In a place no one can find... I hope

[Delerium]

Arkady sighed and closed the book perched in his lap, clicking his pen closed. The thick tome read, 'A Weapon of Self-Destruction' in silver pen on the cover and along the spine. It was Arkady's very personal journal, but having made it himself he'd done his darndest to make it look like a very unappealing novel.
And what with him usually leaving it out in the open, the majority didn't suspect a thing.
Arkady prefered to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself, but even the hardiest of individuals needed a conduit for their emotions, or else they'd go stark raving mad. He would know; he'd nearly tread down that path himself until he started keeping a journal. He knew it was risky, for if someone picked it up and started to leaf through it they'd be privy to his deepest thoughts and weaknesses. And that, above all else, was something he'd rather avoid. However, it was much less risky, in his opinion, than confiding in another human being...

But whatever. The only one he truly had to worry about reading it was Cobalt, and the Beast was so thick-headed and full of himself Arkady thought it more likely that the stupid brute would stop dallying with other guys' girlfriends before he picked up a novel as thick as what Arkady had disguised his journal to look like.

Still wrapped up in what he'd written, Arkady merely sat on one of the benches in the main hall, the 'novel' on his lap and a far away glaze in his sapphire eyes.

[bandit]

Caynce silently walked through the halls, gripping his bandaged wrist as though he were in pain, and the source was coming from that particular area. He nibbled at his bottom lip, gray orbs casting a glance about the seemingly empty hallway, secretly wondering if it was actually empty. His mind went back to Racoon, knowing the boy held the power of invisibility, and he suddenly became as aware as a rabbit senstive to it's surroundings. Was Racoon watching him now? Would he attack him, now? Would he do something to him...now? Blinking and casting another glance around the hallway, Caynce unvoluntarily quickened his pace, though he wasn't aware of how fast he was going until he tripped on...a piece of dust.

It had been sitting there oh so very innocently, and he, of course hadn't seen it. And why? Because he was too wrapped up, too frightened, too irrationly scared (or so it seemed) to remember what the hell he was doing, and what he was supposed to be doing. Caynce was on his way to the Guidance Counsler's office, because Mr. Robynson hadn't been convinced with the nurse, the guidance counsler, and speaking with him at recess. As a matter of fact, he now had this outside of the box idea Caynce was sexually abused as a child, once again leaving the poor boy to wonder why he wasn't, since he grew up in such a horrible place. It was actually a little odd to him, but he couldn't say he was unhappy about the fact.

Now sitting, face down, on the hallway floor, Caynce groaned slightly, slowly picking up his head and brushing his hair back away from his pale face. Blinking dizzily, he tried his best to get back on his feet, with no success. So instead he crawled to the side of the wall and let his head rest upon it, eyes closed as he tried to think why this happened. He had been walking, thinking about Racoon, then he ran a little too fast, and tripped over air. Except you don't just trip over AIR. You could choke on air, you couldn't trip on it. Narrowing his eyes to block out the sunlight that streamed into the halls from the windows, Caynce spotted his enemy.

That piece of dust, sitting lightly and carelessly upon the brown red tiles, smudged with light dots of yellow and badge. There it was, on one perfect square tile, smack dab in the middle. On closer inspection, you could see it was basically the same material, light gray fluff, that most dust was made of, yet it was also unique. Something small and brown, a few strands of hair (surprisngly, one was blonde and the other was black) were mixed into it, adding to it's individuality from other pieces of dust. Not to mention it had the perfect shape of a sphere than most pieces normally had, with only one or two bumps created by the hair, which was encased in it, reminiscent of a child within the depths of it's mother's womb. Yes, it was like every other piece, yet so very unique.


Caynce blinked, looking away and closing his eyes, blocking them from the sunlight and deciding to get some sleep, or at least try to. He just hoped people wouldn't think he was nocturnal or something, because...he'd get made fun of for that, too. The black&white boy (I call him this, now xD) moaned to himself, though it wasn't heard by anyone else, unless they had 'super' hearing or something of the such, perhaps a thing simliar to enhanced sense. This thought reminded him of, oh, Racoon and how the boy could be right there. The only reason he was on the look out for the male was because Racoon had threatened to shove some food down Caynce's throat, even if he had to die doing it. And strangly, Caynce knew Racoon wasn't kidding...

---

Shinegami walked through the halls, seeing as their was nothing else for the girl to do. Ven didn't need her, Nuka was missing, she couldn't see Racoon, and she didn't want to bother Caynce, the poor thing. So the demon had ventured out on her own, thinking maybe she'd get to do something interesting. Or not. Sighing, she continued on, walking a little faster than she normally would, all because she was now shorter since her transformation from Ven, just like she had been when she had witnessed the scene with Delerium and Cobalt. The girls shuddered, recalling the memory. And, as if on cue, there was Arkady, sitting in the hall. In an almost nervous way, Shinegami approached him from his left side. "Hello, Arkady." she greeted, stopping a few feet away, "How's your new dorm?"

Eh...she hoped she hadn't made a mistake putting him with Cobalt.

[•Mouse•]

" Well, Monty, where do we go from here?" A girl questioned a black chinchilla, holding close to her face. The creature didn't seem to understand but the girl noddeed knowingly and sat right there. Smack in the middle of the main hall sat Carmela Ikaris with her small black chinchilla Monty in her lap. She giggled and fed the small creature a carrot, not caring about the strange looks she was recieving. The fellow students walked around her and as they entered her the 20 foot void around her, sighed and hurried on through. It wasn't something she could handle. Not in the least.

Maeve sat watching Carmela. Since the petshop she hadn't been able to do any serious tormenting towards the small girl and instead stuck to watching her with great annoyence dancing across her face in a sneer. Damn that Ven. He may be good looking but he was so right on there being too much pain and such.[/i] Her thoughts grumbled on about this whole event that had happened and she sighed, moving to sit more comfortably on the step she occupied.

Carmela felt the warm and peircing gaze, turned and sighed at the sight of Maeve. Alone, Carmela wasn't exactly safe and at this point in time she wanted one of her few friends to be there to play.More then the rest, Carmela wanted to find Ven. She had lost him today like she had maybe once or twice before. She fallowed the young man like a shadow, extremely loyal and very energetic.

[Krispey]

Maya strode down the what at first was a seemingly vacant hallway.
Her dorm had got boring, and beeing room-mateless was not as fun as she thought
would have been. She was willing to put on a fake smile for someone, and fulfill thier interrogative state of mind's needs for them. Ugh, the days went by so slowly, but yet so fast. And then, earlier to day, she had gotten a surprise. Her brother Nashino had come to the school! How good it felt to have someone who truly cared about you be right there, by your side.

Maya sighed, her brown tresses pulled back into a lengthy pony-tail. Her violet orbs glanced up from a book she was reading (Two types of cheetahs, King chettah, and the one that was most common that no one could pronounce) When she heard the high sounding voice of a girl. It was the girl that had been behind the desk when she arrived to be registered. Hello Arkady. She had said. Maya's voilet gaze followed the girl's to a man, not too much older-looking, and was actually quite handsome. He had been the one who was in the tussle with Cobalt. Hmm, his shirt was the least bit wrinkled, for, thank God, he'd changed it.

Then, Caynce, and two other persons registered within Maya's view. Well, caynce was the only one she knew, and he looked terribly sick, as if he hadn't before, but now it was different.
Maya picked up her pace, making her way over to him. She was careful not to touch him though, "Caynce, what's wrong? How can I help you? That is..If I can help you."

[Deon]

Salvador came leaping down the hall, waving frantically at Shinegami. A plastic sombrero sat on top of his curly, dark hair that spit out popular Spanish songs at an ungodly volume. His loose, ruffly, satin peasant shirt that exposed the tan skin of his chest shone as he passed under the fluorescent lights, making him a real sight to see.

"Shinegami! Shinegami! I've been looking for you forever!" he yelled over the music as he skidded to a halt next to her. His chocolate-brown eyes seemed to melt as he grabbed her arm and earnestly stared with a pitiful puppy-dog look. His lower lip was set in a slight pout. "You're working the dorms, right? I've just been told that I no longer live where I live, and for some reason no one wants to give me a place to crash for a few days before this is all straightened out? That's not true, right? Cobalt is just messing with me, right?"

He paused for a moment as he finally stopped talking enough to think. The sombrero must have been affecting his senses, but he could have sworn he heard her say Arkady before he so rudely interrupted.

"Wait. This guy is Arkady?" Salvador slapped his face in disbelief as he pointed with one hand to Arkady, backing away as if he had a contagious disease. "You're kidding! I thought Cobalt had made him up to get me out of the dorm room! Oh, man! Where am I gonna go?"

[Delerium]

So wrapped up was Arkady in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice anyone else's presence until Shinegami's voice pierced the haze in his mind.

"Hello, Arkady. How's your new dorm?"

The bubble of his thought popped with enough force to startle him. Arkady jumped and placed a protective hand on his 'novel'. "Oh, Shinegami! Hey!" he sputtered. "My dorm? It's... ok, considering my circumstances." A roguish smile split his handsome face. "I had to clean up quite the mess, but I don't mind - it just gives me another reason to trounce Cobalt, right?"

Then a sound all too familiar quite literally filled his sensitive hearing. Arkady winced as 'Damn Donia' came prancing down the hall with abominable singing hat perched on his head. Pressing both hands firmly to his ears, Arkady glared daggers at Salvador and growled, "Dammit Donia, isn't there some way you can turn that accursed thing off?! And yes, I'M Arkady! Sorry Shinegami, but I'm going over there for a minute!"

Leaving his bag and his 'novel' forgotten on the bench, Arkady strode a little ways down the hall until he spotted the girl, Maya, crouched over the form of a fellow student. Rushing over, Arkady crouched down beside her and said, "What's going on? Is he ok?" Genuine concern glittered in his sapphire gaze.

[•Mouse•]

Carmela jumped a little as the hall filled with spanish music. She giggled and said something under her breathe before looking to see who the chap with the loud hat was. Being as she was impulsive, Carmela leapt to her feet. With great care as to not drop Monty, she scurried her way closer to the hat. It seemed as if she were a ninja, sneaking up on the enemy to pounce. Casually, as if nothing was going on, Carmela stooped just a few feet away. Prehaps it was 5-6 feet, one of the two for sure. Then, with great enthusiasim, She attempted a Mexican Hat Dance around Salvador. Just throwing a bit of information out there, but, Carmela has never hate danced before so all the things she did was made up in her tiny little mind.

Maeve grew annoyed at once with the sound. She growled low and audible, standing abruptly. She walked with grace, growing nearer the hat which produced such an annoying sound. If the boy didn't turn it off, she'd turn it to dust where it sat on his head. The soud was so loud and pounded at her eardrums, as if they were being shot with a bazooka. It was intolerable and annoying. Carmela, dancing around the boy, seemed to not notice the approaching threat and continued her mock-hat dance with great pleasure.

[bandit]

Caynce had actually fallen into a half sleep, and only half because the other 'half' of him, though it wasn't wandering somewhere within the realms of reality, was actually taking a little expedition in LaLa Land, but there was, of course other names for his Happy Place. DreamLand, Valley of False Truths, any other title for such a location you could possibly think of. And, on said journeys, or adventures, Caynce's one track minded always drifted back to a time from his past, almost always with his mother, but this time it was different, seeing as the setting was a time when he was still going to preschool. Those memories, normally soft and caring, obviously weren't the same for him.

It was one of the days in the middle of the year, where Caynce had quickly adjusted to his classmates and his drug addicted teacher. And so, he sat in solitude, seeking such conditions because hie decided his classmates didn't use proper language, always managing to slip a curse word in their sentence in such a clever manner their teacher never noticed. Another thing; his teacher. Miss Gorish was fat, lazy, and so high Caynce wouldn't have been at all surprised if she flew away. One day he walked up to her, asking her what began with the letter 'S', and she, being a drugged smart ass, replied, "Sex, of course!" So for the next week, the poor child pondered how to make a picture of sex.

Now snapping back into reality, Caynce opened his eyes, seeing Maya and Arkady, a little too close for his comfort. Catching the last of Arkady's word, this woke the boy up completely and he quickly jumped to his feet, wishing he hadn't sat so close to the wall. He wanted desperatly to put maybe the size of a football field between him and the two people, but could only wish for such things. His body pressed against the wall in a vain attempt to make them seem farther away, Caynce trembled visibly, "Please, not so close. Not so close." he whimpered pathetically, not expecting to wake up to their proximity. After all, he hadn't even planned to sleep. Just goes to show luck was never around when he actually needed it.

"Wha?" Shinegami asked as the boy grabbed her arm, turning to look at Arkady in case he spoke but then trying to keep her mind on Salvador at the same time. With that trying to be done, she was glad when the boy backed away, but watched as Carmela pranced around like a deer having a spasm around the boy and his hat. Oh, damn that hat was annoying! She quickly scurried over to Arkady and spoke, "Yes, sorry..." she murmured, though she didn't expect herself to be heard over the SCREAMING of the hat. Turning to Arkady, she was about to ask him to repeat himself until the boy said he had to go.

So she watched as he made his way over to a boy and a girl, and then turned to Salvador, intent of repeating herself giving an explantion, seeing as that was what she'd want if something like this happened, but decided she'd have to wait until Carmela stopped having her burst of energy, and until Salvador apprached her. She didn't want tp get near him in fear she might bump into Carmela.

And Shinegami watched, sitting on the floor and taking Arkady's book into her lap, keeping her hands over it and guessing it was important.

[Krispey]

Maya felt a sudden sweep of air come at her as Arkady made his way over to
the "scene". She didn't bother to glance at him, for Caynce was her, what do you
say, main priority? right now. He seemed dazed, and out of it, spaced out,
more so than usual. But, Maya having known him for a short amount of time,
took note that you couldn't know what to expect when it came to Caynce.

Then, Caynce opened his eyes, suddenly jumping up, clearly startled. But it was wierd.
Just yesterday, she had hugged him, and all of a sudden, he'd been freaking out.
Maya then, heard the annoying latin music emitting from an unseen source. What the Hello kitty? Well, it mattered not. As Caynce stated for them to be not so close to him, Maya attempted to back up, bumping into Arkady. She quickly jumped to the side, "S'cuse me, I'm sorry." Maya said with a polite smile on her face. "But I think we should, back up." Maya founder herself placing a slender appendage infront of Arkady, as to act like a barrier btween him and Caynce. She added slight force, her arm nudging Arkady's stomach.

[Ven]

Ven was nestled on the ceiling, his claw-like scales sinking into the plaster and tiles. This was one of his favorite passtimes, next to wandering the woods. he would just sit on the high ceilings where people usually didn't see him, and watched. It was like a cat watching prey. He never had considered himself a mammal, and since snakes tended to, well, eat mammals, he had to say it settled down a peice of him, even if it was a rather morbid pass-time, watching people who he could easily consider prey walk by.

However at the momment he found himself with a new issue. Maeve and Carmela. Now that he wasn't nessarily "human" he found himself in an interesting dilema. While Carmela did offer an aspect that appealed ton his human aspect, essentially being human, Maeve appealed to Both the snake and Human in him. First off, he thought she was hot, second snakes naturally seek out a mate that struts power. So he found himself quite perplexed.

/I'll wait, see how things turn out./ He thought to himself.
/If things get out of hand, I stop both of them. If not I continue to watch./

[Deon]

"Woah. He's got a real temper, hasn't he? Guess he and Cobalt are a good match," Salvador said with a sideways glance towards Arkady's retreating figure. He adjusted his plastic sombrero, that happened to be a little small for his head, and fluffed the curls that spilled from underneath it.

"But seriously, Shinegami, what do I do?He turned to find Shinegami slowly attempting to slip away from him, because she obviously had decided to hate him in his hour of need! Of course, he'd never been very good at reading people.

However, this next girl was like a giant, flashing neon sign. Salvador let out a little gasp as she spasmodically began to prance around him, jumping around and flailing her limbs like a fish out of water. A small smile crept across his face as his attention quickly shifted--Salvador wasn't very able to have more than one emotion or thought at a time, and he constantly was on the verge of an entirely new attitude and frame of mind. He shot out and explosively caught one of Carmela's swiftly-moving wrists and began to join her in her mad dance, leading her into spins and twirls. Salvador had danced ballroom for years; that was where he got his flair for pulling off eccentric, wild, satiny costumes. He swiftly dipped Carmela low and began to wildly swing her around in a ring-around-the-rosy fashion, moving quickly about the room. He lifted his arms and trapped Shinegami in their rotating circle, and then he attempted to grab Caynce and pull him into the dance.

"Come, one and all! Take me out of my misery! Come dancing with Donia! Merengue with me! Take your chance to salsa with Salvador! The Luscious Latino has got a lot of love to spread around!" he yelled with a laugh over the crazy music spewing from the Mexican hat.

[Delerium]

Arkady was taken back by the boy's reaction. Ok, something's clearly wrong with this kid... Caynce, that's what Maya called him right? Ah well, it's none of my business.
Crouched where he was though, the young man couldn't help catching the scent of Maya's hair; not the shampoo she used, but her actual scent. A benefit of having the senses of a feline.
Despite the obnoxiously loud latino music and the startled boy, Arkady lost himself momentarily in the fragrance; it was... like cinnamon, only not as strong and very -

Then she bumped into him and kneaded him in the belly. That, more than her words caused him to jump back. "Eek!" he cried, pushing himself out of the crouch so quickly that not even his reflexes could save him and he ended up on his arse on the tiled floor.
Her gentle nudge had actually tickled quite a bit, and one thing Arkady would never admit to another living soul was just how - you know what? He didn't even want to THINK about it lest it be written across his face. Better Maya just thought she knocked him off balance...

Whatever...

Shinegami and Salvador momentarily forgotten, Arkady glanced at Maya and said, "Uh, is he really ok?" He looked so pale and unhealthy. Arkady couldn't help but wonder.
Well, that is, they were forgotten until Salvador came prancing over with Carmela -that was her name, right? He couldn't quite remember- and tried to get Shinegami and the rest of them to join his mad dance.

Despite his instant dislike of Salvador, Arkady found himself sorely tempted. Tempted to show him up, that is. Another thing the young man would never admit was his love of dance...

[Ven]

Ven went into a small dance of his own on the ceiling, however not from the music. Since Carmela's powers were in a radius, Ven was attempting to calculate the limits of her powers. It was about twenty feet....in all directions. So at the risk of loosing his powers and falling from the ceiling he ended up almost running around on the ceiling.

During his frantic ceiling sprint however he could feel himself slowly loosing his stealth. His claws made *THWUP* sound as they left and re entered the the plaster and tiled ceiling. Small fragments of plaster dust, fell allong with a small ceiling tiles, and occasionaly even decntly sized chunks of wood.

Okay so slowly his stealth was an understatement. His stealth was becoming a distant memory in less time that it took to watch ceiling tile to shatter on the ground.

"dammmmmmmmnit." He said to himself flipping around on the ceiling attempting to stay away from carmela's void, which thanks to Slavador was moving erractically, and blocking off the exits that were walls he could climb down.

"Stop dancing! Stop dancing!" He said shouting aggravatedly as he crawled aroud like a beetle on the ceiling, slwoly gaining speed through his dodges and weaves.

[•Mouse•]

Carmela was forcefully removed from Salvador's grasp and made sure she wasn't hurt before psuhing her and Monty away. There was muttering between Carmela and Maeve and Carmela sighed, sitting. It had been an unknown deal between the two that they would get along for the time being. Why, no one probably knew other than them. Carmela, with Monty held carefully in her hands waved byebye to Salvador, giggling a little. She was glad to see had fun with her and casually skipped to a bench where she sat with Monty quietly.

" And you, obnoxious fool with the ridiculous hat...Turn that damn thing off. Or I will." Growled Maeve. She had rounded, eyes now narrowed on the eccentric Salvadora and his obnoxtious hat. Her finger was pointing accusingly at the boy and it was apparent she had lost her temper.

[bandit]

Caynce nodded, sliding his gaze easily over the two people. Once, he was happy to know, was Maya. The other, however, was someone he had never known met before. As matter of fact, he had never even heard of the boy, or man, since he wasn't all too sure of the stranger's exact age. Hearing what Arkady, the male he'd just met (in a way), Caynce blinked and nodded quickly, not knowing if he sounded or looked convincing, even a little bit. "Yes, I'm fine. Perfectly healthy." he answered, and continued to nod his head until he became dizzy and stopped the motion, though it had only lasted a few seconds. Caynce wasn't sure if it was the truth or not, seeing as he didn't seem healthy at all, but he only guessed he was. After all, he had seen the nurse yesterday, and she...didn't say much. The woman had just stared at his face the whole time, and at thtat point he began to wonder if she had heard him or not.

Feeling, in a way, a little bit, well, safe now that Maya and the other person were now, in his eyes, a reasonable distance away, Caynce turned to Maya, opening his mouth in the beginnings of a slightly warm greeting, until, oh God, someone decided it was time to grab his arm and...lead him into a dance. With Salvador's grip dragging him forcefully into the circle that now consisted of only three people, including himself, Caynce did the seconds thing that came to his mind, and so, he bit, yes, bit Salvador's arm. The first thought had been to simply scream, but the poor boy couldn't muster up a sufficent amount of energy to even consider the thought, and so made up his mind to act like an animal.

And then he screamed.

---

"AHH!" Shinegami yelled as Salvador and Carmela, who had been dragged away, trapped her like a beaver into a hunting trap within his obnoxious, rotating circle. Gripping the book she had found, for some strange reason she still had it in her grasp, Shinegami looked around wildly, catching glances of people. Some she knew, some she didn't. Arkady and some girl around Caynce, while something was going on with Ven. At the same time Carmela, Monty, and someone else she didn't know were sitting somehwere, and, of course, Salvador dancing around like he just took some happy pills with a perscription a little too strong. She watched as the boy made a choice to let Caynce into the circle, and listened to him scream after biting down onto his arm, and then she stood still, holding the book and hoping she could clear the whole dorm thing up, and return the novel from wherever it had came, soon enough.