Daniel's hand shot up while Ashley thought about it. "I know!" He said excitedly. "There's a magic shop in town! I bought stuff there! I bet the owner is a real witch! We can find everything there!" He grinned proudly and looked around at the others.

Alice considered her options. This was becoming more difficult. She could send the kid blindly into the school. Perhaps she would zero in on the source of the magic. Or she could find someone who knew Daniel to go with her. The second option seemed like a better idea. Who knew what sort of trouble Lotus would get into on her own? A plan formed in her mind.

Phora spoke up, concerned about something. "You're not going to use those, are you?" The pixie asked.

"It seems like the best option," Alice replied. "Besides, I like him. A little bit! Stop making that face at me. Lotus! Lead me to Lloyd please!"

Logan did his best to stifle a yawn as Abigail continued to clean each piece of the rifle she had recently gutted, describing their functions as she went. When she had started disassembling it, the junior had greatly underestimated just how many parts there would be. Now that they were scattered about the floor, he guessed there had to be around thirty, not counting the screws. He might be fascinated if he wasn't bored out of his mind.

"Excuse me." The Scot interrupted his ancestor, who was presently in the middle of a heated spiel on the importance of the trigger guard. "Why do I need to know any of this? It's not like knowing how the gun works is gonna help me use it."

In response, the soldier cast an irritated glance at him. She'd been doing a fair bit of that.

"You know what your problem is?" She inquired as she began to reassemble the rifle. "You don't have any respect for your weapons."

Logan raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to respond. The concept seemed a bit silly to him. After all, the gun was just a tool, and was no more worthy of respect than one.

"You didn't need to clean it, you know." He said, deliberately ignoring Abigail's implication.

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about!" She persisted. "You don't care about your weapons at all. But, hey, why should you? You can pull them right out of thin air. They don't need maintenance, so why bother with it? They'll never break down, so why learn how they work?"

Logan opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't think of anything to say. Perhaps he didn't pay his armaments much mind, but he still wasn't convinced that was so awful. When he said nothing, Abigail continued.

"Real weapons are different. You have to maintain them properly and handle them with the utmost care, because if you don't, it can get you killed. Since you don't have to worry about these things, you haven't developed a healthy appreciation of your weapons." By now, she had completely reassembled the rifle.

"Fine." Logan interjected, becoming impatient with the lecture. "Why does that matter?"

Abigail sighed heavily, looking at Logan with an expression of surrender. "Alright, have it your way." She conceded. Then, after a moment, "I suppose you want to go do some target practice?"

"Sounds good to me." the Scot affirmed with a wide grin. He felt a bit guilty about brushing off his ancestor's opinion like that, but at least he would finally get to learn more about shooting.

Without further exchange, the two left the library. After a few hours of shooting practice on the outskirts of the city, Logan sent Abigail on her way, finding himself alone once again. For all her experience, he mused, she was quite a handful.

"Tea..." He mulled over the idea for a moment. "Sounds like a good idea, especially if we find other places to visit on the way there." Maximilian was delighted that he would finally get an opportunity to leave the school grounds and do something besides attending to 'club affairs'. "Should we go now?"

Lotus closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She wanted to find a familiar scent. When Lotus inhaled, however, Lotus began to choke on the overwhelming scent of some flower-like scent. It took her a moment before she realized she was basically choking on the mixture of her and Alice's perfumes. Lotus got her breathing under control. She need a new idea. She keep her eyes closed and began to listen for any possible sounds Lloyd or Grayson could make. All lotus heard was the annoying flapping of pixie wings and Alice's steady heartbeat. Lotus sighed giving up.
"I got nothing." She said simply to Alice.

Once again Lloyd felt Grayson's vortex of emotions. Eagerness, uncertainty, apprehensiveness, euphoria. Maybe it wasn't all Grayson's emotions. It was getting harder and harder to tell if it was his or not. Of course Lloyd relied on and trusted Grayson, he could remember all those countless times he saved from almost certain doom. Grayson had learned to also trusted him naturally. It was really an enigma as to why he had given up almost everything to be with a complete stranger, and a human at that. He had left his brothers, his home, most of his strength, even given up his mortality to be with Lloyd.

Perhaps that was why Grayson had been bitter with him in the beginning. Maybe he had been beginning to regret it.

This exercise had not only taught them fusion, but it had also greatly strengthened their bond between each other. And it had payed off. They both had accepted. They were one.

---

"Secret war? That sounds unbelievable." Johnathan said as he shook his head. Grabbing the book, the freshman started flipping through the pages. He hadn't learned about anything like this in school. "What was it about? And how could we trust this?" He asked showing obvious interest.

Damian broke out a smile, his experimenting had certainly paid off. He could now add manipulation of metal objects to the list of things he is capable of though clearly this bauble is required for it. Despite it all, he still felt he would need far more to face the supernatural and emerge victorious. After all, he still failed to save Carter though at the very least he was alive. There was nothing he could do about that so instead he brought his focus back to the present. He intended to take this bauble with him for obvious reasons and that is probably what Ms. Rachel wanted anyways. However, he could not walk around with it charged. Last thing he needed was frightened students beholding a floating coin. Thus, in the very manner he cast bolts of lightning, he held the bauble firmly and attempted the opposite, with the intention of withdrawing the energy entrapped in it.

How frustrating. Alice really just wanted to cry over her lost mentor, but nothing in her demeanor showed it. She had work to do, and she needed a new plan.

Her cat disciple seemed to dislike perfume. With a sigh she reached out with her spiritual senses to look for Lloyd. He was actually fairly easy to track as his spirit was wavering. "Alright, Lotus, follow me!" She marched out of the gardens and towards Lloyd. She wasn't anywhere near a familiar place, but she merely had to follow her senses.

Logan's experience left him with mixed emotions, wondering what other ancestors he could call upon, and whether they'd all be like Abigail. Nonetheless, it was an interesting experience, and he had learned to shoot quite well in the time he had spent with his ancestor.

Checking the time he realized that it was around 4 in the afternoon. He assumed most of the others were done their training, and so decided that he would return to the academy and look for something to do.

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OOC: Feel free to throw in your anecdotes, unless Max was just listening to Evelyn blather on

Fortunately for the two of them, Tea Tyme was fairly close to the school and so they walked. Evelyn told him a lot about her sisters; quirky and mischievous Olivia, the Animalium of the family with a fairly close relationship to most birds, though ravens in particular; gentle and maternal Stephanie, the Naturae of the family who often employed herbal remedies to everything; and lastly, stoic and intelligent Helena, the Antiquarum of the family who was never around much, often on missions. It was clear that she had a sister complex, and she admired them greatly.

She also talked about her parents. Her mother seemed to be the anchor of the family, bringing them together and making sure they never lost themselves to the concerns of the spiritual realm. Once it came to her father, it was clear that she was a daddy's girl, she spoke at length about the times they went hunting together, or how her father had given her a medieval flail for her sixth birthday, much to her mother's dismay.

Before they knew it, they had reached Alkem Avenue and Mackenzie Road, the cosy little shop stood before them. Its lights illuminated the sidewalk as it had grown darker since they had left, the sky painted a brilliant orange above.

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OOC: Beautiful ;~;

It was in that moment of self-realization that Lloyd opened his eyes, and saw that he and Grayson truly were one. He understood his totem more than ever before.

It was then that Alice, her pixie and a strange tiger, a bit like Dot actually, approached.

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"I found it behind another book" spoke Bernice quietly, "There are a few strange books in this library, I don't pay much attention to them..."

"Hey! It could be! You never know!" replied Adam spiritedly as he passed the book over to Johnny. The book certainly looked old, it was leather bound, and its pages were yellow with age.

"I don't think those types of questions will be on our exam," replied Bernice softly.

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OOC: Perfect!

Just as Damian had anticipated, he felt the energy of the orb drain back into his body and the gentle light that it emitted died away.

"Oh, it's hot out here!" Alice said to Lotus as she unbuttoned the top few buttons on her blazer. She approached Lloyd and bent down so she was eye-to-eye with him. "Congratulations Lloyd," She said with her best charming smile. "You're now a true totem user! Of course, you're going to give me a ride, right? We would look so noble." She reached toward his wings. "You'll protect me with your staff, won't you?"

Upon returning to the academy, it hit Logan all at once just how exhausted he was. Extraverted or not, just being around Abigail had taken it out of him. The entire front of his outfit was stained green from lying prone on a grassy knoll for hours (not that he minded the look). Yes, it had certainly been an eventful day, and the junior had learned much. Perhaps later he would ask the others what they'd been up to. For now, though, he decided to head to the library while he had some free time. Any conceivable ulterior motives aside, it would be nice to relax a bit and do some reading.

It was a short walk to the library from the archive club room. However, given that it cut through the busiest intersection in the school during a relatively active time of day, compounded with the fact that Logan stopped to chat more than once, it took a bit of time for him to reach his destination. When he arrived, he noticed Jonathan standing by a table. Perhaps he would ask what he did today after all. Without hesitating, the Scot headed over to say hi.

"Johnny. Bernice." Logan greeted with a mock salute as he approached the table. "Adam." He finished, punctuating the word with an eye twitch. Something about Adam had always bothered him. He just got this feeling that the first year was an absolute brat, even if he didn't act like it. This feeling had nothing to do with the fact that he was spending time with Bernice shut up you don't know what you're talking about.

"Hey, what's that you've got there?" The junior inquired, noticing the book Jonathan was holding.

Maximilian greatly enjoyed listening to Evelyn's stories of home and as they continued to walk and she continued to talk he found himself yearning for a family life similar to hers. Deep down he was envious of how her father apparently treated her. He envied that he genuinely cared for her and seemed to only want what was best for her. His father was much different in comparison. to his father Maximilian wasn't a son, he was a successor, a successor to an 'esteemed dynasty' which as of late was known not for its enduring history but rather its enormous debt which he was expected to assume in due time. Regardless of how he felt on the inside though Maximilian refused to let his actual feelings surface. Instead he simply continued listening to Evelyn, nodding and smiling when appropriate.

When the pair arrived at the tea shop Maximilian headed directly for the front door of the building and ushered Evelyn through. He himself waited a few moments before entering so that he could admire the coming twilight. Once inside Maximilian gave a quick look around before turning to Evelyn.

"You can pick where we sit." He was unsure whether or not she preferred to sit in a certain space and because he had no reservations about where he sat he figured he would give her the honor.

OOC: Thanks Kiki I try sometimes

"Don't worry, you can't get any hotter. We could become the royal family of the Darren Archive Club." Lloyd said as Alice approached before taking note of the tiger, allowing Alice to touch his wings. He struggled to keep his eyes on Alice. Dot? It couldn't be an enemy: Alice would've already mangled it. On closer inspection he could more clearly see Dot in there. Did Lotus and Dot also manage some type of fusion? He also found himself smiling. "Thanks, but you would have to tell me where we'd go first." He could feel Grayson's resentment bubbling up.

---

"It's a book about a secret war going on during the American Revolution." Johnathan said. "Do you want to see it?" He offered the book. "It looks like your day seemed interesting." He said gesturing to his outfit. He figured he get it out of the air since he guessed Bernice and Adam were both thinking it.

"Oh my," Alice said with a giggle. "You want to get married already? At least take me to dinner first." She smiled at him.

Phora had a look of despair on her face. "J-just get to the point already!" The jealous pixie shouted.

Alice shrugged. "Fine," She said. "I need your help, Lloyd. Why don't you end the fusion before you faint? Don't wear yourself out like all the newbies do."

Lotus paced nervously around as Alice and the bird man exchanged cute little remarks. She chuckled here and there, but for the most part she stayed off in her own world ignoring everything that Alice and Lloyd said as they spoke. Lotus heard something about fusion and ending it before she fainted. Lotus thought long and hard before speaking " Wait will I faint or is that just totem users?" She needed to know before she wipes out,even if it meant leaving her more beautiful form for a weaker human one.

Damian couldn't help but flash a wide grin as he slipped the bauble into his pocket. If Ms. Rachel were around, he would thank her. Whether or not he had learned everything, he had finished in his own opinion. He then set off to the exit, making his way to his dorm room.