“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

Cal felt bad for his words. He still stood behind what he said but Aries sounded so apologetic in his reply that Cal felt miserable for even opening his mouth. Maybe he should have just kept his dumb mouth shut? Maybe he would not have been so stupid then and hurt Aries yet again. Maybe— No, no. What Cal did was for a good reason. Something as simple as reminding someone that lying about their feelings could hurt them, something every other children’s movie covers in some way or another. Even though Cal had been harsh, even though Cal felt terrible, and even though Aries might hate him, it is always important to be honest with people about how you felt. You never realize just how important it is to express how you feel until all the emotions crash down on you at once and you are desperate to do anything to stop it all from consuming you.

“You still apologize way too much, man, and, yeah, ‘apologies’ counts as ‘sorry,’” Cal replied to Aries jokingly, trying to break apart the tension with a smile before sighing. “Don’t worry about worrying me ‘cause I will probably always be worrying about something or another. I might be pretty laid back, but I still get nervous about a lot of random shit.” Cal hesitated before he spoke again. “Also— just so you are aware and don’t think you are forcing me to do anything— I don’t think that I have to help you. I am choosing to help you on my own agency because— I don’t know— you look like you deserve the help?” Cal paused before shaking his head and lightly smacking the side of his head. “Err… deserve’s the wrong word. What is the word?” Huffing, Cal looked around, hoping the word he needed would be sprawled across a runner on the trail or in one of the trees. Cal grumbled in frustration. “I cannot remember the word! Well, anyways, what I am trying to say is that you should get help and I do not mind providing you with that help.”

After going over what Aries said several times in his mind, Cal finally managed to think of what to say. “Well, that is still not a great excuse for not giving yourself a brief break,” Cal replied with a defiant huff. “Your friends—” Cal looked away briefly as he scratched the back of his neck while attempting to admit his fault— “who I am very sorry for assuming were being toxic like that by the way— would probably want you to go have fun! If they did need you during the break, there is a magical thing called a phone!” Cal gave jazz hands with a cheesy smirk at his own comment. “In all seriousness, worse case scenario, you come home a bit early to support your friend in their time of need. Plus, that way, you still get to travel to places even if something bad happens and you have to return after a day or two. ‘It’s better to shoot your shot and get what you got then to never aim and lose your game!’ A… uhh… famous football player said that. I am not really into football, but I like the quote!”

After mentioning football, his mind somehow managed to travel back to the discussion of book club, probably due to the fact that Cal was randomly reminded of a steamy football book he accidentally stumbled upon a few years ago thinking it was about something else entirely at the mere mention of “football.” “Ya know, maybe, if we do start a book club, we could make, like, a book base or something! I did scout out this one really cool location in a maybe not-so-legal but very beautiful area! I am sure we could set up a little tent, maybe blankets, a tiny table, and some other things there! Do you want there to be anything in particular there? Like a historical globe thingy or— I don’t know!! Gimmie your suggestions!”

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal, Chile(Ind).

By now, Gwyar was starting to get used to the periods of silence before replies. The silence made sense when he actually paused to think anyways. They were having basically a few conversations at once so… Honestly, he was kind of surprised neither of them had really gotten lost yet.

--

“You still apologize way too much, man, and, yeah, ‘apologies’ counts as ‘sorry’. Don’t worry about worrying me ‘cause I will probably always be worrying about something or another. I might be pretty laid back, but I still get nervous about a lot of random shit. Also– just so you are aware and don’t think you are forcing me to do anything– I don’t think that I have to help you. I am choosing to help you on my own agency because– I don’t know– you look like you deserve the help?”

--

He tensed a bit at the word deserve. Because he didn’t, he really didn’t deserve help. And if Cal knew everything he’d done, then Cal would agree. He probably wouldn’t have even sat down to talk to him. Gwyar wouldn't have blamed him either, he’d have understood.

--

“Err… deserve’s the wrong word. What is the word? I cannot remember the word! Well, anyways, what I am trying to say is that you should get help and I do not mind providing you with that help.”

--

Knowing that Cal meant a different word was a bit easier. He still wasn’t sure if Cal would think that if he knew what he’d done to people before. He was pretty sure that he wouldn’t. Who would? The only ones who did that he knew of were those who were also involved. Even then, most still didn’t. Only those that were fairly new or had blind faith in change. Or people like Chile, who were there for good reasons and believed that reasons could outweigh.

--

“Well, that is still not a great excuse for not giving yourself a brief break. Your friends– who I am very sorry for assuming were being toxic like that by the way– would probably want you to go have fun! If they did need you during the break, there is a magical thing called a phone! In all seriousness, worst case scenario, you come home a bit early to support your friend in their time of need. Plus, that way, you still get to travel to places even if something bad happens and you have to return after a day or two. ‘It’s better to shoot your shot and get what you got than to never aim and lose your game!’ A… uhh… famous football player said that. I am not really into football, but I like the quote!”

--

Gwyar, for a moment, considered telling Cal that he didn’t actually have a phone. But even if he did, he still wouldn’t be able to leave. After all, if he got a call he wouldn’t be able to come back immediately. That would depend on flights, and those flights would take time. If he really wanted to be able to help as much as possible, then staying was better. Even without all of that though, his guardians were still a factor too… The quote was nice, at least.

--

“Ya know, maybe, if we do start a book club, we could make, like, a book base or something! I did scout out this one really cool location in a maybe not-so-legal but very beautiful area! I am sure we could set up a little tent, maybe blankets, a tiny table, and some other things there! Do you want there to be anything in particular there? Like a historical globe thingy or– I don’t know!! Gimme your suggestions!”

--

He hummed in thought, fully aware he was about to ignore the other conversations. The harder conversations, in preference of the book club discussion. Hopefully, with any luck, Cal would just forget about the other ones. “Depending on the books we’d read, a globe might be a good idea… Probably a shelf for books, in case someone wants to keep the books there instead of like, at home. Other than things like that though, I’m not sure what else we‘d need there. Maybe seats?”

--

He paused, and his mind seemed to catch up on the fact that the location wasn’t legal. That the area was beautiful. There was an area near the building the arena was at that was just a large plot of land, lots of flowers usually bloomed over there. There was a building on the plot too, though Gwyar himself had never been near that one. He was fairly certain the building was abandoned anyways, all of the ones near the arena were. He ended up asking before he even realized he did. He had to know whether or not the place Cal was thinking of was too close or not. He didn’t want to risk Cal getting into that by accident. “Where’s the location you looked at though?”

“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

Once Cal gets excited about a topic, he fixates, tunneling in on one sole idea of excitement and dopamine that floods his senses. Cal will not stop thinking about one topic of interest for days at a time if it has somehow piqued his interest. Things said in passing conversation can distract him in a heartbeat, let alone something that he has an interest in being brought up for full length. Subjects like favorite movies, beloved views, and, of course, history are all just some of Cal’s many fascinations that immediately grasp his attention. This time, while sitting with Aries, it was history that set him off.

“Oh my Goddess!” Cal replied with a beaming smile, his hands already moving excitedly in small gestures as he spoke. “That’s such a great idea! Maybe if I get a few boards of wood we can even— Oh! And we can even stylize the boards to have the fancy swirls and shit and maybe incorporate, like, historical symbols into the little thingies that hold up the wood or whatever.” Cal paused as he tried to think of the word for the ‘L’ shaped pieces of wood or metal that often held up shelves. He was sure that it was something that started with ‘shelf.’ “Shelf holder? Shelf… carrier?? Shelf— Shelf Bracket!” Cal laughed maniacally as if hearing himself say the word was some sort of miracle before he finally managed to continue his words. “We can carve cool things into the sides of them and shit! And for the seats—” Cal threw himself off of the park bench and too his feet, standing in front of Aries with unfathomable excitement as he tossed his hands about in grand jesters like an over dramatic circus clown— “we can get the really cool wooden chairs but, like— Or maybe— No, no, no, we’ll get the big, soft chairs that you can like— that are— Well, I don’t know how to describe these chairs but I found two that the old owner of my house left laying around that my mom hates so maybe I can move them there! And maybe— Oh! There is a store that sells cheap cool shit and I saw these lights that will look helluva good!”

Cal paused for a moment as he remembered and processed the last question Aries asked. This whole time he had been rambling on and on and Cal had completely forgotten to answer the question. Goddess, he felt like an idiot sometimes. Poor Aries had to sit here and listen to Cal ramble about the weirdest shit and all while ignoring his one question.

“Oh! Right! The location!!” Cal laughed as shook his head at his own stupidity and idiocy, smacking himself harshly in the side of the head. “I completely forgot to say this even though it’s a super cool spot!” Cal sat back down besides Aries leaned in close to him as he kept his voice lowered, for once. “You see, there is this, like, super abandoned spot on the edge of town with a lot of old buildin’s and whatnot, but once you go past that shithole and a bit into the woods, there is this old abandoned junkyard with really cool shit. I’m talkin’ ancient tools, old rusty cars, and even an old boat! And the whole junkyard is surrounded by woods except—” Cal leaned in closer, giddy with excitement— “for this really cool cliff side where the junkyard just kinda drops off and below it is a really pretty field of flowers, some cool old buildings with lots of vines and shit growin’ on them, and, best of all, the greatest view of the sunset that I have seen in this shithole so far! The view is incredible! Here- uh- let me just show you!”

Pulling a black rectangular border out of his pocket and smacking it lightly on the side to reveal the flickering light blue screen that sat in the black border, the arcane technological powered phone let off a steady blue light once it had turned on. Sure, the phone was an older model and still needed a border around it unlike most phones that were just a top and bottom bar with a screen that looked like one-sided stained glass, black on one side and that signature blue of most arcane magic on the other, but Cal’s phone was still reliable and had stickers on the black rim. Not to mention, it took amazing photos, something Cal was always happy with.

Ignoring the time and unread texts on his phone that Cal refused to check, Cal went to his photos before showing Aries what he had been looking for: the image of a ledge, crowded with hubcaps and that had a brown, rusted, and ancient car in the corner, which overlooked an expansive flower field. Blue, magenta, and red flowers were bent to the left from the winds that were captured in the still image, their color obscured by the shadows created by the Sun hiding itself for night. Old homes with broken roofed and crumbling walls stood next to each other, long since overtaken by vines.

“See? Super pretty, right?” Cal chuckled, not aware how close he had been pressing into Aries as he showed the photo. “There are a lot of cool trees growing in that lot so maybe if we can’t make the book club location out of the boat, one of the vans or buses, or even a car, then maybe we can make a treehouse! I don’t know. Sorry, I am just rambling at this point but— Goddess!—” Cal pointed to the setting Sun in the photograph with a bright smile— “you cannot tell me that getting to see this every time we meet up is the coolest shit imaginable.”

Bing!

A notification appeared on his phone.

Oh fuuuuuu—

It was a text from his mom and she sounded pissed, her voice seemingly carrying through the phone and into his ears in a gentle hiss as he mumbled the words she wrote to him in a paled and frightened trance: “Where are you, Calvin?” His hands shook as Cal felt like he was being puppeted by some otherworldly force as he was commanded to stand. Not wanting to alarm his new friend, Cal turned and smiled weakly at Aries as he slid his phone back into his pocket. “Hey, sorry but I just realized I promised my mom I would help her with some things back at home and I totally forgot!” Cal chuckled softly. “Sorry, I am a bit forgetful when I get excited and well—” Cal looked towards the setting sun, shielding his eyes from the glare as he noted that it was not as good of a sunset as the one in the junkyard— “I think you can gather I get sidetracked easily.” Cal chuckled sadly as he began to walk backwards down the path to maintain eye contact with Aries for longer. “But hey! We should definitely still meet up on the first day and, if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to meet up at this park again, deal?” Cal was far enough away where he cupped his hand to his mouth to amplify his voice as he continued to speak to Aries. “It was great meeting you, bud! I’ll see you around!!”

With that, Cal turned back around and began walking quicker, his heart leaping out of his chest as he was now doomed because of his own shitty lack of keeping proper time.

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal, Chile(Ind).

“Oh my Goddess! That’s such a great idea! Maybe if I get a few boards of wood we can even— Oh! And we can even stylize the boards to have the fancy swirls and shit and maybe incorporate, like, historical symbols into the little thingies that hold up the wood or whatever. Shelf holder? Shelf… carrier?? Shelf— Shelf Bracket! We can carve cool things into the sides of them and shit! And for the seats— we can get the really cool wooden chairs but, like— Or maybe— No, no, no, we’ll get the big, soft chairs that you can like— that are— Well, I don’t know how to describe these chairs but I found two that the old owner of my house left laying around that my mom hates so maybe I can move them there! And maybe— Oh! There is a store that sells cheap cool shit and I saw these lights that will look helluva good!”

--

As glad as Gwyar was that the, admittedly only sort of, distraction from the other conversations worked… He was still worried about the location. What good was all the planning if he ended up having to say no because he didn’t want Cal to get hurt? What was he even supposed to say if the location was nearby? How was he even supposed to say no to Cal’s idea at all? Cal would be mad, or sad, or otherwise hurt in some kind of way…

--

“Oh! Right! The location!! I completely forgot to say this even though it’s a super cool spot! You see, there is this, like, super abandoned spot on the edge of town with a lot of old buildin’s and whatnot, but once you go past that shithole and a bit into the woods, there is this old abandoned junkyard with really cool shit. I’m talkin’ ancient tools, old rusty cars, and even an old boat! And the whole junkyard is surrounded by woods except— for this really cool cliff side where the junkyard just kinda drops off and below it is a really pretty field of flowers, some cool old buildings with lots of vines and shit growin’ on them, and, best of all, the greatest view of the sunset that I have seen in this shithole so far! The view is incredible! Here- uh- let me just show you!”

--

The location was either nearby, or on the other side of town. And he didn’t know which. The large plot of land had flowers and trees, not enough for him to call them a woods but there was an old building that you could really only see due to the height- Though maybe what he thought was an old building was actually the junkyard Cal was talking about? He didn’t know. How was he supposed to know? He’d never been over there. He knew from maps that there was a cliff over that way though… Which really didn’t help the idea that the location was somewhere else…

--

“See? Super pretty, right? There are a lot of cool trees growing in that lot so maybe if we can’t make the book club location out of the boat, one of the vans or buses, or even a car, then maybe we can make a treehouse! I don’t know. Sorry, I am just rambling at this point but— Goddess!— you cannot tell me that getting to see this every time we meet up is the coolest shit imaginable.”

--

He looked at the picture Cal showed him. The location was pretty. But that wouldn’t matter if the location was near the arena, because then Cal would be in danger. Would be at risk of getting hurt. And he already had one friend at risk, he didn’t want another… Regardless, the location was pretty and he didn’t want Cal to get worried. So he nodded and mumbled, “Yeah.” And then there was a bing and a text notification, so he leaned back. The message wasn’t meant for him, after all.

--

“Hey, sorry but I just realized I promised my mom I would help her with some things back at home and I totally forgot! Sorry, I am a bit forgetful when I get excited and well— I think you can gather I get sidetracked easily.”

--

He nodded, slow and steady, having watched as Cal stood and shook. The weak smile. He almost wanted to point the observations out, but he also knew that that would waste time that Cal needed to use to get back home. In these situations, he could be most helpful by making sure Cal didn’t get into more trouble… Right? So instead, he simply returned the smile, offering as much encouragement as he could muster into the expression.

--

“But hey! We should definitely still meet up on the first day and, if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to meet up at this park again, deal?”

--

He watched as Cal walked backwards. The idea that he wanted to meet up with Gwyar again seemed almost odd to him. Almost. Though, Cal did just seem like a friendly person. He wanted to ask what day they’d meet at the park if they didn’t meet on the first day of school… But Cal needed to get home, and he was already pretty far off. There was no reason to call him back to ask. They’d figure out something somehow… Probably… Hopefully. That hopefully didn’t feel as hopeless as every other hope did.

--

“It was great meeting you, bud! I’ll see you around!!”

--

Gwyar smiled and gave a wave to Cal, muttering, “Same to you.” He knew Cal wouldn’t hear him, that was mostly on purpose. Just so he wouldn’t be tempted to stop and turn around, wasting more time that should be used getting home before his parents were even more upset.

--

Watching his new… friend?… walk away… He leaned back on the bench and looked up towards the sky. The sky was starting to get darker, hinting that the time was somewhere near sunset, if not already there… He would have to get going soon too. Get back to the house belonging to his guardians. The walk wasn’t long though, maybe thirty minutes max? So he could sit a bit longer. Probably best if he did anyways. If only so they were less likely to see him when he got back to their house. So that he was less likely to bother them.

“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: N/a

“Son of a bitch,” Cal mumbled to himself as he looked down at his phone and waited for Peyton to reply or at least to read his texts. But did Peyton read any of those texts? Did he even open the goddamn app? The answer was most definitely “no.” Grumbling under his breath as he shoved his phone in his pocket after the blue screen flicked off, Cal had just assumed that Peyton was either a) skipping today, because of course he was, b) getting busy with the girlfriend he has who he claims “goes to another school,” or c) still in bed as he had completely forgotten that the first day of school was today. Cal was willing to bet money that it was c) and that he would complain about how his parents did not wake him up once he got to school.

After arriving at school early in hopes of spotting Aries, Cal had yet to see him or even Peyton. Now, people were already pouring into school and Cal was beginning to worry if he even would see Aries. Damn. Cal had been super excited to see his bench buddy again.

Seeing as Cal stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd, not having anyone to talk to and just being this tall guy who was above almost everyone else. Plus, his brown bag with one remaining strap and his antique “baseball” cap looked like something an ancient civilization had. At least his dark blue jacket with the purple gradient, long comfortable jeans, and fingerless gloves were things any normal person might wear. Great, first day of school and he looked like an absolute dumbass just standing there. Normally Cal would be able to strike up a conversation with just about anyone. Cal began to curse the Goddess’s name. As if to prove himself wrong, Cal decided he would ask someone for help and at least get the schedule for his classes. Seeing a girl and her friend who she was talking to, Cal decided to take a chance with her.

“Hey, do you know where we get the schedules?” Cal asked, lowering himself a little to speak to the two of them. One of the girls was a water elemental who had water and some aquatic grass of some sort for hair, some bubbles of the almost green water floating around her, and kept two Schilbe fish in her hair, a common style of water elemental hair in Kyhun and other countries south of it, while her friend had seemed to be some sort of arcane magic wielder as her eyes had a light unnatural blue in them and veins that seemed to share that same, azure blue. Despite their differences, both seemed to be close to one-another. Both also seemed a bit surprised by Cal talking to them.

“Oh! Uhh… the schedules should be over—” the arcane magic user stopped as her friend whispered into her ear with a giggle and the pale face of the arcane magic user instantly turned bright red. “Agustina! You can’t say stuff like that when I’m—” The arcane magic user grew more embarrassed as she could not even hold eye contact with Cal. Agustina, as Cal heard the other girl call her, was giggling manically. “The schedules are over there, outside the entrance.” The girl just pointed in the direction of three folding tables where about six or so adults with computers were sitting, handing out small phone chips to kids.

“Ah! Thank you so much! I don’t know how I even missed that,” Cal chuckled softly, catching the paler girl looking up at him in the corner of his eyes as he did so before she turned away again, looking away from him as Cal turned back to look at her. “Thanks again for the help. Hope we have a class together!”

“I’m sure Mia would looove to— ow!” The girl who Cal presumed was named Mia elbowed Agustina in the side, causing the water and earth elemental to glare at her.

“Glad we could help!” Mia quickly burst out of her lips, waving her hand sheepishly at Cal as he turned to walk to the tables.

As Cal was well away from the two, he could hear Agustina calling, “My friend thinks you’re cute!” before being quickly followed by, “N-No!! No, I don’t!” Cal could not help but chuckle, yet he knew that if the girl asked him out, she would be sorely disappointed. That’s why he just pretended not to hear.

There were several long lines and Cal did his best to get into the shortest one, knowing it would have been smarter to— I don’t know— grab his lists of classes he had before all the people showed up and before Cal would have to wait in line for almost five minutes. Having the patience of an entitled woman in a coffee shop, Cal grew irritated after the first minute and decided to go on his phone and distract himself for a minute, shifting the weight of his backpack on his shoulder to get more comfortable with it. When he finally got to the person who was supposed to give him his class schedule, he was already mentally exhausted.

“State your name,” the woman instructed with a monotone voice. It was clear this elderly woman was a shifter as she kept her human hands typing something on the computer while her lobster claws pushed up her cat-eye glasses. Her normal hands had carapace segments above her elbows and her eyes were beady and all black.

“Cal.”

The woman looked up at him before staring down at the keyboard, slowly typing into the computer. “Try again.”

“‘Try again?’ What does that even mean??” Cal asked, with a huff, already getting defensive and snippy with the woman due to the long wait.

“It means your name’s not right, sweetie,” the woman replied, looking back to the computer and not giving Cal a second glance. “Try again.”

Cal took a deep breath in, both not wanting to say his actual name and not wanting to deal with this woman any longer. “Can you try Cal Lê?”

“Callie? Its a wonderful name.”

“What? No. No! It’s Cal, space, and then Lê!”

“Ahhh, gotcha gotcha,” the woman chuckled, her typing becoming even slower as she used one of her human hands, not one of her free claw hands but her human hands which she should have been using to type at least a little faster, to drink from her mug that read “best anatomy teacher.” Cal thanked the Goddess that he was not taking anatomy and he hoped that there were two anatomy teachers so not everyone had to suffer with this old woman. “Try again, sweetie.”

Cal groaned before leaning over the table to see what the woman was typing. “Try Calvin then.”

The woman’s hands moved at the pace of a slug on mushrooms who forgot how to move. “Ah! Here we go. Now, which Calvin are you, young man? There’s a Calvin Andrews, Calvin Delamue, Calvin—”

“Lee. Calvin Lê.” Cal had lost all hopes in trying to communicate with this woman as he accepted his defeat.

A few slow clicks of the keyboard later and the woman finally looked up at him. “Ooo! Such an exotic way to spell ‘Lee!’” The woman laughed in a way that would best be described as ‘ho ho he!’ like she was a goddamn elf running one helluva reindeer fighting ring in the North Pole. “Do you want the schedule in paper or digital?”

“Digital.” Why would anyone even want a paper version?

The woman gave no sign of recognition before the mini 3D printer inside the computer was whirring with noise as it printed a small usb that was smaller than his thumb. It was amazing that some of these older computers even had access to 3D print these small creations, but they could never create stuff as big as some of the most advanced computers and could not print anything other than a usb.

“Here you go, sweetie.”

“Thank you,” Cal forced from his lips as the lobster claw of the woman took the usb, still piping hot, from the openable compartment of the computer and placed it into Cal’s hand. Cal was barely phased by this though as he had been burned by things way hotter than this before.

“NEXT!” The old woman screamed, as Cal stepped out of line, plugging the small usb into his phone.

Immediately, Cal was given a link to his schedule before he took the usb out of his phone. Unlike most of the people who entered the school and tossed their usbs into the trash, Cal shoved his in his pocket, hoping to find a use for it later.

Now all that was left to do was to hopefully find Aries and get to class.

Altalune Monroe | Female | Gay | Aura

M: Roan

“Owww…!” Altalune whined weakly as she accidentally stabbed herself with her pin as she tried her best to keep her two buns in place. The buns were messy but at least the low hanging buns were even with one another and not lopsided. Altalune could not stand when they were lopsided as it always struck her the wrong way. Well, the more she looked at her reflection… Tilting her head left and right before lightly plumping and pushing the buns, Altalune smiled as the buns were more in place before tying a pink ribbon around them to make them pop.

Having already finished her glittery periwinkle, heather, and iris eyeshadow, Altalune felt happy staring at herself in the mirror and even felt confident enough to wear a loose crop top that exposed a sliver of her stomach. Her reflection had black baggy pants with pockets and her jacket was dark purple and almost entirely see-through and, in her reflection, she looked good. She smiled proudly at her reflection, even if her hair looked a bit messy. Her eyes changed into purple as she felt confident in herself and she found the color suiting for her. Grabbing her pink bat purse and securing it over her shoulder, Altalune opened the door to the bathroom and left down the stairs.

Thunk thunk thunk thunk!

“Oh, good morning, Lune,” Altalune’s father mumbled as his fingers stopped typing away on his keyboard, dropping the mug from his lips as he looked up to his daughter who came bounding down the stairs. “You excited for your first day back?” Altalune’s dad had a soft silky voice which matched his silky, white eyes that looked affectionately at his daughter. Her dad kept his cup to his chest after stealing yet another sip from the well-loved mug, the cup whose insides had been stained brown from an over abundance of coffee.

It did not take Altalune’s abilities of aura sensing to tell that her dad was exhausted and burnt out, but it did make her smile a bit to feel to warmth of happiness that wavered off of him once he had locked eyes with Altalune, his gray and black aura turning into a sunrise of colors.

“Yes… and no,” Altalune admitted with a chuckle as she strolled past her father to the fridge. “I mean, I am really excited to see Roan and Jacob and Eddy and Vico and Peyton—” Altalune took a big breath after losing every bit of air in her lungs as spoke before nearly slamming the fridge door shut upon grabbing the snack she wanted— “buuut I am not excited for classes and schoolwork again. And the stress and the people! Ugh, the people are the worst because it is mostly just mellow, depressing, and monotone emotions all of a sudden: bam! Anger, jealousy, and lust and really sharp emotions that burn and hurt and—”

“Breath, kiddo,” her dad whispered softly as he closed the computer and looked at her with concern in his eyes. “You’ll do fine and I know you will be able to handle all of it. You are much stronger than you think.”

Altalune’s eyes had changed to an ugly shade of green, her least favorite color as she followed her dad’s instructions and just took a moment to breathe. There was no reason for her to worry about this, yet here she was, unable to even breathe as the mere thought of coming in contact with those negative, sticky, humid, sharp, boiling, prickly, and toxic emotions that would occasionally appear. She knew most aura sensors were not as sensitive to emotions as her and some could not even feel them in the slightest, causing herself to envy them, but, of course, Alta was constantly hyper aware of everyone’s emotions. Maybe she could just skip school and not have to deal with the insufferable textures?

“Sorry, I just… I didn’t mean to just bombard you with my stuff,” Altalune said, stuffing what she had grabbed from the fridge into a small brown bag before turning to face her dad as worry lingered around him like chilly fog. Altalune shuttered as he approached as the coldness grew. Altalune averted her eyes as she kept pretending like she was focused on what she was doing with a forced chuckle. “I know you’re busy so you don’t need to hear me whining about all of this.”

“Altalune, you would never bother me by telling me what’s bothering you,” her father whispered before smiling, his aura shifting as his caring undertones came through more. “I’m glad you told me though.”

Staring up at her father’s all white eyes, Altalune could only feel brief surprise before the immediate fuzziness of his love as she pulled him into a hug as silent thanks. As her dad reached up to place a hand on her head though, Altalune quickly snapped away from him, covering her buns protectively.

“No, no. I just did these so you do not get to touch them!”

Her dad stared for a moment before bursting into laughter and brilliant sunset colors poured from him.

~~~

The hidden metal button on her bat purse clicked apart as she reached inside to pull out a stick of pink gum as she held her hoverboard beneath one foot and stayed steady on the ground with the other. The sweet sensation on her tongue of pure sugary bliss in combination with the earphones that played her favorite chill and relaxing tunes. Pushing off the ground as she boosted herself forward, the hoverboard sped off almost instantly. If Altalune did not use her glowing blue hoverboard constantly, she would constantly fall off when the whirring mechanism bolted to a start.

Blazing past people, a trip that would normally take almost an hour on foot to get to school takes only a few minutes on hoverboard which is something Altalune has always been thankful for. After all, no one wants to spend time walking that long to school in the mornings and she doubted anyone liked driving anymore with how heavy traffic is in towns half as small as Marbrelle let alone Marbrelle itself. Even scooting along the sidewalk, Altalune felt miserable as she had to pierce through the thick rage filled air emitted from the drivers on her left and jealousy of the walkers on her right.

Within no time, she was at school but it seemed like the whole world had already arrived. Students were crammed shoulder to shoulder all trying to get a copy of their schedules and locker numbers in lines so long that they piled out of the school like ants lined up with food for the queen except the food was emotions and the Queen was the teachers who seemed to eat their personalities in exchange for boredom. Stepping off her hoverboard and folding it in half after hitting the power button, Altalune looked around with blue eyes as she nervously tapped her foot. Hugging her hoverboard and herself close, Altalune stumbled forward with even darker blue eyes as someone bumped into her shoulder from behind and growled at her. With so many people around, it was understandable that the wolffish earthly magic user bumped into her and it was probably her fault. As the person who bumped into her weaved through the crowd, Altalune managed to spot a certain person with brained, flaming hair.

“Roan!” Altalune giggled excitedly as she trotted over to her, waving excitedly as she held her hoverboard close. Roan looked at her with a tired and frustrated eye and instantly frowned as she felt her frustration in the form of a low, bubbling patch of fire spitting lava, Roan’s body giving off an unusual deep red that was a rare sight to see.

“Oh hey, Alta,” Roan grumbled. There was a small inkling of happy, teal recognition in his aura, but it was consumed by the angry reds. Altalune opened her mouth to comment on this when Roan shifted the backpack on her shoulder and tensed up even more. “And, no, before you ask, everything’s not fine. Everything’s gone to shit and I just—” Roan sighed before groaning into his hand before chuckling softly at himself. “Man, I could just use a real good smoke right now but I promised the others I’d be here so… yay.” Frowning, Altalune took a look at Roan before beginning to look through her bag. Scooting closer, Roan tried to peer into Altalune’s pink bat bag as she continued to sift through the things that crowded it. “Whatcha doing…?”

“I’m getting you a— Ah! Ta-da!” Altalune pulled out a small keychain of a white fluffy bunny with floppy ears and black spots over its left eye and front paws. “I know you probably won’t want to talk about whatever is going on and I got you this gift before and— I know it’s dumb and all but—” As Altalune looked up from the keychain in her palm, Roan’s eyes were wide as she starred at the bunny, gripping the strap of her backpack as the red hot anger melted away into Roan’s happier blues. “Well, I got this for you earlier and I figured I would give it to you later, but you look like you needed it now.”

“Thanks, Alta.”

“No problem.”

“I owe you.”

“I’m just glad you like the little fella! I just saw them in a little shop and was hoping you’d like them.”

“Like this little fuzzy cutie?” Roan asked with a beaming smile as the fire on his hair burned much brighter now. “Oh, I absolutely adore them.”

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood | M; Chile(Ind), Cal(Ind).

Gwyar, for everything he was bad at, was at least good at getting to school incredibly early. So there was no surprise that he was at the school before the sun had even completely risen. Plus, maybe he was just a bit excited for school. He was supposed to meet up with Cal again, and he’d get to see Chile, and everything seemed fine at the time being. Sure, he’d had a game the night before but he was at school and the injuries were minor and he’d get to see the two people he had no qualms in calling friends. Hopefully, at least.

--

So the day seemed good. Almost too good to be real, which was why he kept pinching himself to make sure he wasn’t just dreaming and this was all fake. As such, when each time he came to the conclusion that the day was real, he was at least pretty sure that he didn’t have to worry about the day being fake or a dream.

--

As soon as the doors to the school opened, he stepped inside. And realized how bad of an idea coming this early might actually be. Chile never got to school super early, since he had to make sure his sister would be fine first. And he didn’t know about Cal yet… He still needed to get his schedule though, and doing so now would probably be a good idea. So he went to administration and walked over to the closest of the lines. The one at the stand was a shifter with crab pinchers and beady black eyes.

--

They also had a mug that said #1 Anatomy Teacher. Hadn’t Chile mentioned getting his teacher last year a gift like that?

--

He stepped up, and she looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “You’re here mighty early. What’s your name?”

--

Gwyar swallowed down the immediate sense of dread and gave a small smile. What name had they put him under? “Uh… Should be… Khorne..?”

--

She looked at him for a moment longer with a scrutinizing stare, and then began typing. “No Corn, does it have a different spelling or?”

--

He shifted uncomfortably, “Uhm… K, H, O, R, N, E. Khorne.”

--

She hummed in thought and typed again, slowly. “Not on here, any other name you might be under?”

--

He bit his lip, “Uh… The last name might be Fraoch? F, R, A, O, C, H…”

--

She typed, slow. She shook her head, “You sure you’re at the right school?”

--

He swallowed thickly, bit his lip. “Uh- Okay, uh… I- I’m pretty sure. Sorry, I have uh- Multiple last names. Not sure which is on there. Uhm…”

--

She nodded, “Take your time. No one else is here yet.”

--

Gwyar nodded, and wrung his hands, biting his lip. Dread pooled in his stomach and he felt almost nauseous. “The last name might be, uh… Might be Cattell…? C, A, T, T, E, L, L.”

--

She typed. “Gunnar Cattell?”

--

He paused, thought for a moment and said, “What’s the uh, what’s the middle name?”

--

She glanced at the screen, “Tyrgrim.”

--

He paused again, thinking, “That’s me then, yeah.”

--

“Looks like I’ll see you again during 2nd period class for Anatomy. You mentioned Khorne, right? Would you rather me call you that?”

--

He shifted before nodding slowly. “If that, uh, if that’s not a problem…”

--

She shook her head, “None at all. Paper or digital schedule?”

--

“Uhm… Paper, please.”

--

She handed him a paper copy of his schedule, “I’ll see you in 2nd period then, Khorne. Have a good day.”

--

He took the schedule with a small nod, “You too..”

--

With that, he turned and made his way to the library while staring at his schedule to wait for the school day to actually begin. He was not looking forward to the day ahead anymore. At least he might be able to see Cal and Chile? He took a seat in the back of the library, and grabbed the notebook from his bag that he brought. He might as well as try and memorize his schedule as much as possible for the moment.

*~*~*~*

Jakob ‘Jay’ Sture Tengil | Male | Queer | Psychic | M; Eddy(Ind/Dir), Vico(Ind/Dir), Peyton(Ind), Roan(Ind), Altalune(Ind).

Jay woke up with a pounding headache, which was honestly just more likely to be a hangover from the night before. Regardless, he groaned and got up, getting dressed and ready for school.

--

He ended up drinking some milk and eating two pieces of toast for breakfast, and driving to school. At least it was his last year… He still felt like shit. He’d bother Peyton or Vico for some painkillers later whenever he saw them.

--

He got to the school and parked in the Senior parking lot, walking up to the school and getting inside. He saw the lines of people waiting for their schedules and huffed a laugh, rolling his eyes. He’d been smart enough to get his schedule before the school year started. He’d had his for a week or so, on his phone.

--

So instead of heading to the line to get his, he started on his way to the cafeteria. Passing by a line, he saw Roan and Altalune, both of whom he gave a wave to. Plus a small wink to Roan, just to keep up.

--

Frankly, Jakob didn’t really care all that much. But it usually made Roan happy, and a happy follower stayed a follower. So it worked out in the end. It wasn’t really like he was using them anyways. He just had goals that were more important than honesty. It’s called ambition.

--

He got to the cafeteria, and made his way over to the table that his gang had made theirs last year. Sitting down, he saw Lodovico and Edvard both already there. He greeted them casually, “What’s up, guys?”

--

Eddy and Vico both looked over, and Vico spoke first. “Yo, Jay. Not much, d’you know where Peyton’s at? I forgot to bring anythin’ for hammers in my skull.”

--

At that, Jakob grimaced and sighed. There goes asking Vico. He’d have to wait for fucking Peyton then. He almost groaned, instead he just huffed.

--

Edvard laughed a bit, “Man, you’ve got to be the worst about the pain Vico, I swear. Have you seen Roan yet, Jakob?”

--

Jakob shrugged lightly, “No sight of Peyton yet, Vic. Roan and Altalune are in line for schedules though. You two have yours already?”

--

Eddy nodded, and popped the p sound, “Yep! We got ours together ‘bout two weeks ago. You got yours?”

--

Jakob grinned, “You bet. Once the other three get here we’ll go ahead and compare.”

*~*~*~*

Chile ‘Kyle’ Guerra Seymour | Male | Pan | Therianthropy | M; Aries(Ind), Jass(Ind/Dir), Cal(Ind/Dir).

Chile’s morning consisted of getting ready for school while simultaneously making sure that once his sister woke up, she’d have something light to eat and drink. Along with both of that though, it also contained him scurrying around trying to see if they had anything she could take with all of it. He ended up only finding some cough medicine, so he set that down near her resting spot with a note she could read to know what it was and when to take it.

--

Before leaving for the day, he brushed the hair out of her face and grabbed another blanket, setting it nearby for if she decided to use it. And then he was walking out the door, still chowing down on a piece of toast as he jogged to the bus stop he used. Stopping at it, he took out his phone. Really, calling it a phone was him being nice, but it was affordable and worked well enough for his purposes. Those being having five contacts and a search engine. The five contacts were the house phone, Jass, the local hospital’s number, his sisters’ doctor, and his singular contact that let him know about his games in advance whenever he had them scheduled.

--

Frankly, the phone had been the cheapest one he could find, so it was a rather old model. Either way, turning on the phone, he saw a message from Jass- Or as she had been nicknamed in his phone ‘Jazz’. Someone who could always be counted on to start the day well. He read the message, ‘Ugh, school. Prison for kids. Theme for the day? Back to School by Mother Mother.’

--

Chile snickered and shook his head, typing out a response. ‘Isn’t that song like, super old?’

--

A response came through almost immediately, ‘Just ‘cause it came out a super long time ago don’t mean it’s old. Just damn good since people still listen to it.’

--

He rolled his eyes as he typed, ‘Whatever you say, Jazz.’

--

An emoticon showed up as a response, one sticking its tongue out with a wink. He grinned and turned his phone off, pocketing it again. A minute later, the bus pulled up and he was being taken to the school.

--

The bus ride passed in silence and he arrived at the school pretty quickly, his movements to get inside were probably quicker than most others. Honestly though? He liked school. Making his way to administration to get his schedule, he was glad to see that the lines weren’t incredibly long yet. Then again, his bus was always one of the first to arrive. Getting into line, he quickly got to the desk run by a teacher he had last year, a fellow shifter. “Mrs. Mayet! I see you’re using my cup?”

--

Mrs. Mayet looked down at her #1 Anatomy Teacher cup and looked up, nodding. “It’s my favorite one. Do you need your schedule, Mr. Seymour?”

--

He grinned, “Yep! Paper, please.”

--

She nodded and began typing. Being used to her slower movements, he shifted into a more comfortable stance. Not everyone liked Mrs. Mayet, but by the gods! She was great at teaching her class, and she could grow on anyone with enough time. Her eyes seemed soulless, but she actually helped him out quite a bit last year. So regardless of how others felt about her and her, admittedly, strange laugh… She was still one of the best teachers he’d ever had.

--

She handed him his schedule, “Have a good day, Chile. I hope your sister’s doing alright.”

--

He smiled, folding his schedule and putting it into his pocket. “She’s been doing well recently, actually. And thanks, you too! If you need anyone to help out with tutoring, just let me know!”

--

She nodded with a small smile, and he turned to walk off, hearing her call for the next person behind him. He stepped out to the hallway and leaned against the wall, taking out his schedule to actually look at it. Seeing his first period was Study Hall, he grinned. That meant plenty of time to make sure he knew where his other classes were and help any newbies. For the moment though, he glanced around looking for his tallest friend ever. His best friend too, but who was keeping track of that?

--

Unfortunately, knowing Ari, the guy had probably gotten to school an hour before it opened and was the first inside. Or was running late. There never seemed to be an in between with him when it came to arriving at places. Either way, he scanned the hallways for the redhead.

--

A few minutes later he spotted someone that was tall. They weren’t Aries, that was sure, but they were tall. And they looked kind of lost, looking between a digital schedule and the hallways… Kyle grinned, and began to walk over. He could help the tall newbie real quick, and then ask if they could see Aries due to the added height.

--

As soon as he reached the tall, hat wearing, lost child… He spoke, an easy smile on his face. “Hey there, how’re you this morning? I’m Chile, and I got to say… You look a bit lost, you new here?”

*~*~*~*

Moeroa ‘Moe’ Uremoe Tamatea | AFAB Demi-Girl | Pan/Poly | Soul | M; Cal(Ind), Roan(Ind/Dir), Altalune(Ind/Dir).

From the moment Moe woke up and realized that it was the first day of school, she knew the day would be terrible. She still got up and dressed, telling her parents good morning, and started the walk to her new school. Frankly, she didn’t see the point of moving to a new school in her senior year. It seemed pointless. Sure, she was glad that her dad had found better work here, but still! She had friends at her old school, maybe not the best ones, but she had friends. And now she was a friendless senior in some large city that she hadn’t even known existed until now.

--

So yeah, the day was already written out to be terrible. There wasn’t any doubt about that. The walk was nice, at the very least. They almost managed to forget where they were going. Somehow, they still ended up at the school. So, deciding not to waste any time, Moe went to the front office where administration was and waited in line to get their schedule.

--

She ended up standing behind someone tall with black hair and an old hat. Honestly, she could care less about who they were and what they were doing, so she leaned to the side to look in front of them. There were a few more people to go, so she got out her headphones connected to her well, not MP3 but basically an MP3, to listen to music while waiting.

--

They only ended up having enough time for two songs before they noticed the person in front of them was at the desk and they would be next. So they turned off the music and slipped the headphones off. While waiting, they did their best not to listen in on the conversation, but ended up overhearing it anyway. At least they didn’t hear all of it, that much was obvious.

--

“Callie? It's a wonderful name.”

--

“What? No. No! It’s Cal, space, and then Lê.”

--

“Ahhh, gotcha, gotcha. Try again, sweetie.”

--

Moe winced, at least they were behind someone that used a name that wasn’t their birth name too so they knew not to use Moe. At least they wouldn’t look as dumb as they would without a phone.

--

“Try Calvin then.”

--

“Ah! Here we go. Now, which Calvin are you, young man? There’s a Calvin Andrews, Calvin Delamue, Calvin–”

--

“Lee. Calvin Lê.”

--

“Ooo! Such an exotic way to spell ‘Lee’! Do you want the schedule in paper or digital?”

--

“Digital.”

--

“Here you go, sweetie.”

--

“Thank you.”

--

“NEXT!”

--

She watched the poor soul that went by Cal walk past her and towards the hallway, and stepped forward. The lady at the desk looked at her, and after a moment to collect her thoughts, she spoke. “Uh, hi. Mine should be under Moeroa Tamatea?”

--

The lady gave a slow nod and began typing, “And how is that spelt, dear?”

--

They paused, “Uh… M, O, E, R, O, A…”

--

Slow typing, Moe tapped her foot lightly, the shifter spoke again. “And the last name?”

--

“Tamatea. T, A, M, A. And then tea, like the drink.”

--

The lady hummed in thought, “Digital or paper?”

--

Moe paused for a moment, biting their lip and speaking slightly softer. “Uhm… Paper, thank you..”

--

A nod, and after a moment of silence Moe was handed her schedule. She turned back and walked off, slipping on her headphones again to drown out the lady as she called for the next in line.

--

Stepping into the hallway, where the lines were already starting to grow into, they looked at their schedule and hummed to their song in thought. Looking at the schedule, they definitely didn’t know where any of the classes were. At least they had Study Hall for 3rd period to use to find the other classes. But they had no clue where 1st and second were… Glancing around, they saw two people relatively close to where they were at the moment. Someone tall that was obviously an elemental and someone shorter that looked fairly emo.. Given their own style of simple comfort with black jeans, a white shirt, black sneakers, a black jacket, a necklace that went around the neck multiple times, and… Well, their favorite earring of feathers at their right. Either way, maybe they could fit in enough to ask them?

--

They both still seemed to be in line, but… Maybe the two weren’t new to the school and knew where the classes were anyways? So, with the hope and resignation of looking stupid, she walked over to the two and slipped off her headphones, actually taking the time to pause her music this time. “Uhm… Hey there, I’m Moe.” She rubbed the back of her neck and looked at her schedule, “Do either of you know where the Computer Science class or Latin-” She paused again, checking the number, “Uh, Latin VI is?”