Derek Thorn's Story

Pathetic. If this is what Diablos competition was, up against, than he might as well scream victory at the top of his lungs and bathe in a pile of gold. Reflected in Dereks cerulean eyes, were children. Sad, wimpy-looking grungy, looking-children with no true resolve. Laughter, jokes, messing around, no one was taking this seriously. Back home, his people were forced to join Diablos forces. They had to dig down deep to gather the strength to wake up everyday to live a life of torture. All because if they weren’t good enough, the only thing that was good enough for them…was death. He rubbed his chin, feeling the slight stubs against his rough fingertips. He couldn’t even think positively, even if there were a few who shined and showed some resolve.

”Stop worrying about others. Focus on yourself,” Kirk yawned and hung his head low. It was a lot of effort to hold your head high. The familiar was ready to take a nap and bathe in the sun. He was old and wise, most of these things he already knew. However, working with someone else was new to him and as they say ‘its tough to teach an old dog new tricks.’ He wondered if that was even right..

”I guess we’ll find out,” he rubbed the back of his neck, putting his weight on one leg. Derek was a classic: tall, mysterious, and handsome. His past was foggy, and he preferred to stay quiet. Leaving people with more questions then answers. His dirty blonde hair was put back a bit and gives him a bit of a rough and old-fashioned look. He wore a dark blue, long sleeve muscle shirt with grey shorts and running shoes. ”You know where to go, I’ll be at archery.” Derek broke into a jog, waving goodbye without looking back. The white tiger huffed and pushed its paws off the ground with great force.

It didn’t take the lonesome ranger long to get to the archery station. He was the least familiar with this, and had decided this was something that was required of him. If he was in the battle field, with nothing else around but a bow…all he knew was that he better know how to use it! He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Right. Left. Roll. He stretched a little bit and than went straight into the mechanics of the bow. He only knew a smudge of information on the long-range weapon. They had just started teaching archery at the boot camp he was forced into back home when he had escaped. How long had he been in the class, a week? He sighed, but quickly shook off the regret. If he had paid more attention to the bow techniques and information instead of reviewing the plan of escape over and over again in his head…he would have never gotten out of there. He was lucky enough to even be here.

You bet you are.

Kirk had said through their connection. Derek rolled his eyes and positioned the bow correctly, pulling one hand back, one to his face, an arrow already loaded. One eye was closed as he focused on aiming at the target.

Get out of my head old man,

Derek argued. He heard a snuff echo n his mind, and the edge of his mouth quirked up into a slight grin. And with that…he let the bows string go. The arrow flew straight onto the target, however missing the bull-eyes. It was just on the edge, he ruffled his hair in frustration. Damn it! Seems he had a lot of work to do.

I may be old, but I still got some fight in me!

The tiger argued as Derek clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, dissatisfied with his result. He grabbed another arrow and resumed his past position, what had he done wrong?

Then go do something instead of complaining,

He replied. Kirk responded in silence, and then a…

Fine.

Their conversation ended. Finally, peace and quiet! He shot again, and this time it was closer. He repeated the action, but he could only get as close as 3 lines near the bulls-eye. That’s it.

I’m going to get this if it kills me,

The fact that Drew had somehow talked himself into going to this school, well, that was still something he was surprised about. But his internal persuasive arguments had consisted of, “No one knows you there, you can make friends!” and “It’s a whole new world, shining, shimmering splendid. When did you last let your heart-“
Okay so maybe not the second one.
Had his heart even wanted to come here, after all? Or was he deluding himself?
Of course he was deluding himself- this was just a finale attempt at proving himself to his parents. Even if it was his brother Jonathon’s original plan before receiving a scholarship elsewhere.
He could do this whole school thing better then his brother could.
…
Drew sighed, biting his lip as he continued through the crowd. Okay, he couldn’t. Jonathon would have done it better, he always did everything better. He even made friends better- and the teen doubted he’d be making any friends right now considering the looks he was receiving from people. Which, back on topic, was one of the reasons he’d decided to come here. Friends. But that didn’t seem to be working out so hot. The crowd practically parted to let him through. Well not him. More accurately, they were stepping back from the six-foot something inches demon goat spawn trailing directly behind him.
He wasn’t sure how this companionship thing worked, but he felt like he’d been cheated. Drew hadn’t picked him; he hadn’t found an egg or gone on a hunt for a cute little fairy or won over a baby unicorn.
Nope.
He’d been stalked andassaulted by the scary thing that was now following him way to closely, looming over him, casting a shadow in front of Drew that swallowed up his own form.

.earlier.

Drew continued down the dirt path, huffing in frustration. He was already tired; this was a bad idea. Everyone in this school was very clearly athletic. That was kind of what Ryders did after all, fight, and fighting required physical activity and physical activity was not something Drew excelled in. How was he supposed to find a companion anyway? People were already rushing back from the forest with fairies fluttering around them, some with dragon eggs. And he’d barely made it down the path!
That was it; he turned off the path into the tall grasses, deciding he’d look here. If nothing was here he was done, he’d turn around and tell that giant dragon guy that this wasn’t going to work out, and that the creatures were just as talented as people when it came to avoiding him.
Drew stopped and looked around. He wasn’t even that far into the grasses yet, but he figured the combined area of trees and sod had to be popular with some creature.
He’d kind of wanted a fairy or a unicorn maybe. They suited someone like him much better then a dragon or gargoyle. Or phoenix’s were cool too but they seemed kind of rare-
Drew’s head turned to the side quickly, thinking he’d spotted movement. But the grass was still and nothing was there. He narrowed his eyes and continued sweeping his gaze searching. Searching for what? For something.
He paused again, turning to the side once more. He could have sworn he’d seen something that time. Now it was like a shadow lurking just on the edge of his vision. He could feel eyes on him.
Drew felt his palms getting sweaty. This was creepy. He didn’t like this. Some ignis dragon was bound to jump out and burn him to death or something-
There it was again!
It was like a light spot, burned on his retina- there when he blinked, gone when he looked.
This was annoying. He just wanted to find a stupid companion, not be stalked by a dragon or something.
He spun in a circle peering in all directions for whatever was watching him.
“W-who’s there?” He called out, meaning to sound forceful, but his stutter really prevented that. It went away sometimes, but not now, not when he was nervous or scared or-
Drew fell to the ground like he’d been hit, eyes flying open in shock. What in the actual fuck-
His arms carried him backwards naturally as his body reacted, screaming at him to run, but Drew was stuck scuttling backwards, tall grass swishing around him and partially obscuring his view of the thing.
Then the grass moved it was closer.
Drew thought he was going to cry. This was not okay. He definitely didn’t want to be here anymore. He’d take whatever crappy job he could get at home as long as he was alive.
“Hello.”
The teen could’ve sworn he just pissed his pants. The thing spoke!? How could that goat like head even create English? And not some garbled barely distinguishable speech, but proper, baritone voiced English.
Drew swallowed unclamping his teeth only to find them chattering in fear. He tried to calm himself, told himself maybe if he was friendly it wouldn’t kill him, but all he could sprout was nonsense.
“I-I-I… uhm. Hello-please d-don’t eat me-I mean not t-to offend you or… or anything.” Drew’s lips drew back in a distressed look. “I mean- it’s j-j-just you look a lot like Loki w-with your horns and and you know his h-helmet and he’s ev-vil and- please, I w-want to live!”
The devil-spawn stared at him with huge, unblinking, stark white eyes. He had no pupils or irises to be seen, didn’t seem to be capable of blinking, and it was honestly very scary and Drew was seriously about to start praying.
Yeah, prayers left his mouth as the thing moved closer, hardly stirring the grass, and stood over Drew. He was shaking in his converse. The thing had hooves. And hairy legs. And giant horns. And oh he just knew it was satanic.
It stared at him.
Drew stared back.
And stared.
And stared.
Until it finally spoke again, just as Drew was maybe starting to calm down a bit.
“Loki? You may call me Loki.”
Drew’s eyebrows shot up and furrowed and his face moved between confusion and exasperation and fear and –

“What?!”
“Are you a man child student?”
The brunet nodded and paled when the thing held out a slender, knobby fingered hand.
“I am Loki.”
He let out a breath of shock, just looking at the hand that hung between them for a moment before putting out his own, flinching as Loki’s bony appendages firmly grasped his own.
“Um, I’m Drew.”
“Pleasure.”

.Now.

And now this Loki character was following Drew around and scaring off everyone. I mean seriously. Drew would run and hide too if he saw a teen with a six foot, goat-headed, cloven hoofed demon following him.
Actually, Drew felt kind of bad for a moment. He’d realized they had an easy physic connection soon after they’d, er, made contact. So he figured Loki was probably hearing all his complaints right now. He glanced over his shoulder.
”What are you exactly?”
“My species is Phooka.”

Drew nodded. Okay. Great. What was a Phooka exactly?
He knew just knew he didn’t belong here, oh lord, this day was just terrible. He wished his dog Roscow was here. That would make everything better. Why couldn’t his companion just be Roscow, he was smart enough. He could bring the paper, and knew how to scratch on the door when he had to go-
”You insult my intelligence?”

Drew flushed, mumbling apologies, putting his head down and speeding up, trusting he wouldn’t run into anyone. Loki was a bit intimidating. He’d heard that those instructor men were Phooka too, why could Loki look like them, why was he a scary goat ☹
The pair finally broke the main crowd and the human sighed in relief. There didn’t look to be many people over here by long-range weapons. The spears and javelins were practically empty and there was only a few people at archery.
Drew sighed and buried his hands in the pocket of his hoodie feeling miserable.
He couldn’t do any of this weapon stuff anyway, why should he bother even trying.It would just end in utter failure-
He squeaked loudly as Loki’s fingers hooked into the back of his hoodie, jerking him backwards to avoid an arrow that flew dangerously close to him.
What the hell how had he gotten in the archery field?
What the hell why had someone still shot while he was out there!
He stiffened as the bony fingers now wrapped around his shoulders, picking him up and so his shoes hung way off the ground.
Loki then proceeded to stalk on his cloven hooves back to the shooting area, tsking like an annoyed parent though to Drew it sounded like a chorus of demons hissing at him.
The human was set down near two boys, one who quickly left and the other seeming like he was going to keep practicing. He was probably the one who shot him! Dang flabbit! Drew wasn’t going to try to talk to him though, oh no no no, that would not work. He would definitely give him that weird look people so often did and out here there was no corner to run and hide in.
“You’re a strange human.” Loki said out loud, and if he was referring to his little stroll in the target field or his panicked thoughts, Drew didn’t know but he still glared at him slightly.
“Well you’re a st-strange phooka!”

He cast a look at the boy shooting arrows, lips folding in the general awkward turtle face. Maybe he could shoot Loki for him. That would clear up this dilemma.
To Drew's horror, a loud vibrating, coughing, hacking, help-I'm-a-sixty-year-old-chain-smoker noise began tumbling from Loki. What that laughter or was he choking on a lawn mower.
"I like you human. Your emotions are quite interesting.

Okay. Well. If he was laughing at the prospect of getting shot, this could work out nicely.

What the hell was that kid doing!?

Derek nearly went on a hay-day at the kid’s stupidity. The dumbass was probably off day-dreaming and wondering around mindlessly. Not paying attention to where he was going! Damn it, and now the kid was about to get hit by an arrow! He lowered his bow down and watched the wimpy-looking male somehow dodge it. Their eyes met, and the kid looked at him as if it was his fault. The guy next to him cursed and dropped his stuff down hurriedly before running off…..

Did he just see what he thought he saw? The guy didn’t even apologize! He shifted his head to inspect behind himself, the man really wasn’t going to turn around. Derek wasn’t going to just sit back and watch. He was going to fight along side these people. They needed to treat one another with respect. As the wimpy kid made his way next to Derek, he set his things down carefully. Removed his archery strap with the arrows in the back, and walked off. The grass bent under his shoes, and he felt light on his feet. He caught up with the little punk in no time.

”Hey, you!,” Derek yelled out. The punk turned around, he was a big guy. A bit overweight but a lot of it was muscle. He had big lips and a big nose, along with a big nasty attitude.

”What?” he asked annoyed, slouching over like a delinquent. Man, this guy was rubbing Derek wrong in all kinds of ways.

”Apologize, for back there.” he tilted his head back, gesturing towards the archery area.

”tch, whatever.” the guy scoffed and gave him the cold shoulder. Derek winced. He gripped the males shoulder with his left arm, and reached for his wrist with his right hand. He twisted his wrist like he had done it a thousand times and pulled his arm back. While pushing forward on the guy with his left hand, he pulled back with his right. The target groaned and bent over. The other looked over his shoulder and cursed at Derek.

”What the hell man! Let me go you piece of shit!” he threatened. Derek raised an eyebrow, was he really in a position to say that? He pulled back on the punks arm. He watched the weakling suck in a breathe. ”I’m not doing it! It’s just a fuckin’ arrow!” Excuses. He tightened his grip on his wrist and pulled back even harder, pushing him forward more. He could hear the muscle stretching. He yelped in pain.

”Apologize.” One. Simple. Word. But it held so much authority.

”Alright, alright! Damn, just let me go!” he begged. Sissy. Derek rolled his eyes and released him. Pushing him forward with slight force, nothing too serious. Was this entire Academy full of pricks like this? He was starting to miss his people, they watched out for one another. They had each others backs; they never left each other behind. They always treated people with respect. Derek grabbed him by the color of his shirt and tossed him in the direction of Archery. The guy cast a look over his shoulder only to receive a menacing glare by Dereks blue eyes. He quickly put his head back to where it should be and slouched forward, hands in his pockets. Derek exhaled loudly. The two had arrived back at the station, and luckily, the lanky-looking boy with the phooka was still there.

Um…..uh…” the punk stuttered and shuffled his feet around uncomfortably. Oh, seemed like apologizing wasn’t a usual occurrence to this guy. More reason to push.

”Go on,” he said lowly, his voice almost a hush.

”I’m sorry, about before man…so…yeah…Bye!” he ran off after that, tripping and falling flat on his face on his way out.
idiot…

He shook his head and picked his archery equipment back up, got in ready position, aimed, and fired.

You are not going to say anything to the kid?

Kirk interrupted his empty thoughts. He really was finding this whole connection business quite annoying and inconvenient.

No. Shouldn’t you be doing more important things?

Derek questioned.

Right. Excuse me then, I don’t enjoy being around girls menstrual cycles.

Kirk retorted back sarcastically. Derek bit his lip. Were old men always this sassy? Or was it just cats?

Macari and Pippin strode up onto the starting platform of the obstacle course. Macari set Pip down on the ground, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the area. ”Man, they definitely don’t joke around when it comes to obstacle courses, do they? It looks easy at first, but it looks like the further you go on, the more advanced and strenuous this stuff gets.” She thought at Pippin, shielding her eyes from the sun as she changed head positions, looking in a new direction. Pippin grinned joyfully, his small tail wiggling from side to side, ”But that makes it so much more fun!” Minx grinned down at him in agreement. As for progress, the course made a lot of turns to include all of the different attributes of the course, but every so often it would continue straight or branch off to make for end lines for those who chose to stop there, while allowing others to continue onto more advanced things.

“Well, time’s a’waistin, let’s get started!” Ryder and Companion both walked forward off of the platform and onto the ground where the starting line was located, and Macari got into a runner’s position, a challenging look flashed towards Pippin. He pawed at the ground, crouching low and accepting the challenge. “Let’s see how fast we can get ‘er done.” Pip said, a look of mischief to his features.

“Alright, ready… set…” Macari shifted her eyes forwards, to look at their first challenges. It was a fair stretch of simple ground at first, but it soon receded for tires, then a log balance, furthered by pillars, rope swing, and then climbing wall. The course then curved, and what Macari could see past it was a net climb which went fairly high up, and a large oak tree centered above it, “Go!” The two shot off, making easy work of the first land, quickly making work of the tires. Minxy made certain to keep her legs high so as not to trip, while Pip took the tops of them, doing crescents along the rubber from tire to tire to give himself more of a challenge.

Pippin had an obvious advantage, as he went over rather than through, and thus gained a bit of a lead of his Ryder, but Macari picked up her own speed just a bit, not enough to burn her energy out more quickly, but to catch up. The two soon made their way onto the balancing log, which was set over a sort of large trench. She took a split second to glance down, and it appeared that soft materials were set down there, in case one were to slip off. Pip leapt up onto it, dodging gnarled branches that shot up from the bark in some places, as well as knobs that could easily trip someone if they weren’t paying attention.

”Watch it.” Pippin warned as Macari followed after him, about to hook her toe on one of the knobs, before looking down just in time to see it and alter her footstep just a bit, but wavered on the log, almost managing to lose her balance. She caught herself at the last second, continuing after her Jackalope. “How far are we going?” She called after Pip, keeping her eyes on his form as he headed up towards the pillars, quickly followed by Minxy herself. Someone else appeared to be in the middle of it, causing her to pause for a few moments before hopping onto the first one. Pippin made no hesitation as he leapt from stone pillar to stone pillar, threading through the person’s legs, accidently causing them to lose their balance and fall, ”Sorry!” Macari and Pippin called simultaneously, Pippin hopping off of the area, and Macari overtaking the deserted spot.

However, the Jackalope needed to pause at the rope swing, obviously unable to work at it himself. May wasn’t far behind, and he jumped up onto her shoulder. She didn’t falter as she continued to run, jumping and clutching the rope tightly to herself, letting go as they neared the other side. Pippin had launched himself off of her shoulder to the other side and shot off again as she landed. ”We’ll end the first of it at the exit ahead.” Pip thought back at her with a grin on his face as he sped ahead, legs pumping and kicking up dirt and a bit of grass. ”Oh good, I’d rather not tire myself out so far as to not be able to work at anything else.” She thought back at him as they neared the climbing wall. She grinned, figuring Pip would have to wait for her again. Two other people were working against each other at climbing it, but to Minxy’s surprise, he leapt up, landing on one head and then onto the next, successfully managing to scale the wall. “What!? That’s hardly fair!” She laughed out-of-breath after her Companion as the two made small yells towards the jackalope. She started up next to them, working hard to get up there and keep in line with Pippin.

At the top, she carefully balanced before letting herself drop to the ground and take off running again. By this time, the two were certainly panting for air, and made a simultaneous decision to slow down to keep energy. As she looked ahead, Pip was nowhere to be seen. A look of confusion passed her facials before she continued to the first exit. It was another stretch of land to the end line, and she put on a bit more speed in hopes to beat her Companion.

However, a flash to her right distracted her, and she foolishly turned her head to look at what it was. It appeared to be… a small blue dragon running and dodging rather swiftly, “Wh-“ Macari suddenly tripped, and hit the ground hard with a yelp, rolling at least a foot before she slowed. She looked up a bit dazed, suddenly seeing her companion there. A second passed before they both burst out laughing at each other, Pippin rolling onto his back and holding his stomach, while Macari clutched one of her sides. “You… you tripped over your own feet… and still made it!!” He exclaimed, while Minx tried to catch her breath in the middle of laughing, “You look like you got run over and thrown into several bushes!” Pippin had apparently taken a ‘short cut’ through a couple of bushes, and a small patch of fur was missing along his side, and he had twigs and leaves sticking out of his fur in all sorts of silly places. Macari had a bit of mud smeared on her face and a few minor scratches, and looked rather shaken up from her fall, but Pip knew she was perfectly fine, especially since she was laughing.

After the laughter subsided, both of them beamed at each other, and Pippin hopped a bit to his Ryder’s feet, putting a paw on her shin while a dim, warm light peaked from the tips of his antlers. The missing patch of fur returned, and the cuts on May disappeared. “Haha, that’s brilliant!” She chirped at her Companion, putting her hands on her thighs as she leaned over and looked at him with wide, shining eyes. He grinned up at her, “Isn’t it though?”

Macari wiped the grime from her face away, and swiftly pulled the plethora of random bushy things out of Pippin’s fur. “Hey, race you out of here?” Pippin offered, suddenly on his feet and ears perked while his muscles tensed. “…You’re on, my good sir!” She leapt to her feet, and they shot off, taking the sides of the obstacles instead of going through them again. ”I’ll have to warn you though, I’m part jackrabbit!” He grinned, putting on more speed in his larger back legs. ”Hahaha, well of course, you’re not called a ‘jackalope’ for nothing!” She tried to match his speed, but found it quickly impossible. They soon found themselves back at the starting platform, Pippin having won while Minxy had a look of content defeat on her face with a smile and a laugh threatening to part her lips.

She looked up, scanning about for what they’d head to next. Her eyes fell on the archery area, and she grinned broadly, already excited to see how well she’d do. She had a little bit of experience, having gone on one or two hunting parties with some of the people in her town, and watched one of her friends at archery. Plus something interesting seemed to be going on over there, but she couldn’t tell what.

“Shall we?” Pippin looked up at her, his nose wiggling and one paw up in the air as he asked. “We shall indeed!” The two walked at a nice pace towards the area, getting there just as a rather large guy was getting up off the ground before booking it away with a curse. Pippin and she both tilted their heads to the side curiously, before she looked up to see a guy with dirty blonde hair looking after the guy that had tripped before shaking his head. May grinned brightly, quickly wandering over to him as he let an arrow fly. It hit and stuck somewhat close to the red mark. “Oh hey, pretty nice shot.” She offered with a content smile on her face while looking up at him, her eyes closed just a bit as she did so. “That guy back there…” She began, assuming that the tripped guy had ran away that swiftly because he had done something foolish and rather rude, but she was distracted by another guy there. He was skinny, and somewhat tall, and didn’t hold himself very confidently. She changed her mind about her question, opening her mouth to say hello, before her eyes fell onto the looming, rather intimidating phooka behind him. It definitely didn’t look like the others that were at the lead of the rest of the training areas. She fell silent for a second, a blank look on her face before she broke out into a big eyed, open mouthed look of awe, quickly walking up to the creature and offering a hand in greeting.

“So cool!” She fawned just ever so slightly towards the large creature with no pupils and huge horns, obviously something that was definitely scary, but was otherwise just another awesome characteristic to Macari. She turned to the lanky guy, a cheerful smile on her face, still keeping her otherwise awed look, “He’s yours right?” She looked back up to the tall creature then back to him. “Ah, I’m Macari, last name May, haha.” She usually had to say her introductions this way, her first and last name merged so smoothly together, the two names sometimes were mistaken for one first name. She turned back to the first guy, looking around expectantly for his Companion. Minxy had discovered it was extremely fun and interesting to see what all the companions were. But she didn’t see his, she tilted her head, then gave a sheepish grin, figuring she must look a bit ridiculous.

If Drew was concerned about being near the intense looking blonde, he needn't have been, since he left just as soon as the other boy. He sighed, half in relief and half in exasperation. Of course anyone near him would leave- he wasn't someone people wanted to be around. That was alright he supposed. However much he longed to fit in with people and be social, he just.... wasn't. And he wouldn't deny the sense of comfort and relief when he was left to his own devices.
Drew suddenly got a strange feeling- and with a jolt realized that him and Loki's creepy mental link thing was acting up again and he felt almost a sense of acceptance along with the new knowledge that his companion would also rather choose to be solitary.
"Why'd you have to, to, to go and b-be my companion then?" He asked sourly and was rewarded with another lawn mower noise from Loki. Gosh. Drew did not like that things laugh.

Much to to the lanky teens surprise, he and his companions interest was snagged by two forms as they approached- or rather, returned tot he archery station since it was the intense boy and the one who'd run off. The blonde was glaring death at the other boy who approached Drew with a distasteful look.
Oh lord. Why was he coming over here. He obviously wasn't even remotely someone who might consider Drew as a friend that much was obvious from just a glance.
He stood there for a moment, and Drew stared at him with a lost look. Then the boy behind the one with the big face hissed a command-
”I’m sorry, about before man…so…yeah…Bye!”

Drew threw his hands up as the boy began speaking as if to ward off an attack, sending out a stuttering objection but was unable to form a coherent word before the boy ran off, tripping as he went. The blonde shook his head at him and then moved back to continue his shooting practice.

Wait what the heck had just happened. Drew opened his mouth to ask but all he could do was flop his lips open and closed, slightly do intimidated and confused to make a sound.
I do believe the large man child almost shot you, and this one had him seek forgiveness.

Oh. Was that what had happened? At least Loki was good for something other then scaring people away- he seemed to be quite perceptive. Now Drew felt a bit indebted to this boy. The apology definitely hadn't been necessary. Drew was used to people forgetting he was there and stumbling into him and hitting him on accident. A flying arrow didn't seem to different, since it hadn't hit him. But it still felt nice that this boy had thought he deserved an apology.
He stepped towards him, starring at the ground. Better not to meet his eyes after all, they'd seemed rather harsh towards that other boy.
"Uh.. uh, um, t-thanks for-"

He broke off as a girl approached. A rather disgruntled looking girl, with scratches and a bit of mud on her, but none the less a girl. In his general proximity. What.
She made to speak to the boy and Drew quickly stepped back, not knowing how to react or interact. It was hard enough with people in general, how was he supposed to talk to a girl without her thinking he was a freak!? He'd always had Lena and Allison, and their friendship granted being around a lot of girls, but to them he'd just been that weird guy who followed Lena around like a lost soul. He'd been used to all girls avoiding him since grade school. Same with the guys, though there had been a few who'd attempted to get to know him, only to be detoured by something unsatisfactory about Drew's persona. Lena had been the only one to give him a chance, to take him under her wing, try to introduce him to people-

“So cool!” His eyes shot up from the grass, jaw dropping slightly as the girl hopped right on up to Loki, brushing slightly past Drew to extend her arm to the Phooka. Loki tilted his goat head at her slightly, and Drew felt the creatures curiosity at such a friendly person as he wrapped his boney fingers around the girls, careful not to crush her fingers. Though, in Drews experience, her fingers would probably still feel glued together when the devil spawn let go. He supposed he should be nicer to Loki- it was kind of sad that he was surprised at the girls eagerness to shake his hand. Drew should have shown him that eagerness after Loki had made known he'd be his companion (Without Drew having much say in the matter of course.) But all the teen had been doing was complaining about his obvious relation to the devil.

“He’s yours right?”

Drew literally sputtered as h was brought out of his thoughts, unable to answer. One, she had just spoken to him. Two, Loki wasn't exactly his per say, unless by that she meant his companion, which was probably the case and he realized then that he should probably answer but Loki beat him too it.

"In a manner of speaking." He replied in his gravely way-lower-than-should-be-possible voice.

"Ah, I’m Macari, last name May." She giggled slightly and Drew licked his lips and cleared his throat, attempting a friendly smile. This was his chance- she'd even kept him from the horrible endeavor that was trying to talk to someone first! If that wasn't considerate he didn't know what was.

'I-I'm D-d-d-d," He froze in frustration, beginning to feel even worse as his stutter overtook him. Really man, really? He couldn't even get his name out. He took a breath and furrowed his brow.
"I'm Drew. Drew Sh-shar." He said, now addressing Macari and the boy, with stressed enunciation, then grinned a bit in accomplishment. His only stutter in that statement had been on his last name, but he thought it sounded natural enough.
Drew refocused and found that the girl was now scouring the area assumably looking for something, then turned back to them with a grin, seeming to come up empty handed.
Drew glanced around, trying to gather a hint of what she'd been searching for. All he saw was a cute Jackalope a little ways back. If only he'd gotten something like that- he stopped himself. No. He had to stop being so mean to Loki.
Not that it seemed to bother the Phooka- he was beginning to spill his chain-smoker-cough-like laugh again just listening in on Drew's thought process.
What was so dang funny about Drew being scared of his appearance! People these days.

Drew turned to the blonde, trying to keep the light atmosphere Macari had brought with her.
"W-whats your name?"

“Oh hey, pretty nice shot.” Derek eyed the small girl, looking down at her from his peripheral vision. She was (3) inches shorter then him with I-like-to-talk written all over her face. She was probably one of those annoying girls who would chat your ear off if you never interrupted her. Fine by him. He didn’t enjoy talking much anyway. He reached behind him and pulled another arrow out, positing it between his fingers and the bow. He jerked his arm back, pulling back on the string. Already a few cuts were pressing into his fingers. His hands were not used to the texture of the bow yet, but he wouldn’t stop. Even if his fingers bled.

”Thanks.” he let go. The arrow cut through the air in silence, just barely missing the target. He was getting closer. Fighting wasn’t as hard as everyone else made it seem. To him, it was reaching a state in your mind where you could control your instincts and use them to your advantage. You ruled your human senses, not the other way around.

”So cool! He’s yours right? Ah, I’m Macari, last name May, haha.”

” I'm Drew. Drew Sh-shar”

However, the noises buzzing in his ears to the right were making it a bit difficult. He ignored them, barely catching their names. What they had said didn’t reach his ears, what he heard was Macaroni and Drew Sushi. He had made no inclination that he wanted to get to know these people. Their names were strange. All hope of him wishing they would just ignore his presence vanished when the brat, Drew Sushi, had turned to him. Dragging him into Macaronis pace.

"W-whats your name?" he asked. He didn’t seem confident. Nor did he appear like he had any backbone of the sorts. So to put it bluntly, he was surrounded by an insecure little boy and space cadet. Wonderful. He reached for another arrow and repeated the routine. Arrow. Aim. Being rude was pointless.

”Derek.” he released the arrow and shot, getting the same result as before. He winced in frustration and picked up another arrow. Aim. Shoot. Arrow. Aim. Shoot. Arrow. Aim. Shoot.

At least try to get to know the people you are fighting along side with.
Kirk exasperated.

I did. I’ve profiled them accurately.
He responded robotically.

Or so you think, humans are interesting creatures. They change on you, be more friendly. Friends are important to have in this world.
Kirk said wisely.

Kirk…
Dereks voice trailed off.

Right, I have something better to do right?
Silence.

A single stretch limousine pulled up to the Ryder Academy, and halted right in front of the huge double doors.
The driver's door opened, and a teenage boy got out and looked up, smiling as he rested his arms on top of the limo.

"Isn't it wonderful, SanJee?", JJ asked his 'driver', who was reading a newspaper in the passenger seat.
"Indeed, it is one of the best gifted schools in all of Cree."
"Did you notice how smooth the ride was? The paths are simply luxurious. So well cut, as well."
SanJee looked up from his newspaper. "Indeed,JJ. I think it would have been smoother if you let me, the professional driver take the wheel once in a while. You do understand I am getting paid a large sum of money every hour, don't you?"
JJ grabbed onto the top of the limo and leaned down, giving SanJee one of his best grins. "It's not fun at all when you drive. The driver gets to pick the music, after all."
"Yes, I am aware. And what was it that we were listening to again? High-beat notes accompanied with lyrics repeating themselves over and over?"
JJ pouted. "That was my friend Yin's new single. You have to believe it's so original.The way she expresses her love-"
"For teenage boys with well-styled hair and an alarmingly white smile?" SanJee raised an eyebrow.
"So you were paying attention!", JJ patted SanJee on his head, as the older gentleman raised an eyebrow.

The driver handed the boy a folder. "Here is your new itinerary. We expect you for the recording of your third album in two weeks, along with a song to add onto as your bonus track for the premium deluxe version."
"Of course! How could I not!", here JJ seemed nervous.
Yeah, I don't have a new song. Better get started on that.

"We have already shipped your things to the school. A Phooka was assigned to show you where to go from here." SanJee instructed.
"Thanks.....Well, I guess this is goodbye for now." JJ stuck out his hand, and the driver shook it.
"Good luck with this one, JJ", the man said, changed seats to the driver's side, closed the door after JJ removed his fingers, and then sped off.

JJ took a deep breath, and then walked up into the school, and into the doors to the foyer.
A Phooka approached him now, a half man, half goat variety.
"Hello, you must be the late one."
JJ scratched his head nervously and laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that, I had a practice earlier. It really was my fault, I guess......"
"It is alright. If you would please follow me."

The Phooka walked briskly down a hall, and JJ followed him, his stomach queasy.
The walls seemed to be lined with gold, with very expensive wallpaper.
"Your things have already been shipped to your room. Your television will not be available for use until a few days from now, since someone has to come to set it up."
"Oh...thank you for sending one. I'm sorry if that's too much trouble. I must catch up on current events."
"Of course."
I expect there will be silence when I enter the room. Maybe Draconem, the headmaster will be speaking, and me entering the room will serve as a huge embarrassment on my part. He was prepared for it, and he didn't really mind.

"Here we are." The Phooka led him to a large, spacey auditorium, which was empty.
Ah..., JJ thought relieved, I was too late for any of that, huh?
The Phooka walked over to another huge set of double doors, and, as he opened them, JJ was amazed at the enclosure inside.
"Here is where you will pick your companion. Every Ryder cannot go without one. When you are done, I will be here to escort you to your next location."
"Oh, okay, thank you." JJ was so lucky he had someone showing him around. He knew he would hardly be able to maneuver by himself.


So, I definitely know I do not want a dragon or a gargoyle. Those things are just too big or creepy for me. How about a fairy?
He wandered over to a forest, noticing the fairies there who were whizzing by, laughing. He smiled, remembering the fairies at home, and stepped into the cool trees.
This enclosure is pretty cool. All this magic to create this amazing landscape.
He was glad Ryder training included magic, since he was very good at it.

He spotted a very well crafted blue treehouse, that included three boy fairies who were messing around with some nectar and a horn.
I'll just ask these little fairies, and see if one of them would like to be my companion. No big.
He walked up to them, and the male fairies stopped what they were doing, and looked up at him strangely.
"Can we help you?", one with green hair asked, and JJ balked for a second.

"Well, yes actually. You see, I'm a Ryder now, so I was just wondering if any of you kind gentlemen-"
They interrupted him by laughing, shouting, "Haha, gentlemen?","What a joke this kid is! Who does he think he is!?", and finally, "I'll show you gentlemen!" And then the fairy with the green hair took the nectar and put it in his little horn, and flew up right to JJ's face.
"Uh...um...what are you--ow!", he sputtered, as the fairy shot the nectar in his eye by blowing on the horn.
His friends laughed as he returned,and high-fived him.
No one, not even a little fairy, can get away with that
"Look you jerks!", he seethed angrily, and the three fairies grew quiet, surprised at his new attitude. "I don't care if you think you are someone way better than I am or whatever, but I needed a companion and I thought one of you three could be it! Apparently I was mistaken!"
The fairies stared at him, and JJ stormed off.
"Dude, wait!", the green-haired fairy cried, and JJ looked back to see that they were all flying towards him.
A fairy with copper hair spoke, and he seemed a bit hesitant. "No one has ever asked us to be their companion before....."
"Yeah", a fairy with shocking pink eyes told him,"And we really are flattered. We're not used to it."
JJ lightened up. "So, one of you will be my companion?"
The green-haired fairy spoke, "As much as we want to....we can't. We like that you aren't the pansy we thought you were...."
"Hey!", JJ shouted.
"You know you are. A little bit, maybe. But we realized you could bare your teeth if you wanted to. But... me and my boys", here he pointed to the other fairies,"couldn't bear to be apart from each other. So we can't be your companion, unless two other people asked. We stick together."
"Awwww", JJ smiled, "all fairies are cute!"
"We're not cute!", the pink-eyed fairy shouted, looking as menacing as a baby kitten, and JJ laughed again, his eyes sparkling.
"Of course not. Thank you guys anyway." The little fairies waved, then retreated to their treehouse. JJ sighed.

As he exited the forest, he saw that the sun was sparkling brightly in the sky.
Ah, it's so beautiful. I miss seeing the sunrise.
He trotted on, then started to rub his eyes. The sun seemed to be right in front of him!!
Maybe I stared a little too hard. Seems like there's a fireball right here.
He approached it, and stepped on the fireball, wanting to make it disappear. The fireball shouted, and JJ shouted in return.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"Watch where you step, ignorant boy!", the fireball snapped, and JJ stepped closer.
"Woah! You're a phoenix!"
"What did you think I was, a fireball?!"
JJ shifted his feet. "Um...nooo...."
"I saw what happened there in the forest."
"Oh...did you?"
"Yes, and I am here."
"For what?", JJ asked.
"To be your companion." The phoenix's fiery feathers shone, and JJ was transfixed to them.
"You want to be my companion?"
"Yes, and don't make me regret it! You were not entirely weak and girly out there,so I will accept it."
"Um...ok...my name's JJ."
"My name is Gladiator."
"Hey, that's cool! Let's go back, Gladiator." Gladiator puffed out his feathers and followed JJ out of the enclosure, back to the Phooka.
"Excellent", the Phooka said as he returned. "All the students are in their first training crash course. Follow me."

Oh, boy, time to show off my nonexistent skills.
I really cannot deny that I knew you did not have any talents. Gladiator said in his mind.

JJ retaliated. AHH!How do you do that?!, and Gladiator explained about the connection between Ryder and companion, with a roll of his eyes.
Ah, cool! They finally reached the other enclosure, full of rings with weapons, bleachers, an obstacle course, and many, many people.
"Ooh, wow, this is pretty sweet." He noticed some girls looking at him and whispering. He waved to them, and they grinned fully at him, shouting ,"Hi!!", then looked back at each other and giggled.
"Here is where I will leave you. Please explore whatever you like, as you experiment with things that you may not be used to. Goodbye", the Phooka said.
"Wait, what's your name?!", JJ did not want to forget him.
"Egore."
"Goodbye, Egore!"
JJ walked in a random direction, and found himself at the archery station. He saw some people fighting, and then a girl a little worse for wear stooping down to view a hideous, scary companion. He went up to them, allowing himself to be on the side as they interacted, but then he caught the eye of the girl.

Macari simply grinned brightly to Loki, tilting her head slightly to the side as she felt his fingers wrap around her own. They were hard and definitely boney, but again, it just made the Phooka more interesting overall. She tilted her head back to the lanky boy as she asked her question, and he sputtered just slightly. ”He’s definitely not confident, huh Pip?” Pippin hopped over to where the others stood, and lounged between his Ryder’s legs with a content smile. ”Well, you are kinda scary.” He joked, and Macari shot him a good natured look with a small chuckle before turning back to him as he answered.

"In a manner of speaking.” Minx blinked a bit before shrugging and nodding her head slightly. ”I-I'm D-d-d-d," Macari looked at him expectantly, a confidence to her eyes while she waited for him to speak. ”He’s weird.” Pippin remarked through their connection, tilting his head up to look the boy over. ”Yeah, but weird’s good.”

"I'm Drew. Drew Sh-shar." With his small grin, May could only return one that was brighter, extending her hand. “Nice to meet you!” She jumped slightly as the Phooka began laughing, the noise catching her off guard before she laughed through a breath. “What’s your Companion’s name, Drew?”

He then addressed the blonde guy, asking of his name. Her eyes lit up, and she gave him her attention as he continued to launch arrows at the target. ”Derek.” Was his reply, and she responded with the same, “Wonderful to meet your acquaintance.” She smiled, before watching him loose a few more arrows. “Oh yeah, I should try too.” Her tone made it sound like a kind of side note, and Macari scanned the weapons rack, picking up a few bows before testing the resistance of the string. She knew she couldn’t use a newer one, as it would be a bit too tough to draw it back, so she searched for one that was broken in already.

Finding what she sought, she quickly returned to her place, the next row over from Derek. She positioned her feet a bit so she’d have more balance, and Pip cheerfully walked up to her, settling down beside her with a content look, excited to see how well his Ryder could use the bow.

She grabbed an arrow from the sheath to her side, notching it into the bowstring and holding it there. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes with a focused look on her face, pulling back on the bowstring and tuning out those around her.


”Heh, alright, focus on your target now, get it into your mind where you want your arrow to fly, keep a steady hand, keep your arms taut, and that elbow up, Little Minx~” Kennedy teased lightly, Macari always seemed to forget to keep her elbow up and her hand at her chin. The wind kicked up a bit, making the leaves shift, and she smiled brightly.

”Since you’re smaller, you want to keep your feet parted a bit more, it should help you keep your balance. Good, now, close your eyes, take a deep breath, in through the nostrils out through the mouth, calm your hands so they don’t waver. Open then up, focus on the mark on the tree, pull back, aaaand, release!”



Macari released the tensed bow after following her old friend’s instructions, a grin on her face. She could almost feel the cool wind from the forests back home. The arrow flew true, lodging itself on the outer area of the red circle on the target. “Haha, bulls-eye, that was great!” Pippin chirped up at her with a shining, excited look. She laughed brightly, returning the bow to its place before walking back over to where Pippin sat, joining him on the ground with a bright look, running her fingers through his soft fur and messing with his ears.

“Hey, cut that out!” He quipped with a grin and a laugh, not actually minding it. “Haha, never!” She responded, making his long ears move from side to side, back and forth, and around, with small chuckles and clicks at her Companion.

She suddenly paused, hearing someone else come up behind them. She turned to look up at an Asian boy. Macari covered her mouth with her wrist, a good natured half smirk half grin on her face, her eyes closing a bit as she laughed. Pippin ’snrked’ and snorted, having looked up as well, laughing at the boy there, covering his mouth just slightly with his paw, mimicking his Ryder so as to try not to offend the new guy. “Hey guy, you appear to have something dribbling out of your eye.” She offered, explaining their response to his appearance. She looked down at Pip as he looked up at her, and they both grinned and simultaneously said, ”Fairies.” She offered an open hand, and Pippin patted his paw down onto it in a high-five.

Minx looked up at Drew and his companion, shielding her eyes from the sun again, and smiled, motioning for them to join she and Pip in sitting, if they so desired.

Check mate. Derek turned his head slowly, staring at Macari with a blank expression. The space cadet had hit the bulls-eye dead on, a calm expression laid upon her foundation. He didn’t think someone like her could ever display a serious expression. His eyes followed her as he watched her adore her companion and then go sit next to him, inviting Drew over to sit with them and giggle at the fairy dew in the pretty boys eyes. A new entrée. He stared at him for 5 seconds before concluding that he was, indeed, a pretty boy.

Haven’t you leaned your lesson yet, boy? Your profiling can be off and misleading. Still needs some work.
Kirk corrected, an old mans laugh following soon after. Derek rubbed his temples; he wasn’t even going to respond this time. He cocked his head to the side, shoulders relaxed, and called out to the talented archer.

”Hey…Macaroni right? Could you help me with this?” he asked. He still wondered…what kind of parents named their kid after a food?



What’s this?

Kirks wise eyes met those of the same color, but different experience. Young. Inexperienced. The white beast towered over the little guy, most beasts his size or greater would have to squint their eyes to see him. But he was a cat. His pupils dilated, he could see between his feathers, the rise of his chest as he breathed, his hunting instincts were rising. He pawed at the little guy, pushing him around rather gently but with some force. He licked his lips and chuckled.

”Hey little guy, far from your nest are you not?” the blue dragon reminded him that of a Bluejay, a bird. ”Will you be challenging me? What’s your name?” Kirk asked. He had to admit, there was a bit of an impulse to eat the guy…

Pretty boy..
Kirks ears flinched and shook his head lightly, for a silent kid, he thought a lot.

Haven’t you leaned your lesson yet, boy? Your profiling can be off and misleading. Still needs some work.
He corrected, but with no response. Ah, so the guy was giving him the silent treatment. So be it. Humans never listened to cats anyway. By most people in the world, cats were not adored. They were seen as evil, rude, and emotional. Well, how do you think cats view humans? Felines can sense things most can’t, and when Derek starts to listen to him…he will become stronger. He hated it when people tried to do things on their own. Heh, what was he saying. He was the same way. That's why he liked the guy.




”Saga, your companion…and Reechi…” Estabel gestured towards the big ring where the tiger was pushing his companion around. Reechi merely just watched and than looked back at Saga. Almost pitying him. He huffed; maybe he should cut back on the smokes. Nao’s words about how bad cigarettes were for you were actually starting to make sense now. He picked up his feet and put his arms behind his head to get a better breath and walked over casually. Almost tiredly. What was Bluejay doing? Did he seriously want to fight the feline? Saga couldn’t stop him but…he hoped the cat would go easy on him. BJ had to learn things on his own or else he would never grow up and mature, Saga knew this. He had to let Bloo take his own course. He bent down beside Reechi, scratching her behind the ears.

”Hey girl,” he charmed.

Drew starred as Macari extended her hand to him. She was so.. so... so friendly!
He eagerly accepted the handshake, not used to such blind kindness; as a result, he might have shaken a bit overzealously. She asked his companions name whilst he was doing so, and he let go quickly, blushing.
"Th-thats Loki."

the blonde, still shooting arrows, then decided to answer Drews question, tossing his name into the mix. Derek and Macari
He had to refrain from throwing a party.
What's a party? Loki asked mentally, and Drew was unable to stop the flashes of memory that came to mind, somewhat explaining the concept to the phooka.
His eleventh birthday party, old relatives standing around; him, Lena, and Allison gathered around a small cake, the girls grinning as he blew out the candles, feeling content-
Last years homecoming, the pulse of the music in the gym, groups of people jumping and mingling, Drew floating around in the shadows, shooing Lena away from him with an order to have fun-
One of Jonathan's crazy house parties, while their parents were out of town, lights flickering and music spilling into the streets, girls and guys intwined on the couches, grinding on the open space of their living room, Drew trying to stay out of the way in his room but constantly being interrupted by couples looking for a quiet place-

Loki's confusion broke through his memories and Drew tried to focus on the here and now, on Derek repeatedly shooting arrows and Macari moving over to join him, easily notching and letting loose a bullseye. Drew watched in awe. She was good. Derek was good too, he was pretty close to a bullseye as well.
Drew wished he had half their skill, wanted to learn,wanted to be useful and before he knew it he was rushing over, stammering a quite "Excuse me," hoping to snag at least Dereks attention. Maybe he would help him! He was distracted by the giggles from Macari as she and her companion greeted a new boy, and before Drews eyes she patted the grass next to them, obviously intending it to be an invitation to Drew. And invitation. To sit by her?! Wait where they friends!? Would he really have to throw a party now!?

Of course, watching her with a shocked face and trying to walk towards Derek didn't fare well for him. A rock or something evil and foul decided to spring out of the flat grass and trip him. Before he could even contemplate her invite, he was down.
And he was rolling and rolling, in a rather painful way, a trip straight out of the cartoons, and then Loki was stopping him,picking him up and setting him down on his backside.

Drew sat on his bottom, reeling, face bright red. How had that happened. Just how. He wasn't even that clumsy. He took a breath waiting for the world to stop spinning. The gods were against him thats what this was. He was cursed by the great dragons. The world was out to kill him. Destiny required him to have no friends that was what this was.

The teen sighed, sweeping grass off his blue hoodie. Loki seemed remarkably light on his feet, to have intercepted his tragic roll to the death before he'd gotten to far. He shot a mental thank you to the phooka, before pushing a hand through his hair. It always refused to 'unpoof' yet here it was getting in his face. He just wanted to put his hood on and curl up and die.

Drew just hoped Derek and Marcari hadn't seen that- well, they probably had, since, as Drew looked up, he was just feet away from the area Macari and the boy were sitting in.
The new asian kid looked familiar for some reason and Macari was next to him, the giggle frozen on her face, and Derek was looking over with an unreadable expression, looking like he'd just asked something but Drew had missed it.
He assumed his entire face was red at this point, when he was distracted by something weird on the Asians eye.
"Um..." Drew said, feeling the unreasonable urge to apologize for tripping, even though he hadn't even run into anyone. Instead he pulled a pocket sized pack of tissues from his pocket, offering it to the new boy with near shaking, embarrassed fingers.
"Th-there's s-something on your face,"

He blinked at them innocently with his deer eyes, unaware that his own face was now rather disgruntled and dirty, just trying to change this first impression he was giving off to the group.
Behind him, Loki shook his head in a way that almost screamed, 'we have a lot of work to do.'

"Th-thats Loki." Pippin practically bounced with glee, sharing his Ryder’s feeling of high energy and how great that seemed to fit the Phooka, and Macari grinned, “That is a fantastic name.” She said seriously, looking up to the Phooka with another look of appreciation.

”Hey…Macaroni right? Could you help me with this?” May turned her attention up at Derek, a smile wriggling onto her lips, and her eyes lit up. She laughed good-naturedly, poking him in the leg. Pippin merely looked up at him with a lopsided grin, one ear falling to the side. “It’s Macari, but that was one of the most brilliant name mistakes I’ve ever heard.” She grinned brightly at him, and Pippin chirped up at her, “I should call you that~” He spoke without any seriousness, but grinned nonetheless.

“Oh, ah, I’m not really that good with archery, I just had a friend back home who was great, and showed me a bit about what to do. I think that was more of a lucky shot, but hey, I made it! Anyway, I think you’re too tensed up, you should relax a bit more, and keep your elbow straight.” She smiled softly to herself, remembering how Kennedy would always have to correct her about that. She felt she did him proud today, and she returned her attention back up at Derek, her eyes bright and friendly.

Suddenly, her head shifted quickly to the side as she heard a loud ’thump’ and took in the sight of Drew rolling along the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise, a flash of worry blossoming, before Loki picked up the boy before he damaged himself too badly. His face was beet red, and Minxy tried to keep the frown of worry on her face, but was struggling not to smile. If she did, it would probably make the boy feel bad, even though she hardly ever made fun of anyone unless it was light teasing.

“Are… are you okay, Drew?” She asked, clearing her throat a bit to rid herself of any higher pitched tones because of the laugh that threatened to make itself known. He then looked up at the Asian boy, remarking on what May had already notified him about, but offering him a tissue this time.

Speaking of the Asian kid, he had been giving her a funny look, which turned slightly irritable, which made her uncomfortable, she didn’t think she came across as mocking. She turned to Pip with a questioning gaze, and he simply shrugged, ”Ah, don’t worry about it!” He offered with a reassuring grin, patting her shins happily.

He seemed to then look down at Drew, and just stare at him for a few moments, before taking the offered tissue and dabbing at his eye. "Thank you, my trials in the fairy forest had nearly escaped my mind. If you ask, I'll tell you all about it." May blinked at him, one eye squinting just slightly, ”Ah, he seems a little high on his horse there….” She thought at Pippin with a look of slight despair on her face, such things didn’t really bother her normally, but he seemed to make her a bit uncomfortable.

"Hello, nice to meet you, my name is JJ." She blinked, smiling once again as he introduced himself, ”Maybe it’s just a bad first impression.” Pip smiled up at her, echoing her thoughts. “What are your names?" Minx rested back on one hand, looking up at him. “Macari May.” She spoke lightly, a grin on her face as she patted Pippin with her free hand.

Pippin suddenly jumped up a bit, tilting his head up to look at May with big eyes, patting at her leg to get her attention. “We should go train!” He said, his tail wiggling a bit, “I kinda wanna go see what this ‘Special Abilities’ place looks like!” He bounced up and down just slightly, not actually leaving the ground as he did so.

Macari got up from her seated position, brushing off the back of her legs and such, before putting her hands on her hips brightly, as if accepting a new adventure. “Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?” She glanced at the faces around her, waiting for their answers with a nice smile.

”….I’m. so sorry,” his cheeks became flushed at the horrible name mistake he had done. He felt like the shittiest guy in the world. He should have known, he should have known! No one names their friggin kid MACARONI! He ran his fingers through his hair irritably, Kirk had been right. If he had focused more on getting to know them, he would have figured out at least one of them had some talent sooner. Still, even with his rudeness, she addressed him kindly and smiled. She paid no mind to it, and her and her companion appeared too actually like the nickname. He felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time, warmness. The warmness of an August afternoon. Back in Dark Hallows, it was all about being rough and tough love. She reminded him too much of….

He tossed that thought away in the trash can before it could even finish.

” Oh, ah, I’m not really that good with archery, I just had a friend back home who was great, and showed me a bit about what to do. I think that was more of a lucky shot, but hey, I made it! Anyway, I think you’re too tensed up; you should relax a bit more, and keep your elbow straight.” she replied sweetly. Derek stood in silence, before saying

”Thanks,” and turned his back to her and took up the bow and arrow again. As he straightened his elbow and relaxed he felt that he needed to say more to her. Like he owed her something, you know?

No, I don’t know Kirk said.

Shut up.. Derek had groaned in his head and rolled his head. He could hear the faint noise of a chuckle in the background.

”You know, Macari, You aren’t half bad….” he spoke softly, almost as if he was embarrassed to say something so kind to someone. Sure, his only focus was revenge so he might come off as someone-

With a stick up their ass Kirk injected. Derek took a deep breathe.

Who was cold, he continued. However, he did have a sense of civilly and respect to the people he would be fighting along side with. Everyone here would be helping him get his revenge, whether he liked it or not. It wasn’t just him he had to work on; he would have to help others too if no one else would.

Are you going to shoot? Or not? Kirk questioned.

Oh..right Kirk snapped back into reality and peered through his pin. After aiming, and sure that it would go head on into the bull-eyes, he released the arrow. And it hit. The. Bulls. Eye. Half of his mouth curved up into a grin of pleasure. Yes!

“Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?” Macari asked. Derek glanced over his shoulder at the three. Somehow, their conversation had progressed into a hang-out session while his mind had been off into who knows where. He scratched his nose, and responded only because it had been Macari who asked.

”I’ll stick here. I want to do some more training with this.” he raised the bow up slightly, to bring attention to it. He wanted to feel that joy of accomplishment again. And again. And again!

“Are… are you okay, Drew?”Macari asked, and Drew didn't glanced up from the intense stare he was giving to the grass in front of him to give her an appreciative smile.

"N-n-no actually, I think my w-wounds are fatal." He said sarcastically, surprising himself. Then he threw another mental party. He felt comfortable around these people- he'd made something akin to a joke. On the first day he'd barely even met them. This was good! Maybe the academy would offer him a new social start after all!
The boy had stopped giving him a look and took the tissues from Drews hand, cleaning the goo from his face.
"Thank you, my trials in the fairy forest had nearly escaped my mind. If you ask, I'll tell you all about it."

Drew beamed at the thank you, but his smile faded as he pondered this. Did that mean he wanted them to ask? Or was that a way of saying he didn't feel like explaining unless he or Macari wanted to hear? He wiped at the dirt irritating his face with the back of his hand, like a cat. He seems rather formal too.... Do I know him from somewhere!?
Before he could mull over it, the Asian was extending his hand and Drew shook it, careful not to overdo it like he had with Macari.
"Hello, nice to meet you, my name is JJ. What are your names?"
"Macari May,"

JJ? Now that was definitely familiar, especially paired with the face. He ignored it,

"I'm Drew," He pointed a finger upward where Loki loomed overhead. "Th-that's Loki," Satans spirit animal. He added mentally. Loki snorted in response to the thought and Drew cowered away from the noise. The phooka's mental connection to the boy served to transfer his extreme amusement, something the Phooka was feeling for and more since meeting Drew.
"I don't see whats so funy...oh... I was going to try to stop the mental abuse.... sorry Loki."
"Heheh, What is a spirit animal?"
"Er... Kind of a form of companion I suppose,"
"But I am your companion?"
"Never mind Loki,"

Drew refocused as May's companion hopped excitedly about Special Abilities. For companions then? Drew glanced up at Loki from the corner of his eye. He wondered what types of things the phooka could do. Again came that amusement.
The teen whacked the phooka in the hairy leg, ignoring his fear in slight annoyance. He didn't like being laughed at. He'd been laughed at enough in life.
"Loki stop!"
The phooka laughed heartily and Drew punched him again, not minding that he was now yelling outloud. (Though his noodle arms caused hardly a feeling to Loki). He rolled his eyes, crawling over to sit next to JJ and Macari's companion Pippin.
"G-go away." He said stubbornly to Loki as Macari stood up,

“Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?”

Drew paused for a moment, thinking. He'd like to stay with these people, since he knew them now. But would special abilities mean he'd have to work with Loki? He was a bit annoyed at the beast. He seemed to find amusement in everything Drew did, which just made the human feel incompetent and foolhardy.

“”I’ll stick here. I want to do some more training with this.”

Drew sighed. Derek seemed to be staying then. The blond didn't seem to talk much, at least not to him. But he felt rude leaving him alone. He'd wait until JJ answered then- he didn't know if Derek would even take kindly to Drew hanging around.
So, with an annoyed look at satans pet, Drew also stood up, brushing more grass off himself. He'd collected quite a bit from his tumble.

"I g-guess I should g-go to found out more about phhhooka's." He said with a nervous smile to the girl. Did she even want him along? The invite was probably more towards the other boys.It usually was after all.
Anyway, the teenfigured he should at least get something accomplished before classes. He doubted he'd be able to pull back the bow strings on those bows, or lift any sword, so focusing on Loki seemed a good enough way to go.

“Macari May.” The girl said, her voice light as she petted her jackalope. Her companion started to jump a bit,looking at Macari May with big eyes that JJ thought was to plead with her over something,and started patting her leg to get her attention.
"I'm Drew," the dirty boy on the ground said, pointing a finger upward where his satanic companion was. "Th-that's Loki."
Loki.How fitting. He noticed how Drew stuttered as he mentioned Loki, and safely assumed Drew was scared at him.
He leaned down towards Drew,whispering, "Honestly,your companion scares me. A lot.He's pretty much the incarnation of the devil." He grinned to show he was joking around.
“We should go train!” Macari May's jackalope said, his tail wiggling a bit, “I kinda wanna go see what this ‘Special Abilities’ place looks like!” He bounced up and down just slightly, as if rocking on his heels.
Macari May got up and brushed off the dirt from her pants and such, and then said brightly,
“Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?” She glanced at the boys, waiting for their responses with an expectant smile.

Hm...I have studied much about companions, especially about their magical capabilities. Maybe I can make friends with these people if they are impressed by my knowledge.
"Loki stop!" Drew shouted, punching his Phooka, and JJ didn't know why. Must be that stupid connection.
Are you embarrassed that now I can read your every thought and emotion?So when someone points a sword at you and you shriek in terror on the inside, I can laugh?,Gladiator thought.
JJ threw a grimace at him. Yes. he admitted grudgingly. Loki went to go sit next to JJ and the jackalope. His very presence sent JJ on end.

“I’ll stick here. I want to do some more training with this.” Some guy next to them said, and JJ thought he wasn't even paying attention to the group. JJ had observed him arguing with people earlier, but didn't know he was still part of the scene. He had thought the guy just wanted to be some kind of loner,and he didn't introduce himself either.

Drew seemed to sigh at this, and then got up to try to brush some of the grass stains.
"You really are going to need some major cleaning up later." JJ offered.
He thought Drew and Macari May were good people and he'd like to be friends with them, so he decided to go with them.

"I'd love to accompany you actually", he said to Macari May,smiled, and then pointed behind him to the phoenix.
"That is Gladiator, by the way, my companion." The phoenix's feathers puffed out at this and they seemed to blaze in the sun.

"I g-guess I should g-go to found out more about phhhooka's." Drew said with a nervous smile, and JJ had to shake his head,grinning, at the skinny boy's hesitation and stutter. Rather endearing it was.

"Well then, I guess we are off then!", he said enthusiastically. He was way more excited for magic training than,say,shooting an arrow at a target.

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw the two girls from earlier, and a third girl, chatting excitedly as they looked at him. He turned around and waved at them, a good-natured smile on his face, and the girls shrieked.
Well, I guess some things never change.
What is going on?Do you know those girls, JJ? Gladiator asked, and JJ shook his head,grinning.
No, but they know me, he responded as the group of girls approached him, and their expressions brimmed with excitement. JJ loved that he had so many fans, and their reactions to seeing him. Maybe he'd hang out with these girls as well.
"J...J..", some girl stuttered, and the other girls pushed her towards him.
JJ chuckled, and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. She looked giddy.
"C..can we t..t..take a picture with you?", the blonde whispered.
"Of course." he responded, and her friends yelled again, taking out their phones and going to pose with him.
As they took pictures with him, they chatted endlessly, and JJ was relieved there was some familiarity in all of this Ryder stuff.
"I just loved Butterfly Kiss, I bought the deluxe and the premium album and-"
"We ordered some of your shirts too-"
"I didn't know you were coming here, it's just a dream-"
He laughed as they put their phones away, and hugged each of them.
"Thank you," he said as he looked in the girls' eyes,"Not just for buying my album, but for this moment right now."
The girls shouted again, and waved to him as they left. And JJ truly was thankful,because he loved his fans.

Oh,wait,what am I doing right now?
He turned back to who he hoped were his new Ryder friends, and smiled sheepishly, running his hand over the back of his head.
"Sorry I delayed us. Shall we go?"

As Reechi was thrown to the side, she glared right back at the tiger, ignoring the blood pooling and dripping down her sides from Kirk’s claws. ”Stay out of this, this is not your battle. Her tail straightened out behind her, and she hissed lowly. “Idiot, you made it my battle when you decided to inadvertently attack me.” Her nostrils flared, ’Clinically insane tiger.’

”You're going to make others fight your battle for you!? WEAKLING!” Reeps merely rolled her eyes in exasperation, this tiger was definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, this was a downright unfair fight in many aspects, and she had merely gone in for self defense. Bluejay definitely showed him as he started flying in and ripping chunks out of the animal’s body, fur flying everywhere. Reechi’s ears plopped backwards onto her head, and her body regained normal functioning. Kirk finally let go of Saga at Bluejay’s… insistence… and Reeperchi quickly made her way over to him to check to make sure he was okay. However, Aya beat her to it, and she quickly withdrew.

She turned back to watch the two fight for a few moments, for that was as long as it lasted, before Kirk ended it as he had before. Reechi slunk off away from the group, figuring she could go ‘explore’ the enclosure further away from the special abilities area, and find a nice shrub to hide under until she felt ready to come out. The day had pretty much caught up with her, and she would rather get away from all of the people for as long as she possibly could.

She darted carefully under hooves and paws, shoes and claws, talons and snatchers, pausing constantly before moving again. Eventually the distance between souls and herself grew drastically, and she relished the feeling of untouched grass beneath her paws and in between her toes. She glanced around before finding a suitable shrubbery, and crawled into it with wide eyes. She settled down, beginning to preen and dab away at the blood. She’d locate Angel later, for now she was more interested in what she was doing.



She grinned up at Derek, her eyes wide and bright as he gave her that soft almost awkward compliment. May’s eyes soon widened as he finally released the arrow, and it stuck right into the bulls-eye, and she clapped lightly for him, a stupid smile on her face. “Nice shot.” Her tone was enthusiastic, and she turned to look at the others, to see what they had been up to in those few moments she had left them with.

Drew flashed her a quick, sarcastic comment, and she stifled a laugh, ”So he isn’t as awkward as we thought, Pip.” The Jackalope merely grinned, his back legs tensing and ready to zip off to the companion’s area. However, Derek made it clear he would not be joining them, and Macari swiveled around on one foot with a large pout, “Aww, come on, you know you want to! You can train laterrr~” A soft whine escaped her lips, and she gave him large puppy dog eyes. “Pah.” She waved him off, returning to Drew and JJ, ” I g-guess I should g-go to found out more about phhhooka's." Minxy clapped her hands together excitedly, glad someone was at least willing to go with her. She patted him on the back a little hard, “That’s the spirit!”

"I'd love to accompany you actually.” JJ then confirmed he would be coming as well, and she laughed with excitement, it was great to have some people she’d befriended already, or at least one of the two she knew was her friend. “Groovy.” She stuck her tongue out with a grin, and Pippin groaned at the expression before giving chattery laughter at his companion, he actually really liked the word now that he thought about it. He’d definitely be using it a lot. JJ then introduced his companion, the phoenix, and she covered another grin as the bird puffed out with pride.

"Well then, I guess we are off then!" A mischievous look flickered across May’s features, and she was about to dart of with, “Race ya,” before she noticed JJ’s attention was elsewhere. Three girls to be exact, and they seemed to faun over him for some reason. A sheepish look took residence on her facials, and she laughed a little good naturedly. “Well, guess JJ’s busy.” She spoke to Drew, and then half smirked half beamed, and poked his shoulder. “Betcha Pip and I can beat you there~” And with that, she practically dragged him to his feet and forward just a bit before letting go with a laugh and darting off with Pippin in tow.

By the time JJ had apologized, she was already off and running, dodging a few people who were switching areas, and Pip weaved between legs, tending to trip someone on an off occasion. But their progress was swift, and Macari and Pip sauntered over to the special abilities area, suddenly turning around to announce a successful win, “Be-“ however, she didn’t get far, as her eyes suddenly locked onto a small form trapped under a large tiger, and the tiger appeared to be keen on strangling the stranger. Her eyes widened, and all play left from her form. The tiger quickly left the figure as something small and blue whirled around it.

Suddenly, a small Asian girl was at the figure’s side, quickly wrapping her arms around the person, before frantically getting up and leaving at a run. She caught just the last bit of broken ribs. May looked down at Pippin worriedly, before quickly jogging over.

As soon as she reached him, she knelt down on the grass and leaned over his head, large eyes peering down at him. As soon as she got a good view of him, she inhaled somewhat sharply before blinking and looking away for just a second. Minx then turned back to him and gave a really tentative, small smile, “Hey, guy, you look like you’ve seen better.” She joked carefully, trying to make light of the situation, but not be insensitive. She then turned to Pip, and poked the little Jackalope on the forehead. “Hey Pip, think you can work your magic on him?” Pippin tilted his head, looking at the male with worry himself. “I can try, but the best I’d be able to do was dull the pain until he actually gets some medical assistance.” She bit her lower lip, glancing over her companion before giving a quick nod.

May turned back to the guy, and gave him a reassuring smile. “You’ll be fine.” Pip quickly hopped over, the dull, warm light returning to his antlers. He carefully poked the tips of them into the boy’s side in attempts to dull the pain. ”I sure hope this works.” He thought silently at his Ryder.

Derek couldn't have been more than happy when the people left him. Actually, he was ecstatic! The voices grew dimmer, footsteps went farther, he was in complete, beautiful, and utter silence. He ran a hand through his hair and spent a couple more minutes there, shooting arrow after arrow. Pain started to build within every fiber and particle of his body that felt like bubbles through his blood boiling to the point of insanity. He couldn't ignore it. Falling to one knee, he tried to keep himself from falling by gripping onto the side table holding the arrows. His hand slipped, and the bow dropped to the ground on its side along with the arrows flying into the air and scattering onto the ground. He groaned, falling onto his other knee and biting his lip. What was happening!?

The physical pain slowly slipped away, becoming mere stings but the mentality of it still plagued Dereks mind. Pictures of the invasion sped through his mind, the desire to touch and when touched the warmth of his skin turning cold in absence. He was Shaking. Wishing, Wanting to hold what he had lost as his tears were soaked up by auburn wavy hair in the images. He had been groveling. Begging. Pleading for answers as to Why him?....why...Deathly Hallows!? The heat of his mothers-

fathers-

friends-

skin left only in memory. It is the kind of loss that could make a person scream. He had lost everything. It was then that there was not a moment he ignored. Not a moment when he had wished to be happy. Not a moment did he feel safe or loved. Not a moment did he feel. He shut his eyes tightly. Attempting futilely to forget the pain, to only think of the future. But-

But-

The pain is crushing. Bending. The hurt doesn't go away! He sucked in a deep breathe and clenched the grass with a fist. His right hand was shaking.

”Deeeeeerek” a voice smooth as water cut through the chaos of noise in his head and the peoples chatter around him. Go away. Go away. Go away! ”Derek, are you alright? Maybe you should rest?” the voice asked, he felt a small hand rest on his shoulder and he bit into his lip so hard that the skin cracked and it began to bleed. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! ”Come on Der-”

”Shut up!” he hissed lowly, swinging around and slapping the hand away only to look up and see no one there. He felt no hand, just air. He heard no voice. Saw no face. His breathing had grown heavy, his chest lifting up and down in uncontrolled breathes. He exhaled loudly and got to his feat, breaking through the crowds and making a straight bee-line to his dormroom.

After they got Saga to the medical chamber to get better, Draconem had decided it was enough. This was suppose to be training, no one was suppose to get hurt like this. But, what can he do now? They only thing he could do was use his magical powers to ease the pain of all the students who got hurt during training and heal faster. Draconem seems like such a saint, don't he?

After this, is was time to begin to plan the feast! Draconem had planned to have a feast for all the students after a day or two of being at the school so that they may meet their roommates and become better acquainted with their companions. After a while of preparing, it's finally ready. The grand hall is big enough for Draconem to fit in and curl up at the end behind where the teachers and such will be sitting at a long table facing the tables where the students will be sitting. The tables are long and decked out with a red and gold stitched table cloth that brings out the gold in the bricks of the floor. The bricks of the wall are a devein mix of red and gold with large red and gold stitched drapes that go all the way up to the ceiling that is a glass paneling with a black rim that lets in natural light. Yet, every three feet down the long tables is a magical golden candle that lets off a brilliant blue flame.

Set out on the tables is all kinds of food. There's the normal food in which humans usually eat as they are easy to get for humans. There's turkey, chicken, fish, wheat bread loafs, tomato soup, red and green apples, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, white cake, and the list goes on. But there is also the food that other beings, less likely humans, would it. Like for the dragons there's coal, lava rocks, flying fish, and fireflies (literally fireflies) and then the various human foods. For the fairies there sweet honey, cookie crumbs, sweet jam, nectar, and pieces of the various human foods that can be pinched off of. For the unicorns there's golden apples, golden carrots, orange long carrots, and then the various human foods. And then it goes on to magical apples that are a purple color and can change a humans appearance to a random companion. Draconem put this out there to see how many students wouldn't know what it was and eat it. The effects wouldn't last that long. Only a couple hours or so.

On top of all of this, Draconem also had a friend, Aquarius, and his minions to bring the beautiful northern lights or Cree into the grand hall of Ryders Academy. So, now our scene is set and ready with red and gold walls, floors, and tables. Glowing blue golden candles. Tables decked out with all kinds of food. And now with the open sunlight coming from the windows on the ceiling and the northern lights being right inside, only made brighter and more pink by the light coming in. It was perfect. All that was missing was music. Some kind of music. He got all the little elves together and put them in a little group off to the side of the grand hall, their whole tiny little orchestra. Not only were they tiny to him, but they would've been tiny to humans too. Yes, they were about as tall as a fairy, usually an inch or two taller, but still around the same height. And there was a great amount of them so that their music could fill the whole room, which it did, with the help of Draconem putting an enchantment on them to make them louder. At Draconems go, they will play.

After a moment of looking everything over, he called for the students to come. Once all the students were outside of the grand big door to the grand hall, Draconem opened the door and nodded to the elves, signaling they to play. As the first Ryder stepped foot in the door, 6th Symphony Pastoral started playing from the elves and filled the room brilliantly. "Please, come in and take a seat wherever you like." Draconem said with a smile to the students and watched as they all filed in the room. Once they were all seated, Draconem perched behind the teachers table were a few Pegasus, Degore, and a few Phooka. "Let the feast, begin!" Draconems voice rang out over the grand hall and the students began to eat and talk as the music continued to play. "Oh yeah! Food!" Jay yelled in excitement and grabbed a chicken leg and began eating, Slayer did the same with a small "Yay!" and grabbed a turkey leg. Ash rolled her eyes at her cousin and grabbed a red apple.

All was quiet in Derek Thorns room, even with all the bustling about in the hallway for the feast it was peaceful in his quarters. The lights were turned off, sunlight peeking in through the shades of the window that looked out onto the enclosure. Bags were under his eyes and they appeared a bit red, he hadn't slept in about a week. He closed his eyes, he was scared. Soon his body wouldn't be able to go on without much sleep like this and he would be forced to see nightmare after nightmare. He gulped, trying to enjoy the peace. Smooth breathing, hands behind his head, gentle breathes. Unexpectedly, he fell into a light sleep.

Then they came, the whispered words screaming like a million birds. Voices calling in his head.
They are taunting. They want him dead. He winced and rolled onto his side, trying to ignore it. It was a sweet calling, always that femanine voice. The one person he was always weak to calling out to him again and again. Inside his head, demons crawl.

"You cannot escape, you cannot run!
We all know what you have done!"

"We all know you like to be alone!
Let us take over and we'll be a clone!"

"You know how to get rid of me.
Maybe I'll just stay for an eternity."

Quiet, quiet! They are not real! They are not real! His breathing began to quicken, his jaw clenching shut tightly. Sweat began to trickle down his bare chest, he was near hyperventilating. Shut up! Shut up! He felt cold hands run down his arms.

”Derek...” it spoke gently. He shot up out of bed, panting heavily already in a sweat. He looked around the room, looking for her.

”No ones here. Relax.” Kirk purred lowly, getting up to his feet and jumping onto Dereks back, laying beside him. ”She's not here.” Derek covered half of his face with a hand. When would the ghosts finally leave him alone?

Macari sat on the end of her bed, holding two dresses out in front of her. Pippin was splayed on his side, looking up at her from the floor with the same look of concentration she had. “Let’s go with that one, I can even wear a matching bowtie!” He pointed up at the dress with a high collar and no sleeves. It was a splatter of blues with a large silver band at the stomach to separate the colors, and it was knee high in the front and came down to her mid thighs. May nodded in agreement, a cheerful smile to her face. The event Draconem had planned for them sounded really exciting, plus it would be good to see those she had met once more. ’Speaking of which….’ She mused lightly, a happy look to her face, and mischief reflected the same way on Pip’s. Macari had no roommate as of yet, and she didn’t entirely expect to be getting one any time soon, either.

Rubbing down the bottom of her dress, Macari smiled confidently, and Pippin stood beside her with a white collar that had a little blue bowtie connected to the front of it. No makeup adorned her face, and she had simple Converse sneakers on. “Well, let’s go find our two person entourage.” And off the pair went, down the corridors of the girl’s wing until they popped out into the room where the two genders split. With a wry grin, May glanced down at Pippin and suddenly darted ahead, forcing her Companion to chase after her.

The two suddenly came to a stop in front of one of the doors, and Minx rapped lightly on it. After a few seconds of waiting, she pressed her ear against the door listening to see if he was even there. It could certainly be a possibility, and May scolded herself for not considering it. However the door suddenly opened and she wobbled forward a bit from the absence of solidity. Luckily, she regained her balance before falling straight onto Derek. She closed her eyes as she tilted her head up to smile at him, “There you-“ As she opened her eyes, her sentence sort of derailed and trailed off into a mumble slash babble. Why did he have no shirt on!? Furthermore why did he have so many muscles!? Her eyes kinda just remained glued there for a few more moments before she coughed awkwardly and broke her daze as he spoke.


”What?” The grouchiness in his tone only made Macari cross her arms with a firm grin, and Pippin sat by her shoe with a small yawn. “What are you doing?? There’s a feast going on and you and I are missing out on it right now! Go get dressed, and do it quickly you ninny.” She stuck her tongue out fractionally in a playful gesture. Pippin looked past Derek’s leg as a dark form emerged from the shadows of his room. It was none other than Kirk, and Pip made a small cough in his direction. Once he had discovered Derek had been the Ryder, Pippin made only short quips at the male, but otherwise remained silent after what Macari had told him. ~’People deal with things differently, and it’s obvious that the two were paired together for a reason.’~
Minx herself had been a little shaken up at the revelation, but had otherwise shrugged it off with a sheepish grin. “Off ya go.” Her eyes looked up into his pleadingly, and the darkness from his room only made her pupils larger as she made a puppy dog face.


May snickered as Kirk sealed the deal, and as Derek turned she did the fastest thumbs up she could as the door slammed right in front of her. She rocked back and forth on her heels, a happy smile on her face as she waited for him. As the door opened once more, her eyes jumped expectantly at the color before her. A tiny smirk wiggled onto one corner of her lips, and she was tempted to speak aloud, but refrained from pushing him too far. ’We seem to match a bit, huh?’ Pippin looked up at her with a smirking grin, and nodded his agreement.

Minxy watched as Kirk padded off ahead of them; she kinda owed the tiger for talking Derek into this, but eh, the cat probably wouldn’t care anyway. “Shall we?” She offered her arm with an excited, though grateful, look.

Kirks ears flipped up at the sound of two figures nearing and knocking at the door. Both of the males exchanged glances of distaste. Kirk laid his head back down on his paws and swatted Dereks side with his tail.' Whatever, dealing with real people was far better than the imaginary ones,' he thought. He got to his feet and dragged them across the floor to the door, scratching the back of his head. His hair had had been cut shorter and stubs were coming out to form a beard. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob and opened it, not caring that he was only wearing grey sweatpants. His body was built like a Greek God, blonde hair grown on his chest. Hours of training screamed from every inch of his body, his arms, shoulders, back, all of it was muscle and defined to what was considered perfection. He was one of the few guys at the Academy who came prepared and looked good with it, not becoming too over-built or fat in muscle to where it would slow him down. Looking down at the young brunette in a dark blue dress with a silver band across her waist, he narrowed his eyes at her lazily.

”What?” No attempt was made to hide his grouchiness and slight annoyance in his voice. Macari crossed her arms with a firm grin, and Pippin sat by her shoe with a small yawn.

“What are you doing?? There’s a feast going on and you and I are missing out on it right now! Go get dressed, and do it quickly you ninny.”” She stuck her tongue out fractionally in a playful gesture. His eyebrows scrunched up.

”Ninny? Wha- I'm not going to that stupid feast.” He complained.

”Why not just go? You have nothing better to do.” Kirk stretched, propping his butt up into the air and then arching his back with skill on his Ryders bed. His blankets and sheets became wrinkled and scrunched up in strange ways.

”I could train.” Derek noted.

”You're far too tired for that. Stop acting like you have a stick up your ass and go, look at her damn eyes.” Kirk gestured to her with a tip of his head, easing his way to Dereks side and taking no note to Pippin. Actually, Kirk ignored him. ”Do you SEE those eyes?” Derek stared down at her, frowning slightly yet managing to look sexy while doing it. He placed his other hand on the door-frame, holding himself up and causing his muscles to protrude.

”Yes. They are disgusting....Oh..Oh God. Stop. Just stop. Alright, alright. I'll go.” he growled and slammed the door in her face in one smooth motion and rummaged through his clothes for something to wear. He didn't care that much about the feast so he grabbed some simple, every-day wear attire. He grabbed grey jeans and dark blue shoes along with a long-sleeved navy blue shirt. He put them all on rather quickly, the buttons slightly undone at the top so he wouldn't be too hot and opened the door once again. Behind him, although no one else could see it, was a transparent woman resting her hands on his shoulders. She had long wavy blonde hair and big blue eyes, she was wearing a long white skirt with a brown top and flats. She hovered over the ground. ”Alright, let's go.” he sighed tiredly and closed the door after Kirk came out and went off ahead of them.

”Have fun, Derek.” her voice was like sugar to Dereks ears, beckoning him to death. A part of him was actually grateful AND happy Macari had come to bug him. Any longer locked up in that room and he might go insane.



“Shall we?” She offered her arm with an excited, though grateful, look. He looked down at her from the corner of her eye, a faint, just barely there smile appearing on his face. He locked his arm around hers and lead her down the hallway to the feast without another word.

Upon entering the area the feast was held, Derek thought he would go blind. He had been stuck in that room since day one of training and hadn't left it till now. He still worked out, still kept his body in shape but he couldn't handle going out and risking talking to the ghosts with people around. He didn't want anyone to know about his...illnesses. He took more than 20 pills a day, 7 types of different medications to target all his issues. Being in a war zone really messed with a mans mind. Tag that along with watching his friends and family die and being put into what is like a concentration camp/camp to make the people you conquer your warriors..if you didn't come out twisted or with some funky trauma than you never came out at all. Anyone who escaped that without illness, could only escape it through death. He covered his eyes for a short while before he got used to it and ran his hand down to his stomach. It growled lightly.

”Choose where you want to sit, I don't care. As long as I can eat.” Kirk meowed in agreement.