it can be used to describe us, though," Maria said matter-of-factly. "Since all of us have powers, we're normal in that sense, at least. That's another one of the reasons why we came here, isn't it? To have a place where we feel normal? Yes, we were also supposed to come here to..." Maria held her hand out and counted the reasons as she listed them... "Learn about our powers, learn about the Otherworld, make our powers more potent, train with others, and learn to collaborate better. Lastly-" Maria put her hand down in her lap again - "If any of us still don't quite feel normal, we could always ask around, try and figure out each other's powers. Maybe we can find someone with a similar power. Not only would we be able to learn more about others but also we could learn a bit more about ourselves."


Maria had gone a little overboard there... She did tend to rant, didn't she?


Maria noticed then that she hadn't raised her hand or asked to speak. "Er, sorry. I should have asked to speak first... Please excuse me for that." Maria blushed a bit and looked down at her lap awkwardly.

​

 

[cojemo]

Mars looked at Lyra as she gave his hand a squeeze and nodded. It was a strange subject for him, his parents. They were nice people, and very caring parents. They always made sure he had everything he needed, kept him safe from any harm, and always found time to play with him when he was young. Heck, he still got along with them, as shown from his weekly challenges and frequent chats with his father. The fact that they'd drugged him made him feel uneasy, but it logically made sense. He was a danger to them, and could have been at risk of exploitation. They were very logical people, and they'd raised him that way as well. Still, it was nice to know that someone worried and cared for him, even if he didn't need it. Lyra always did that.


"It could be monster given, but my best guess is genetic, as you didn't mention anything about monsters. ..unless you have some sort of connection with the monsters or something weird like that? Are your parents connected to the Otherworld, do you think?"


Mars tapped his finger on the desk as he pondered this. "I've never really thought of that before. I don't think they have any connection like that, but they may not want me knowing me that. Now that I think about it, they never said who these 'friends in high places' were. Isn't it kind of odd to be able to get drugs that suppress powers unless someone who has some sort of connection to the Otherworld gets them for you?" This was something he'd never considered before. Genetics seemed the most likely before, now there was a chance that wasn't the case. He stopped tapping his finger and looked at Lyra. "Well, coming up with theories for theories isn't going to help. Genetics makes the most sense with the given information. Let's go with that and wrap this up, shall we?"

 

[Qwerto]

~Otherworld History~


~Professor Liam DiFranco/Lyra~

​

"To f*ck our lifes up."


Sam Polaris swallowed uncomfortably as he heard Raph muttering on the chair behind him. He had never really had a problem with his powers, but then again, he supposed they were probably much easier to conceal and prove than some of the other "gifts" around. He wandered what Raphs was, I mean, obviously something to do with animals, because of her weird bird thing, but he wasn't sure exactly.


"Alright, well. . .I. . .we still have about thirty minutes. . .why don't you all partner up, we're going to do a project, alright?"


Sam grinned at this, seemed like he would have an opportunity to talk some more with Raph, who he was beginning to see potential in as a friend. He began to turn around in his seat when she touched his back and whispered:


"Hey, hey. Sam. Let's partner up!"


Sam looked at her, she had the weirdest expression on her face, almost like a puppy. It was adorably. He grinned and gave a short laugh.


"Yeah, uh, sure, of course, that would be cool!" Sam said twisting his chair around so that he was facing her.


"Alright, students. Once you get with your partner, I want you to to take turns talking about how you got your powers. Whether you were born with them or not, if you have any strange memories that might relate with your gift. . .you get it. I want you to take notes on what your partner says, and if you can, try to associate it with one of the three theories I gave you. A monster given gift, a goddess given gift, or a genetic gift."


"Huh, well, uh, I to be honest pretty much dont know anything about my powers, so, uh, could you possibly, you know, go first?" Sam said. He was falling over his words again, which he hated, but it seemed to be getting better as he got more comfortable with Raph. "I, uh, hope you don't mind me asking, but, um, what actually are your powers, uh, specifically?" Sam continued, figuring her answer might not make much sense unless he knew what they are.


@GreatWest

 

[GreatWest]

~Rafaela~


"Alright, students. Once you get with your partner, I want you to to take turns talking about how you got your powers. Whether you were born with them or not, if you have any strange memories that might relate with your gift. . .you get it. I want you to take notes on what your partner says, and if you can, try to associate it with one of the three theories I gave you. A monster given gift, a goddess given gift, or a genetic gift."


Rafaela grimaced a little at that. She didn't have a problem talking about the powers itself, but she didn't really like to talk about some of the memories of it. Like the first time that she had fully used her power. She shivered at that thought.


"Huh, well, uh, I to be honest pretty much dont know anything about my powers, so, uh, could you possibly, you know, go first?"





Rafaela smiled and nodded. "Sure! No problem." Well, better get done with it soon.


"I, uh, hope you don't mind me asking, but, um, what actually are your powers, uh, specifically?"


Raph's smile didn't disappear, but her eyes had a weird mixture of happiness and sadness. She did like her powers, but she didn't like the consequences of having it.





"Animal Control." She replied after a short pause. "I can control animals, make them do whatever I want. I can also understand and talk to them, and vice versa. It's not a bad power, you see, it's kinda cool even. I just wish it didn't have...manifested so soon. Though I hate to admit that it might have saved my life. It's... Complicated." Raph took a deep breath, she wasn't comfortable talking about this. But she trusted Sam, she would just ask him to not tell anyone. "When I was a kid, 5 years old to be exact, me and my family were at the beach in Recife, a Brazilian city, but we were swimming at the dangerous part of the beach. And then a shark appeared, I couldn't move so I stayed there, watching it approach me. I screamed. And it stopped. It said..."Hi. I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you." And then it was gone. After that I started understanding every animal, even insects! They would talk to me, so I would talk to them. It was the most normal thing to me. Apparently, the others kids didn't think the same thing.Raph let a shaky breath make its way out of her mouth. It was difficult for her to talk about... Those days. But she trusted Sam not to tell anyone, so she continued. "When I was 11, these...boys from my school... T-they were holding.... They were holding Ed, a stray cat, but my best friend. And...and... They... They killed him!" Rafaela realized that she had raised her voice too high, so she closed her eyes and calmed herself. "Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I don't remember much of what happened next. But I remember my hate being passed on to cats and insects and... I'm pretty sure that was the first time that I had controlled animals, not just talked to them." Rafaela leaned back on her chair and opened a smile, trying to make the tension leave her body.





"I'm not pretty sure in what theory it fits though. Maybe I'm just special?" She grinned. She was glad she stopped herself before saying that those boys were dead by the time she regained her consciousness.


(I'm sorry for the long ass post)


@Qwerto

 

[Queen Rai]

~Lyra~

​

"Well, coming up with theories for theories isn't going to help. Genetics makes the most sense with the given information. Let's go with that and wrap this up, shall we?"


Lyra nodded, releasing Mars's hand and tearing out her own sheet of paper before grabbing his as well, saying, "I'll turn them in, okay?"


She stood up and was about the hand the papers directly to Liam, but decided that she didn't want to get sucked into a conversation like every student that dared talk to him. She simply (and sneakily) dropped the papers off on his desk, and then crept back over to her seat. She found herself, once again, brushing her hair out of her face. Why didn't she just wear her usual pigtails?


Looking around the room, Lyra saw that Blake and Veronica weren't in class. She hadn't seen either of them at lunch, too. The girl's eyebrows knit together, and she asked, "So you know where Blake and Veronica could be? I haven't seen since the tea-party. . ." 

~Meditation and Focus~


~Professor Crysta Chime~

​

Crysta quietly listened to her students as they spoke, not interjecting. She was actually very worried that they were feeling like this, and was afraid that this would be their lasting impression on the Otherworld. She wanted to blurt out what a wonderful place it was, thing just weren't their best at that moment. . .but she couldn't They'd start asking questions, and then get worried when they didn't receive answers. . .but if something was going on at Hawthorne, should the students be the first to know so they can protect themselves?


Was it even safe to keep the students there?


Crysta didn't know, as it wasn't really her place to say. All of that was up to Kinya, and knowing her, she wouldn't send the kids home. The woman was a good Headmistress, but she was still young, and still had a lot to learn. Sometimes she let the power go to her head, and refused to listen to reason, which often scared Crysta. Did she even know how dangerous keeping the students at Hawthorne was with something running around?


"Alright, students!" Crysta said, giving a small smile. "We have about fifteen minutes left, so I just want you all to meditate. Clear your mind, dissolve into your mat. . .relax. . .breathe. All of that good stuff."