Where am I?

[Delerium]

The large, imposing compound had been too tempting a structure to pass up. Arkady didn't feel he had many vices, but curiosity was one he readily admit to having. He'd never seen anything like this place, and he came to the conclusion that he'd rather get kicked out or charged with trespassing than wonder for the rest of his days what went on in here.

Well, it seemed welcoming and friendly enough... There were no alarms, and the main foyer appeared as though it had been designed with giving a good first impression to visitors in mind.

Ah, a front desk - just what he'd been hoping for. ((I'm assuming; most schools have one, right? I'm also assuming and hoping that someone will be behind said desk XD))

Pasting on what he hoped was a friendly smile, Arkady strode over and politely asked, "Excuse me, I have a dumb question to ask: What is this place?"

[aridia]

Aridia was hanging out in the hallway, reluctant to make the, incredibly fast and easy, journey into the common room as she hadn't been with humans in years...She sighed and shook her head, her ears perking up at the sound of a new guy. She laughed softly, the sound quite like that of tinkling bells. This is a boarding school for the Gifted. She said, her voice soft and enchanting. She'd been with the nymphs so long, she didn't really know the difference with her voice and someone elses.

[bandit]

Shinegami blinked, snapping out of a rather dreamy state. She had been staring into space, obviously, and hadn't seen the boy walk in, let alone walk up to her. For a few seconds she stared at him, as if not knowing what he wanted, though he had clearly asked her a question. Quickly, she thought back to what he said and nodded, a sign she knew what he had asked.

"This is the Main Hall." Shinegami said quietly, tapping her pen lightly against the desk a few times before deciding it was annoying and not a good way to keep her amused. Behind her, a voice called from what was obviously below though clearly out of sight.

"Shinegami, can I have the other papers now?" a cheery voice asked, followed by the sound of ripping papers. Shinegami nodded and grabbed a pile to her left and handed them down to Nuka, who promptly shredded them up as well.

She and Nuka had volunteered (actually, Nuka had volunteered and dragged her along with him) to greet people and answer question at the main desk for about an hour or so, and because Nuka was asked to rip up unimportant papers, since the paper shredder broke down, that's exactly what he was doing. Every few minutes the girl handed her friend the next stack of papers waiting for him.


Turning her attention back to the guest, she gave a tiny smile. "Anything else I can help you with?" she asked kindly.

[Delerium]

Oh geez. He hadn't even noticed the girl standing in the hall. Talk about tunnel vision.
"Uh, thanks," Arkady half-mumbled in reply before turning back to the girl at the desk.

"This is the Main Hall," the girl replied, tapping her pen on the desk with a staccato his keen hearing found irritating.

"Yeah, I gathered as much; thanks," Arkady replied, one eyebrow rising, giving the young man a cynical expression. "Hey uh, could you..." he reached out and placed a hand on hers, stopping the insistent tapping of the pen. "Thanks."

"Shinegami, can I have the other papers now?" an annoyingly cheery voice asked.

Arkady leaned forward and peered under the desk with a curious expression; some feline was tearing up paper. Well, clearly this Shinegami's paper shredder was busted, and he had to give the pair some credit for improvising.

"Uh-huh..." Arkady breathed as he straightened up, unsure of what else to think.

"Anything else I can help you with?" the girl asked kindly.

"Yeah, actually," Arkady replied semi-politely. "What exactly is a 'Boarding School for the Gifted'? Is this where all the little geniuses and child prodigies come, or something?"

[bandit]

"Sorry." the girl said when he stopped her from tapping the pen against the desk, and then

Shinegami leaned back as the young man peered under the desk to see what Nuka was doing. At this moment, he was stuffing the papers into the garbage, whcih was halfway full, and Shinegami quickly handed him another pile, a noticably larger one, so he wouldn't ask her for more in a while. Or, knowing Nuka, at least six or seven minutes.

As the man before her straightened up, she listened carefully, feeling she should do a good job even though this was volunteer work. "A Boarding School For the Gifted is a school where anyone with special powers can come and learn to control them, along with participating in the same classes people without powers do, such as Science or History. It's also like a normal boarding school; dorms, cafeterias, and all those things. So basically, the only difference is learning to control your powers and anything related to that." Shinegami explained, hoping she didn't sound like a smartass.

She had never met anyone who didn't know what a Boarding School For the Gifted was, and, to make up for her probably sounding like a know-it-all, she smiled and gave a questioning look, wondering if he needed anything else. She tried to sound and look as polite as she could, and cursed herself for not getting out more. After all, Ven kept her to train her and all those things, since he had yet another plan, though it didn't involve killing anyone, but changing her back to her orignal form and then changing her back. The only time she got out were on her private walks, and he'd always show up at the end.

Trying to resist the urge to tap the pen against the desk, her hand began to tremble and Nuka crawled up, reaching for another pile of papers, dragging them down. Cursing mentally to herself, she set the pen down and kept her hands still.

[Delerium]

Arkady's sapphire gaze widened at the revelation. This was... a good thing. Curious, yes? Here the young man had gone through most of his life hiding the heightened senses and power he possessed, and there were actually FACILITIES teaching youths how to use any inborn abilities?

Man, Arkady really was out of the loop.

Too concerned with his own ignorance to make note of Shinegami's know-it-all explanation, Arkady quickly said, "Uhh, anyone you say, can enroll in a place like this?" Old habit kept him from outright saying 'Yeah, I've got the senses and agility of a cat, and can tell if someone's plotting to blow something up; help me out' but he hoped that by subtle insinuation he could get the point across. "I mean, I graduated from high school a few years ago but, you know, they never taught anything... like this at my high school." His pale cheeks adopted a bit of a blush. "You know, about controlling... stuff? The kind of stuff you're talking about... Gifts, isn't that what you called it?"

At the sound of more ripping paper, Arkady leaned forward again - although this time he couldn't keep his mouth shut on the matter. "Hey, uh, is that normal? Tearing up paper can't be that fun..."
Maybe he should just keep his mouth shut. Arkady never had the intention of being blunt or rude, but tact definitely wasn't his forte.

[bandit]

Shinegami nodded, "Anyone can enroll themselves in classes here, so as long as you have powers. The school won't take people having no powers here, seeing as it takes up room and there are highschools and colleges for teaching all those other classes."

"And yes, gifts is what I call it, though you can call it whatever you want." she said, trying to sound as kind as she could. She was, however, a bit curious about the reason he never knew about these schools, and surprised for the same reason. As Arkady leaned forward, she once more moved away from the counter to let him look at Nuka, who was now talking to himself. Why? That's just what he does.

"There's Shinegami and Damien and Anders and Sabil and so many others. I love all of my friends, and-" hearing a new voice behind him, he almost jumped up and stared at the boy, then smiled warmly and nodded. "Yup, tearing up paper never gets old. Trust me." Nuka said, turning back and decided not to talk until he stopped looking, not wanting to seem too weird.

Shinegami dropped another pile beside him and he had to keep himself from squealing with delight before he began to shred that pile as well. Turning back to Arkady, she nodded to him. "It's normal. This is, after all, Nuka we're talking about here. He loves to do these kind of crazy things." she said, sounding slightly amused at her friend's behavior. Quickly, she snapped out of it and once more nodded, giving him a curious look and waiting for him to say if he needed anything else.

[Delerium]

"O-K... Sure," Arkady said, straightening up once more and silently vowing not to ask anymore questions of people for as long as he was here. "Whatever milks your goat, right?"

So, there was Shinegami, and Nuka - good to know he wasn't the only one with an oddly-international name.

His embarassed blush decidedly deepening, Arkady then said, "Well, uh, that being the case, I'd, uh, like to enroll... you know, because I... Yeah." He cleared his throat and looked away. "That's why. You know why, right?" He shifted uncomfortably. "So, do I have to sign stuff now, and go for a physical or something? ...Please say no..."
God, I hope not... Arkady thought with a visible shudder. There was nothing in this world he hated more than doctors, hospitals and the like.

[bandit]

Shinegami shook her head, and spoke when he turned away. "I know why, don't worry. As for enrolling here, it's simple. Just go to the front des- oh, wait..." she stopped herself, realizing he was already here. Shaking her head at her stupidity, she began again, hoping she sounded slightly more intelligent than she did, what?, four seconds ago.

"Just sign a few papers, and then you'll be a member here at Giftded Cassis." the girl smiled, then reached down and grabbed a small packet of papers, only to hear a protest from Nuka, though it sounded more like a little child whining for ice cream.

"Nooo, Shinegami, I need to rip those up."

"Nuka, these are different papers, you're just tearing up the things we don't need." Shinegami explained, setting the packets on the desk and watching with an amused look and Nuka made another excuse about how he loved ripping up paper and how it wasn't fair. Shinegami responded by telling him she'd buy a few newspapers for him to tear up, and he reluctantly gave in.

With that out of the way, she turned back to Arkady, "No, just sign the papers, answer the questions, and then I'll give you a room and then you're all done." Shinegami said, setting a blue pen on top of the small packet and then bending down to try and keep Nuka from the edge of crying. Yes, because he loved tearing up papers that much.

[Deon]

"Good god, I can't take this anymore!" The scream of rage pierced the relatively quiet hall and came in accordance with the sound of a gunshot that was the slamming of the front door as a tall youth barged into the main hall. Sweat stained the front of his tight white muscle shirt as he stomped up to the desk, shoved Arkady out of the way, and slammed his fists on the laminated wood.

"HELLO?!" Cobalt yelled at Shinegami's bent-over figure, his impatient voice growing louder by the second. He prodded her on the back a little harder than he should have to get her attention, his nostrils flaring with anger.

"You see this?" he held up a small slip of between two fingers paper that contained his dorm assignment on it, then swiftly ripped it in half, crumpled it up, and threw it at Shinegami's chest. "I'm not dealing with this anymore! I've HAD it!" He glared at Shinegami as if she was the sole reason for his rage and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Oh, god... If you only knew what I've had to go through with this guy, this... THING!" He pointed to his head, covered with the light brown fuzz of buzz-cut hair.

"See this? The only reason why I haven't ripped out every single f**ing piece of hair is because they're too f**ing short to get my f**ing fingers on! You know, he published my sex journal in the school newspaper yesterday, and I've been chasing him around, trying to get my hands on him, so I could blow up his body from the inside myself! If that little SOB wasn't such a slippery, fast asshole, the custodians would be scraping his burnt-up face off the pavement right now!" He grabbed the edge of the desk to keep his hands from shaking with anger, gripping it so tightly his knuckles were chalk white against his tan skin.

"If you don't assign me another dorm to get away from this little bug, this thing that calls himself Salvador Donia," His voice dropped low as he earnestly promised, "I swear by my life that I will make a nuclear explosion so large and radioactive that this place won't be able to be inhabited for another 200 years!"

His eyes flashed to Arkady's figure standing beside him. "What the hell are you looking at?"

((P.S. Nobody plays his roommate, just so you don't get confused. I just needed something to finally be able to put Cobalt in somewhere.))

[Delerium]

(OOC: Ok, s'all good *nodnod*)

Arkady rolled his eyes. "Here, rip this up; I don't need it anymore." He tossed a tattered old notebook down to the whiney brat. The young man used to use it as a diary his thoughts and hopes but... he didn't want to think about that now. It was probably better off destroyed.

With a polite nod and a small smile, Arkady took the package of forms and the pen. "Thanks."
All the basics; age, birthdate, parents' address, medical history, yadda yadda yadda... It was only when he reached the part about 'Power(s)' that Arkady paused and cast a worried look at Shinegami. "Uhh, this is all... confidential, right? Bah. Of course it is. Sorry about that." He frowned and filled it in, shaking his head at his own stupid paranoia. Still, it itched at him and Arkady unconsciously reached into his pocket for a cigarette, sticking the thing in his lips but not lighting it.
He didn't even have a lighter on him. But... that's also something else he didn't want to think of.
I AM trying to quit... Oy, he thought, cursing his own weakness. Someone with the true willpower to quit would've left ALL the implements of self-destruction at home.

Once finished, he set the pen down with a sigh and passed the completed package to Shinegami. "Alright... All done - uh, obviously, yeah. Sorry." He paused for a moment and just blinked. "So... yeah. Now what?"

Poor Shinegami didn't get a chance to reply to him before -
Well, IT came in.

Arkady winced as the unnecesserily loud voice echoed like a knell throughout the hall. God DAMMIT! What a moron...
And as if that wasn't bad enough, he then felt the obnoxious beast push him out of the way and address Shinegami like she was his servant.

At first, all Arkady could do was stare and blink at the Obnoxious Beast (as he had now dubbed the young nuisance). Who the hell did this guy think he was?

"What the hell are you looking at?" the Beast bellowed at Arkady.

Cool as a cucumber, Arkady swept off the part of his shirt that the Beast had touched in his rude action of shoving him aside, and calmly said, "The world's biggest idiot. I've met some pretty big assholes in my life, but you take the prize. Congratulations."
Although he looked calm and relaxed on the outside, Arkady's body was coiled like a spring; every liquid steel muscle was ready for action - should action transpire.

[bandit]

Shinegami opened her mouth to speak as she leaned over Nuka, shoving the tattered notebook into his hands and deciding to thank Arkady later, but of course wasn't given the opportunity to reply to the boy's question when she felt a finger poking hardly into her back. She stood up quickly and prepared herself to keep calm, only to be faced by a thoroughly pissed-off...whoever.

As he roared into her face she didn't blink, a look of pure fear pasted onto her face. Even Nuka had sat up and was now leaning against the desk and staring at Cobalt and then slowly sinking down when he had finished his little speech. Clearing her throat, Shinegami bent down to pick up the two pieces of crumpled paper, unfolded them and pieced them together and proceeded to read the dorm number. Nodding to the guest, she bit her lip and folded her hands.

"Oh, uhm, yeah, of course. Immediatly, d-don't worry." she stuttered, reassuring him. Now she desperately wished Ven hadn't changed her back into her first form. Tiny, weak, and a pushover, though she always had been, contrasted with the tall and incredibly stronger second form he had changed her into. Carefully she grabbed her pen and walked over to the drawer where the files were kept and looked for the boy's file, only to realize she didn't know his name.

Biting her lip again, she spoke without looking at the boy, as if just laying eyes on him would kill her. "What's your name again, sir?" she asked, her voice shaking noticably as she tried not to choke on the words. Nuka stopped ripping up paper and watched Cobalt with a more curious expression than a frightened one, wanting to know who this guy was and why he was acting this way.

"Never mind..." the girl murmered, finding the file of his roomate instead. Quickly she went through the file and crossed out Cobalt's name as the other's roomie, and then went to the boy's file to cross out his former roomate's name. Quickly she searched for who to put him with. Ven would kill her, and Nuka would just end up coming into her room because he'd be so scared, or he'd get kicked out. Absent-mindly, she tapped her pen against the drawer, eyes darting back and forth as she thought.

{{Feel free to make Cobalt yell at her. ^^}}

[Deon]

"The world's biggest idiot, huh? Is that what you think I am?" Cobalt's voice boomed as he grabbed the shirt Arkady had so daintily brushed off and pushed his face up close to his, his monstrous biceps flexing as he yanked the shirt as hard as he could. His voice dropped into a low, threatening growl. "The only way that I would win that prize is if I didn't blow your guts all over this joint right here, and right now."

"What's your name again, sir?" Shinegami's shaky voice asked him as she attempted to comply with his demands. Cobalt shifted his glance towards her, didn't provide an answer, and then looked back to deal with Arkady.

"However, I have more important things to attend to than the demise of such a pitiful adult going back to high school." He let go of his shirt, muscles still tensed, and turned his rage to the trembling Shinegami.

He watched her with narrowed eyes and a narrowed mind, as if his glare could impel her to move faster. His voice gained a sort of forced, shaky calamity as he addressed her next as she stood over the drawers. His fingers started impatiently drumming on the desk.

"I am number one on the hit list of half the guys at school for doing their girlfriends, I have had to put up with the world's biggest asshole every day and, god help me, night, for weeks," Harsh words were beginning to brim over the cracking shell of polite control on his voice the longer he spoke, "I have had my eyebrows shaved off, my bed filled with dog shit, and occasionally find Salvador picking the lock of the room I threw him out of and bringing in an entire army to look at me and my... overnight guests!" The tap-tap-tapping of his fingers on the wood turned into an incessant pounding, as if pummeling this inanimate into oblivion would assure him what he wanted. No, strike that, what he needed. He leaned over the desk, his hands now trembling with rage.

"I don't care what you do to get me away from Damn Donia, but you better do it now! I'm not kidding; I will take anyone who's available! But if you don't hurry up, I might just lose my temper and accidentally blow this place sky high!"

[Delerium]

Arkady didn't blink nor flinch as the Obnoxious Beast grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward; he simply allowed the thug to do so. He merely stared at the raging youth as he shouted into his face.
When he let him go and apparently dismissed him, Arkady simply smoothed out his shirt again and said, "Do you always use such petty attempts to inflate your own manhood? Just curious. I can just imagine how many of those girlfriends actually accepted you in their bed; it must be hard when you have to verbally bash the daylights out of them in order to get it up." He tilted his head to one side. "And you should read a book on karma; I think it would explain a lot about the... unfortunate mishaps you've been experiencing."
It frayed his nerves, but Arkady tolerated the insistent tapping with stoic indifference. But goodness it hurt his ears! Ah well, karma, karma... He'd ensure this Obnoxious Beast got what was coming to him.

At Cobalt's insistence that he would take anyone over this Donia fellow, Arkady smiled dangerously and his sapphire gaze narrowed in a predatory fashion. "Shinegami, I do believe I'm available, is that correct? And not to worry; I have the utmost respect for an individual's personal space and belongings - whether or not that respect extends to the individual is another matter altogether, though."
It's on. he thought with a touch of malicious glee.

[Krispey]

Maya had made such a sluggish attempt to enter the school. As her hand gripped the cool handle to the door that led into the main office and front desk, an overly anticipated sigh brushed past her lips.
The slight breeze ran it's digits throughout her waste-length mocha-colored locks. With little effort, she had pulled open the door, stepping inside of the chilled building. In her other hand, she rolled in a rather large suitcase. (Kay, ha ha Boarding school equals dorms right? Suitcase necessary right? ) Her violet gaze had taken in the occupants of the area, not one sparking a bit of interest, except the lady at the front desk, for she was the only one who could be of any help to her. Maya took note of the scene that went on. Bullying all ready? Maya thought this to herself. She could feel a wave of nervousness racking her ribs, causing a rapid heart beat, but really, what's to be afraid of? I mean, some obviously infuriated guy harassing another person, oh yes, nothing to fear. Well, if Maya was feeling anything, nothing but a cross, agitated expression appeared.

"Great, people thinking too highly of themselves that they must go and taunt and harass others....A smudge of humility would do them just fine." Her statement was just barely audible as she pushed past the small gathering of people, making her way to the desk itself. "Uhm yes, I'm being forced against my will to register here, so could you help me out?"