Macari May's Story

"Aya!" a voice all too familiar to her on such short notice called out to her. She never forgot a face, a voice and took pride in her photographic memory but in Rileys case...she would gladly make an exception. She clenched Esta's rough, obsidian mane and tried not to lose her breakfast. "Wait up!"

Go faster Esta! Faster! They picked up their pace but came to a stop when she noticed the Pegasus halt at his call. She glanced back at the Pegasus and her energy depleted. Noooo...Riley caught up to her quick. He was coming after her now. How did he even get here in the first place!? Did someone leave his cage open?

"Look, I know you don't like me and everything.” he paused.

Just drop dead already.

"B..b..but I want to help your brother out. Also, you looked undeniably frantic earlier, and I...I just feel the need to help you. And I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable before...." He looked down at the ground, not like Aya would notice. He saw her in such a state! How embarrassing! Now he knew she was weak, and what her weak point was. Was he aiming to-

he couldn't possibly-

he wouldn't dare-

”D-do what you want.” She snapped her head back to straight ahead and continued on, Pegasus, a random boy, and Plague 2 close behind. The crew made it to her brother rather quick and she hopped off her companion. Oh her glorious, perfect brother! She made her way over to his side and to her surprise, found someone else by his side. She narrowed her eyes. Who was she? And why was her brother displaying that expression on his face. She bent down and clenched his hand. ”This is him.” she noted to the Pegasus before turning her attention to the blushing brunette. ”Who are you?” she questioned a bit touchy.



Saga wrapped his hand over Ayas and grinned stupidly.

”That's May.” he said her name with ease and a certain softness, responding for Macari. ”Her and her Companion watched over me while you went for help. Her companion, Pippin dulled the pain.” He looked up at the Pegasus. ”Haha, so what are you going to do? Am I going to be out for a couple weeks?” Not like he wouldn't mind. Saga wasn't too fond of training in this death course from the beginning and being injured might give him an excuse to avoid his insecurity and fear for a bit longer. Man, he thought he had gotten past this. One minute he is all for this and excited, the next he is ready to get back into his bed and under the covers with his bass in hand.



”Oh...” her voice trailed off. When her eyes met her brother, they both knew. And her heart hurt. She stole a glance of Riley and clicked her tongue, turning away. He was still here. Just go. Disappear. Her hands grasp tightened around her brothers. This day truly sucks. What was he talking about, sorry? Feel the need to help? Lies! Those were all excuses, excuses disguising his true motive. Just like Yoyogi Hitomi. Hitomi.

"Sorry, did we ruin your project that you worked soooo hard on?" Hitomi cackled.

Stupid mocking, condescending tone. She bit her lower lip, fear gripping her heart strong. Was she going to have to face another year like before or even worse than last year? She noticed the concern in her brothers eyes as he gazed into hers.

”You alright?” he asked. She forced a smile and nodded.

”Haha, silly. You're the one who isn't alright.” she put the attention on him. He put his hand over her head and ruffled her hair.

”Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.” he reassured. She nodded cutely. She couldn't act this way in front of her brother right now, when he's the one in true pain.

May’s attention split as she shifted a bit, her legs beginning to feel uncomfortable underneath her. When she returned back to Takeshi, she flinched back a bit as he seemed to be analyzing her. It made her highly uneasy, and Pip immediately returned all of his attention to her and away from the tiger that was walking away from the scene. He glanced between the two, his ears twitching in thought. Macari had quickly detached herself from previous thoughts, rubbing the side of her head ever so lightly as she figured it wasn’t something she should bother herself with anyway.

”Aya, she's my little sister.” May looked back up at him and blinked before nodding. “Ah, I see. Makes sense.” Her comment was rather bland, but she grinned anyway. Pip’s large ears flicked backwards an inch, he didn’t like how this guy was making his Ryder feel negative emotions. ”Don't worry, she always knows what to do; she’s probably on the verge of tears right now,” Once more, the answer was received by a blink from Minx as she processed the information. ’So they both seem to rely on each other, then. That’s good, means they have a close relationship with one another.’

”So, May right? You're cute,” Both Pippin and Macari’s heads snapped towards him, Pippin with his mouth dropping open and his eyes knitting together in disbelief, and May with huge eyes, a wary countenance, and one eyebrow raised.

Want to hang out sometime? Once I can move around of course.” Pippin slapped a paw down on the ground silently, fury plainly written on his face before he concealed it better, lest his Ryder see. ’Woah woah woah, hold up holdupHoldUp. Is this guy hitting on my Ryder!? Who does this idiot think he is?!’ Pip clenched his jaw, tilting his chin up and keeping his eyes down on this Takeshi guy. ’Not happenin’ bud.’

“Ehhh?” Macari blurted out, completely confused. No one had ever, seriously never, been so blunt with her, furthermore when it comes to her physical appearance. Sure, she’d had a few guys compliment her before, but… this guy seemed to have no restraints on him. Her head sorta tilted to the side on its own, still in shock from that little social bomb. Her cheeks flushed, and she remained silent for a few seconds, trying to grab onto some words in order to respond to him… somehow.

She was interrupted though as a group of people and a Pegasus arrived on the scene. The girl she had seen before came up swiftly and grabbed Takeshi’s hand. May respectfully scooted backwards from the two, also a little glad to put some space between herself and Takeshi. The girl turned back to the Pegasus before informing him that the one who was injured was the boy on the ground. She suddenly looked up at May, ”Who are you?” Her tone seemed to be rather short and forced. It instinctively made Macari want to back up just a bit more, but she kept her ground. Opening her mouth to respond, May was beat to the chase as Takeshi seemed to answer for her with a foolish grin to his face at the sight of his sister. ”Well, it should seem he’s perfectly fine now.” Pippin commented, ready to turn and get going with their day, and get away from this guy. But unfortunately his Ryder remained where she was, ’Oh right, she still has to answer that uncouth question.’ He rolled his eyes and sat back on his haunches. Takeshi explained what had been going on, and at the mention of himself healing the boy, Pippin almost wished he hadn’t, and that’s where a mischievous little idea popped into his head.

The two then spoke reassuringly to each other, and May felt more and more out of place, and certainly felt like she was interrupting. “Er, maybe some other time, yeah? Pippin and I should really be going anyway….” She quickly rose to her feet, stooping down to pick Pip up and drape him over one of her shoulders before blinking once and turning around to walk off, removing herself from the situation. “Um, feel better then.” She waved with a slight sheepishness before truly departing.

However, as she was walking away, Pippin looked backwards, waiting for his Ryder to get out of earshot from the twins. As soon as he deemed it safe, his antlers began to glow a shadowy tone, and it seemed as if little droplets of pitch black dripped from the tips. With his job of removing the dulling, he rested his head against the crook of May’s neck, glaring backwards at the scene. ’Not happenin’.’

“Maymay, let’s go get some lunch, huh?” He pulled back and looked up at her excitedly, his tail wriggling this way and that.



The little blue dragon had remained rather silent, overwhelmed by the emotions and feelings darting between he and his Ryder, and when Aya got up to run to get help, he would have jumped to go help her do that, but then a strange girl appeared by their side. His eyes were focused more on her and the strange little creature beside her rather than on Takeshi, so he missed what had gone on between the two. When Takeshi’s pain was dulled so was his, and he could finally begin to deconstruct this situation properly. “Who are you? What kind of companion is that? Are you okay Takeshi, I tried really hard to get you out of that, did I do okay? I’m kind of hungry, are you hungry? When’s Aya getting back? What are you doing? Why are you not paying any attention to me?” However, he seemed to go unnoticed, which was actually okay with him for now, as long as Takeshi was okay. Bluejay was suddenly distracted by a grasshopper, and, with one more glance over his Ryder to assure he was indeed okay, he wandered away to go chase it.

He looked up though as soon as he heard a group of five coming back, and he could smell Aya, so he bounced back to Takeshi and this May girl. He grinned up at Aya, his tail wagging back and forth and slapping the ground happily. Takeshi took a moment to share a glance with Aya, and Bluejay tilted his head curiously. He shrugged though, and crawled next to Takeshi’s neck. "Who are those people with you Aya? What is that horsey thing?" He asked, looking at the Pegasus and the two boys.

”Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.” He watched the two again, then snapped his attention up towards May as she departed. Once they were pretty much out of sight he looked back at Saga. But suddenly, a searing pain returned around his stomach, and he let out a loud squeak of pain, wincing.

“それが痛い!” He slipped back into his native tongue from the shock. Saga sucked in a sharp breath as he laid his head back. Biting his lower lip and clenching his eyes shut. The snapping pain from his ribs rushed back into his nerves senses, shooting bolts of what felt like electricity through his veins. He placed one hand over his rib and clenched the grass with the other. What the hell was happening? Did Pippins ability wear off the farther the distance? He turned his head to the side, tapping the tips of his finger tips hurriedly against the ground. He concluded that it was highly plausible. Magic effects could wear off demanding on the distance and magical ability they had. He shouldn't have expected a perfect dulling spell. Pippin was just as new as all the other Companions.

“AAAAAH!” Bluejay and him yelled in agonizing unison. Aya whipped her head to the Pegasus.

Help him!” she exclaimed. The edge of Sagas mouth tipped up for a split second, he could hear his sisters inner heart speaking. Really she meant, what the hell are you doing!? Are you just going to stand there? Through half-lidded eyes he searched for Bluejay, finding the scale creature at his side withering in pain. He lifted the hand over his rib and spooned up the little guy into the tuck of his arm. He hated this. Honestly, he just wanted to sit back and sleep in his bed with BJ. Was fighting always going to be like this? How many broken bones would he acquire in training? In war? How would either of the two be able to continue if Bluejay was reckless and hurt himself severely. There would be no way for them to protect one another. Would he even survive school?

Maybe it would be possible to use some spells that could dull the pain. He let out a sharp groan. Aya death gripped his hand, hushing reassuring words to him. He could feel her sweat seep onto him.

“You only die once, right?” she forced a pained laugh. He needed to distract himself, think more about magic. Think how it doesn't hurt. He petted Bluejay with his index finger and forced himself to be strong. Magic. Protection. Lesson pain. He was sure Green Magic mainly focused on such things. What were some of the spells? Protect? Shell? How many times had his father tried to force that chapter of the Grimoire down his throat and he had flatly refused? What had he told jijii(Old man)? Right, he wouldn't need it. He'd kill them in the offense because defense was for weaklings. Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Well, guess what. Saga is a weakling, guess he better brush up on Green magic at his recovery.

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.

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.

May was very pleased when Derek decided to humor her and offer his arm. With a content grin, she wrapped her own arm lightly around his and followed after his lead. Pippin’s ears swayed just a bit as he watched Kirk disappear ahead of them, and let out a small sigh, it wasn’t worth his time to have negative feelings towards the tiger, plus it would put a damper on all the fun things he could do. He quickly hopped after May and Derek, nose wiggling as they neared the feasting hall.

As they entered through the large doors, May took a moment to pause in her step to take in all of the grandness of it. While she didn’t particularly appreciate the repeating colors, it was still pretty, and bright. Really bright. She felt Derek shift beside her and she turned to look at him as he covered his eyes. She smirked good naturedly before her attention returned to the décor. Draconem lay at the head of the hall along with a few of the teachers. Pippin was somewhat impressed, but having red and gold over and over and over again everywhere was extremely boring. He sat back on his haunches, looking this way and that.

May suddenly tilted her head in Derek’s direction as he spoke, ”Choose where you want to sit, I don't care. As long as I can eat.” With a shrug and a grin, May nodded and looked around the room in quest of a table. Once she had sighted one, she pointed over to it rather than drag Derek unceremoniously across the room. Once confirmed with him, Minx led their little party over to the vacant chairs. They faced away from the nearest window, and instead looked out across the hall at all the chatting souls. As she seated herself, Pippin leapt up into her lap after she had spread a napkin down. Odds were that he’d end up on the table anyway, so Macari wasn’t worried about having to work around his antlers.

“Oh, Borealis, May!” Pip suddenly chirped up from his spot, putting his front paws on the edge of the table as he pointed up towards the lights. Minxy’s eyes widened, and a smile spread across her lips. However a sudden pang ran through her, causing her to freeze momentarily as all joy left her features. It had seemed to go rather unnoticed, and she quickly recovered from whatever it was that had just happened. “Hardly as impressive as it should be!” She announced with a laugh, “The sunlight definitely puts a damper on the visibility, and the colors around us only add to the bright distraction.” Pippin looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a little half smile, “And when did we become so critical?” His tone was teasing, and May blushed ever so slightly while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “My brother lives up in Kelud, which is close to Barrowood where the lights dance at night, he’s told me of them, and sent me pictures as I haven’t seen him in a long, long time.”

Pip let out a laugh before shaking his head, “Fair enough. So when do we get to start eating?”May scratched her temple in thought for a few seconds before shrugging, “Food’s already out, so I guess whenever.” With an enthusiastic yell from Pippin, the two began to pick out the foods they would be feasting on. Pippin had chosen a variety of nuts and berries and vegetables, as was expected, and May had chosen a small portion of two meats, chicken and steak, as well as several different fruits and a few vegetables. Looking over what she had chosen, the pang returned to her consciousness and a lot stronger as well. Once again it forced her to freeze in place and her fingers clenched into her palms as she set her jaw.

She suddenly felt a soft little paw on her arm, poking and shaking it. “May… Maaay…. May??” With every calling of her name, Pip grew more and more unsettled before she suddenly shifted back fractionally and blinked at him a few times. “Hey, you alright?” She nodded, “Ah, I’m perfectly fine, just lost my appetite all of a sudden.” She reassured quickly with a sheepish tone to her voice. Pip frowned lightly, “If you’re sure. You still need to eat something.”

Minx poked around her food with a fork before lightly stabbing into some of the fruit and putting it into her mouth. Satisfied that his Ryder would now be fine, Pippin returned to munching on his greens.

“So, what’ve you been up to lately, Derek? I haven’t really seen you around.”

Not only was the light blinding, but the sounds. The chatter, mutters, murmurs, yelling, fighting..the inflections made his ears rings and voices whisper, 'get out, get out, get out. He ran his hand through his hair, leaving it there. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. With Mays nudge the ringing and voices stopped temporarily. Everything was clearer. She pointed to the table and when he nodded in response to give the OK she lead the small party over to the vacant seats. They faced away from the nearest window and after sitting down he glanced behind. Noting nothing suspicious outside the windows he turned back to May and fiddled with his wing pin clipped to his shirt.

I'll watch the window, just focus on May. Zone everything out. Kirk reassured in his own way.

I don't understand, why it's so bad today? I took my meds. he replied.

Last night, not this morning. Kirk corrected, a large breath of air exhaled from Dereks lungs in exasperation. Great.

“Oh, Borealis, May!” Pip chirped up from his spot, putting his front paws on the edge of the table as he pointed up towards the lights, snapping Derek out of his trance. May's eyes widened, and a smile spread across her lips. However, her attitude turned abruptly and she froze momentarily as all joy left her features, the strangest sight to Derek by far. She seemed to swiftly recover though, so Derek let it go. Sheesh, half of his moments, thoughts, or actions ever made sense. It gets the best of people.

“Hardly as impressive as it should be!” She announced with a laugh, “The sunlight definitely puts a damper on the visibility, and the colors around us only add to the bright distraction.” Derek raised his eyebrows, was this girl actually a real person? She wasn't Miss-Ray-of-Sunshine- all the doo-long-day? Pippin looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a little half smile.

“And when did we become so critical?” His tone was teasing, and May blushed ever so slightly while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Why was she?

I like it. he thought

“My brother lives up in Kelud, which is close to Barrowood where the lights dance at night, he’s told me of them, and sent me pictures as I haven’t seen him in a long, long time.” Pip let out a laugh before shaking his head.

“Fair enough. So when do we get to start eating?” May scratched her temple in thought for a few seconds before shrugging.

“Food’s already out, so I guess whenever.” With an enthusiastic yell from Pippin, the two(Pippin and May) began to pick out the foods they would be feasting on. On cue, Derek and Kirk did the same. Kirk leaned over the table knocking a few plates over and picked up a large fish with his fangs. He laid back down on the floor and dug in, licking his gums. Salmon~ Derek simply grabbed some chicken and apples, facing the voices again about his food and pushing the thoughts that there could possibly be poison in it and ate it anyway. The figures screamed behind him as if they were dying, wailing in pain and clawing at his back. It took every ounce of his sanity to hold on and not turn around with a bloody cry and rip them off of him. They are not there. He self-soothed himself. Ignore them.

Today is so hard, what would the rest of the year be like?

“May… Maaay…. May??” With every calling of her name, Derek kept coming back again and again to hear only their voices and see only their faces. “Hey, you alright?” She nodded.

“Ah, I’m perfectly fine, just lost my appetite all of a sudden.” She reassured quickly with a sheepish tone to her voice.

“If you’re sure. You still need to eat something.” Pip frowned lightly.

”Just eat.” he declared miffed.

Macari poked around her food with a fork before putting some fruit into her mouth. Pippin returned to munching on his greens. Macari was acting strange. Forget it, he's only known her for a day. This could be her usual-self.

“So, what’ve you been up to lately, Derek? I haven’t really seen you around.” she asked. How the hell was he suppose to answer that question?

Well, you could answer it honestly. 'I've been shut up in my room dealing with voices and hallucinations while thinking the world is out to get me. he mocked.

No one is allowed to know about this, Kirk. No response but a bored expression from the tiger looking away.

”Nothing much, how is training?” he decided to go with small talk and with a little more consideration added, ”Still with the two idiots?”

"Ooh, look at that candle. That's a nice candle. Ooh, look at that blue flame. That's a nice flame. Ooh, look at those lights in the sky. That's some nice lights." Jay went on and on about how nice everything was, and Slayer went along just as well, crossing his little arms and nodding his little head with his extremely huge eyeballs. Ash just rolled her eyes at the pair. It was bad enough she had to be at this place with him, but with him just bothering her like always, it was a hell. Not the type of hell Diablo came from with all the flames and the rock and the devils and all, but the type of hell where no matter what you do to get away from someone that annoys the hell out of you, they just wont leave you alone.

Though, it was Jay's idea to come here in the first place, and Ash being the one to tag along. But, that being said, she kind of brought it on herself. Sighing at the thought, Ash put her elbow on the table as she looked around. Everything was so big and elegit and everyone was wearing nice clothes, even herself in a little white dress that stopped an inch or two before her knees. Jay, on the other hand, was underdressed. He wasn't completely underdressed as he usually would be, but he was wearing skinny jeans and a tee-shirt with a navy blue blazer over it and sneakers. Slayer wasn't even wearing a thing while Liath wore a small bowtie around his neck.

Jay went on, saying how nice everything was. "Ooh, look at those people. Those are some lookin' people. Ooh, look at those unicorns....I hate unicorns." Jay said the last part forwarding his eyebrow as he glared at the unicorns that were around. He had a fear of black unicorns, but a hate of normal white ones. A shiver went down his back before he turned to Ash and started telling some random story. As he told this story, Slayer sneak off, ready to set a prank. A large smirk strangely made it's way across the small gargoyles face in a rather creepy way. He flew over and around people, poking their calves with his little claws, pulling their hair, pulling the tails of their companions, and even scratching the bellies of some of the people. All the while laughing in a little demon-child laugh that would scare the ba-jeeb-ious out of people.

He flew on over to where the little elves played and smiled down at them in a way that would tell a person he had an awfully bad plan coming up. Looking around, Slayers eyes narrowed and his smile faded as he thought of the plan at hand. Letting his mind work as he looked around, his brows forwarded and the chaotic smirk returned to his face as he knew what he was going to do. He flew all the way up to the ceiling where the long, long curtains were hanged. The chaotic smile on his face grew ever more larger. He ripped his claw out in a way that resembled that of Freddy Krueger ripping out his bladed hand. Slayer then sliced the curtain and it feel down in big heaps landing onto the elf orchestra, ultimately stopping the music that filled the large room and drawing the eyes of the students.

Ash and Jay were two of the many that looked over. Jay stood up on the chair he sat in and looked over the heads of the students. He could see Slayer hovering slightly above the incident laughing his gargoyle ass off. "Damnit, Slayer!" Jay muttered before jumping off the chair and running over to the incident, pushing people out of his way as he ran. Ultimately tripping over peoples feet who try to be 'cool' and trip him, though that doesn't work as he simply just jumps up and around everyone. Once making it over to where Slayer was and seeing the curtain dropped onto the elves, who were beginning to crawl out from under it. "Damnit, Slayer!" Jay repeated, a bit louder, as he jumped up and grabbed Slayer out of the air, holding him tightly as the little gargoyle complained as he tried to scrum out of Jay's grip. Ash had walked up and was standing by him with her arms crossed and shaking her head slightly. "You're such an idiot." She said, and Jay nodded at her in agreement.

At Derek’s added input about her appetite, though probably only based for his own benefit, she figured she might as well get a bit more sustenance than what she had chosen by then. She quietly picked out a piece of warm bread and slathered it with butter, and also nibbled a bit on the beef she had picked out.

”Nothing much, how is training?” At his response May smirked gently, “What, you mean to tell me you haven’t been out at the weights, or jogging your legs off, or cramming your brain with mumbo jumbo spells and whatnot? Just laying around all day instead being a potato?” She tapped her fork lightly against the plate she had before her as she looked at him, a playful, almost challenging look on her face. “Anywaay, training is good, but it is a little hard, I have to admit. I’m having trouble with magic, even though my companion is like made out of it.” She nudged Pip with her elbow, and he grinned brightly with no shame. ”Still with the two idiots?” She blinked a few times, in all honesty she had no idea where those two had disappeared. “Nope, haven’t seen them since the archery platform, to be honest. I’m sure I’ll see them around, especially since Loki seems to split crowds.” She grinned with a hint of humor to her eyes before her attention was suddenly snapped away to the front of the hall as a loud screech emanated from one of the violins as the music came to a scraping halt.

Her eyes widened with worry, hoping that the orchestra wasn’t injured, and searching for the cause of such an interruption. Her eyes fell upon the demonic little form of a stone creature laughing at everyone’s expense. An irritated look fell upon her features, she hated things that were like that, bullies, hardly pranksters. The little gargoyle obviously only had intent for evil, and it irked May. As the guy whom she assumed was the little monster’s companion, she eased back into her seat, happy that the stone would have some supervision again, as it was obvious from the guy’s staggering up towards him and yelling curses out at him he had not known that his companion would do that. Another relief was that the band was coming out from beneath the fallen curtain unscathed.

“What, you mean to tell me you haven’t been out at the weights, or jogging your legs off, or cramming your brain with mumbo jumbo spells and whatnot? Just laying around all day instead being a potato?” Dereks apathetic face cracked under the gentle pressure and tipped a smirk. May tapped her fork lightly against the plate she had before her as she looked at him, a playful, almost challenging look on her face. He simply raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Anywaay, training is good, but it is a little hard, I have to admit. I’m having trouble with magic, even though my companion is like made out of it.” She nudged Pip with her elbow, and he grinned brightly with no shame.

“It's not that hard, just numbers and imagination.” two things other than physical activity that he was good at. Numbers distracted him from reality and imagination was something that came to him as natural as breathing. He didn't do it on purpose, it was just him. It was just schizophrenia. She blinked a few times at his next question.

“Nope, haven’t seen them since the archery platform, to be honest. I’m sure I’ll see them around, especially since Loki seems to split crowds.” She grinned, he half-heartedly smirked. Loki was a big guy and probably, no, is more useful than Drew would ever be. Mays and everyone elses attention was suddenly snapped away to the front of the hall as a loud screech emanated from one of the violins as the music came to a scraping halt. While everyone else saw reality, the prank Slayer had done, Derek saw illusion. Flies crawled from behind his eyelids and his hand retracted to his face, palm digging deep into the lids. Screeching and aggregates of flies buzzing resounded, temples pumping. He could feel them crawling around in his brain. He gripped his hair and reached for the fork-

Kirk laid his massive paw on Dereks hand, his nails digging into his hand. Derek sucked in a breath and revoked his hand back, hiding it under the table. Kirk licked his paw, blood trickling down his nails. His Ryder snagged a couple of napkins while Macari wasn't looking and dabbed his hand under the table. When Macari had eased her way back into her seat, Derek looked like his usual self.

Thanks Kirk..

A one eyed Ryder is to cliché. Kirk bit into his nail with a light-hearted grin.