Whatever the scene before Derrek was, he was kind of glad he didn't arrive just seconds before.

From what he gauged as a safe distance away he called, "Yo, Alice! I still have your stuff!"

Of course if he was staying away from Alice and co, drawing their attention probably wasn't his best moment. He was there for a reason, though.

Alice walked over to Derrek. "You really should've stuck around for training," She said. "The others are starting to pull ahead of you. Don't get left behind!" She smiled. "Did you learn anything today?"

"Hmm..."

Derrek feigned serious thought for a second before shrugging. In deadpan he started.

"Dear Senior Alice,

Today I learned a remarkable lesson about friendship. By not being part of a training group you don't get the holy hell beat out of you, and get your own personal Batcave. Also, I learned I'm terrible at putting on and taking off the simplest of armors, and that Luxembourg is in fact a country, not a city.

Your fateful student, Derrek."

If he had any confetti, this is the part where he would throw it in to the air. He didn't have confetti, of course. But if he did...

ooc: f*** you pinky pie

Alice didn't really expect a decent answer from Derrek. Unamused by his deadpan rambling, she took the armor and glove from him. "I don't need an excuse to beat your a**," She began. "So you'd better tread lightly." Then, still covered in blood, she gave a charming smile and walked off, back to where Lotus and Lloyd were.

Ashley shook her head adamantly, "As Archmagus I will have to cordially reject your offer Ms. Ignianus,"

The old woman cackled, "The offer wasn't for you, miss vanilla" she said turning her attention to Daniel and gazing with extreme interest, "My, an impressionable seer under my wings, how delicious!" she chuckled "Now go back to school you two, you will be safe, for now" she added the for now while looking directly looking at Daniel, and then her expression immediately changed "I'll be expecting you after school"

Smiling in an obviously fake manner, Ashley took out the ring of keys from earlier and put it into the keyhole of Ms. Ignianus' backroom door, and as they walked through they found themselves in Ashley's chambers. Red silk banners were hung across the ceiling and the walls, and the room was filled with candles and a various assortment of books, some which happened to be floating. In the centre of the room was a big fluffy cushion surrounded by a magic circle inscribed in what looked like ancient Greek. However before Daniel could say anything further, she flicked her wrist while speaking the word "Trusor" and suddenly Daniel was hit by an invisible force sending him flying into the wall. Looking at the girl, Daniel could see that she looked displeased.

"You concern me," she said solemnly "However, I feel partly responsible for your lack of education. Never," she paused to let the word hang in the air "Undermine my authority. Especially in front of a witch. You may train with her, but know that this is only because you have been granted permission.

You are a mystery and quite frankly a threat. However, I am quite proud of you, and you could possibly be the first sage Darren has seen in as many as thirty years. On this basis, I will let you learn as much you need to know from whomever you need to, but never forget that I am your Archmagus, and until you are proven to be a sage, you are my responsibility. Don't you forget that, and don't you ever underestimate me"

"Trucor" she said once more with a dismissive wave of her hands. Immediately the door to her room opened and Daniel was pushed out by the invisible force once more, the door slamming behind him.

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As Damian drifted into a trance, he could see various specks of a fluctuating, colourful energy floating around him. However, he could not identify what it was; it definitely wasn't spiritual energy. Before he could further enquire, sleep began to overcome him and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep, having greatly exerted himself mentally and spiritually over the day.

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As Logan began reading the book, he found that it started with an account that detailed the founding of the colony.

...And lo, in a clearing where shadows dare not tread, we happened upon a great cedar tree. Just as foretold, the children of the night did not enter unto its perimeter, granting us a night of reprieve. It was a most blessed place; a place of tranquility unlike that which I have ever witnessed in mine short life. A place in which the Lord Himself shone in all His majesty, granting sanctuary to all men who came unto His light. Thus, as a beacon unto the New World, we called this place Arclight. – Brother Albright

As Logan read the book he gradually grew sleepier and sleepier, until he decided to set aside the book and go to bed.

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"I haven't found any others" replied Bernice softly "Or rather, I don't remember where they are" she shrugged "I tend to ignore them as I stumble onto them"

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She nodded a thanks as Maximilian poured her a cup of tea, its aroma did remind her of her sister Helena. "Initially, I hated it here, I saw this only as a rite of passage that I was forced to partake in as my sisters had before me, and my father and his siblings before them," she felt very vulnerable as she spoke, it was the first time she had ever spoken these thoughts out loud "It has been difficult, adjusting to the rules, the school life, the people..." her mind briefly drifted to Bernice, "All my life I've been surrounded by people like me, or at least touched; I had always known that we were a minority, but it never actually hit me until I left home," she took a sip of the tea, savouring the flavour and reminding her of the teas she had at home with her mother,

"This experience thus far has brought a lot of my destiny into perspective. Evil is alive and well, and unless we do something about it, harm will come to innocent people. I've come to appreciate this experience, the people I've met and the friends I've made," she smiled at Maximilian "I know that if I had still been home-schooled today, I would not have learned so much about the world, both physical and spiritual" she took another sip of tea "And you? How are you adjusting?"....

They continued to talk throughout the night about all manner of things, until Harrison walked over to the pair to remind them about their curfew and they quickly made their way back to school and went to bed, having learned much about each other.

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"Of course" smiled Sangeeta honestly, as she walked over to the kettle and turned it on, "I was just going over the structure of plant cells in preparation for our upcoming exams. Come, you can tell me the structure name, and I'll tell you what it does. "

Within a few minutes the room was filled with gentle talking and a calm atmosphere as they talked about schoolwork and sipped tea. In no time, Tsubaki's mind was no longer concerned with the sigil, and found herself simply enjoying Sangeeta's company.

They talked and studied until it was moderately late, which by Sangeeta's standards meant nine thirty. The jasmine tea's calming powers had a profound effect on them and they soon both were sleeping soundly.

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With the day coming to a close, Alice had Lloyd carry Lotus back to her room. Thankfully, it was considerably late so there weren't too many people who would ask why the girl was passed out over the boy's shoulder. Fortuned proved to have truly been on their side as Fiona was not in the room when they came to drop her off. They were both too tired to care or wonder where the girl was, the upper years not really even knowing the girl. After Lloyd laid her on the bed gently, Alice closed the door quietly behind them as they left, so not to disturb the girl.

After a quick and mildly awkward goodnight, Alice and Lloyd went their separate ways to their own rooms. Lloyd didn't even hear Paolo greet him as he passed out on his bed with his clothes still on. Alice likewise had little energy to do much besides remind Phora to keep an eye on the baby totem before falling asleep. The pixie didn't seem too fond of the young phoenix but Alice would not have heard any of her protests. Meanwhile the little totem manifested itself as Alice slept, cheeping and hopping about the room; its bright green eyes seemed to glow in the dim light.

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Derrek, always ready to sleep and having been exerted more than he had ever been in his life, nearly decided to sleep in Apollon, though the prospect of staying alone in a literally haunted city wasn't entirely comfortable. Thus, he followed Alice and Lloyd, who had Lotus slung over his shoulders, back to the dorms. He didn't notice, nor did he care, that Timothy was already asleep, and within a blink of an eye, Derrek too found sweet sweet sleep.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Autumn/Winter Wednesday 18:00 (6:00 PM)

Rather than return to Apollon, Miss Rachel had directed all the students to go to their classes for the day. Saving the world was great and all, but they still had to graduate eventually. Having completed classes, they all convened in the club meeting room where Miss Rachel instructed them as to what they were to do that day. Finally, it seemed, that they were going to address the missions that they had taken on a week ago. Now, they found themselves split into separate teams as they each went to deal with their missions in one night.

Alice, Tsubaki and Evelyn (transformed to appear as Ms. Sullivan) walked together back towards the woman's home. The street seemed odd, in the sense that everything was perfect in the neighbourhood. For some reason a lot of people were outside, people were raking leaves, talking to their neighbours, putting up Christmas lights, and the mailman was delivering various packages. Nevertheless, they were only a few feet from Ms. Sullivan's house now.

Lloyd, Maximilian, Damian and Lotus were in the s**** of the Sterling Opera House. There were no shows tonight, which would allow them to investigate without interruption. Damian, as taught by Evelyn, was able to follow the spiritual trail of the lamp that had been stolen from Ms. Ignianus' shop to this specific location. Unfortunately, his abilities were not yet capable of discerning exactly where the lamp would be in the s****. Now it was up to them to search the s**** for any sort of clues as to where it could be.

Li, Logan, Johnny and Derrek stood in the scrap yard patiently. A cool breeze blew about them, but there was no sign of paranormal activity. That is, until all the lights in the scrap yard began to flicker violently and various machines began to turn on. Over the PA system they could hear the song "Getting to Know You" playing eerily.

Interestingly, Daniel and Dom were nowhere to be found, but there was no time to wait for them.

Ooc: I know my posts have gotten pretty short and low-quality. It's hard to make good posts on the 3ds browser. I'm getting my computer back eventually.

"What should we name it?" Alice asked as they walked, studying the pheonix chick with curiousity in her eyes.

"Is it a girl or a boy?" Phora asked as she tried to keep up on foot.

"I'm not really sure," Alice replied. "I don't know how to tell - Oh, we're here." They looked up at the house. "Nice neighborhood. I wonder what Ms. Sullivan does for a living." She turned to Evelyn and Tsubaki. "Let's head inside. We need to know the layout of the house so we can find a place to hide and figure out a plan."



Daniel swept the last of the dust into a pan and emptied it into the trashcan. The setting sun was a pretty sight as he looked towards the sky, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. His after-school activities now mainly consisted of menial busy-work and chores. He didn't mind much, it was a good way to gather one's thoughts and think about what he was learning. "Miss," He called into the shop. "I've finished the sweeping. Can we go over some spells or something?"

"So, anybody want to fill me in? I went to the Mystorium last time, so I'm honestly a bit lost." Logan broke the silence, scratching his head awkwardly. Unsurprisingly, the eerie atmosphere of the scrapyard did little to unnerve him. This kind of thing was pretty much standard fare by now.

Evelyn felt blind as she walked down the street. The transformation was flawless, affecting even her voice, but she could not use any of her abilities, as that would dispel the power behind the sigil. She couldn't even use any of her spiritual senses to "feel" their surroundings, which was probably why they had brought Alice along with them as well. While her senses could not compare to a trained Spiritorum, they were beyond those of Tsubaki's.

She found it odd that the street seemed so busy. She, was covered by various scarves and wore heavy clothing, and yet she was still fairly chilled. Nevertheless, she waved and smiled at those whom Ms. Sullivan had instructed her to do so. The phoenix chick that Alice had acquired served as their entertainment for most of the girls' walk. It was absolutely adorable, and its colouring was quite odd for a phoenix. Evelyn had known them to be various shades of red, orange, and yellow, yet this phoenix was a light blue and white.

Eventually they made it to the door, where Evelyn, as Ms. Sullivan "Thanks for everything girls! Please, come in for tea!" She reached into her pockets and pulled out the keys that Ms. Sullivan had given her earlier and the entered the house, though she dully noted that the phoenix chick was acting quite strange, probably hungry.

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"We've been alerted of a supernatural entity taking up residence in this junkyard" replied Li while summoning his tonfa "It attacked the security guard who was on patrol a while ago."

On top of all the other movement in the junkyard, suddenly they began to hear the rumbling of gears and a conveyor belt as the auto-flattener came to life.

"I cannot locate the spirit. My senses tell me that it has inhabited everything around us. Get ready!"

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The phoenix chick snuggled up to Alice, it seemed hungry or perhaps scared, and cheeped sharply as they stood at the front of the house while Evelyn got the keys to the door. Luckily for them, no one without omnividence was able to be aware of the cheeping. Finally, the door was opened, and Evelyn, under the guise of Ms. Sullivan invited Tsuabki and Alice into the house.

Immediately, Alice told them to search out the house to determine its layout. It was fairly small two storey home; at the front of the house was the living/dining room, where a plain wooden table surrounded by six chairs underneath a simple chandelier lay; the back of the house was mainly comprised of the kitchen, with large windows and a small side family room where a brown couch and a moderately sized tv were placed; up stairs there was a bathroom directly in front of the stairs, and a hallway with a bedroom at either end; the larger bedroom was Ms. Sullivan's, and the smaller bedroom was a clean guest bedroom. Having investigated the house, they regrouped in the dining room.

"Alright," began Evelyn "Now what?" she asked Alice, who still struggled to settle down her phoenix chick.

Lloyd, at first, did a sweeping glance across the s****. Realizing he was the only upperclassman present in this mission, his nature would automatically assume responsibility for the young ones in the mission, regardless of the fact that he only been here for a total of maybe three days, otherwise that would be incredibly inhumane. Though it might conflict with that Naturae, who were the known rebels.

He hadn't met Ms. Ignianus, but from overhearing about her the general theme was that there was something odd about the woman. Personally he hoped he would never have to meet her frequently. Honestly Lloyd was just waiting for her to pop up during the mission.

Unfortunately his mind kept wandering back to last night. Alice and Lloyd's goodbye had been frankly short, though he didn't know whether or not he wanted it to be longer. Was Lloyd just being a shameless flirt, acting in the moment and taking the spotlight, or was there something more deep and had his subconcious channeled and affected his actions? He mentally shook his head; he was overthinking this. It was only the second day.

Summoning Grayson, hoping he would lend a helping hand so their search could go quicker, he began looking and keeping alert of anything that might to jump out, with the both of them taking opposite directions. His spiritual energy should be back to normal if not higher as he spent the majority of his time dedicated to his energy yesterday. At first he was completely confounded at his embarrassing failure yesterday, though he guessed it was because he fused twice in a very short time span. Lloyd was lucky though that Alice didn't take it as hard as Phora did.

---

Johnathan, along with Logan apparently, had been unfamiliar with the mission. Why he hadn't stayed and looked for the item for Ms. Ignianus was beyond him. He had even investigated her and everything. Miss Rachel had her ways about doing things. She probably saw that this was a better choice for him.

He had been trying to find some more books that Bernice had talked about a couple days ago, but he hadn't found anything yet. He didn't think Bernice was lying though, she didn't seem like the type to do that. Aside from that, he had also trained with his weapons, following the steps Evelyn had shown him. It was peculiar how she managed to become a teacher as they were the same age, though it wasn't that strange; she was tailored to be a warrior in her younger years, unfourtunately he wasn't. He could've done something similar though, had his mother permitted him.

Summoning his billhooks in anticipation, he prepared for battle.

Alice reached into her bag, digging past a variety of enchanted weapons and oddities. She pulled out a container filled with bird seed and set it down on the table in front of the phoenix chick. "Eat up!" she said, and the phoenix began to eat with vigor. Phora sat down at the table, barely tall enough to look over it.

"Alice, I want some too!" The totem said. Alice placed a bag of apples on the table. With the threat of unruly totems taken care of for now, she turned towards the girls.

She pulled a small flintlock pistol from her bag and gave it to Tsubaki. "In case we get separated," She said. "Use this. It will freeze whatever you shoot. Just flick that lever on top and pull the trigger. But be careful, you only get one shot." The senior contemplated their plan for a moment. "I guess the simplest thing would be to hide in the closet, so we can pop out when "Sullivan" starts screaming." She looked at Evelyn with a smirk. "Unless our friend here has a different plan."

Lotus remembered waking up extremely tired. She went on the mission, even though Something was wrong. She could tell something was bothering Lloyd but she ignored it. She watched as Lloyd took flight. Then it hit her she han't seen dot since they fused. Lotus summoned the strength and attempted to bring forth the tiger. Nothing happened.Lotus bgan to panic and be filled with a raging fear of her tiger. Not knowing dot needed rest after taking the majority of the wounds inflicted by Alice upon herself to avoid Lotus being in pain.

The phoenix chick was immediately pacified by the birdfeed and busied itself with its seeds as Alice instructed the other girls with what to do. Evelyn was not particularly fond of the look that Alice had given her, but she shook her head no compliantly. There was a task at hand, and the sooner they dealt with it, the sooner she could get out of the transformation. The other two girls went into the closet to hide, while Evelyn, as Ms. Sullivan, made her way to the kitchen. Looking around awkwardly, she poured water into a kettle and dipped the end of her crucifix in it, though before she could continue any further the doorbell rang.

In all honestly, Evelyn was quite concerned, she could not sense who was at the door without dispelling her transformation, and she seemed quite sure that whatever was going on with Ms. Sullivan in the apartment building wasn't over yet. She exhaled, as she walked to the door and opened it. It was an elderly woman, Mrs. Bronson, according to what Ms. Sullivan had told them earlier.

"Oh, Mrs. Bronson, how are you doing?" she said cheerfully.

"Quite alright my dear, where have you been? I haven't seen you come home in weeks," replied the old woman with a worried expression.

"Oh, I was visiting some friends, I'm sorry I didn't let you know"

"Oh thank heavens!" replied the Mrs. Bronson, "There has been so much in the news lately, I was worried something had happened to you, may I come in?" Instinctually, it felt wrong to Evelyn, but there were still many people outside, and she preferred to have the door closed.

"Definitely, come in for some tea" The old woman smiled happily as she entered the house, and they walked to the back of the kitchen, Evelyn spinning a tale about how she had spent time with her friends, and Mrs. Bronson gossiping about the neighbours. Mrs. Bronson sat at the table, while Evelyn boiled the water in the kettle and poured it into the teapot offering it to the old woman, who took a sip and immediately threw the teacup into the wall, her mouth steaming.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" screamed the old woman as she stood up from the table as the house began to rumble and the lights flickered in the kitchen. For the first time in her life, Evelyn was speechless, giving the old woman enough time to flip her wrist and send Evelyn crashing into the wall with a resounding thud. "Where'd you get that water?" asked the old woman as she approached Evelyn, who was mildly dazed, as the old woman's eyes became completely black.

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Amid the sounds of rattling metal, there was a rumbling noise of an engine starting as if a car was turning on, and within a matter of seconds two bright headlights flicked on as a car drove itself towards the group.

"Look out!" called Li as he deftly flipped over the car, now seemed to be an opportune moment for him to use the spell tags he had been taught to wield earlier.

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OOC: Group 3 can't move on til we have at least Damian or Max post.

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"Spells?" spoke Ms. Ignianus, suddenly behind the child, leaning on her staff, "There is much more to what I will teach you than spells" she chuckled to herself "Witches and wizards are not like Magi, spells have their use, but they are quite rigid. Rather, we enrich ourselves with potent concoctions, and some of us, like myself, make a few...friends..." there was a knocking coming from somewhere within the Mystorium, seeming as if it came from the roof, Ms. Ignianus smiled. "Unfortunately for you, young seer, you shall never have friends as I do, it is the nature of things." She prodded him in the back with her staff "Come, come, your first spell awaits."

They walked into the backroom, it seemed different from the last time they had visited, a cauldron bubbled over a fire pit, out from which a lizard crawled.

"Oh finally," spoke the lizard impatiently, "This is the boy? Rather small. Why are your kind always like that?"

"Tut tut" replied the witch, "Daniel, permit me to introduce you to Leopold; he is a salamander."

"Much obliged young seer" the salamander replied as it scampered onto a very stained wooden workbench.

Ms. Ignianus handed the boy an odd knife, if he were to run his finger along its edge he would have immediately cut himself. "The first step, is that you must acquire your ingredients, " she smiled "You need the tail of a salamander."

"Oh. I can handle that." Logan grinned with anticipation as he called upon his targe and chain mail. He hadn't felt the thrill of real combat since the encounter with the Exitimus, and he could hardly wait to try out the newest addition to his growing arsenal.

Suddenly, Li called out a warning. The Scot wheeled to see the inbound vehicle and quickly rolled out of its path. He recovered in time to see Li jumping over the car in what seemed like an excessively flashy display of dexterity.
Well, whatever works for him. The junior mused.

"You guys got any bright ideas?" Somehow, he didn't think that taking a longsword to a huge mountain of scrap would have much of an effect.

Damian shuffled around the s****, feeling around and checking every corner, shelf, and generally physical object. He chuckled and lightly punched the wall in annoyance."Sorry guys, tried my best but this thing is gonna be tougher to find than Waldo." Truthfully, he didn't actually believe they would ever find it. He was sure he had misled them thus far. He would have to hope he was wrong.

The s**** was a lot like Daniel's room with the magic club. He imagined that this would be where he spent a lot of his time after school. He still didn't know what a seer was, but it seemed to be the reason why Ms. Ignianus agreed to teach him. Suddenly his teacher handd him a bizarre knife Out of morbid curiosity, Daniel touched the tip of the blade and sure enough, it pricked his finger. "Oww," he said. Deciding to ignore it, he studied the salamander with interest. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Leopold," He said. "Is it okay if borrow your tail? It will grow back, won't it?"

Alice tensed up as she and Tsubaki hid in the closet. She heard the door opening, then closing, and a few seconds later, a barely intelligible scream followed by a thud. "That doesn't sound like the neighbors!" Alice said as she picked up lightweight Tsubaki around the waist and charged downstairs to confront whatever awaited them.