BranchWood Academy - Rebirth

Crow's form was settled on one of the bright, square-seats. Her hands held a compact, blue book, and her gaze drifts through the writing within. Placing the book upon the desk, her gaze drifts towards the window, then towards the desk. Crow's right hand moves into her dirtied, feathered robes, pulling the serrated dagger out. Crow's gaze returns to the book, her right hand presses the blade's edge against her left, her eyes closing and her teeth clenching as the blade draws blood across her palm.

Crow's left hand holds itself sideways, letting the blood drip upon the desk. Crow's mouth moves and strange words escaped her. The dagger within her hand utters a low, man-like moan, as the blood upon the desk slowly thickens, then shifts colors, slowly forming a pile of pink snow. Crow's gaze lingers upon the snow, then shifts towards the blue book, then towards the snow again. Her right hand grasps the hilt of the dagger, her strange words escaping her, and the dagger releasing another pained moan. The pink snow slowly shifts in place, thickening and sprouting a snout, whiskers, two beady eyes of red, a rotund form, and a thin tail. The dire snow rat looks about, at first, before standing perfectly still.

Oethis made his way down the linear hallway of dormitory entrances, each of which brandishing a specific number. He found locating the room a bit tedious, as his only method of echolocation can from the sound of his footstep reverberating through the otherwise silent and empty hall. But he eventually stumbled upon the numeral that corresponded with the one he had been told to report to. Oethis placed his hand against the engraved number, just to be certain he hadn't misinterpreted it. Now satisfied, the blind man placed a firm grip on the door's knob and gave it a twist. The door slowly swung open, making the room's contents clearer to his improvised vision. At the very end of the room, he could make out a figure, but not clearly. Oethis lifted his hand to the wooden door frame and gave it a few knocks. Soon the vibrations painted him a clearer picture of the room and the woman that sat before him.

"Hello", Oethis spoke softly. He walked himself further into the room, closing the previously open door behind him. He walked up to on of the beds, a lower bunk to the very right of the entrance. "Is this one taken? Oh, and I go by Oethis", he said, placing a small pack from over his shoulder on to the bed's surface. "Do you have a name?", he asked the woman whilst rummaging through his bag.

Crow's left hand dripped blood upon the dirtied, feathered robes, her right hand grasped the hilt of the serrated dagger. Crow's right hand lifted upwards, before her hand stops. Crow's gaze snaps towards the opening door, her lips curling into a soft scowl, "You are intruding. Who are you?" Her voice was short and sharp. Crow's eyes sharpen, her right hand settling the dagger's point into the table, before her left hand lifts upward, forming a fist. Blood drips upon the lifted snout of the snow rat, blood spattering below.

Crow's gaze lingers upon the blind man, her scowl becoming neutral, "It is. But you have likely been assigned to share this room with me." A short pause, as the dire snow rat twisted its snout about, its form shuddering, as its chest rips open, a second mouth forming and leaving the rat's snout loose and laying off of the side. The snow beast's features became a purple-red, its eyes white.

Crow's gaze snaps towards the beast, then towards the man, "I do. Its Crow." Crow's gaze lingers upon the male.

"Ah, I see", Oethis said, picking his pack up and moving himself to one of the free cots. "Yes, I suppose we have been assigned to share this room. After all, this is the room I've been told to report to". Oethis took note of the woman's bleeding, but decided not to say something, as he was fairly certain that she was aware of her wound. He could sense the tone of resentment hiding in her voice, but supposed that it was merely because he had just met her. He sat himself down on the cot and tested its level of comfort. It wasn't as bad as he had expected. It was, by far, the nicest thing he had the pleasure of being able to sleep on in quite some time.

"It's a pleasure, Crow", Oethis said, his eyes pinpointing to the location of what was once a mouse. "What craft do you study that allows you to give birth to such... creatures...", he said, in slight disgust of her creation. Oethis never understood the point in tampering with the very basic aspects of nature like that.

Ceilibell hummed as she walked down the hallway. Behind the doors she passed, she could hear the muffled murmurs of conversation as strangers met each other. She wondered what kind of people she would be roomed with. Well, whoever they were, she hoped they didn't mind a little music! Her flute bumbed against her hip with every step where it was clipped onto her belt. It was much easier than having to tote it around in a case, and it was easy for her to access it quickly if she needed to. Slung across her back was a case for a violin. Ceilibell read the dorm numbers. "5...4...3..." She'd entered the dorm the wrong way, and now instead of her room being one of the first, it was now the last she would find. "2...1!"

Ceilibell burst through the door, without really thinking about what she might be interrupting inside. It slammed against the wall and her cat ears flicked backwards as she flinched. "Whoops." She gently turned and shut the door. She sighed. Well, she wasn't ever worried about making an unnoticeable entrance. She turned back to the others with a wide smile. "I'm Ceilibell!" Her eyes widened as she saw what the woman was doing and her smile dropped. Instead she watched with fascination, her tail flitting back and forth. "Uh, we're not expected to do that are we?"

Oethis wasn't too surprised when Ceilibell burst into the scene. He could hear her humming clearly echo along the hallway from where he sat. "Nice to meet you, Ceilibell" he said in his typical almost monotonous tone whilst looking back over as the monstrous creation seemed to grow even more vile as time passed. "I would hope that we aren't expected perform things like that. Such crafts are... disharmonious in my humble opinion". Oethis turned his head forward in alignment with his body. "You possess a rather melodious voice, Miss Ceilibell. My name is Oethis", he commented, continuing to look forward. Oethis focused his attention on her instruments, noting their well kept condition. Clearly they meant a lot to her; a feeling that Oethis himself had no trouble empathizing with. "Those are some fine tools of the trade. How long have you been a musician?"

Crow's gaze lingered upon the male, her head nodding once. Her facial features remained neutral. A short pause, and her eyes blink, "No it is not." Crow's gaze returns to the beast, its form stumbling forward upon the table, its stomach attempting to bite into the desk's surface. Crow's left hand lifts upward, her fingers spreading outward, the beast's form shaking subtly. Its shoulders break, jutting upward, its stomach-mouth opening without a sound. Crow's left hand places itself upon the beast's back, its form shuddering violently. The wound upon Crow's hand slowly repairs itself, the snow of the beast shifting from a pink to white.

Crow's left hand grasps the compact, black book, her right hand drawing a quilled pen and an ink vial. Placing the ink vial upon the table, Crow's right hand dips the quilled pen into it, her gaze drifting between the book and the beast as she writes.

Crow's gaze never leaves either of them as she says, "If those words are true, stay out of my studies." Crow's gaze drifts up, towards the beast, watching its form as the snow about it shifts into the dire rat from before. Crow's right hand continues to write, as her gaze drifts over her shoulder, towards Ceilibell. Her yellow eyes linger there, before they return to the dire snow rat. Crow's gaze lingers upon it, as it lifts its snowy snout upwards, as if sniffing.

Ceilibell watched quietly as the woman's hand healed and the rat continued...doing whatever was being done to it. The tips of her ears twitched and she smiled when the woman looked up, but she decided not to bother her while she was so obviously busy. She gently took the violin case off her back and set it on the top bunk on the right side of the room and towards the back. She turned to the man who was also there, noticing for the first time that his eyes looked strange. "Hm, I don't know." She glanced back at the rat. "I like to think that everything has a certain harmony of its own. It just takes a certain type of person to hear it." She smiled at the compliment. It was one she often received after performances, but not very much in chitchat. It said something about him. "Thank you. I've been playing instruments like these for as long as I can remember." She noticed there were other instruments in the room. "Oh, do you play too?"

A smirk cracked its way onto Oethis' face after hearing Crow's comment. The tenacious pride she held for her craft was a respectable trait in his book. That, however, would still not justify such acts of magic for him. "I mean no disrespect, Miss Crow. I'm sure that your little companion is very grateful for its newly bestowed life. If anything, the least it could do is appreciate how simple its existence is", he said, his tone slightly lacking in seriousness.

He turned his attention back to the feline woman. Oethis found her species a bit queer to his understanding. Such a race of sentient human cats was something that didn't exist where he came from. "I play a myriad of instruments, yes", he answered. "Such an aptitude is the reason why I find myself invited here to Branchwood, I suppose". Oethis reached back and grasped the neck of his Shamisen, lifting it free from its straps and resting the wooden body on his knees. "Music, or rather, sound in general, is my life. It grants me a purpose, let's me see the world in a completely different way", he said, his blind eyes shifting up and down the instrument in his careful grip.

Oethis leaned back against the wooden post that connected his bunk to the one above it. "So, what brings you two here to this academy?", he asked, looking up from his Shamisen.

Crow's gaze drifted about the dire snow rat's form, its snout lifting upwards to sniff at the air again. Crow's right hand draws the pen's tip along the inside of the black book. Crow's eyebrows push together, before relaxing, her gaze lingering upon the rat's form, "I do not care for respect. I am also uncertain as to the beast's level of sentience and would not make such early assumptions." Crow's facial features remained neutral, as her right hand dips the pen's tip into the ink vial. Her hand continues to write, before stopping. Crow's eyebrows pinch together, as the snow rat's head began shaking from side-to-side. The beast's head continued doing so, as Crow's gaze lingered upon it.

Crow's gaze lingered upon the beast's head, as it began shaking its head slightly faster, its mouth opening but releasing no sound. Crow's gaze remains upon it, "I was not invited. I came here of my own will." The snow rat's head began shaking violently, back and forth, before its coal-like eye falls upon the table, its mouth open. Its other eye rolls off of the table, and the beast's head reaches an unnatural speed. Crow's hand closes the black book, as the beast combusts, sending specks of moist snow upon the desk, Crow's robes, face, and dirtied, three-cornered hat. The sound created was a loud, but very short popping sound. Some of the snow leaked off of the desk's sides, dripping upon the floor below. Crow's left hand drifts upwards, drawing the snow from her closed eyes.

Ceilibell touched the smooth surface of the flute on her hip. She'd known she'd get this question. "Ah, well..." She blushed in embarrassment. Everyone else here probably had some big reason why they were coming to such a dangerous school. To avenge a loved one, to become stronger. "I thought it'd be fun here! And besides, a performer's got to have a fresh set of epic stories. What better place to find them than here?" She said brightly. It wasn't her true reason for coming, but it worked. "But what about you Oethis? Why did you come?"

She looked at the shamisen in his lap and wondered if he'd start playing it. She'd have to remember to ask him to later if he wasn't going to now. "How long have you been playing?" She went up to her bunk and sat indian style on the bed. "I've always liked the shamisen, but I haven't gotten around to learning it yet." She was also wondering how he could play when he couldn't see the strings, but she'd seen blind people play the piano before, so she supposed a blind person playing the shamisen wasn't so far-fetched.

Oethis pondered her questions whilst carefully drawing a large pick from his robes. He knew he wasn't going to divulge one of the real reasons he was here; the reason he saw the school as an outlet of his tendencies. No, these people were far too new to him. Besides, he was sure they wouldn't be able to understand. Not many did. "One of the reasons why I chose to attend is because of my love for the art of music. This places seems to host a wide variety of different people from across many lands. I figure it must also be home to many different cultures and, with them, their music", he said, bringing the pick to the third string. He gave it a short pluck before ending the string's vibrations and reaching upward to fiddle with one of the large black tuning pegs. But then, for a second, his lifeless eyes seemed to widen, as if in realization of some profound knowledge. "Hey, did you know they apparently have these guitars with wires coming out of them? You put the wire into the wall or something and it makes the guitar sound completely different! Can you believe that? Big fat ones with eight strings too! I've never played a stringed instrument with that many strings. Oh, and sets of drums that you play with your hands and feet! At the same time!", he exclaimed, his face aglow with excitement. However, such excitement would not be long lived, and Oethis retracted his emotion, feeling foreign and foolish. "They don't have such things where I come from...", he said, his milky eyes darting back to the comfort of his shamisen.

"Anyway, believe it or not, I've only been playing music for little over five years or so", he said, continuing his process of plucking and tuning. "This shamisen is the first instrument that was given to me for ownership. Before then, I would experiment with drums and guitars owned by others. Sometimes with their permission, sometimes without", he said, testing the three strings for their synchronicity. "This instrument is my favorite. It creates a good mix of melodic tunes and simple percussion", he said. Oethis offered a bit of a demonstration, beginning to pluck at the three strings using the large pick. He created a myriad of sounds, ranging high to low with rhythms moving slow and fast, the slapping of the pick against the body accenting with the long twang of vibrating strings. Oethis stopped his performance after about thirty seconds. He relaxed his shoulders and leaned back against the wooden post once more. "Alright, let's hear it. It's your turn now", he beckoned to her, his smile displaying his eagerness.

Ceilibell didn't quite believe that the reason he gave was the real one, but she'd done the same thing, so she didn't ask about it. She smiled when as she watched him get so excited about other instruments. It was nice to know that she was teamed up with someone just as enthusiastic about music as she was. She'd been expecting to be the only one. She knew the instruments he was talking about. She'd visited a country where they were popular once. While they weren't exactly her taste, seeing how they worked had been interesting. She watched him check the tune of his shamisen and closed her eyes when he started playing, focusing only on listening.

Her ears swiveled towards him and even her tail stopped moving for a moment. He was good. When he was done she opened her eyes and smiled. "Maybe I could just get lessons from you." She wondered if they'd have time for that while they were at this school. Ceilibell nodded when he asked her to play. It was only fair. She opened up her violin case. She figured she'd probably use her flute a lot here, especially if there was more combat. She always kept her instruments well tuned so it didn't take much adjusting before she was ready. Ceilibell breathed in and out a few times, clearing herself of all emotion. She'd found it was the only way to play without her magic projecting fabricated emotions onto those listening. She started playing, drawing the bow back and forth while her other hand flew up and down the neck. Like Oethis, she only played for about thirty seconds before stopping and setting down her violin. She looked at Crow and tilted her head. "I hope we're not distracting you too much."

Crow's dirtied, feathered-robe dripped idly, the water clean as it puddles about the chairlegs. Crow's hands grasp her robes, shaking them softly, before her left hand grasps the black book and places it within the robes. Crow's hands push against the edge of the table, her facial features damp. Her gaze snaps towards the other femme, then towards her instrument. Crow's gaze drifts towards the blind man, then towards the femme, as her coarse, leather shoes carried her towards the door, "Move."

Crow's right hand grasped the door knob and she pushes it. Her hand releases it, as her coarse shoes carried her down the hallway.

Oethis couldn't say he was surprised to see Crow storm out. Her taciturn way of speaking didn't come off to him as irritability, but rather just her standard demeanor, something he was sure they would all get used to eventually. Or, at least, he hoped. Oethis turned his head back in the direction of Ceilibell, staring blankly forward. "She'll take some getting used to, I'm sure. She probably would say the same thing about us", he said, pocketing the large pick once more. "She just has a rough personality; one might even say coarse".

"Anyway, your playing impressed me. Violin is no simple tool to master and you show clear experience", he said. Oethis was fairly flattered when she expressed interest in lessons. No one had ever asked for his expertise in such a way. "If you would like to learn a few things, I'd be willing to show you what I know. That is, in exchange for some of your own knowledge"

Ceilibell frowned and nodded, forgetting that he was blind. She was dismayed to see Crow leaving. She hoped it wasn't their playing that had bothered her, because that was Ceilibell's main ability. She laid down the violin bow.

She smiled, an automatic reaction to compliments. "Well, I hope I'm good at the violin, it's the instrument I first started playing." She hopped lightly down to the ground to get a closer look at the shamisen. "Of course I'd be willing to teach you something. It'd wouldn't be fair otherwise." Ceilibell found her eyes wandering to the door. She chewed on her lip and frowned. "Maybe we should go after her, make sure she's OK."

Oethis thought for a second about going after Crow. He knew that he didn't really want to, but such a mindset didn't keep the Headmaster's words from ringing in his mind. He would need Crow to complete their group missions, and if hoped to complete them correctly, he would require a mutual degree of trust between them. But that wasn't too bad, he supposed. Both his squad-mates were a means to an end anyway.

Oethis stood himself up and placed his instrument back in its place against his back. "Yes, you're right", he put simply in compliance to Ceilibell's suggestion. He walked himself over to the doorway before stopping. "I think you should lead the way. It will be easier for me that way", he suggested, moving out of the way of the exit.

Crow's coarse shoes carried her form through the hallways, her gaze set to face forward. One eye was covered by the dip of her dirtied, three-cornered hat. Her coarse shoes slow to a stop, as her hand twists the doorknob to her dorm room. Stepping inside, Crow's hand pushes the door closed. The others likely are outside, somewhere.

Crow's coarse shoes carried her towards one of the brightly colored foot-stools, her rump settling upon it. Her eyes close and her head dips forward, partially, her back towards the door. Crow's hands placed themselves idly within her lap, the crystal tied about her waist faintly illuminating her form.

((Sorry! Guess this one slipped under my radar!))

Ceilibell quickly packed up her violin before following him out the door. She moved her hand to make sure that her flute was still on her hip before she left. She never went anywhere without it. She started walking down the hallway, leading the way. She glanced back at Oethis, a question on her mind. "So..." She couldn't think of anyway to ask that wasn't rude. "You move around really well, I mean, for not being able to see." She winced inwardly. Yup that sounded just as bad as she thought it would, but if she just stopped there, it would just be a weird awkward comment. "How do you do it?"

Oethis wasn't very surprised to hear her question, as it was something almost everyone asked him at one point or another. "I have very acute hearing", he said plainly. "So much so that I can visualize waves of sound as they travel and reverberate off of objects and people, which paints a picture of everything around". The air was very still in the corridor, which didn't fully satisfy his want to feel it press against his face as they walked. "I asked you to go first so that I could see the path ahead sooner, since the origin of your footsteps lies slightly ahead of my own. This way, I don't have to wait a small second to get a full view of my surroundings, like I would normally have to when relying on the sound of my own footsteps to see". They must have been nearing a path to the outside, as he could smell the distinct aroma of moisture-filled air from the raging storm. "If I concentrate, I can see details very well", he finished, thinking that he had talked enough about himself already.

"You don't really seem like much of a fighter", Oethis said bluntly. "Are you anxious at all about these 'missions' that we have to undergo?"