Monstrum, 666 Devil Road Transylvania

Kaen Phokus

---

Looking out at the assembly of students filing into the auditorium was boring and all too familiar for Kaen Phokus, as he would much rather be teaching his classes than waiting for the Headmaster to do his beginning of the year speech. There wasn't much he could do about it though so he made the best of it, sipping his tea and stroking the black cat on his shoulder named Goka. The black cat nearly blended in with his messy black hair, the only part of the cat able to be seen clearly being it's green eyes. As the speech started Kaen showed little interest as he tried to wake himself up from the nap he had just been taking in his classroom.

As the speech came to an end and the students began to either applaud, stare in horror or leave altogether Kaen turned on his heel and left to start his class. He made a stop at the office to pick up any memos or the like from his inbox and casually greeted students as he moved to unlock his classroom. He didn't seem to give a care who entered the room now, as it was first period and he had a class to begin. Combat Sparring was a rough class but luckily his classroom was only one of two rooms, the other having all the sparring equipment and mats they would need to make sure the training went well and no one got hurt too badly.

The first room was used for the academic portion of the class, outlining techniques and going over what set of workouts they were to do. Kaen was already in a basic black kimono which he wore almost all the time. Students didn't have to sign any wavers or buy any equipment for his class, but they were advised to bring their own separate clothes for the class. Kaen lounged in his chair behind his desk and leaned his head back in relaxation, his black cat crawling up to lay across his eyes and block his vision. If one wasn't careful they might think he was a Neko with a cat's face from the right angle.

Thomas sat inconspicuously in the sea of students utterly blending in with the intriguing shapes and colors of the various species of creatures there to attend. He appeared mostly human by comparison, with a small stature only a large pair of black cat ears evidence of his monstrosity. He hardly seemed monstrous regardless as he sat curled in his seat with his knees to his chest a gray cat nestled in his arms. The cat wasn't his. He hadn't even brought it from the last place he'd been staying. It had been wandering the school grounds playing among fallen leaves. After it had followed him through the halls during his tasks of confirming his arrival, turning in his luggage and consulting a map to find the auditorium itself Thomas thought it best to make sure no other student decided to eat it or something and held it during the Headmaster's speech.

Once the speech was over he went about searching for the first class he'd be attending. First class was sparring. Thomas was already regretting the choice as he made his way through the halls. He was not incredibly motivated to fight anyone. He would likely be the one to hide behind the stronger man in a group and shout insults at the enemy rather than fighting up front. Thomas sighed audibly at the prospect of dealing with fists flying at him and hugged the cat nestled in his arms his tail twitching agitatedly. He entered the classroom, giving off barely enough aura to be noticed as he slipped in and sat down towards the back closest to the wall. The gray cat mewled discontentedly and squirmed hopping out of Thomas's arms to escape the classroom without him, not comfortable with the idea of lingering in the other cat's territory. He was just a stray after all. Thomas let it leave without concern and slouched gloomily, sprawled across his desk looking far too comfortable there for the first day. His ears where level, mirroring his listlessness as he rest his chin on his arms crossed in front of him. The teacher seemed about as motivated as he was. Thomas peered at him, unimpressed until he noticed the cat taking ownership of his face in full view of the class. Thomas cocked his head slightly and watched the cat. Reading posture was like shaking a person's hand in the mind of a cat. Neither seemed aggressive nor playful so they appeared to ignore one another. Thomas was curious however, most cats didn't ignore him. It was a good sign that this teacher was a cat person regardless. Perhaps he'd go easy on him, Thomas smiled slightly at the thought and let his eyelids lower for a cat nap.

The three heads of Jodhal began to reconsider their choice in size. Standing outside the auditorium doors, too big to fit through, they argued mentally. Snapping at each other, hitting each other with their tails or trying to take control of the body. It wasn't until the 'leader' of the three, Dae, the middle head, stopped the fight somehow. As their conversations were all mentally, the argument could never be heard by others, but it seemed like the other two heads were sulking as the body shrunk down to the size a bit larger than a human. Finally, they could enter, only to realise that they had to sit on the door like any other dog due to seating problems.

Once the speech had ended and the strange students of unique shapes and sizes left the room, Jodhal followed. Thumping through the hallways until they had reached the room for their first class. Sparring. What kind of joke is this? Why would a being like Jodhal take part in some annoying sparring thing. And back during the speech, something about human guises, Jodhal would pass more like a dog than a damn human. No matter, there'll be a way somehow.

Suddenly, Jodac and Dae heard a crunching sound just as they decided to enter the room. The source, Vhal. The idiot of the three, somehow this head managed to grab a grey creature, crunching down on it as the furry tail was sucked into his throat. "Ahh, that was nice!" Vhal exclaimed as he licked his lips with enjoyment, oblivious the other stares of his 'brothers'. "Whatever, Dae, get in there." Jodac ordered, not caring at all about Vhal's idiocy. He just wanted an excuse to fall asleep...

"HEY!" The sudden loss of a cat's soul was jarring to Thomas' relaxed senses. He got to his feet before realizing his own movements and glared knives at the beast coming in through the doorway. Even then he watched as the faint whisp of a soul escaped between the mangy mutt's foul looking teeth as they worked on the small body of the feline. Thomas trembled with anger the hair at the back of his neck standing on end as well as all along his usually slim tail. Inwardly he quailed slightly at his own actions. His hands trembling as his fists clenched on the desk in front of him. He wasn't confrontational, this wasn't a part of his personality he wouldn't battle if the honor of the universe was promised, and yet there he stood glaring at the three heads. "Y-you can't just eat a cat here!"

Even as he said it he realized his words where weak. Why couldn't he? He was a monster after all monsters ate cats and rats and deer and human all the time. Thomas steeled his nerves nevertheless and took steps towards the three headed beast so he could look at them face to faces. He glowered at them, feeling whiskers force their way through the skin of his upper lip. Not now, not now! "I realize you're nothing but a stinking canine piece of filth with no reckoning of anything but yourself but at least try to have some civility in your own actions. This is school not whatever pit it is you usually crawl out of."

His own claws where digging into his palms, his heart racing if he didn't calm himself he'd find himself being devoured just like the cat before him and he'd be just as powerless to do anything about it.

As Jodhal made their way into the room, Jodac looked around for a suitable place. A corner for them to curl up and sleep, hopefully. The desks were obviously not designed for a creature like Jodhal, the corner will have to do.
However, the three's attention was grabbed by some weak complaints of another 'monster'. Some weirdo with cat ears going on about eating cats, makes sense for this being to be complaining really...

With the sight of the cat ears, Vhal began to pant, one of the two tails begun to wag as insults were thrown towards the Cerberus, completely ignored by Vhal who simply wanted to play. Jodac, on the other hand, growled towards the small being, his head stretched down to look him straight in the eyes. Finally, Dae kept quiet, his head held high as he looked down on the Bakeneko. Of course those insults would be thrown, Vhal was being an idiot as usual and apparently it was rare to have a sentient Cerberus...

And so, ready to prove himself. Dae swung his head to the left and right, hitting his two brothers. This had some kind of instant effect, bringing them back to their senses as their heads lowered down to focus on the small monster which stood before them. "And what are you going to do about it?" Jodac growled as Dae answered the insults,
"The 'pit' we crawl out of gave us experience in the real world. Instead of being all wrapped up and protected by stupid systems like you."

Vhal simply continued panting, his face showing some idiotic look as he waited for something fun to happen.

Thomas could feel the prickle of fur pushing its way through the skin at the back of his neck and across his shoulders but the progression of it slowed as a thought occurred to him. This was stupid. There are so many creatures in that place. Monsters that crawled up from the pits of hell, beasts that have laid dormant for centuries. Animals that have been cursed to walk the earth until their very essence wore thin. By comparison he was a young spirit. He could still remember the decades he'd spent as a spirit whose only intent was mischief. He barely had sentience then. His life was pure simplicity. Thomas looked at Jodac in front of him. He'd probably seen the world in a different light hadn't he. In fact all three of them...

Thomas' ears lowered He looked calmly at Jodac in the eyes. "I'm not going to do anything, but the least you could do is have consideration for the other creatures here. Maybe you've never had to face responsibility over a life before but I'm sure you know at least what it feels like to have one of your own taken from you. It was my duty to watch over that soul you so carelessly released. Perhaps I ought to put your soul in the body of a cat and see how well you fare."

There was no real way he could do that of course, not in his current state with the lock on his body but the cerberus didn't know that. He'd done it once with a sick human, surely he could figure out how to remove a perfectly healthy cerberus soul. If Cerberus had souls, that is.

Dae was already feeling irritated at this. He was told that a range of different creatures would be present around the school. All of which holding different powers, traditions, preferences. This small creature was a great example of this, the three may have experienced the hellish actions of the human world. But this lead to solitary conditions, the three spent their youth alone, hiding from others. They weren't prepared for things like this, they were only prepared for survival...

Dae hit Jodac once more, forcing him to back up from the small creature, allowing him to lower down instead to talk with it. "Let me just let you know that Vhal..." he gestured over to the retarded looking head to the left, "... Isn't really down to earth, got a few screws loose, something like that. He was the one who ate the cat, all three of us were unknown of your presence. We didn't mean any harm... Well, Jodac did." He gestured to the right towards Jodac, who was still bearing his teeth.

Without any other words, Dae lead the body towards a corner of the room. Proceeding to walk in a circle several times before dropping down, his head rested on his paws. Vhal still looked around the room with his tail moving excitedly. Jodac continued glaring at Thomas, his tail moving slowly around, taunting.

Kaen Phokus

---

The black cat on the warlock's face perked up and watched the confrontation of the two students but held little interested over the proceedings. Kaen was indeed listening to what they were saying, for he had heard discussions like that many times and was hoping it didn't end in a fight. He wanted the students to save their fire for the class itself. It was part of why his class was for all students, and his training room was open all hours of the day. It was important for students to both know how to defend themselves and have a place they can take out their aggression.

After the first two students settled their words, Goka moved off of Kaen's face and hopped from desk to desk over to Thomas and jumped onto his shoulder, sitting there comfortably. It was then that Kaen lifted his head and sighed, looking around at the first period class that was now filtering into the room with more and more students. He lazily took a sip of his tea and waited for the entire room to fill up and the bell to ring. He took this time to write his name on the board, using magic and the whisk of his finger to cause a piece of chalk to float and start writing his name for the students to see.

---

Thomas watched as they lumbered off to sit in the corner, fighting the urge to tremble and shake the fear that clammed up his skin. It was a miracle he didn't simply snap into cat form then and there. Thomas sighed and went back to his own seat feeling tired and wanting nothing more than to seclude himself away from the chaos stirred up by all the students. Making enemies on the first day, things were going just peachy. Thomas curled up on his seat with both knees against his desk, is tail wrapped around him so all parts of him where off the ground. He crossed his arms over his knees and sat faced forward pretending the cerberus didn't exist in the back of the room. His attention shifted towards the teacher who seemed to have simply been observing the conflict with little interest in interfering. Thomas supposed it had something to do with it being a combat class. Where else would students be allowed to work out their differences the old fashioned way? Thomas rested his cheek on the palm of his hand perhaps it was a good thing he was in that class. If confronting other beasts was going to start being a regular thing for him, better to know how to fight.

Shame walks into the school, slightly late on her first day. Her head lower than her shoulders as she trotted quickly down the halls. She barely made it to the speech as it was halfway over. She shifted into her human form so she could sit in an empty seat, her bangs hanging over her red eye that concealed her power. She paid no attention to the speech and just felt like all eyes were on her. Shame pulled up her hood so she felt more comfortable, slinking down in the seat. She knew this was going to be a bad year for her...

Shame was glad the speech was over with and jumped up, rushing to her first period class; sparring. She was excited. She loved sparring, even though she isn't very experienced. She could try, but she needed to handle her shadows that like to act on their own. She visualized herself sparring, shadow clones at her sides. She smiled at her thoughts. It wasn't a real smile. She hasn't smiled in years. She wondered if she ever will again. She sighed, making her way to the class. Once she entered, she made her way to the farthest seat in the class. She eyed the boy with the cat and narrowed her eyes at the cat as it moved to the warlock teacher. She let out a small growl; she hated cats. She took in a deep breath as her shadows gathered around her like a circle, resembling powder for the mere moment until someone passed the circle. She kept daydreaming, singing a song in her head as the theme song. She smiled and accidentally moved her bangs. The shadows shot up into the air and became a needle shape. Before she thought anyone saw, she quickly dragged her bangs back over her eye, the shadows fading away slowly. She sighs in relief, closing her eyes contently. This was going to be hard...

Irus had always hated ceremonies, they dragged on for far too long and she thought they were pretty pointless herself since they could always hand out a pamphlet or something; Irus had found out that a pamphlet was a few months ago and didn't know why more people didn't use pamphlets and chose to drag out a welcoming in the mos exhausting way possible.

As the headmaster began to drone on and on about the asylum and it's rules, Irus picked one of her scales and looked into it. She wanted to see what this school year held. "Nothing interesting." She mumbled. Well, it could've been interesting if this wasn't so foggy. But it still looked liked a void of anything particularly abnormal would come this year, well as abnormal as a monster training facility could get.

Irus was glad that the headmaster had finally finished his speech. As soon as he was done Irus got up and slithered her way down the hall back into the comfort of her divination classroom.

Waylen Monstrum

You are not, late Brienne. You're just... unfashionably not-on-time. Right. The harpy's father jokingly demanded she write him an old-fashioned letter every week to inform him of her progress. Flapping through the Asylum's hallways with a tattered map in her talons, she tsk'd unhappily. The only map she'd found of the facility and it wasn't even laminated. Wandering half-lost through the halls didn't appeal to Ms. Showalter at all. Frowning at the punctured map in her talons, she landed, shrugging her shoulders backwards.

If only Zarc hadn't spent so much time trying to give her all the fatherly advice her dad gave her almost a week before. Of course her real dad couldn't drop her off anywhere near Monstrum's, so the good-natured elf stood in for him. Yes, she would remember to write. Yes, she would remember to change her sheets every two weeks. Yes, she would remember what he said about harpies and preying mantises. Ew. By the time she'd wriggled out of his bear hug, the speech ended.

Taking a few click-clacking steps across the floor on her thin bird legs, Brienne followed the most noise. Even if she hadn't seen where everyone dismissed to, it couldn't be too hard to slip into one class and then borrow a map from someone else to end up at the second one on time. Content with her plan, the harpy nodded to herself and took to the air once again, far more confident on-wing than hopping along the ground.

Poking her head into a room that had quite a few people gathering in it, she cast her gaze this way and that. Shouldering the door open, she set her eyes on a large Cerberus-creature in the corner. A few other people stood out - was that a man with cat ears? - but Brienne hesitated on fully entering into the room. Luckily, a voice over the intercom helped her make a decision. Something about a student council? With a cursory wave just in case someone had caught sight of her abrupt entrance, the harpy backed out of the room. A single one of her midnight-hue feathers floated to the ground as she flitted down the halls. Knowing full well she would get turned around once or twice on the way, Ms. Showalter headed for the direction she thought the head office would be.

No Brienne, you're not unfashionably not-on-time. You're late.

Waylen Monstrum

The Headmaster paced in his office, waiting for the students who wished to be on the student council to arrive. His mind ran over everything that had to be maintained, glad that he had hired someone to run the machines in the basement below. Especially the Horror Field, a device which produced the EF waves that made humans without magical abilities incredibly - well... for lack of a better word - freaked out when they approached the mountain.

☨

A message on his phone made his skin crawl, and forced him to cough into his fist. Evidently... his son was here.

"Flags" Monstrum
Randal dusted some dirt off of his Union Jack cyclist jacket and set his bags down in front of his new dorm - Our dorm he forced himself to remember. Evidently he was sharing this dorm with one miss Katherine SaintLewis, who he dearly looked forward to meeting. Anything in a skirt was free game, after all...

☥

It still surprised the boy who fancied himself a pharoah that his father - Allegedly He snapped mentally - had finally allowed co-ed dorms. More fun for me, I suppose.

☥

The room was quite nice, done up with a hardwood floor and brown-and-gold fluer due lis patterned wallpaper against the stained oak wainscotting. The only issue was that there was no furniture. Yet.

☥

After he set his bags down in the corner of the back bedroom which he claimed, he left and headed for the main building, entering as the speech ended. There are... well... in the terms of attractive people, it was a veritable hunting ground of gorgeous women for him to claim.
All in due time... He thought, passing through a ghostly woman as she made to sit down, stealing her seat. "What? why do you even have to sit, you can float."

Amelia Stuart
"Tsk." Amelia kissed her teeth as she looked up from beyond the parasol's rim at the castle-like structure of Monstrum Asylum, "I suppose it'll do.." she'd give a light shrug, then heading through the large gates and toward the entrance where various other pupils were squeezing through all at once. When finally able to make it inside, Amelia folded up her parasol and held it by her side, no-longer needing it due to the natural shade the interior of the building gave despite having some rather annoyingly large windows. Finding the shadiest spot, Amelia sat and listened to the introduction given by the headmaster, his words seemingly of little importance to the vampire, as all she really wanted to join the asylum for was to gain a place of refuge - the curriculum didn't matter to her, she'd been through school countless times already.

Once the headmaster's speech was finished and the hall of students and teachers was finally dismissed and emptied, Amelia followed a group of others to her first class, ignoring the hassle as she entered through the door and took her seat wherever she could that wasn't in an overly populated area of the classroom.

Gem raised his head at the sound of the intercom. Student council. The idea struck familiarity and served to calm his nerves. So it was like a normal school after all. He carefully adjusted his satchel and continued into the classroom. He bowed towards the teacher taking note of all the strange creatures in the seats. He didn't allow his gaze to linger on any of them for long for fear of drawing the wrong kind of attention. They all had a somewhat tense, hostile air around them like if you'd just walked in on a group of delinquents in the middle of them establishing their territory. He didn't think there was much difference in this situation. "Pardon, I'm Gem Kenji, a student in this class? I'm off to see about student council I just wanted to make sure you knew I was here before I went. I want to make sure I can find the main office on time, see."

He spoke in a low voice meant for the teacher to hear, not the entire class but still he could feel eyes on him as he did so. He glanced up and made eye contact with the neko boy by the window, basking in the sunlight. The boy stared at him with seeming uninterest but Gem couldn't help but stare at the ears perched on top of his head and the way the light shone through illuminating thin veins in the skin. He looked...like a character. Gem felt the urge to laugh at the strangeness of it all. This whole situation was crazy and he wondered how humans simply didn't notice any of this. Ghouls where meant to blend in so he looked entirely human, no pale complexion, no fangs or horns. His scent would be different but his appearance was 100% average. Save for his eyes, a dull purple, calm and cool. He could blend in easily if only it weren't for his newly awakened hunger for living flesh. There was something vastly different about it, the way it melted in your mouth the way it gave off heat through the blood, the smell of iron. Dead flesh was nothing like it.

Gem waited to hear confirmation from the teacher before he left to find his way to the headmaster's office in order to speak to him about being in the student council. He had an image to uphold after all. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and held his satchel close to him full of extra paper and writing utensils and the like. He'd conquered general education in his previous schools now it was time to ace knowledge in the supernatural as well.

From the message given by monstrum himself via the intercom, there were already a few students ready to accept the challenge of the student council. Vhal, who was busy staring at a fly buzzing around his head, quickly reacted to this. His head perked up with enough force to pull the other two up with him, waking Jodac in the process.
"For fuck sake, Vhal, what is it now?" Jodac questioned, irritated at the disturbance of his sleep.
"The student council sounds fun! I wanna go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Vhal replied, over excited as always, "Can we go, Dae? Please?"
"Dae, don't listen to the idiot. It's a lot of effort in the student council. I'd rather sleep." Jodac ordered in a begging fashion,
Conflicted by the two heads, Dae thought. Hard. Being the only head/personality which has some kind of logical thought processes left, it was always his choice on things to do. Using the other two as backups. Jodac would normally think of the simplest way to get things done, while Vhal usually went by impulse, but he also seemed to show some intellect at time. Which was worrying. For a head so laid back, a mind of a child and a retarded look. This intellect always gave off some fearful prospects, even other creatures grew scared of Vhal's strange aura he gave off...

Anyway, after thinking hard. Scheming even. Dae took control of the body and stood. "Yeah, let's go." Dae finally stated, adamant of his choice.

With the complains of Jodac and the cheers of joy from Vhal, Jodhal left the room. Heading towards the headmaster's office to join the student council...

It was a sign of the situation at hand where experts in a field resorted to crude, dirty measures just to get by.

It is considered a sign of mental strength to continue in the face of dire circumstances with few resources at hand.

It should be evident, then, that the individual who spent his time wasting away at endeavours that seemed futile and foreboding, with little but his own experience and knowledge to pick out a path to success.

But ends must be met, and jobs need to be done. So it was with no fanfare, but with a dull creak that the Maintenance Technician of Monstrum Academy climbed another rung on a superficially rusty ladder up to the gantry that ran above the spacious sub-basement central hall. His goal was a small array of studs that jutted out from a protective pipe that covered a large array of power lines. The reason said power line was protected by a pipe the tube of which was an inch and a half thick, and wasn't embedded within the walls like a normal power lines was because the machine that this line fed power to was finicky as hell at the best of times, and the feedback safety blowout capacitors needed to be in an accessible location, all the while not disturbing the direction of the high-end superconductor fibres that ensured a near zero loss in joules per metre.

Normally fine precision in instrument output wouldn't be a concern when the machine in question operated with tolerances measured by the gigajoule of energy, but it would be a bit of a bad mark on his resumé if he left that particular machine to its own devices, chief reason being that the end result would spell doom for the world.

On reflection, Strelok mused that this was one of the occasions where saying that phrase was not an exaggeration.

Thus, just like he recognized that he had a duty to protect the world from the Zone, he had a job and a duty to make certain that all machines in this sub-basement were functional and operational to a professionally acceptable standard.

And that's why he undid a catch, opened a hatch, unplugged a capacitor and promptly began whacking the component with a heavy wrench to diffuse the residual electrical charge.

The reason that he wasn't fried alive in the process of this was because he wasn't human anymore. The Zone's influence had warped his body, made him operate in ways conventionally physically impossible. As such, the capacitor which held seven point three one megajoules of energy discharged into his bare hand, and Strelok felt vaguely more awake, and slightly happier about life in general.

Humming a five-note tune normally played on his guitar, he began his inspection of the capacitor in his hand. The descriptive term was in truth a little misleading, because the device in question was actually a housing and a wiring array for a large number of capacitor devices. The frame and mount of the cylindrical device looked fine, and with an unscrewing of a few fasteners he took off the heavy inconductive casing. The internal structure best resembled an exaggerated toilet-cleaner, with a singular power distribution relay going up through the center and a large number of small capacitors (the actual component this time) were mounted on small copper coils. The fact that they induced a springlike action was complete coincidence.

The fact that he couldn't resist giving one of them a small poke and to watch the thing bob back and forth was a coincidence too. Your lies on the subject will not be heard.

Anyway, with that brief moment of puerile entertainment over he went properly about the inspection of the device. There was a distinct lack of a smell of fish strong enough to get a blind lesbian hot and bothered, so none of the capacitor components were burst yet. The utilization of cement as the resistant material for the electrical charge to be stored within was a fairly standard practice for the higher-end components. As a result, the device was of good quality, good integrity and would last for years yet, even if half of its capacitors were blown.

The malfunctioning part, however, was the top component. The energy diffusion device, which span a cooling system which was the bleed-off for excess power, stuck on a tiny stone of all things.

The man then felt a tingle on his senses, like wind across a fishing line. It was another gift of the Zone, an extrasensory perception which saved his life many times, and would save his life again. He looked up and saw one of the mutant Rats; supercharged with the energies emmitted by the machine which this power line fed and thus boosted to bigger, stronger, faster, meaner, smarter and deadlier than a normal rat.

With a quick gesture, Strelok stabbed the thing through the mouth. The animal did not budge, a surprisingly meaty specimen that it was, until he pulled his knife out of the thing. He then realized the animal was stick in the tiny drain-pipe within the wall that the gantry hugged. With the device in his hand, Strelok simply whacked the top part with his wrench and dusted it off with a rag. A quick test with an ammeter determined the device was functioning properly. Yes, sometimes that was all that was wrong with the machines in the sub-basement where he worked. Not often was it so simple. He learned to enjoy these days.

He replaced the casing of the capacitor device, put it back into its hole and screwed it in until the thing started buzzing with electrical current under his hand. Closing that hatch and sealing the latch, and then climbing back down the ladder, and the man was back down to the main level. A short walk later and he was at a staircase. A fairly lengthy ascent later, and he was back in the main floor of the Academy where he worked.

He was already composing in his head the report he would file to Headmaster Monstrum. Or as he liked to privately call him, Bigheadmastuh Shanayway. It wasn't like the other man didn't secretly call him names too. Or not so secretly in the rare times they decided to drink together. Calling each other names and drinking was all well and good for relations, but in the end he was employee and he was his boss. No reason to not be friends, but still.

Strelok was apparently so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the next tingle across his senses, or hear the clack of a student's shoes on the tile floor coming around a corner. As a result, he walked out from the X-junction and blindsided a misfortunate student, walking straight into them and bodily knocking them off their feet.

A head-tilting array of curses were poised on the tip of his tongue, but instead he kept things simple.

"Are you alright, boy?" he asked, concern in his stance and posture. The student nodded in response, eyes avoiding him. Strelok extended his hand and helped the boy up. The student looked left and right, here and there on the floor.

"Are you looking for glasses?" he asked. The student nodded, still looking. "What is your name?"

"Gem." the boy said, still looking.... or striving to not meet his eye? Strange, but not any of Strelok's business. The man looked and found them eventually, picking them up and handing them to the student.

"Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you around." Strelok said, but anyone half-decent at social conversation could have seen it was just him asking that for the sake of asking that. Hearing a door at the end of the hallway open, he turned his head before the student - Gem - could answer.

He spied another student heading their way. A white-haired one. "You!" Strelok called out, waving him over. And apparently his voice and size - and he suspected the weapons and tools he carried openly - gave him authority without recognition of office, because the student promptly double-timed it over.

"You two head to the nurse's office if you feel like you're about to collapse. If not, keep on doing whatever you were doing." Strelok began, then decided the school-standard spiel wasn't necessary. "I'm a maintenance technician among the staff. If all goes well you won't ever see me in action. Here, take these." he said and passed them two Bandit-standard - and generally that meant rusted and beaten-up and uncared for, but Strelok had better principles than that, and as such these weapons were clean and well functional - Makarov PM pistols, along with a sneaky little trick that he invented specifically for occasions like this.

The mind was by no means an easy thing to manipulate. But Strelok, through the gifts of the Zone, could implant a prompt in things. A subconscious command, activated by a specific set of circumstances. Sort of like what hypnotism was cracked up to be, except this actually worked.

Be calm. You have a means to defend yourself. And it was activated by the holding of the weapons he handed them.

He figured it was enough to keep them from asking questions. And wow, he was really behind on time now. He gave a nod to both of them and promptly walked off without hearing their cries to him. He really had better things to do, now that was over.

And no, it's completely normal for him to hand out guns to schoolchildren. Why do you ask?

Strelok gave a wry smirk to his conscience. Because he was wearing his mask, nobody saw the gesture. And so he carried on, planning again to compose his report on the sub-basement system and what was wrong with the . Not that the report would actually immediately get back to the Headmaster, no, it was first parsed and filtered by whoever handled the papers he put into the mailboxes around the academy.

Gem peered down at the gun, as he straightened his glasses with his other hand. What the....

He glanced at the other student as the mechanic technician wandered off. "It's not every day a random adult gives you a firearm is it."

He turned the gun is his hand curiously. He knew the weapon well, despite having never held one in his life. "Makarov..." he muttered. He made sure the safety was one and looked around before putting the weapon into his satchel. "Best put them in here. I'll give them to the headmaster, I'm off to sign up for Student Council anyhow. This place is enough of a powder keg without weapons, don't you think?"

He smiled at the boy. That scent. It was familiar and stirred a very basic desire in him. He could feel it stirring in him, twisting his insides. It didn't come from the other student. Whatever he was it wasn't human. He offered his hand to him. "I'm Gem by the way. You really don't have to walk me to the nurse I'm fine. It takes a lot more than that to hurt me, despite how I look."

As the headmaster, Monstrum, continued his pondering at his own desk, waiting for the aspiring student council members to make their not-so-calm appearance, his lonely presence was suddenly disturbed by the appearance of a new one. Imdius. Suddenly appearing in one of the chairs in front of Monstrum's desk, already chilled and comfortable as one leg rested across the other's knee. His body slouched back with one arm hanging over the chair, the other holding a flame, lit from the end of his finger, towards a cigarette which was held in his mouth. The bright red waistcoat, black and white striped open collared shirt and reddish trousers conflicted heavily with the colours of the chair.

With a couple puffs of the cigarette, smoke already gushing out of his mouth. His hand, shaped like a gun, was held up to his mouth, allowing him to blow the flame out with a smile as he looked towards Monstrum.
"So. What's got you so down?" Imdius questioned with all his swagger, taking a few more puffs before continuing, "You look like you shit yourself after eating too much Tacobell. Y'sure there weren't any razorblades in them?" He laughed, his own joke may not be amusing to others, but it was amusing to him, even his own laugh gave off the massive swag levels in his persona.

"You should be more happy, especially meeting your new student council!" Imdius stated, his arms raised in the air as he cheered a little before lowering them back to their original position.

Kaen Phokus

---

As Kaen stood up and stretched his back, several students inquired about the student council registrations. He sighed and wrote all their names down so before sending them all off on their own. Hopefully the elections wouldn't be too much of a competition this year. He put the note in his desk then rapped on his desk to get everyone's attention.

"Alright class! As your first class of your year here at Monstrum's, I would like to gladly welcome you all to the school. As such I am to go over some rules for this class with you. Now this is the Combat Sparring class, which means we will be fighting each other in between training courses, but you will all follow my instruction and keep it civil in the ring. No deaths here, but if there is an accident I will take care of it. Respect is another rule in here, but if you have to fight out an argument you are more than welcome to have me supervise a private match. Lastly, Magic is a separate class which I teach in the night classes, so expect more physical combat in here. If I see anyone cheat in here using magic you will be punished on the spot without warning."

Kaen pointed now at the chalk board, where his name was written and underlined. "I am Kaen Phokus, but you will call me teacher, sensei, or god if you prefer. We will all be learning together so make sure to pick up each other's names while we are here. If you will all follow me into the sparring room I will show you our equipment."

Walking through a large painting on the opposite wall as the door, Kaen led the students into a much larger room with sparring gear and pads lining the walls, mats covering all available floor space and a circular ring in the middle of the room where the sparring was to take place. "In here is where all the physical activity will be. If none of you want your school clothes to get messy there is another door on the far side of the room with showers and lockers. Quick side note, if anything gets stolen in here I know exactly how to find it so don't bother with the extra punishment... unless you like that sort of thing."