Jugen

As I saw Tona thawing and the puddle forming around her, my relief grew. It also cleared my fear that she'd melt away completely; she may have been a witch, but not a bad one, and not one who deserved to melt. The screams certainly shocked me, though; I think my images all blinked out for a moment from the surprise, and I hope no one lost the trail while I was putting them back.

She began speaking backward again, and I caught it smoothly; half from being used to her talking that way now, and half through the drug's effects. "Evolved? That's certainly one way to look at it, I suppose," I commented. "Just don't do it again anytime too soon; this time was scary enough. Makes me wonder what will happen if I 'evolve'..."

She continued on, and the prospect of getting the potion out of my bloodstream seemed an excellent idea; I didn't want to repeat what had happened in Africa. As Tona went on, though, the side-effects sounded risky. A mind-link? Alot could happen with that, and not all of it for the good. I silently weighed the two against each other, and as Tona said she'd understand my denying the request, I made up my mind.

"Go ahead and get this poison out of me, then. I have nothing to hide from you; besides, you were the first person I ever trusted anyway. Just make sure you don't turn me to dust." I leaned back, laying myself out on the grass, and assumed a serene position, eyes closed and hands folded across my chest.

Tona

I looked at Jugen for a moment. "T'nod eb os Citamard. Sediseb, neve fi eht dnim knil t'nseod neppah... uoy dna I lliw erahs eno fo ym seiromem." I said as I sait down beside him. I closed my eyes and focused on him. Nothing at first because there was a lot of mosture in the air. Soon enough I found his water. I could feel something was wrong. I started seperating the poison from his body liquids. The poison was the lightested liquid so it was easy to find. Jurgen seemed to be a little dehydrated though. I just sighed, people rarely drank enough water. I would have to give him a little extra water. That complicted things a bit. I had to take moisture out of the air and put it in his body as water. It sounded easy enough but it wasn't. If I hadn't done this before, I could have killed him. Especially if the moisture was to cold or to warm. As usual, I would take my own water and give it to him and put the moisture in me. I could handle the chilled water better. Although, I would end up being less capable to guard my mind.

The rest of the process was easy enough. His body started to reject the poison but something was a little off. He was sweating it out but I started to feel weird. I had never done this on a human before. I guess it took more energy. The process was quicker that expected but it left me feeling a little tired. I could easily rememdy that. Then, a forgotten memory escaped into both our minds.



I'm three years old sitting on the floor. I don't recgonize the house I'm in. It's a cabin with a stone floor. A woman with her hair in a bun is sitting in a wooden chair. "You're gotten use to this place quickly." She said as she smiled at me, "That is good. I guess it's in your blood." She stood and walked to the window. "Naki. What are you doing?" I just stared at the wall, "Rain." She looked at me as I answered her. "Really, will it be heavy?" She asked me. She seemed us to this behavior from me. I shook my head. She sighed and then kneeled beside me. "To bad. Mommy needs it to rain and thunder tonight. If it doesn't Mommy can't do her job. If Mommy doesn't do her job. She won't get paid." I looked at her sadly, "Rain heavy? I make for Mommy." She smiled and then hugged me. "Good. Naki helps Mommy alot. One day, Naki will be able to find work herself." I just smiled. I can't remember the last time I was so happy. To think I could have been this happy once. I wonder why I forgot this.
"Tonaka. You will make a fine..." A knock on the door interuppted her. "Oh, that would be your gift." She said as she walked to the door.

She slowly opened and smiled, "Thank you for finally coming." The man just looked at me for a moment and then looked at my mother. "Don't you dare pretend you want to see her." He just shrugged and handed her the package. "I hope it's the right one. I was in the middle of a job when you called." I turned my back to them. They were always arguing and I hated it. "Not in front of her. When we argue it puts her in a bad mood." She warned him. They both know what happens when I got in a bad mood. "She's young and is still learning to control her abilities. We must be patient with her. " He scoffed and threw a bag on the floor. "Is it worth it. She may never be in control of her abilities. Then what?" He asked but my mother didn't answer. He was always concerned with my abilities, never me. "Ameilia, Tonaka will grow up one day. You can't protect her from the truth. She'll learn about who we are. She'll learn that you've been using her." My mother slapped him with the package. "She's been helping me. So one day, I can retire. I don't want to do this forever. I don't want Tonaka to be forced into this. So, yes. I ask her help. One day, I will leave this life and give her something you never will. A normal life." He looked at me and smiled, "She will never be normal. Accept that."

My mother walked to the table and put the package down, "You're right." She said and walked to the corner I was sitting. She picked me up and held me close. "I will not have her be a bounty hunter like us. You would make her the best there is. Wouldn't you Leon?" He just nodded, "I would use her gifts fully. I wouldn't ignore them." He walked over and kissed me on the forehead. "Til next time, Naki." I watch as he leaves again.



"Eh, reven deyats gnol." I said as if I had remembered everything. I slowly looked at Jurgen. I knew he had felt every emotion that was associated with the memory. The only question was why did I remember that. I never dreamed of my real parents before. It must have been my grandparents. He seemed a little out of it himself. He was probably still in shock from the process and the memory. "Uoy yako?" I asked him. I sent him a slight chill to cool him off. The process had left him a little overheated and he was still sweating.

Jugen

I felt stiff, painfully so. My back popped a couple times as I sat up, holding my head with one hand. I looked around, and wondered for a moment where I was. Then a sudden strong mental strain hit me, and I closed my eyes for a moment. A hundred or more views flashed past my eyelids, making the headache that much worse. They all vanished, and I caught a grasp on what was going on: without the drug, I couldn't control the army I had before, and the backlash had just swept over me. I rearranged them to show the trail again, and laid back once more.

"Yea, I'm alright..." I answered Tona slowly, "but my head is killing me, and it has nothing to do with what you did." The memory that wasn't mine replayed in my head, and I wondered about it, as well as something else. While her memory had played, another had almost overlapped it, since its similarity was disturbing to a point. If that had passed through to her... Unbidden, the scene went on anyways, and I held my temples and shook my head vigorously, agitating the throbbing of my skull to new magnitudes. As new as it was, I knew I disliked it with severity.

A darkest night, storming brilliantly. The lightning was fierce, and thunder provided a nice sound cover. Silence coated the compound, a cough or two of a guard breaking it now and then. No lights were on; the master of the estate had long gone to bed, and he preferred guards with good nightvision over ruining his sleep with bright illumination. Not that that decision would do him any good tonight.

The wall was high, but the rope was long enough, and scaling it didn't take long. Cloth over the hooks avoided a clang of alarm, and as ground met with foot again, the hook was on the outside, never to be found until too late, if at all.

A controlled run across the courtyard, and the proper building reached. Peeking through the doorcrack, a silent, invisible force moved the locks away, and the door slowly opened. The inner chambers proved to be as expected: lavish to the point of nausea. Ignorance was presented to the decor, however, and attention instead was given to the eastern staircase. Ascent, stealthy but swift, and equally light-footed down the hallway. Memory of intelligence indicated the third door down, on the left. Two guards held vigil on either side. A third, in their own livery, shouted something of beckoning, and the watchmen turned to head toward the loud one, who had somehow vanished.

With absence of the guards, the door was treated to the same service as the entrance. As it slowly glided open, the interior was a recreation of the foyer with variations for bedroom acceptance. The canopy bed's curtains were drawn, and with a pull of a well-maintained rope, they slid back to reveal an obese businessman of obvious wealth, his bedclothes sewn in gold trim and fashioned of pure crimson silk. A slow, quick motion, and the red hue seemed to travel up from the neck of the shirt, staining the bedsheets around him.

It was done. There was nothing left but escape, and that should have been as simple as the entry. Dante Dontrovan would be found assassinated the next morning, and an investigation would start, leading to no trace of the murderer, but the revealing of a large chain of black-market dealings of the highest criminal order. Simple, clean, done.

The door moved slightly, and the pad of bare feet on polished hardwood came from behind it. Defenses raised, and the knife was held ready, waiting for the intruder to come closer while moving out of the way. No doubt it was a guard or something, returning to find the door open and wondering what had happened. Those hopes were dashed with a quiet voice: "...Daddy?"

The child. Dontrovan's only child, Dara, a young girl of seven. She should have been fast asleep, ignorant of tonight's events. The knife fell to clatter, and the girl turned quickly, halfway from the door to the bed, to stare at me. We were of a height; I was only eight myself. "Who are--"

The child fell silent as she dropped to the floor limply, her head swivelling unnaturally as it hit. I stood up slowly, staring down at what I'd done, and horror overwhelmed me. The drug was beginning to wear off; the amount taken was always carefully calculated, and I should have been gone by then, the deed done and no one the wiser. But I'd stayed just too long, and killed an innocent girl. My hands shook, and I screamed, the night vibrating with it. I turned and threw myself through the window, the ground coming to greet me mercilessly.

My own hands shook, and I felt water running down my face. "I'm..." I started, but never finished. A darkly familiar voice finished in my head, though: You're a murderer, Jugen. Get used to it...

Tona

I just looked at Jugen as his memory went through my mind. It seemed so real as if I had been there myself. I didn't know if I should comment or say nothing. After a moment I realized the mind link was successful. I didn't have to say a word. He knew exactly what I was thinking. Both of us were murders. I had murdered most of my adopted family. It seems I had helped my mother do that when I was younger. I didn't have to say a thing to him. He could read my every though so I decided not to say anything to him about it.

It just seemed all familiar. The storm, why was there always a storm. So we have both killed people in the past. We probably will in the future. It's unaviodable it seemed. It was who we are. It was a part of us we had to accept. No, Did we have to accept that? Our families might have been murders but were we. We didn't do it of our own free will. Jugen was drugged and I didn't know what my mother was up to. I didn't understand but the picnic. My family, I was aware then. Was it my fault? If I had only accepted my abilities... they would still be alive.

I looked at Jugen for a moment. We have a lot more in common than we think. I'm sure our paths must have intertwined before coming to this school. My parents being bounty hunters and he was used for assination attempts. Then something entered our minds. The names of my parents. Amelia and Leon. I had heard those names recently. Where had I heard them? If only I could remember my last name. It might help. I remembered my grandfather's study. There was a picture of a woman. A woman that looked like Amelia. It was a newspaper clipping. The name of the woman was under the picture: Amelia Drake. This always stuck out in my mind because of how my grandfather reacted when I asked about her. Now I knew why. So I am Tonaka Drake. No, Tonaka Drake Matthews. I wouldn't abandoned my grandparents.

I looked at Jugen, I could tell he knew everything. Unlike the animals, he would remember. I trusted he would tell no one. He would keep it to himself. Leon Drake, Amelia Drake, these were my parents. Something bothered me deep inside. There names sent a chill through me. I didn't understand why.

I looked around the school. Everyone was following the images. Tammy was still asleep and so was Orion for that matter. I sat down beside Jugen. There was nothing to do but wait. "Os, ew evah on ecoihc tub ot eb sdneirf won." I joked but it was nice to have friends finally. I had the feeling I would need friends to help me in the future. I don't know why but I had the feeling my father wasn't the type of guy to let things go. I can't remember what happened between my parents but it had to do with me. I sighed loudly, my mind was wondering again. I didn't want to confuse the visitor in my mind.

Andy

I cautiously walked back to the mansion. Actually, scratch that, I ran full speed back there. If Tammy were to wake up all crazy, I wanted it to be with a sword at her throat. When I came back to the smoking ruins of Orion's office, I found Jugen and Tona sitting by Tammy and Orion. What they were doing I don't know. "Hey, everything under control? 'Cuz we just got a new kid and he seems pretty ticked at the evacuation thing."

Jugen

I sat thoughtful for a moment, or we did; I'm not sure. It was getting difficult to tell which were my thoughts and which were Tona's, but I was doing what I could. I was about to respond to what she had said, but Andy raced back, and asked if we has everything in hand.

"Yea, we're... fine. Tammy's still out, as is Orion. Tona's keeping a chill on Tams to keep her asleep, and I'm normal. I'll see to the transfer student; he saw me earlier, so he should be able to figure that I'm part of the school too." I stood back up, and brushed myself off of dirt. With a nod to Andy, I walked toward the shelter.

So, just how long is this link going to last? I thought to Tona as I walked. That felt such an odd way of communicating to someone... "thinking" to them. Then again, telepathy wasn't uncommon at Orion's. Will it wear off, or are we always going to be exposed to each other's thoughts? While I had no problem sharing memories and secrets with Tona, I don't think she needed to see everything that went through my mind. Some things are meant to be kept private.

Before I realized, I was at the safehouse in the forest. The low, rather small-looking building was a strain to see from the sky and nearly impossible when level with it unless you stood right next to it; it blended in perfectly with the forest around it, done from top to bottom in dark greens and subtle browns. I walked to the front door, itself hard to see, and ignored it in favor of kneeling to its left. The door was a facade; there was no way into the shelter directly through the walls, which were a good foot thick of steel-reinforced concrete. Instead a trapdoor nearby led to a tunnel that opened into the center of the shelter, mostly underground and only the upper roofs actually above the earth; someone trying to go through the top and managing were looking at a good fifteen-foot drop. If anyone did find the trapdoor and made their way in, they'd be surrounded by a large group of rather powerful students.

I made my way through the tunnel, and reaching the trapdoor into the place, tapped the rhythm of the first two bars of the "The Brady Bunch" theme song on the bottom of it. The door was lifted away and I pulled myself up, surrounded by what I guessed were two pyromancers, a geomancer, a wolf/human hybrid, and a youth with blades for forearms. They recognized me, and stood back, the youth's arms slowly turning soft and fleshy again.

"Is there a new student here? A teleporter, if I saw properly. I want to explain what's going on! If you could come here?" I looked for the guy, remembering what he looked like from the image-trail.

This post has been edited by kurisu-kun on 2006-12-21, 10:58 AM

((Okay. Since this is getting really slow I think I'll be willing to open some character slots for some people who would like to join and could contribute into the story. So if you know of any good RPers out there, please let them know, alright? Thanks. ))

Tona

What am I freaking you out? I playfully thought. Of course, I knew the answer already. It should be an hour or two. So don't worry. My thoughts were random at the moment. Some were Jugen's memories triggering repressed memories in my head. I was use to sharing a minds for two hours. This was all new to Jugen. I would just try not to think of to many confusing things.

Victor and Kris popped into my head. My two older brothers. I wondered had they heard about Grandpa and Grandma. I rarely thought about my brothers, so I stopped.

Slowly, I looked at the sky. It was a habit of mine. I stared blankly at it as if waiting to feel something. "S'gnihtemos gnow." I said still staring. I don't know what it was but the sky. It seemed strange. "Andy, Jugen. Tahw ot od won?" I looked at the sleeping Tammy and Orion. I really didn't believe he was still out of it. He seemed stronger then that to me.

"Rain. Heavy rain is coming." I could smell it in the air and feel it to. I looked at Tammy and Orion again. We should all get out of the open but where to take them. We have to wake up Orion. I'm not caring him and he might know what to do next. I thought to Jugen and then looked up at the sky again.

Andy

"Rain?" I said, looking at the dawning sky. "Great. Hold on, I'll get one of them," said I. "I doubt that either of them would like waking to waterlogged lungs."

Kneeling over the sleeping body of my new teacher, I heaved him up over my shoulder. Grunting from the weight, I teetered to the left and to the right as I carried him to the building, folding my steely wings into my back. "I guess I've been too lax, lately. My strength isn't as enduring as it used to be."

Eventually, however, I sat him in a chair in the main hall. I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Orion. Hey, wake up! Please? We need your help, man."

((I apologize for the necropost))

Due to the inactivity of one of my longest standing RPs, I'm allowing this thread to closed.

Now, before any of you eat me, hear me out: I've received numerous requests asking me to allow them to join and I just couldn't let them down! So I talked with a few moderators about what to do next. I told them that I didn't exactly want to begin a new RP in the same thread on page 61 (how confusing is that?!), so I asked them to close the original so I can create a new one open for any people interested in joining the epic story that is Orion's School for the Gifted.

So, don't freak out. If you're still interested in this story and wish to continue with us, feel free to join. The invitation is always open.

All in all, I'm allowing this thread to be closed so I can form a new one under the same title. It will have a stronger plot base and a more interesting variety of characters.

If you've got the talent and commitment to creating a successful RP with us, you won't be turned away!

It's been a pleasure Role-Playing with each and every one of you. I sincerely hope you feel the same.

We'll see you in the new topic! Many thanks,
~Jane a.k.a Lightning_Empress

For demonstrating superb roleplaying, and extreme longevity with little spam. This thread will be stickied as an example of what happens with good roleplayers.