Rigel Coronis's Story

Although Rigel and Darrin were indeed late, they made it just in time to slink into class along with the stragglers to make it look like they hadn't arrived as late as they actually were. However, when they got to a desk the teacher gave them a look. A certain look that said that she'd let them off the hook, just this once. She had more serious business to attend to than dealing with late students. Well, in the duo's defence, it wasn't easy acclimatising to a timezone that was several hours behind Solaris, especially since neither of them had travelled abroad before.

Both Phoenix and human turned their attention to what was going on in the classroom. Mostly just the humdrum chatter, but then Rigel overheard a particularly interesting conversation. Sounded like some sort of plan being formed. The group gradually realised that Rigel and Darrin had been listening in on them with a certain... intent.

They even recognised a few faces, one of them being quite the unlikely addition to a group of secretive whisperers: L'liya. What was even more unusual was that she wasn't going to rat them out to the teacher, she was actually going to be a part of this thing!

"We want in on this too," Rigel added to the conversation from his usual perch on his assistant's shoulder. Darrin nodded in agreement and said "The more the merrier, right? Just fill us in on the situation and give us a time and a place." Whatever this group was going to be up to... it was gonna be something big.

Lilith watched as more people entered; a rather attractive boy with a bright red bird on his shoulder. Lilith watched his as he went over to a group, inquiring about whatever they were doing. She dropped her gaze, playing with the threads on her dress, seemingly occupied. She looked up again, watching the group with interest. From what she heard, they were deciding to come to the school at night.

That sounds like fun… She thought to herself, wondering if she should go talk to them. Their group seemed large enough, and most of time she could tell her presence wasn’t wanted, so she normally wouldn’t talk to anyone.
She almost got up to walk over there, but stopped herself. It kind of annoyed her that she wasn’t going over there because of some guy. She huffed, crossing her arms and looking ahead.

I should go over there; I’ve been cooped up in a house since spring break. Maybe this will be a chance to get out and actually connect with people.

Her little pep talk caused her to stand up, brushing down her skirt and then made her way over to the group. She gave them a smile and wrung her hands, a nervous quirk of hers.

“Mind if I tag along?” Lilith asked with a small, sheepish smile, “I’m Lilith.” She said to the group, most not knowing her. She was still new to the school, and haven’t met that many. Among the group, L'liya was the only one she really knew, name wise. L’liya was the disciplinary officer, and Lilith thought maybe they could be friends, but never had attempted to greet herself.
She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake.




Sirus kept his head down, trying to block out the sound of everyone. He didn’t want anyone to notice him; he just wanted to disappear after his entrance. He imagined from the way he looked they considered him ‘easy prey’ for being teased. Oh well, not like he would answer them.

Looking up, he saw a group around the window, most of the class tossing the others glances as more seemed to group over there. Huh, aren’t they popular.

Bored out of his little shy mind, Sirus began to idly play with fire. Tiny flames would float above his fingers as he watched them, extinguishing them when the teacher looked up. Not that he had the intention of burning anything down; he just didn’t want to get in trouble for it. A few people watched him as he made little swirls in the air, the fire slowly dwindling into nothing but smoke.

I need a better hobby. He thought to himself, Being a pyromaniac is frowned upon.
As he entertained himself, he felt someone hit him in the back of the head, telling him to stop it. The boy jumped, the impact causing his glasses to fly off and away from him. Sirus blinked, running a hand through his hair in annoyance.
Standing up, he grabbed his glasses that had skidded across the floor. Putting them back on, he sat back in his seat gruffly.
He set his head down, watching the end of his desk as he waited for his first class to start. A song had been stuck in his head all morning.



He frowned, remembering how they played this song at his grandmother’s funeral, who had been against them due to his family’s religion. Oh, well, the witch is dead.

"Yeah count me in too," Lachlan added, and then leaned over L'liya to get to the boy. The demi-God frowned as she leaned back from the werewolf and glowered at the growing group. What was she supposed to do now? Obviously she hadn't thought this through completely. Nor had she counted on so many people jumping in on the situation so quickly. With a sigh she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm Lachlan by the way. Nice to finally meet someone else willing to break the rules for an some adventure," a pointed look at L'liya which the disciplinary officer returned with narrowed eyes.

"Why are you coming anyway? I mean it's not like you find fun out of breaking rules. On the contrary you seem to be the exact opposite of that. What, want to play the hero? Save the school from a mysterious bad guy, showing the world that only goody-little-two-shoes can save the world?"

"I'm going because you group of idiots won't listen to me anyways," L'liya growled back, leaning forward to glare at the woman who was leaning on her desk, "It's not like I really want to! You all just don't give me a choice."

"We want in on this too," a voice came and Lucas turned to see who it was. He'd been grinning at the display before him between the two women. Obviously this 'Lachlan' enjoyed making L'liya angry. Maybe it was because the little demi-God was a tad bit cute when she was all fired up.

"Hey! Great, more people!" Lucas offered with enthusiasm.

"The more the merrier, right? Just fill us in on the situation and give us a time and a place." The boy continued. The bird was perched on the boys shoulder.

"No problem, so you see-" Lucas started, but was interrupted by a small voice.

“Mind if I tag along? I’m Lilith.”

The girl looked utterly shy, but Lucas smiled at her none the less. Next to him, L'liya heaved a huge sigh in response. Clearly she was absolutely displeased with the growing situation. Lucas, however, paid her no mind and nodded to the girl with a broad smile.

"Sure! So, as I was saying, the situation is like this. We'll be meeting up tonight outside of the school by 9pm and we'll be investigating what happened to those two students the other night. Our dear disciplinary has also agreed to go with us, so we'll be good to go."

"Unless you all run into Mr. Crass, then you're no longer my problem," L'liya cut in sharply, her arms still folded across her chest. Boy was she going to hate this...



Obviously there was something going on in the corner of the class room right across from Taru. The old blood didn't move, however, and stayed in his seat watching what was going on. He'd caught a few words of the conversation, though not much because he'd been sitting so far away. Something about coming back to the school at night. What an interesting thought. Taru put his hand to his lips and leaned sideways in his chair, his dark eyes watching the group intently.

He wouldn't get up and go to them, no, he wasn't one to start conversations. He much rather enjoyed observing and learning from other humans and the like. However, if they'd come up to him, he would have gladly engaged in conversation with them. Though, not everyone knew that, though. Their disciplinary officer seemed to be into the idea, however, which was much more intriguing to Taru. The blue haired girl was always so adamant at following school rules. He wondered what the demi-God was thinking, or perhaps it was a gut feeling she was getting.

Even so, Taru had to think that she wasn't going to be entirely open to the idea of having a huge group to baby-sit. Perhaps he would join them. He was their class president, it was only logical that he be involved. The forward reasoning was because he was responsible for his fellow students. The hidden reason was simply because he was curious. As he was settling his decision, the bell rang, signaling for the end of homeroom and the start of the classes. Taru stood slowly and exited the classroom with the rest of the students. His thoughts were entirely with the brewing situation as he headed to class. Of course he would have more time to observe when lunch rolled around.

Three hours later

Students were flooding the halls once again as the bell had run, the end of the first set of classes over with and their lunch break well underway. Taru had been among the first to enter the cafeteria on the other side of campus and was currently sitting out in the courtyard where the trees were planted in large circular areas with bricks surrounding them as a design. He was seated on one of these brick enclosures beneath a tree that blossomed blood red petals and had created a carpet of red around the surrounding area.

Taru listened to the conversations around him, but didn't engage in them. None of what the students were talking about was all that interesting anyway. Most of it that he could hear was from the nearby girls, their whispers about him and a couple other male students made him roll his eyes slightly. Across the way he spotted the fair haired disciplinary officer making her rounds and keeping a close eye on the students. He found it amusing that some students thought it was fun to try to tempt her, only to be greatly disappointed as she did not take her duties lightly.

The vampire found himself searching the crowd for the youth who had walked in with burned robes and the smell of fire on him that morning. He was avidly curious about that one and wished to know more about why he'd been in such a sorry state. Mikael was his name if memory served correctly. Taru knew the boy only by name, never had he really had a chance to speak to Mikael before spring break and today was the first time he'd seen the demi-God in such a state.

"You're deep in thought," a voice startled him from his search.

Glancing over he noted that he'd not heard nor seen the boy who sat down next to him. Taru shifted slightly, putting a bit of distance between them, "I was," he answered shortly.

"Name's Lucas, and yours?"

"Taru."

"Ah, that's right! You're our president. I thought you looked familiar. So, who are you looking for?"

"Someone from homeroom."

"Can I help?" Lucas asked with a broad grin. Taru flicked his gaze over to the boy and frowned slightly. He didn't answer and turned back to scanning the crowd. Lucas, however, didn't leave and continued speaking to him, not that the old blood minded, "I noticed you watching us in homeroom. Were you interested in what was going on? We're coming back tonight to scout out the school and see what's going on. We might even run into the person who committed the crime the other night. Will you be coming with us?"

"I was interested, yes. I knew you were all coming back, though don't you think it's a bit dangerous?" Taru asked, turning his eyes to look at the boy again. After a moment, he continued, "I will be coming tonight, but not because I want to. It's a matter of keeping you all safe, just as L'liya will be doing. I figured she would need some help."

"Ah! Well, with a demi-God and a vampire on our side, we've nothing to fear then!" Lucas beamed. Taru watched him then sighed slightly, shaking his head.

When lunch break arrived, Rigel and Darrin decided it would be best to attempt to navigate the school's halls, as they didn't yet know the whole layout by heart. Since Darrin was Rigel's assistant, all their classes were shared, but it didn't stop them asking each other how they felt things were going so far. Not long afterwards, the conversation drifted over to what happened in the homeroom.

"I must say, I'm looking forward to this sneaking around after hours," Rigel said happily, still on the human's shoulder as per usual.

"It's not gonna be like raiding a few biscuit tins, mate," replied Darrin. "I know it's a bit risky doing something like this, but I don't think we'll find out what happened any other way. Teachers would hush things up."

"Quite right. Besides, we have the safety in numbers, quite a few of which look very capable in a fight. If we run into trouble, I have confidence in our odds of victory."

A couple of corridors later, Darrin spoke up again.

"We should probably get some lunch right about now. Fancy a sandwich?"

"Hmm, that's a good question, now that you mention it. Breakfast was quite some time ago and I didn't really have that much and-"

"Sandwich, not life story," Darrin interrupted.

"Okay, yes, I would like one. Incidentally, did you happen to see any places where we could get lunch?" Rigel's question caused the human to stop in his tracks.

"But... I thought you were keeping an eye out for them!"

The silence between the two of them dragged on for some time before Rigel finally spoke.

"...So we are lost again?"

"We aren't lost, everything else has just... misplaced itself," Darrin insisted, continuing down the corridor. The epic quest for getting some lunch before break was over had officially begun.

Lachlan left her last class before lunch in a huff. She hated that class with a passion, all there was to do was sit around listen to the teacher lecture on and on. Not only that, but for some reason that teacher seemed to be out to get her. He would send her to detention, and not just the ones where you sit around, but where you actually have to do work, whenever she came in late, wasn't looking, or sitting in her chair. She felt so confined by him that she would sometimes send spit balls his way when he wasn't looking. As she exited the class she looked a lot more presentable, her shoes were on this time and tied, her hair was properly up in a ponytail and wasn't falling out, and it seemed that most of the grass was gone. This was because Mr. Danagan, her teacher, made her leave the classroom and not come back till she was properly cleaned. Granted she had half a mind not to come back at all, but she had to pass this class.

She walked along the corridors, her head bowed and not looking where she was going, though because of her sense of hearing she was able to dodge most of the other students walking through the halls. Lachlan was in such a bad mood she didn't really feel hungry, at least right now. So she just wandered about hoping quench her anger before going to socialize. However she heard some talking. At first her anger flared, she really didn't want to talk, but considering there wasn't many others in the hall she would feel obligated to make conversation.

"...So we are lost again?"

"We aren't lost, everything else has just...misplaced itself." This phased her anger out, she had once been that person who was lost all the time and never had she had someone to help. She just had to wander for a while until she found what she was looking for.

"Need some help there?" Lachlan asked, "Hey didn't you want in on the plan?" She leaned up against the wall, crossing her arms. Some hair fell into her face, as always when she puts her hair up it's only a matter of time before it starts falling out. She stepped on her heels kicking her shoes off. They were getting kind of sweaty and since she wasn't wearing any socks today her feet would only end up smelling.

The demi-God was wandering around the cafeteria, her steely gaze shifting from one side of the room to the other as she moved between the tables and chairs. Bustling students brushed passed her as they took their seats, laughter and chatter filled the air disturbing L'liya's thoughts. She never did like loud places, but it wasn't like she wasn't used to it. It just interrupted her concentration and L'liya was constantly in a state of concentration because she was always trying to be in connection with her father.

"Hey!" she shouted at a student as they were about to lung forward to push a cup of food into one of his friends face. Her eyes narrowed and the student sheepishly smiled at her and slowly sat back down. The last thing she wanted was a freaking food fight in the middle of the cafeteria on the first day back from spring break. With a sigh, L'liya decided that she didn't want to be around in the cafeteria anymore and left. Reaching up, she adjusted the tag on her arm that marked her as the disciplinary officer of the school. She was the only one, too. Sometimes L'liya wondered why it had always been her, but then she was reminded about every time a fight started how the adrenaline rushed through her veins.

The demi-God left the enormous amount of students behind and entered the calmer halls of the school. She walked slowly through the many halls of classrooms and teachers rooms that were empty aside from a few students and teachers here and there. It was finally silent, and her concentration had returned. Her connection with her father was a bit stronger, although she still couldn't hear him. Just like always. Sigh.

L'liya moved through the halls when she heard voices down one of the halls. Coming around the corner she was entirely in 'officer' mode and her lips were already pulled into a scowl as she made her entrance. She spied Lachlan and Darrin with his phoenix companion. They were conversing about something and the demi-God remembered that the two new comers had been interested in joining them that night for the 'excursion'. She sighed heavily, why had she agreed to do this in the first place? She should have known that tons of other students were going to jump in on this. Man, L'liya could already hear Mr. Crass' voice as he would most definitely scold her about what she was going to do that night.

Anyway, this was no time to be lost in thought. She was pretty sure she'd heard Lachlan asking the boy if he was going to be joining them that night. Tapping her finger on her arm she looked between the too, trying to keep her stony facial features perfected.

"If you cause me unnecessary trouble tonight, I swear to you both that you'll wish you hadn't," she threatened.

Even Darrin looked relieved to see that a new option had presented itself. One that didn't involve blindly stumbling around and praying for the best. Rigel wasted no time in greeting Lachlan, in his own little way.

"Hello! So good of you to assist us in our moment of need before starvation ensues! Incidentally, yes, we did decide to volunteer ourselves for that little excursion. I can hardly wait!" After taking a quick look around, Rigel lowered his voice to an unusual conspiratorial whisper. "So I was wondering, do you think we might find any evidence as to what happened?" While the phoenix was preoccupied with discussing plans with Lachlan, L'liya had spotted them and had decided to come over, although in Darrin's opinion she could've been a little bit more polite.

"If you cause me unnecessary trouble tonight, I swear to you both that you'll wish you hadn't."

Even Rigel stopped talking at the sound of her voice, if mostly to see who was interrupting him. L'liya was the kind of person who could be unavoidably noticeable, and not in a good way. Rigel kept his words civil, although there was something of an irritated undertone to his voice.

"Me and my friend are well aware of what would happen if we are caught breaking the rules, and I daresay it could be much worse than any amount of physical violence you could administer to us." He paused for a moment's thought. "Actually, you would not be able to do that on account of me and my assistant having diplomatic immunity here on the lower world. Sorry to disappoint you." Darrin felt it appropriate to nod to confirm that it was indeed the gospel truth. With the facts laid out in front of L'liya, Rigel went back to his usual cheery self and resumed his conversation with Lachlan. "So anyway, before I get myself on a tangent again, you wouldn't happen to know where one could get some sandwiches, hmm?"

Lachlan smiled and snapping her fingers together as the phoenix on the boy's shoulder continued talking to L'liya. Lachlan had to say that she liked this creature more and more even though she'd only known him for a short time. She was trying very hard not to snicker, but was finding it almost impossible.

"Oh you're no fun," Lachlan interjected, "Besides I've been in trouble enough times that you'll have to do better than that to scare me, and I think you know this. So if you're going to threaten people it would seem that you found the three that wouldn't see anything in your threats. Now that's bad luck that is, honestly there are tons of people in the school to threaten and the only ones you could think to do that to are the two with diplomatic immunity and the delinquent that could honestly care less."

"So anyway, before I get myself on a tangent again, you wouldn't happen to know where one could get some sandwiches, hmmm?"

Lachlan smiled at the phoenix and boy, "Indeed I do, follow me," she waved at them to follow. She walked backwards for a while to make sure they were actually following, then turned around and began navigating the corridors like only someone who sneaks around knows. "This is actually the shortest way to get to the cafeteria though it can take a while to know which way to turn," Lachlan said, adding under her breath, "Especially since some of the halls can hide." They turned down a doorway that tons of people pass because you can really only see it when your facing it otherwise it blends in with the wall. Inside the hall you would have thought it to be small and dark, but it was just like all the others, windows were all along the side that shared the outdoors making the corridor bright and there were other doors along the other side leading to classrooms and offices.

"I don't think I caught your names before," she said stopping in front of a door, "I'm Lachlan by the way resident rule-breaker at your service." She took a deep bow with a cocky smile, though not sly it was actually rather showy. "The cafeteria is right through this door it will come out on the side and you'll find some vendors to right. You're welcome."