Morning Musing (open)

[ammy]

Sunlight flitted through the soft curtains of Amaranth's new room. The sun had rose not long before, the sky still bright with soft pinks and peaches of morning. Her eyes opened, two blue orbs surrounded by long, dark lashes. She lay absolutely still, waiting for feeling to return to her body, and for the disorientating dizziness to subside. Things had changed lately in the world of her dreams. No longer did she sit under the bone tree in the field, Blake ready to make any comment he could. No. She was in what she could only call the dry lands now. And endless plain of dirt and dust with nothing for miles.

As feeling returned, Amaranth once again felt the ache in her legs. Not from any training she did the day before, or actually anything she did in her waking days. She felt like she had been walking for years instead of one night's worth, though she had not left the bed. With a soft sigh, Amaranth propped herself up and grabbed the water bottle off her night stand. And other thing she noticed was that she was always thirsty after these dreams. For the air was hot and stale, no moister to be found. And though Amaranth knew this was only a dream, it didn't feel like it.

She gulped down the cool liquid in minutes, breathing deeply before slowly sliding her body out of her nice, comfy bed. She knew that she'd feel fine soon enough, but it was always the moments after waking that seemed the most trying. Amaranth would usually have gone back to sleep, if not for fear of waking in the dry lands or under the bone tree again.

She took slow steps to her dresser, peeling off her thin tank top and shorts that she wore as night clothes. She changed as quick as she could. Her body was now clothes in an olive green tank top that hugged her chest, then flared out ever so slightly underneith, the ends reaching her mid-thighs were jean shorts poked out. Amaranth had to admit it, shorts were her favorite Earthen clothing yet. With another sigh, she pulled on her zip-up, ankle-high black boots and made her way to the mirror.

It was what she saw in it that woke her the rest of the way. Staring back was her own reflection, though where her eyes had always been a startlingly bright shade of blue, they had changed. Silver lined them, giving an almost unnatural glow to the blue.

"What in the world?" she whispered, blinking. But, just as suddenly as the color had appeared, it left, leaving behind only a slight feeling of unease. Must have just been a trick of the light. That's all.. With a soft shiver, Amaranth ran a quick brush through her long hair and tail and slipped quietly out of her room. She did not yet know the sleeping habits of the others that occupied this school, so she remained as quiet as she could heading to the kitchens to begin breakfest.

[Jorlaxl]

Another day, another dollar. Or so Jorlaxl hoped. His eyes fluttered open in the beginning of a new shiny day. Looking around until he gathered his bearings, Jorlaxl stood up and stretched, as he often does nowadays. Being the master of a school was a lot of responsibility, and he needed to be up to it. After all, how would his school look if its master wasn't as strong as the rest of Earth's ilk? No, that wouldn't do at all. Putting on his training clothing, Jorlaxl stared in the mirror.

What he saw wasn't too surprising. His own, rather handsome face framed by shoulder-length purple hair. His jacket was clean as always, and seemed to be in impeccable order, despite the fights he participated in. Especially that fight with Suki... Closing his eyes, he remembered his movements. Him, weaving back and forth, using instant transmission to surprise Suki... trying to surprise him. He remembered Suki grabbing his arm...

Suddenly, he was reminded of his arm and was snapped back to reality. The days after the break were kind to him, and he got it checked out as soon as he was able. Of course, he was able to regenerate parts of himself, but this wasn't anything as severe. Rotating the arm gingerly, Jorlaxl grimaced as he applied the bandages he was told to put on daily. Waterproof and tight, he finally nodded to himself and walked out of his room. Being the master of the Crane school had some advantages. One of them, of course, being all the food you can eat.

Yawning quietly to himself, he scratched his back with his good hand as he walked to the fridge. Out of all of Caius' handy tricks, his seeming conjuring of food and drink seems to be the most helpful. Searching the culinary meals before him, he finally decided to choose diced fruits and orange juice. Grinning ear to ear, Jorlaxl shut the refrigerator door and saw one of his students on the other side.

Grinning an innocent smile, Jorlaxl put his meal on the counter and said, "Well goodmorning, Ammy! How'd you sleep?"

[ammy]

Noise reached her ears, the scent of the school's master close behind it. She stepped into the kitchen, not surprised to find him up early and in the kitchen. She stayed quiet for a moment, watching him rummage through the fridge. It was only when he closed it and noticed her that she entered.

"Well, thanks. You?" she asked. The lie slipped out easily, like it had always done. There was no reason to suspect that Amaranth never slept well, that the dreams that haunted her never allowed her to. She brushed her bangs from her face, going over to the kettle. She filled it with water before turning it on and taking out a mug. Amaranth turned her attention back to Jorlaxl. Her eyes moved to his bandaged arm. She blinked, and the world changed. He seemed to become only a shadow of himself, light purple lines running through him. They were steady, unbroken. Except...at his arm. It was darker there, and inky blackness pushing at the purple line. Confused, Amaranth blinked and suddenly, the world was back to normal. She blinked a couple more times, her brow furrowed. What the hell is going on with me today...

The shrill of the kettle brought her out of her thoughts and turning, she poured the hot water into her mug.

"How's your arm?" she asked quietly, unnerved by that sudden view point. What was it? Did she really see that? Or is her mind playing tricks on her again? She glanced over again, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Nothing changed. He was normal Jorlaxl. Purple hair, red coat. Why the hell did he wear that coat all the time anyway? He must be burning up! She dropped her gaze back to her tea. Opening the fridge, she took out the milk and added a bit, obviously lost in thought.

Her mind was going over books that she had read as a child, stories that she had been told. But for the life of her, she couldn't think of any reference to what she just saw. With a sigh, Amaranth grabbed her tea and some donuts and sat at the table.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" she asked.

[Jorlaxl]

Jorlaxl nodded when Ammy told him her state of well being. She looked like she was decent enough. Sitting down at the table and starting to eat, he replied between chews. "I'm doing pretty well, actually." Glancing at his arm, he smiled. "All things considering, of course. After all, I'm the headmaster of a school now! Not bad, if I do say so myself." The bowl of fruit quickly emptied its contents, and after he finished, he put the bowl in the sink and leaned against a wall, looking at Amaranth.

Something doesn't seem right about her... Something's off.

Staring into her eyes and following her gaze into his own hand, he smiled as he made his hand into a fist, trying to hide the pain it brought. "Fit as a fiddle. Suki didn't do as much damage to me as he could have. I don't know if you've felt his power before, but he had the complete ability and power to destroy me." His eyes grew distant. Jorlaxl's mind drifted to his days with the icer lord. Shuddering, he returned his gaze to Ammy.

"Well, today, I planned on getting some students together to get a big training session going. Would you be interested in that?" Smiling, he waved in the general direction of the training room.

[ammy]

He seemed well, but he was hiding something. She saw him clench his fist briefly before answering and the inky blackness came to her mind once more. Amaranth had no idea what she saw, but she could only guess that he was still hurting. She kept her gaze on him as he seemed to drift off into his own thoughts. She could only guess it had something to do with the battle he had been in previously with Suki. She leaned back, thinking how quiet it was without Serori here. Amaranth hadn't known the girl long, but she had liked her. Suddenly, the donut she was eating seemed to stick in her throat and the sip of tea she took to wash it down seemed tasteless. So when Jorlaxl mentioned the training session, she nodded and stood. She replaced the rest of the donuts and dumped her tea down the drain.

"Sounds perfect," she said with a smile, walking over. Amaranth stopped beside him. Quietly, she reached out and brushed the part of his arm where the blackness was. Like always, her touch was soft and cool, no more than a hint of contact. She sighed, shaking her head and withdrawing her hand. Forming it into a fist, she gently tapped his forehead with the back of her knuckles before going out of the kitchen.

"By the way, you should tell us if you're still hurting, stupid," she remarked, ignoring the irony of her words. Here was was telling him not to keep his pain to himself, when she was doing just that.

"Feel like joining me outside for a walk first? I don't think anyone else is even up yet," she said with a chuckle, opening the door to the grounds outside. The cool morning air greeted her, goosebumps rising on her skin and the back of her neck. It felt good, refreshing and Amaranth took a deep breath as she stepped outside.

[C.haos]

It had took C.haos weeks to finally lock onto the alien girl's energy signal, and even longer to accurately locate her. But as he hid down low in the nearby brush of a training facility, he knew he was in the right place. C.haos had revealed little about the girl to his partner, Souka, but he knew that that would be no problem. The boy trusted him; at least enough to come with and make no noise.

He looked to the small android, and made a motion while his hand, telling him to stay calm and keep his position. C.haos could feel the girl's faint level growing nearer and nearer. Then, she bursted out of a nearby door. C.haos's face filled with anger as he watched he step into the sunlight. This was the girl that had overpowered him; that had humiliated him. It took a obvious amount of strength to fight back the urge to pounce.

But as a second, stronger power level exited the building behind her, C.haos was glad he had fought it. It was obvious to him that even with Souka's help, the two would have no chance fighting them both. But curretly the advantage was held by the androids. The element of surprise. He looked to Souka, and tapped his wrist, the motion to ask the power levels of the man. Though C.haos could sense he was very strong, he could not pick up an exact number. Souka could.

He places a finger to his lips, making sure that the boy would not blurt the number out, and returned his eyes on the two nearthe building. Stalking his prey like a predator; which he truly was.

[Deleted]

Souka knelt in the bushes next to Amaranth's home with his brother C.haos. He had no idea why they had come here, but C.haos had brought them here in a hurry. He noticed his brother was intently locked on someone's energy signature as he could feel his brother concentrating on this task. Souka though did not have time to think why as his brother motioned him to come closer and keep quiet. He could see C.haos had anger in his heart when he heard the loud, yet light foot steps of someone open a door and come outside.

It was hard to see who this was since the bushes were pretty big and C.haos was blocking his view. Yet he could feel a power level far greater than his own almost on the other side. Souka became distracted from trying to observe the girl when a power level even greater than this belonging to a tall man walked out of the building. C.haos now was tapping his wrist and Souka raised an eyebrow at him. He could not compute what he was asking since tapping of the wrist did not compute to anything to him other than time.

"Does he want me to check the time?" Souka pondered as he looked down at his wrist and let a panel on his arm open up. It displayed the time, which he was about to tell C.haos, but then C.haos's finger over his lips indicated to keep quiet. He showed him the time on his built in watch which read 9:00 AM with the words, "Breakfast Time..." flashing across the black monitor screen.

"Want to get a sandwich with bacon, egg, and cheese?" he asked his brother quietly. He was a robot so he could not taste sandwiches, but his body system still allowed him to digest food sort of. He did not understand why they came here at all, except that C.haos looked mad at those two. Perhaps a fight was what he wanted, although, it would be stupid to fight on an empty stomach.

[ammy]

I talked with Jor, looks like he wont be able to continue this topic because of school keeping him busy. Do you guys want to restart without him?

[C.haos]

That's up to you.

[Deleted]

(I agree with C.haos.)

[ammy]

We might as well. I'll lock this topic and restart.