BranchWood Academy - Canceled

When Mikhael had arrived at Branchwood, he had expected to find a rather orderly boarding school, despite the difficulties of keeping students of magic in check, but what he had seen so far appeared to be more like chaos and a military atmosphere than that of a learning environment. Classes wouldn't start for another week and yet already arriving students appeared to have blown apart part of of the western tower, as well as experienced the loss of several students to a sociopathic killer who had not yet been caught. He wandered the halls, trying to find people with whom to speak, aquaint himself with, but besides his roommate Quade, he appeared to be the only one doing so. A few students had set up impromptu training sessions with a teacher or two, but he felt awkard intruding into what seemed to be a private group. So, he resorted to doing what he did best. Art.
No paints or pencils, but art he made, patterns in the windows, frost that depicted scenes from his mind, a pictorial montage of his thoughts, ideas, and stories he had grown up hearing, as well as some he created himself. Each day he would return to the large windows in the main hall, when none or few occupied it and continue, like windows of a gothic church. Each more elaborate than the last.
Today's subject, was a simple one. A tree whose blossom and decay he controlled. His hand rested at the base of the window, while the frost climbed upwards, at first in a sapling, then changing shape to a larger birch tree, then to the bloom of summer, and then, letting the leaves of the tree vanish, appearing at the base again as an autumn eventuality.

Moriah was walking down the hallway, heading towards the library to try to find more spells. She knew that she needed to focus more on the dark fire spell Zanzibar had helped her find but she wanted to make sure that she had plenty different ones to memorize and try out. She had noticed what looked like to be one of the new guys around the school, she was surprised at seeing how many new people where coming in. She noticed that he was standing near a window, she couldn't tell what he was doing form where she stood so she walked closer to see. She saw the elaborate design he was making on the window and how it changed like a normal tree with the seasons. "Nice job." She said.

Mikhael did not take his eyes off of his creation, continuing to cause the tree to regrow again, this time warping it with the age of weathering, clouds and depictions of rain appearing in place of the snow in the window. "My mother always told me that it was easy to make icicles for the usage of combat, but art, in any form, takes much more. A wintermage can do so much more than people think, same as those with fire can do more than they would realize, or those who favor stone. "
As he said this, the tableau changed once more, a lightning bolt hitting the tree and in the blink of an eye, disappearing, leaving the trunk to fall to the ground in the frost.

Moriah nodded, looking over at the man's face as the lighting stroke the tree and made it disappear. "There is more than meets the eye with any form of magic. You should try making three dimensional shapes, more so with animals because you will be able to move them at will." She opened up her palm and then started to spark a fire with her magic and then shifted it into the shape of a rose with beautiful blooming petals that were full and luscious and with a long stem that had two leaves on it with small thorns. She also loved art and sometimes would use magic to play with it and see what she can do with the two. She then shifted the rose into a small hummingbird that soon flew out of her hand by her will and she used one finger to dart the bird around them.

Mikhael kept changing his own painting, taking a look at Moriah's work. "I do, on occasion, though you might note that ice, unlike fire, tends to be a bit bulkier. Impractical indoors." he said, not unkindly. "So far it's been the only thing keeping me from boredom until classes actually start."
The next change in the window was plantlife, growing on the remaining trunk and stump. Finished, he stood back, taking it in, before turning back to the girl. "Mikhael Labonte. I'm a wintermage, obviously." he said raising his arms in a shrug.

"That is why it is good at being used to make weapons like swords and daggers. Frost is barely ever used though." She released her hold on the hummingbird and is vanished in the air, she was making sure that the fire didn't spread on to the school. She preferred to use fire and water when it came to art unless she wanted to make a statute. "Moriah Blackstone, I'm a spellcaster witch." She said, noticing the fact that there didn't seem to be a lot of witches, mainly mages.

Mikhael sniffed. "You'd be surprised. Most people are so busy using their abilities for traditional weapons that they tend to miss the more creative uses for them. For instance, Instead of making a sword or shield of ice, I could instead freeze the lungs of my opponent. Instant death, and no danger to myself. People forget how much liquid it takes to create a life form."

Moriah never really thought of that. "That is a really good point there. But it does prove to be a more coward like move. Wouldn't you find it better to actually try to beat your opponent with honor with weapons then take the move of freezing their lungs or heart to insure your life and win?"

Mikhael raised an eyebrow. "Honor? by risking my life and the lives of those around me unnecessarily?" He sat down on a table, his feet resting on the long bench, leaving frost marks around the edges of them. "My grandfather fought in the philipines in the second world war. His concept of honor was simple. Don't die for your country, make the enemy die for his. I think he got that from a General... No one who has seen combat would suggest that winning equals cowardice. Combat isn't fair, and neither is war. An opponent will not face you in single combat willingly, he will get a group. superior numbers. And destroy you. So unless the situation is such that terms of peace are being discussed, no, there is no honor in war. Only life and death."

Quade had been listening to the conversation from the background. He was waiting for an appropriate time to either join the conversation or greet the individuals. As Mikhael began to bring up information about war and how there is no honor Quade saw it as a chance to enter the conversation.

"You bring up a good point Mikhael. Honor doesn't exist within Conflicts that involve life and death. However isn't it true that if you have no honor you have no limit to how far you will push yourself? If that's true then isn't there a point in time where you could cross the path between good and evil? A point where you push yourself so far outside of honor that you stretch the boundaries of what is "Good" and "bad"?" Quade had said both the words with quotations with his fingers for extra emphasis in order to stress his point.

Quade had wandered over to the chair near by and slumped down into it. He leaned back and stretched out in the chair before lifting his head to look at the two individuals. "So, that being said I believe that if honor isn't kept to a certain point then the line between good and bad could be blurred. I mean isn't it true that there comes a point when even your adversaries have had enough? Though what you say about people trying to get advantages is true. That is something that can't be avoided within a conflict unfortunately. Either way I can see how both my argument and your own statement can make sense." he began to lean back further in his chair ad he pondered the thoughts that had been created.

Quade finally began to observe the art work after a slight pause and laughed a little. "Your art sure makes what I could do seem very... Well actually let's just not discuss it because it's that bad."

Mikhael nodded in agreement. "True, course I didn't mean to say that there is no honor in war. Just that letting an opponent use tha against you isn't exactly the most clever thing one can do..."

Moriah leaned against the wall not far form the two, listening to them talk. "Do you think it is fair though? There is something you have contemplate over. Is it truly fair to use your magic against an opponent if they do not have the same power and only their weapons. There is the very well known saying, "All is fair in love and war.""

"Well, Legend says that Weapon Masters was created to deal with a Magicians in a far past. This story was handed down the line of the Grand Forgers. In the past apparently there was once a time where Magicians ruled over the humans when individuals didn't have power. This is why weapon mastery was created to fight back against those who have power. These individuals also won against the Magicians... So perhaps that proves that even the weak have ways to survive and fight back. Our past has always been filled with times of hatred and agony. So with that said Moriah I can agree with what you mean. But also its interesting to see the length people go to fight back."

Moriah nodded. "There will always be agony and pain in every person's life time, it is a struggle we all face as individuals. And with that, most of us have the raw emotions that boil over with time on being treated as a lesser being, as dirt. You being to want to show that you are better, that you are not weak and end up taking whatever measures you can to show that you are worth more than what you have been called or labeled as."

Mikhael took this point of view with a grain of salt. "Take it from this direction then. What saves my enemy more pain. Will stabbing him in the chest, most likely repeatedly in order to make sure that he actually is dead? Or using magic to cause his body to simply shut down, sending him into a sleep in the same way that severe cold sends the body into shutdown? You might take note that since weapons have become more advanced, fewer people actually die in battle by far. The wounds caused by the sword are much worse than those caused by any magic except that which is used by dark magicians. Honestly though, this is a moot point to discuss. I do not use my power against others simply when I feel like it. Only in defense. It is not weakness to win. But it is to instigate battle for selfish cause. I am not a tyrant, nor do I command anyone. I have no desire for power, or war. But If I am called upon to defend the lives of others against tyranny I will without hesitation.

The sound of wingtips tapping was heard from the end of the hall, giving away his location and notice of whether he was coming or not. He sighed a bit as he walked in, shaking his head in his entry. He looked up to the three with a smile, "interesting point of view on all sides." He pointed a light finger to Moriah and smiled a bit, "I agree with Moriah that killing without hesitation and making people know that you mean business is a good way of fighting, especially when you want to be noticed or if you want to ruthless." He chuckles a bit, "you have an evil side to fighting. I like that." He mused as he walked passed her and to the next.

"Mr. Mikheal has a point as well." He spoke was he pointed his thumb to Mikheal as he passed, "if you want to make sure that the others around you are safe, you should end the enemies as fast as possible, especially if they are people you need to protect and keep safe as to transport them by hand. This idea is forged to make sure that no one sees you and that the people you love are away from harm." He looked over to him with an amused smile, his emerald eyes housed two flickering flames that were swaying side to side, showing slight interest. "You have a peaceful and caring form of fighting. That is an interesting one as well." He comments as he walks over to the last man.

He forms a shadow limb from the back of his black double breasted coat and past Quade on e back, though it gave an uncomfortable chill, it kept him from making direct contact with Quade and changing his form again. "I see Quade is very knowledgeable and informed on history of fighting, and i like what he says, people fighting back too keep protected and keep what they own, from what I am hearing and so on, you seem to have the same ideas as both, so I see that you like to keep what is yours and you like to see the balance in others, or at least you like to see a balanced fight." He smiled again and ran the shadow limb onto his shoulder, "you have a way of fighting for protection of name, territory, or something important to you or the people you love. You have a protective-or neutral-way of fighting." He commented with a smile, "a good way of fighting, nonetheless, which I like to see sometimes."

He walked out of the three and made his own spot in the group, he mused to the three and took a deep breath. He then shook his head and laughed a bit, "now don't take this as me labeling you, I am merely taking what I have heard, so this is more of an assumption than a pin point idea of you fighting and personality. So do not get mad for my assumptions." He looked up with a chuckle. "You know what they say about assuming." He joked

Mikhael shrugged. "I let my words speak for themselves. I don't need to justify my actions in battle. They would keep me alive longer, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters."
He strode to the other end of the table, the conversation had become more complicated than he really wanted right now so he decided to leave the hall. He walked out of the building itself and headed down a stone pathway he had not encountered as of yet.

He watched Mikheal walk away, feeling a bit dishearted that he had left, he felt like jumping in had intruded into something that they were conversing on, but the feeling was quickly cut off as he looked to the two with a soft smile. "Perhaps my words were a bit more than i should have inputted." He chuckles a bit, his tone a bit more lower than a regular, dark and groggy tone-a bit saddened. But he leaned against the wall and looked to the two. "Perhaps I should have sat in tue back, no?" He spoke as he rested his hand on the belt of his coat, the weather outside seemed to be a bit arm for a coat, but he didn't seem to be hot or sweating. The frost on the window was melting ever so slowly and causing heated condensation to drip from the frame of the window.

Moriah was a bit surprised that Mikheal had left but didn't think much of him. She looked back ar Sasuki when he spoke and shook her head then patted his shoulder. "I don't think so, he probably just wasn't expecting to run into three people form this school so quickly. Don't blame yourself on his disparting our little conversation." She said then sat down at the chair not far form Quade.
((Sorry for the short reply. I am on my ipod right now. ))

Quade looked over at Moriah who had just taken a seat. "Seems we will be staying here for a bit." he pulled a chair out from the table and moved it a bit over so it was away from the table and he leaned back on the chair. He didn't put his feet up like most people did. Instead he was using the chair like it was a rocking chair. "So who can come up with our next interesting conversation?"