The Final Exam

Foster abandoned his grin. "This isn't mathematics. It's explosives. Combining magical powers,theoreticaly,is extremely difficult. And dangerous. Magic of the Necro school is not 'Negative',per se...But rather utilizes what others view as negative." He looked into her eyes. "Furthermore,if we,simple students could manage to weave spells together...To what end? The result is unpredictable,and,at best,very unstable."


Then the full gravity of what she said hit him. An accident.


"Someone close to you has died...So you came to the meat puppeteer." He crossed his arms over his chest,and thought. How can I manipulate this girl to do my bidding...?
 
"I did not come offering you a marionette to string up. If I wanted that then I could have done it myself." Lydia said, looking away from him. "I came to you because if there was anyone I knew willing to do something unstable and dangerous then it would have to be you." She was taking a big risk, coming to him for help. Lydia could almost see the wheels in his demented head begin to spin and she braced herself, ready for it. "I'm sure you are aware of my position in the magical realm, more notable my family's position. I'm sure that there is something that I could do which is of interest to you?" Lydia was making a deal with the devil, offering him her loyalty in exchange for something that she wasn't even sure could be possible in the end.
 
Foster already knew what he wanted. With his skills,he could carve out his own existance on any plane of his choice;be it this one or the magic realm. But first,he needed...


"The Clear Heart. You,and the body we raise,if successful in that endeavour,must assist me in the search for the Clear Heart. Success,or failiure,my services require you to help me search for the Clear Heart." He had a plan. And it would ensure his position of power. "And I'm quite aware of your family's power. However,you should know that MY family doesn't give a flying flip."


He directed his piercing gaze into Lydia's eyes. "Those are my grounds. Non negotiable."
 
"They left on a trip and never came back."


Hope’s grip loosened and her hand slipped from his shoulder to his elbow as she stared back at him,


“Why…” he asked.


Her eyes widen before she quickly darted her eyes away, she wasn’t sure how to answer the question without giving anything away. For a moment, dirty play came to mind; the thought of taking out the Aquamarine heart and telling him a blatant lie. She didn’t though, instead opting to grab hold of his other arm and tightening her rather loose grip.


“Seiren…I’ve heard of it before” she noted,


Scuttles’ whined in her front pocket and she frowned, kissing his head lightly.


“It’s the place where I was born…I wondered why your mom would have it written down…” she explained,


It was the truth… she just skipped out on a few details; like it was a whole other world that had magical people and creatures wandering its streets. Pulling herself in closer, she rested her head against his shoulder;


“…I think I should go now” she murmured and stepped away as if nothing had happened.


It was a hard decision, but she walked away from the kitchen and out the front door, slamming it after she had passed it. She had no right to be in his house, especially after what her kind had did to his parents’…
 
Lydia wanted to look away from him and his crazy eyes but she forced herself to keep her gaze straight at him. "I will not promise you the loyalties of a dead man." she said, her teeth grit. "I am only able to promise you complete loyalty and obedience. This is between you and me, Foster." She could not sell away Stratos's free will like that, even if she were to be successful in raising him from the dead. "You may not be interested in my families power, but you are interested in me. You need me." she added.


It became obvious to her how true this statement was. "Perhaps it isn't me specifically that you need, but someone in general," She paused to look around the shop. "Although I don't see too many other mages willing to do your bidding." Whether or not either of them wanted to accept it, they needed something from one another. She would give up her own freedom and chance in the exam to save Stratos and she knew that Foster was aware of how much she was willing to give already.
 
Foster pulled a glass phial from his pocket,and said, "Deal." He raised an arm,and pointed at Lydia. A small volume of blood,and two bone shards were pulled from her arm. The blood and one shard went into the phial,and he corked it. The other bone shard went to his hand,which was deposited in his pocket. "Signed in blood."


He put the phial of blood,the phylactery,in another pocket,and said, "At the end of my shift. Meet me out back at ten."
 
Tristan was shocked. Hope had acted as though she knew something he didn't, which wouldn't surprise him, he just had a feeling she wasn't thinking of the right things. Something else that bugged him is that she said she was born in 'Seiren' which made no sense since no place on the planet was called Seiren. Shrugging "Maybe it's a planet with the population consisting of 90% female's and 10% male" then continuing with a laugh. It didn't matter to him, he knew something was bound to happen to make her run away anyways.


Tristan locked the doors and walked downstairs. He already knew she was long gone. Walking into the game room he noticed a bag on the floor, open. He picked it up and placed it next to the wall, then pressing a button the wall shifted slightly back and opened. Tristan walked in leaving the bag there still. He thought about what happened. Deciding to bring the bag back to her tomorrow. He was sure he was going to find her.


The soundproof room door/wall closed. "Time to work on my game again."
 
Lydia looked away as he took the blood and two bone shards from her arm. She knew what she was doing and fought back the growing fear within her. From here on Lydia knew that she would to take her back on her previous principles if she ever wanted to see Stratos's smiling face ever again. Looking up at Foster she nodded her head. "Yes," she said, nodding once more to dismiss herself and then left. Her hand went to her arm once she left the shop and she sighed, feeling the gravity of what she had just done.


 
It was a block later that Hope noticed something was off, an imbalance towards her usual stature, and she cursed when she figured it out. The knapsack she usually toted around was gone from its usual place on her back, and with it, her money. Although it was her only money to get around the human world, she hadn’t felt the need to go back.


Compelled to stay as far from Tristan as she could, she searched the town for a job; hoping to earn money as she needed it. Hope was inexperienced, though, not even managing a job in the magical realm let alone this realm. Maybe with a little bit of magic, she would look more appealing to the average interviewer, though…
 
Kimberly sniffled, she had stopped crying, but still had a sad feeling inside of her. "What if they did it on purpose? What if they didn't like me?" She asked herself outloud. She started to hear someone walking and became quiet, but couldn't help but whimper, tears falling down her cheeks again.
 
Jasper looked towards Rhys's direction, spying the Headmaster watching the children; he smiled, resisting the urge to wave to him. "Grown up...I'm sure they'll grow up to be just like the Headmaster...after all, those raised by a pure heart tend to end up being pure themselves...at least, that's what I've read!" Jasper said with a grin. As Rhys told Jasper that she had something serious to ask, he turned and stared at her. "Sure, go right ahead," he replied politely.
 
"Yeah....that would be really nice." Rhys said, nodding her head, before looking at Jasper and biting her lip. "Look, this might just sound completely crazy, but.... " She ran a hand through her short hair, looking over at the kids, "Do you believe in demons?"
 
"Demons?" Jasper asked as he wanted to confirm what he heard. "Well...to be honest, I don't know if I believe in actual demons or not....however, I do believe in demon-like people..." he said with a frown.
 
"I see...." Rhys said softly, a sad bit of an undertone to her words. Shaking her head for a moment, she shrugged. Looking back at him, and taking a small breath, she asked another question, "What about those of evil?" Stuffing her hands in her pants pockets, she stared back over at the kids.
 
"Hmm..." Jasper pondered as Rhys asked whether he believed in evil demons. "Well, I think there can be evil in people that can turn them into demons...I don't know if there are actual demons in the world or not, but I was raised to believe that there were evil demons that tempt human beings from the path of justice....basically, I'll just follow my gut when it comes to those sorts of things..." Jasper replied, not sure if he answered Rhys's question well. "If a demon does come to wreak havoc, I'll just have to protect what I can!" he said with a heroic pose.
 
Nodding her head, Rhys listened quietly, before laughing a little as he finished with a pose. Smirking at him, she mocked popping his muscles before shrugging and leaning back against the fence. "What do you think is the easiest to corrupt with this evil.....? And what do you think is the best way to fight it?"


Her head was thinking over things, she'd asked people these questions before, and often just got strange looks. Most just disregarded her as a silly kid, but Jasper had actually answered. He was different, yes, but she could understand the points he made.
 
Jasper pondered the meaning of the questions that Rhys asked, wondering what they could mean to her. "Well...I would say that evil can easily corrupt those with innocence...all it takes is one wrong step and things can turn out horribly. I would also say that those that are weak-minded or that have gone through a severe trauma can often find evil knocking on their door...however, it depends on whether the person chooses to accept the invitation or not - which leads me as to how to fight evil. For one thing, you gotta stay true to yourself...don't let anybody or anyone tell you what you aren't. Also, for as many evil things that you might have done, do twice the amount of good deeds to balance it out. And the most important thing....don't ever lose the love that is in your heart...don't let that light flicker out if you don't want to be consumed by the darkness...as long as you still have love in your heart, you can make it through any evil, no matter how severe it might be..." Jasper finished, telling Rhys what he had learned from experience. "Heheheh, sorry for the long sermon!"
 
Rhys listened to his words, before smirking a little. "Cute..." And that was that, as a ball rolled towards them, she gave a small starting run before kicking it back. "And don't worry, I like hearing people speak...and people generally like knowing someone is listening so..." Shrugging, she glanced up at the clock on the face thing, before sighing. It was almost breakfast time for these kids, which mean the play time would be ending soon.
 
"Cute?!" Jasper thought embarrassingly, wondering what Rhys meant by that...was she talking about his sermon? Or did she think that he was cute? This thought alone almost caused him to blush when he looked at his cellphone and saw the time...it was almost time for breakfast with the children. "Well, I guess I'll go call them, then!" he said as he rushed away from Rhys, hiding his embarrassment from her as he called the children and rounded them up.
 
It was the third place Hope had been to, with a “Now Hiring” sign in the window and an interviewer behind a desk. Usually it was a call-back for an interview, but with some lucky timing, along with magic, it would happen right away. They had been carefully examining her resume, which had appeared in her hands only minutes ago. Despite how nice a resume looked, the other two had denied her because of Scuttles and her hair color, respectively.


So the ferret remained outside this time and her hair was covered in a mirage, a brown sheen gleaming over it. The fact that the interviewer had been contemplating over was her age, quite young to start in the type of field. In fact it was almost impossible…


3 years of good driving records, a full high school degree…all at the age of 17?


“We’ll let you take care of the spare routes for right now” he finally decided.


Hope was ecstatic, nodding quickly and sticking her hand out


“Thank you” she gushed, aiming for a handshake.


The man smiled and shook her hand, as of the weekend she would be delivering mail; with thousands of hearts to prey on, one might be clear.


“C’mon, I’ll show you the back” he noted,


Leading her into the back, he deposited her resume in a bin on his way by and showed her to a storage closet. Stepping in, he tossed her one of the mail bags on the shelf and began looking through the boxes and pulling out clothing.


“What size do you wear?” he asked,


Hope wasn’t listening though; the girl was distracted about the bag she was now holding; when he had tossed it to her, she immediately looked inside and stopped short.


Her bag…


She almost slapped herself, forgetting the extender she had set on her last bag. The bag that was currently in the hands of a human, whom she hoped didn’t look inside it.


“Hope”


Snapping back to reality she looked over her new boss, Mitchell…or something like that,


“Medium” she answered.
 
While Pele didn't know exactly which city she was in yet, she had learned that many had similar features, four of which were relevant to her: farmer's markets in the summer--which it thankfully was--thrift stores, vacancies and help wanted signs. The other thing she could use right then was a map. Closing her eyes she touched her eyelids with her index fingers, imagined what she needed and murmured 'locis.' When she opened them again the world appeared as though a white veil was drawn over her vision, the people nearby were vague shapes moving about, buildings were dark, ominous shadows, but against the washed out sky a bright red light spiked down to mark the nearest information center.


Navigating in this state was tricky, but she didn’t want to lose sight of her goal. It didn’t guide her down streets, around buildings, warn her of traffic or sidewalks, it was just a column into the sky. After bumping into five people, though and then falling on her ass when a dark blur accompanied by a muffled horn cut in front of her she’d had enough. Baring her teeth she closed her eyes again and wiped the spell from her vision, then squinted in the suddenly vivid, bright world again. She continued in the general direction her spell had marked, and once she turned another couple of blocks, found it by the simple mass of people, largely tourists, converged in the area.


Pele did not have the patience to wait in the queue, particularly as she did not have questions the distributor could help with, so she leaned against a lamp post, focusing her line of sight, and summoned a handful of maps and a guide book. The trick was to do it fast so that mortals wouldn’t notice, and if they did, to look bored and uninvolved in anything suspicious. It also saved her a couple bucks, something she’d learned to value.


“Wicked child,” she heard Pratap mutter, who was fighting with the clasp on the bag on principal as much as anything.


“You taught me well,” she hummed, opening the guide book to the section on shopping. All the stores that were listed would certainly be overpriced, targeting eager, naïve tourists, but on the same streets would be the trendy and the cheap second hand stores and around the corners would be the hole-in-the-wall shops of often useful things, full of informed people. By magic or persuasion she just had to retrieve that information from those heart-burdened sources.


 
Kimberly pressed the ice pack against her face, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "Kimberly. You need to be stronger than this." She spoke to herself. "I wish one of those people were here. It was so rude of me to abandon them like that. I should probably say I"m sorry." With that, the girl stood up and walked out of the bushes. "Which way was his house again?" She looked around, trying to find it, but couldn't.
 
Hope continued to run down the street, the mailbag that hung from her shoulder getting knocked around with each step. It contained her new summer uniform, which she would sport tomorrow on her first shift. The girl was too worried to be excited, as it was getting dark out* and her bag had been at Tristan’s all day. She had to put her trust in him that he didn’t snoop around, and was just waiting on her to pick it up.


Finally making it to his house, she slowed down and tried to catch her breath; leaning on his door for support when a coughing fit hit her. After she had finally settled down she knocked, rather loudly, on his front door


“Tristan!” she called.


In her worn down and weary state, she realized that she didn’t have time for a knock and answer process. With her palm flat against the door handle, she calmed herself with a deep breath


“Patefacio” she charmed.


The door opened without so much as a creak and she eyed the surroundings to see if Tristan had heard her. Scuttles squirmed out of her front pocket, crash-landing on the floor before hurrying his way upstairs. If Tristan was upstairs, the ferret would prove to be a good distraction.


Hope took a different approach to the situation, slowly closing and locking the door again before setting her new bag down. Sweeping her hair out of the way, she continued down the hall; sneaking a peak into each room as she passed. Trying a much stealthier approach, she descended the stairs and looked around the hallway.


He was here somewhere…


Locking her eyes shut, she murmured a limerick; getting used to the feeling of magic on her tongue again. Slowly opening them again, she peered around, walls standing in her way no longer. The first thing that caught her interest was her bag on the floor, wide open and beside where Tristan sat. The next, was the ‘room’ Tristan was sitting in. At first it looked like part of the game room, but it was clearly behind the washroom.


Hope was surprised she could even see him, with all the…swords, guns…and weapons that hung on the ‘walls’, some taking up rack space. Other than these ornaments, she could see the weird seat he occupied, and a big TV. Some of the smaller objects were hidden from view by everything else but she was still shocked.


There was no way she was sneaking up on someone who had so much weaponry at disposal…


[[OoC: Me an' Ran settled on 9, that way it could be late afternoon an' still be gettin' dark C:? eh? eh?]]
 
OOC: yeah... that is wierd. I"m sticking with nightime then.


BIC: As the sun started to set, Kimberly rubbed her eyes. "I must've wasted my day crying. How stupid of me." A girl ran past her with a mail bag that looked awfully familiar. "Hope!" Kimberly yelled after her, but she couldn't hear her. "Oh... Where am I going to sleep? My bed is all the way across town and being hree in the bushes isn't too comfortable." She sat down on the sidewalk, careful not to get the dress dirty.
 
As the day grew later, Rhys had spent the whole day at the orphanage. Eventually, she headed off, stopping outside of the building once, to look at her cell phone before realizing with a small pang, she had never called that boy. Tomorrow. Surely, he will understand. Sighing and hiding it on her, she started walking.


With a smile spread across her face, she didn't want to return 'home'. She didn't know if the head master would call them, asking on if her accounts were true either. Didn't want to know how bad they'd get angry, either. Humming softly to herself, she walked slowly, enjoying the scenery as she moved. Stopping again, she turned and looked over her shoulder at what she could see of the orphanage. Nodding her head once, Rhys smiled wider. Alice, she was going to be a great adult, so was Jared, and all of the children who came from there.
 
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