Shinku was sitting on one of the benches that was under one of the Sakura trees and in front of the school. She had a book in her hands but in the book was a wilted rose. She held one of her hands over the rose and watched as it slowly came back to life. Shinku sighed then picked up the rose and looked at it for a while then set it down on the bench next to her. She looked back over at her book and then started reading again.

"Have you got all your clothes packed?"

"Yeah."

"What about your books?"

"Got 'em."

"And your phone? Remember, if you need to call me for any reason, feel free to--"

"Alright, I've got it."

"...You're sure you want to go through with this?"

"I'm sure. It's the only way. If I don't do this, I might..."

"I know. I'm just going to miss you."

"...I'll miss you too. But I'll be back soon, I promise."

"You'd better be. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom."

****

Those were the last words they'd said to each other before Finch left for his new life. One as something... Less than human. Now he stood before the gates of Canese University. It looked like any other upper-class boarding school, really, but this place was very different. This wasn't a school for rich kids or smart kids or kids with criminal records. It was a school for freaks. 

Just like him.

The teen sighed, pulling his hood over his head as he pushed the gates open. His main goal was to be as invisible as in-humanly possible as he lugged his suitcase through campus and tried to find his dorm. Even of that didn't work, maybe it'd at least let people know that he wasn't interested in socializing. All he wanted was to make his stay at this sideshow of a school as brief as possible.

Igneous stopped and stood at the gate , another kid was their but he payed no attention to him. He pulled his leathery wings in tight against his back and pushed open the gate carrying his backpack and suite case. The school looked new , and it also looked like it would belong to a group of rich stuck-up kids. But no , the school was for freakshows and monsters. Like me , he thought to himself as he began to walk closer to the school. He hoped no one would give him trouble , but if so he had horns carved around his head like that of a rams , Large leathery wings with spikes at the end , and underneath his clothes he had hand-made armor so nothing could benitrate his skin. He smiled to himself.
"This will be fun."

[He be singin' this and with that same voice.]

Time is everything to a cook, yet nothing to Morwen. He will defy time, the elements and the gods themselves to perfect every single meal he has to offer to the students. For you see, he's simply the culinary professor and often chef at the university. Nothing prestigious. No high rank, not even enough power to boss around common staff. Oh but Morwen is a happy fellow. For he knows that he can manipulate the staff, or simply choose not to. It's up to him to offer all the proper nutrients should anyone need them. While such balance is often or not in his webbed hands the siren has never found reason to deplete the students of anything. He's been with this school for only a year. Surely they have no problem with his cooking, he's still here isn't he? Yes. Just the simple, humble head cook.

"Inside this fantasy, it seems so real to me...synthetic ecstasy when her legs are open. True life behind a wall...where men and angels fall, a fading memory when my mind is frozen." his melodious voice, currently set into a soft masculine tone, peels through the galley. It rouses his underling cooks to move as one with their current tasks. Bodies swaying, limbs rolling, very much like the waves of the sea as their head cook sings, "I can see a frozen point in time, where her figure still awaits. Tongue of fire tracing lips outline where frozen breath originates...with one motion of her wanting eyes she strips everything away...this one moment is intensified and the colors all fade to grey!" Morwen's own sublime figure is swaying, donned in the usual skin tight leather outfit. Only today he's accented with a red cowl which also decorates his hair, weaving it behind himself and dotting it with pearls. Dangling from his finned ears is a pair of lovely earrings. Each pearl adorning his pale, lean body is a product of his own. Simply because he wants to wear nothing but the best. Along with everything else is a favored shell pendant resting against his collarbone. Stirring the pot to be sure a fiber stuffed breakfast runs smoothly, Morwen adds a dash of cocoa powder to make the rich oatmeal just a bit more sweeter. Plus the sugar will give the students a boost, while it's fiber will stave off hunger until around lunch time. With a white body apron around his supple self the male is sure his counters are clean and cleared. Cleanliness is next to godliness.

"I am in the only place that I want to be...though we know that it ends eventually, but it's alright because right now we're frozen...I want to forget mistakes they've helped me make. It's better to be broken than to break." seizing a nearby cook he dances with the girl. Aside from having a sultry voice, Morwen's thick siren blood will exude an amaranth of charm from his body. It's his silent serenade to swing and dip his hips, arching gracefully as the female swoons in his arms, but gets right back to work once he ceases contact, thus breaking his lurid hold on her. He's certain students will want their meals before class. As it were today is not one of his days to be teaching so he's happy just to be in the kitchen, waiting.

~~~

As the sea lurches and rolls her thick, ample body she stares with a wide eye at the splash of a man with a rope around himself shattering through the surface. This is what she and the other predators have been waiting for. Now to claim the prize. Not only is the sailor going to be terrified of the storm, he will also have the amplified stress of stone hearted monsters fighting for his flesh and life's wine; blood. Morgan can never forget the taste of blood in the water. Then again she's all for blood play. How erotic, exquisite, is it, to entrust someone with the very thing that supports your function and prolonging years? Vice versa implied. Which is why she lashes her muscular tail out to stun a nearby shark, four others go towards the man. The prospect of a free meal is all but too great out in the sea. Morgan clucks her gills in warning, adding on a horrifying screech underwater that freezes the sharks. They drift down a few meters as the siren-mermaid lashes her tail, inky hair coiling behind her as she darts forth, a barracuda, towards the doomed sailor.

What she takes note of first is the rope around him. This won't do at all. Morgan's eye becomes akin to a glass doll's; lifeless, without spirit. Rows of mangled teeth protrude from her mouth as her jaw extends and broadens a few inches. Using a shark's mouth she saws at the rope. Certainly using her sword would be better, but biting it in half is much more fun and drastic. The sailor yelps underwater and flings to the surface, calling for help. Morgan circles him a few feet below his kicking legs. On her ermine white hands her nails harden into claws, elongating. Muscles contracting and tail scrunching for leverage, Morgan lashes her arms through the thick aqua to hook her claws into both achilles tendons. The sailor's scream is cut short as he forever disappears from the surface, never to reach air again or The Dancing Widow.

Licking the shredded sinews from her hands and teeth the monstrosity swirls merrily far below the ship, avoiding the storm further. What little is left of the sailor is being torn up by the local sharks in the depths. Morgan can easily devour five full grown men on her lonesome. That first sailor was just an appetizer.

The memory encouraged her to dance through a song playing in her dance studio. Gluttony isn't uncommon in any living creature or monster for that matter. Merfolk have always been gifted with bottomless bellies, or at least the breed of merfolk Morgan's mother was. She only knows of one other with the same insatiable traits such as her own. Her twin, Morwen. Perhaps she'll go down to the kitchen for a snack. In her black leotard she changed out of it in the dressing room, instead pulling on a pair of black slacks with a open shoulder top. Morgan of course refuses to wear shoes, it'd upset her webbed toes and sensitive calf fins. Stepping out of her studio on the third level of the building she glances out of a window, seeing a new student plodding along, trudging to his death. What a glum little puppy. She can smell that lupine musk clear from the open window she peers from. Also seeing a girl down in the courtyard on a bench she hopes the two will speak, perhaps the girl could speak with the boy. For now Morgan watches the pups down below.

Amarante stared out the window as her brother Adrien, who was driving the shiny black car that probably made teenage boys drool, attempted to engage her in conversation. "Look, Amarante, I know you didn't want to switch schools, but-"

"Adrien, its fine."

"I just couldn't let them treat you like that. I didn't mean to-"

"Really, I don't care. Its just school." They sat in silence for a few long minutes, until she finally gave in. Adrien had always been her closest family member, and he made no secret that she was his favorite, as well. "I'm actually kind of glad, Adrien. It will be easier at a school where everyone's like me." He looked at her in suprise.

"We aren't that different from humans, Amarante." She glanced at him, and he shrugged. "Sure, we live pretty much forever, we've got 'wicked cool' powers, and they think we don't exist, but...other than that, its the same." She shook her head.

"No, its not. They act differently, speak differently, and I'm pretty sure some of them think differently too. But maybe here I'll actually be able to look at people without them flinching or being uncomfortable." Her golden eyes had been the source of constant teasing at her old school, and the reason she finally left. As they neared the school silence filled the car again. When they stopped in the parking lot, Adrien faced her again.

"Look at me, Amarante." When she reluctantly met his eyes, he reached over and pushed her hair away from her face. "I really am sorry. I know you don't care, but...I want you to have fun here. If it doesn't work out, I'll come get you.

"Adrien, I'll be fine. Can we please just go?" He sighed.

"Do you need help carrying your stuff?"

"No, I'll be fine." With that, she grabbed her backpack and suitcase from the trunk and headed towards the building, pausing for a breif second outside of the gates to shake her hair back into place so that her eyes were barely visible. Glancing at the others, she slipped silently through the gates, dragging the huge suitcase behind her.

Finch gave the guy beside him a skeptical look, though he was a bit distracted by the huge, leathery black wings on the other student's back. "Yeah, real fun," the blond murmured sarcastically, occupying himself with the schedule in his hands. Now if only they'd sent him a map along with all those other random papers, then maybe he could figure out where he was supposed to go. The teen had never been good with directions, but he was simply too stubborn to ask anyone for help. As said before, the goal was to learn to control his shifts and get out of her ASAP. That meant doing well in his classes, staying out of trouble, and NOT getting attached to this place or the people in it. He'd just have to depend on himself to figure out where his dorm was.

...And why did he smell salt water?

Blinking, he sniffed the air again, making sure he wasn't hallucinating or anything. But, sure enough, there was something on the breeze that reminded him of the beach, even if he'd only been to one three or four times. It took a moment for the blonde to pinpoint the smell; standing at the open window a few stories above was a woman, not very old looking but certainly not young enough to be a student. A teacher, maybe? Terrific. "Who knew the Little Mermaid was part of the staff here," Finch joked bitterly to himself, adjusting his hood and trying to ignore her gaze. He did NOT like being stared at, or being looked down on in any way, for that matter. He already felt like enough of a freak, thanks very much.

Glancing around absently, he took note of two other students on the grounds: both girls, one reading on a bench while the other was just entering. Both seemed actually...comfortable here, more so than he felt, anyway. At the back of his mind, the werewolf knew he should at least try to make the best of this situation. But no. This wasn't his world. His dad's world, maybe, but not his. And he certainly didn't intend to let it become his world.

Ignitus rolled his eyes at the boy and shook his head , he pulled out the schedule and read over it. He pit it away and walked in. He walked over to a tree and sat down , he looked up at the sky and closed his eyes for a minute. He reopened his eyes to look around , now's not the time to sleep he told himself. He took note of the people around him and the scenery , before to long he pulled out a book that his friend gave him.

"Who knew the Little Mermaid was part of the staff here?" Amarante paused upon hearing that, and turned, staring at him for a good ten seconds, noting his trense shoulders and almost imperceptible fidgits, while making sure to avoid direct eye contact-it was hard to shake that habit. He was clearly nervous, but she said nothing and turned back to dragging the heavy suitcase over the pavement. She glanced around, looking for anyone to tell her what to do, or some sign of what she was supposed to be doing. Several other students were just sitting and doing nothing. She thought about asking one of them, but decided against it. She pulled out the neatly folded schedule and glanced at it again- by now she almost had it memorized-then looked up at the sun to judge the time, a skill that most elves had. Seeing that she was early, she settled down onto an empty bench, and watched the others from beneath her hair.

Thalia hadn't really been very talkative on the ride there, yet her parents just sat there talking to her about how many friends she would make and how nice the school would be, and how much easier it would be to be herself at the school. She hadn't really cared, sure, she had basically zero friends at her old school, but she liked being around humans, she'd never been around large groups of people like herself. What if they were all hostile? That would be her luck, going to school with psychos. But , she figured, since her parents wanted her to, she would humor them.

When she saw the gates of the school coming up she became a tad bit nervous, but she ignored that feeling and put on a smile, "so this is it? You're just going to leave me here? You guys are awesome parents. I love you so much." She said with heavy sarcasm while giving them the chessest smile she could come up with. She was so used to be around her parents, she was having a bit of trouble wrapping her mind around the thought of not having them with her, basically.

Her mother sighed, "it will be better here Tally, i promise." She smiled back at her daughter as her Thalia's father agreed with her, as he always seemed to do.

Thalia loosened her smile, so it wasn't so overly dramatic, but more natural. "Fine, i'll trust you guys." She meant that, and even though she wasn't sure how being around so many like herself would turn out, she still was hoping she could at least make one friend. She felt that it would break her from her parental attachment from all the years of only 'hanging out' with her parents, for the lack of friends that she always seemed to have no matter where she went.

She hopped out of the car, giving her parents some parting words as if she was going off to war and didn't know if she was going to come back alive, then grabbed her suitcase and walked through the gates. Her tail seemed to take on a mind of it's own as it swayed almost wildly with her steps.

Ignitus looked up from his book and looked at a girl with a tail , he smiled. guess im not the only one with wings and a tail. He didn't move from his spot , just sat and studied her. He looked at the lady at the window and rested his eyes back on the book , by this time her armor under his shirt was getting unconterable , he looked back at the girl and leaned back against the tree with a grin on his face.

Her lips begin to steep into a frown as her fascination with the students rapidly dwindle like water being scooped by spread fingers. They're just...standing around. Some are still arriving but what would any of them hope to achieve by doing nothing? It's maddening. Her eye blinked at the young werewolf glancing up at her. Morgan makes no other notion that she saw him looking up. Right now she must steer those lost little lambs. Rising from her perch on the windowsil she bounds down the steps, strong legs absorbing any shock from her feral glide. Thick tendrils of obsidian hair flare out behind her as she swiftly descends to meet the students.

Morgan opens the front double doors of the university and approaches the group of gaping young monsters. "Students, welcome to the University of Canese. I am Madame Kronos the music and dance professor here.", she pauses to register the students there. Demons mostly with that werewolf among other beings, "Lunch will be served shortly should any of you wish to feed. We accommodate all races here. First I shall be the one to escort you to your appointed dorms. Before I lead the rest of you, are there any questions?" her good eye scans the small cluster, hues of blue churning green and grey, changing to match the ocean. Normally the University Dean or a student of high year count would be giving the tour, but Morgan could see no one and being a woman of finality she is rather eager to get the students settled.

"Students, welcome to the University of Canese. I am Madame Kronos the music and dance professor here. Lunch will be served shortly should any of you wish to feed. We accommodate all races here. First I shall be the one to escort you to your appointed dorms. Before I lead the rest of you, are there any questions?" Amarante blinked in slight confusion. Dance classes? Looking at the woman more closely, she noted her eye, a mix of blues, greens, and grey. The other was covered by an eyepatch. She smiled slightly- she could already see that she was going to fit in a little better. Still, she shook her head so her eyes were obscured a bit more, and stood slowly, grabbing her bags. She didn't have anything she wanted to say, so she glanced back at the others, before directing her attention to Madame Kronos and shaking her head very slightly- no.

Thalia had pulled out her paper to look at it as she noticed the winged male by the tree from the corner of her eye. Wings, another person with wings, at least there was one person who had them so far, she felt she would have felt strange being the only one. She turned her attention to the woman as she came out. Her full attention was focused on her when she started speaking, she had no clue what else to do, and from what she could tell, neither did anyone else here thus far. When she mentioned lunch, she somewhat shrugged it off, she had been snacking on the way to the university, thus leaving her with only a mere underlining hunger, not enough for her to want to eat at the present moment in time. She had no questions for the professor really, she just wanted to get to her dorm so she could unpack her things.

"Oh, screw this," the blonde finally muttered, shoving the schedule into his pocket in resignation. There was no way in he'll he was going to be able to figure out where he was going. Besides, nome PCMCIA other students seemed to be in much of a hurry, so hey, why should he? Heaving a sigh, glanced around to see the guy with the wings lounging under a tree while both girls sat on the two benches that were facing each other. Finch wasn't all too keen on lying on the ground (call it a city-guy thing), which left only one other option: he was going to have to share a bench with one of the girls. 'Really, karma? You couldn't give me a break just this once?'

In the end, he flopped down next to the girl reading, just because that was the bench that had been closest. Taking a moment to roll his eyes as the other guy silently flirted with the winged girl who'd just arrived, Finch pulled his iPod out of his pocket and jammed the earbuds into his ears. He just so happened to glance up at the girl across from him, pausing for a moment when he saw her eyes. Definitely not the most common color. Then again, why was he talking? He was a freaking DOG for crying out loud! If this girl just had golden eyes, then he envied her. Shaking his head, the werewolf looked away and pulled his hood down a little further, hoping she hadn't spotted the scar over his eye while he'd been staring. God knew she'd have questions about that little detail.

Before he even had a chance to press play, though, the aquatic staff member who'd been watching him earlier was suddenly on ground level, welcoming them to the school. Finch was really only half listening, but the part about them having food to "accommodate all races" did stick out to him, They didn't expect him to eat raw meat, did they? Cause there was no way that was going to happen. He'd already figures out that while the beast in him would be more than happy, his human side could NOT stomach that.

When she asked if there were any questions, Finch reluctantly raised his hand, though he kept his head down. "Yeah, uh... do you have any maps of this place or something?" How else was he going to find his way around?

Fayette stumbled into the room just as Madame Kronos finished her speech "are there any questions?" Fayette silently reprimanded herself for being late yet again when a young man, who smelled suspiciously like wet dog, asked the teacher where a map was. Can't a dog use his nose to get around? Laughter bubbled from the girl next to her and she muttered a sorry hoping desperately that nobody else heard her. She really had not meant it as a rude remark, and she hoped that she was not already being labeled as a 'trouble maker'. Tucking her wings in Fayette turned into a black haired girl with blue eyes hoping to hide her embarrassment in an alternative disguise. One question riddled her mind...
I wonder who my roommate will be?

[Whoops just pointing out; WindOnFire, Morgan only has one eye. She wears an eyepatch over the other. And LaxMarie Morgan goes by Madame Kronos, not Madame Kare.]


Only of the students, the werewolf to be precise, voiced a question. And a good one at that. He obviously has a sense to want to be resourceful. "Yes, we do. I'll pass them out accordingly once we enter the first floor." she heard a girl laughing. Morgan seems to bristle, the fins along her forearms and calves unfurl. Laughing at another will not be tolerated with the mersiren around. Her ear fins fold against her skull as she clears her throat, neck gills fluttering as she does so. "Please follow me." pivoting on a graceful heel she drifts to the steps leading inside of the extensive building. Morgan leads the group inside and goes to the front desk. Stepping behind it she opens a drawer, pulling up a small stack of folded maps. She moves slowly in case any stragglers were still trying to join them as she begins to hand out the maps.

"You share a room with the same gender as yours, whichever one you were assigned at birth." hopefully none of these students are as gender confused as her twin brother. With luck the students won't correlate that she and Morwen are related. At all. She does love her brother but...he can simply be overwhelming. "Dorms are located on your maps but I'll lead you to them just this once. Afterwards you will rely on your map and your keen instinct." her eye sweeps them again before turning and walking up a flight of stairs. She points down a hall, "That is where all of the males shall be going. Choose what room you'd like and fight for who gets the best bed. Ladies", she motions to a hallway on the opposite end facing the males' dorm hall, "Your rooms are down that corridor." Morgan faces the group for a final time for now. "If any of you don't know your schedules I advise you find out quickly. Adieu." with that the mersiren turn and walked off with her long, glossy hair bouncing against her ankles.

Ignitus could see he had caught the girls' attention , he grabbed his things and stood up and walked over to her. "Hi." He said softly and tried for a smile , he backed up alittle and looked at her. He wasn't use to talking to girls so this was a bit new to him , so he tried his best to strike up a converstation. "I'm Igneous Vondrago."

(oops, sorry! I'll fix it!)

After being pointed down the hall, Amarante drifted slowly through it and opened a door at random. Glancing at the two beds, she placed her backpack on the one closer to the window. She left her suitcase at the foot of the bed, and walked to the window. Glancing back, she noticed that she'd left the door open. she shrugged, and turned back to open the window. She fingered the map and stuck it in her pocket with her schedule, taking a deep breath of the clean outdoors. She could hear faint voices from the hall, but she ignored them and instead focused on the faint birdsongs outside.

Thalia looked up at him and gave him a slight smile, she still wasn't the happiest camper about being here, but someone was talking to her, that was a plus. "Hello, i'm Thalia Vasques." She looked down the hallway that the professor had said was all the girls dorms then looked back at him, "what dorm are you going to be in?" She asked out of curiosity. She didn't really care what dorm she was in or which bed she got, as long as she wasn't on the floor she was fine.

Aidan touched down and folded his wings. "Escuse me ma'm? I'd like to register." He knew all eyes were on him now. He then gave her a smile. Hoping with all his heart she wouldn't be frightened.

Aidan flew from New York City when he had heard of the school.

Ignitus shrugged. "I don't really know for sure." He smiled and looked at his paper again. "Nice to meet you by the way Thalia." He really wanted to go to his dorm to take off his Armor. His face showed pain for it but he covered it up with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Ignitus," she threw him a smile, "i guess i should go unpack, i'll see you later then." She gave a wave before turning and heading down to a dorm room and walking inside. Nobody was inside yet, so she just picked a bed and started unpacking her things.

Finch wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow him up completely when he heard someone laugh right after he'd voiced his question. He scowled, chewing on his lip and trying his best to keep from showing that it'd bugged him. This was why he was a loner: not just because he was a monster, but because he just did NOT get along well with other people. Not even other freaks.

Luckily, it didn't seem Madame Kronos found his question to be that stupid.  "Yes, we do. I'll pass them out accordingly once we enter the first floor." The werewolf offered a small smile and a nod, glad that at least the teachers seemed nice enough. Not that he'd really gone out of his way to get to know the student body, but whatever. He had to wonder what she meant exactly by "the gender you were assigned by birth," though. In all honesty, he resolved not to think TOO hard on it. Some things were just better left unthought of.

The dorms seemed comfortable, easily able to fit two students each. But seeing as the only other male currently here had fallen behind (probably flirting with the winged girl from earlier), it looked like he was going to get a room to himself- oh, wait. Scratch that. Another guy student had just showed up. Maybe he'd be Finch's roommate. The teen shrugged, figuring it didn't really matter as he strode into one of the rooms and tossed his bags onto a bed. As long as they didn't bug him too much, he'd be fine rooming with anyone, really. Not like he intended to be best friends with them or anything.

Rex absent mindedly walked down the hallway his hands repeatedly shuffling a deck of Tarot cards. Pausing only to straighten his collar and bowtie. His crimson eyes quickly flashed across the hallway. A few people around though no one that looked like they’d make a good addition to the coven. He shrugged idly fixing his hat as he sat down, shadows flowing beneath him to form a bench. He put away the Tarot cards and took out a large leather bound book. Strange symbols were chiseled into its cover and studded with silver. He unclasped the lock and opened the book. Flipping through several pages of his spell book seeming more aimed at studying it then actually using its contents. He had a while this was a free period for him seeing he had been here long enough to finish most of the necessary classes well before he had to. So he took time to further study his own innate powers and prepare training regiments for his Coven.

When a large shadow glided over the ground outside, Amarante blinked in confusion. Then she remembered where she was- a school for monsters. She sighed. Adrien had meant all the best, but she hadn't ever thought of herself as a monster. Now she had to face it, but although she was among her peers- true peers, who must know what it was like to go through life knowing that you were different, that you weren't like anyone else-she still didn't feel any connection, any desire to socialize with them. Walking back to her luggage, she began to unpack slowly, forgetting that she had left the door open. I wonder if I'll have a roommate...