Aidan Ryder || 17 || Grade 11 || Human || M: Open

Ah, school. High school. A hellscape of immaturity, dramatization, and suffering. A place where hopeful minds were crushed and melded into society's molds, where dreams were shattered and anxiety increased tenfold. A place where laughter died and taunts flourished, where the harsh hands of reality caught hold of teenaged creatures.

Except for Aidan, of course.

A subtle smirk danced on his suntanned face as he studied the cold, dead walls that announced the presence of Dunhurst Prep. It looked like a prison – and Aidan would know. Jail and academic hubs had many similarities: the cliques, subplots, and dreary settings transferred between the two quite well. Too well for Aidan to want to enter the building. So, he lagged behind, opting to watch the goings on of both new and old students. A few were making appearances here and there. Most were brief.

Ever since the human school had burned down, the town had been in an uproar – first trying to find the cause (it had nothing to do with Aidan Ryder, for once) and then working to solve the problem of where the humans would attend. The conclusion had been to send them all to none other but Dunhurst, the boarding school of the supernatural. Lychs, shifters, fairies, witches, and more all attended the school to learn… otherworldly things. Things that Aidan had no interest in. Frankly, he was curious as to how these academic arrangements would pan out, mixing human and humanoid together. He knew full well that there were many on each side who disliked those of the other category.

Whatever. It meant nothing to him. It wasn't like he was going to actually attend classes – this was just a temporary living assignment, another way to cover the tracks of his darker lifestyle.

He was not about to put aside his wild ways for the sake of the town saving face. They claimed it was “gracious” and “humbling” that Dunhurst had allowed human students to enter its gates. To Aidan, it was one more jab in a broken rib, reminding him that there were beings who thought it an act of service to let human lowlifes into their “gifted” community. Aidan wasn't here for charity – in all honesty, he didn't want to be there at all. He refused to go. What would they do? Threaten him with failing high school?

A soft snort escaped the male and he shook his head, turning his back on the school and walking into the surrounding woods. To hell with it all. It was time to just have fun.

"Mhmm," came his response when Briar thanked him, too busy sipping his own coffee to offer a verbal reply. His own was bitter and bland, but he never did drink it for taste. It was specifically to block his sleep-promoting receptors and keep him awake.

He held the mug close, watching Mira as she transitioned. At some point, he had blinked, and when he opened his eyes next, she was standing in her human figure. Smile still lingering on his lips, he lowered the mug from his face, taking in the sight of her.

She had asked if there was sugar in his coffee, to which he shook his head, offering a soft "no." Regardless, he still offered it to her, but not before taking a large swig himself, savouring the sharp taste. He had seen Mira after taking both large and small doses of sugar, and silently thanked the air that he chose to have his coffee black.

Offering the mug to her, he was left dangling it in the air as she paused her reach for it, choosing to reply to Briar's question instead. While she spoke, Vasuki stepped forward, lifting her right arm and placing the mug right into her hand before tuning into the conversation.

"I figured we could get something to eat in the cafeteria. We could scope everyone out in the process." His own eyebrows raised, eager to take in the sight of the new arrivals. "They may also have those small muffins, you know which ones I mean?" He glanced from Mira, to Briar. "The little blackberry ones? With the subtle hints of lemon?" As he spoke, he wandered towards Briar, hand reaching for his now empty mug.

He proceeded to lug himself to the sink, fingers tapping against the ceramic until he turned on the sink. He waited, as if in a trance, for the steady stream of water to transition from cold to hot before submerging the mug under it, washing it. When he finished, he placed it upon the counter, letting it air dry before sauntering back to his side of the room.

"They sit next to the bran ones," he continued, still speaking about the muffins before waving them off. "Anyways, it will be nice to see some new faces." Changing the subject, Vasuki glided over to his dresser, selecting various items of clothing to wear for the day. Today, he would wear his high-rise grey trousers, paired along with a plain, white, long-sleeved shirt and a dark blue sweater vest.

Without speaking anything further, he vanished into the bathroom, and when he next emerged, he was clothed in his chosen outfit. His sweater and sweatpants hung over his arm as he returned to his bed, folding the items neatly, yet also quickly before returning to both Mira and Briar.

He paused, eyes snapping onto his leather satchel, to which he hurriedly glided over to. Snatching it with his lengthy fingers, he grasped the strap while his other hand reached for his book. Lugging the heavy thing over his shoulder, he stuffed his book into the bag chaotically and returned, brushing himself off.

"Shall we get going?"

Briar Solanine Tinuviel

Witch | Male | Seventeen | Grade Twelve | Mentions: Vasuki , Mira , Kyros , Human Students [ind.]

The young man watched the couple in front of him interact, and he gave a soft rare smile. The both of them were adorable together and practically made for each other. He then heard Mira's response to his question. And when a loud angry rumble came from his stomach, he frowned a bit. When was the last time he had eaten? Had it been a day or two? He knew his sleep was screwed up like usual, but his eating habits had been messed up as well. That's when he realized he was hungry, and even this coffee he had wouldn't be enough to satisfy his hunger. He needed some real food , he's surprised he hadn't gotten any snacks earlier . Ah, so that explained his headache last night - he thought it was from dehydration but no it was because of a lack of food in his system. That was bad, he needed energy to perform his spells - so a lack of energy mean less powerful spells and that would affect his progress in class. So heading to the cafeteria it was.

He watched as Vasuki gave Mira his plain black coffee. And Briar took one last swig from his , the vanilla tasting good with the bitterness of the dark coffee. He was disappointed to find that there was no more coffee in his mug, and he listened as Vasuki mentioned some blueberry muffins with hints of lemon in them and he nodded in agreement at the mentioning of them. "Those sound heavenly right about now, hopefully they have some pancakes . I want to douse them with chocolate syrup and have whipped cream and strawberries on them." He said whistfully, "or maybe they'll even have some of those good cheese danishes! And I'm rather curious as to how the humans will react to us, I hope I don't have to hex someone for being rude."

His train of thought was interrupted when he a ping of his phone. It was a text from Kyros and his contact was under "Hot Boy Summer" , and it read : "You up, sweets? I'm feeling hungry and you can help me with that ;) Meaning we can go to breakfast together. I'll be at your door in a minute." The male could feel his face grow red at the second sentence and the use of the nickname, and he heard a small poof and knew that some flowers had grown in his hair, and he groaned and ended up falling off of his bed with a sharp thud.

"Damnit." He hissed at himself. He groaned in an annoyed manner , the grogginess still clinging to him like a leech, "That was Kyros. He's invited me to breakfast, so I guess the four of us will walk down together, since apparently he'll be waiting for me outside." He said giving a light roll of his eyes.

He opened his text and began typing out a response to the male, "Haha, very funny man bun. Me, Vasuki, and Mira already have plans to down to breakfast and scope out the newbies coming to school. So since you'll already be outside , I guess you can walk with us. And you made me fall out of my bed asshole >:( ."

He got up off the ground and brushed himself off and smoothed out his skirt a bit. And then it hit him, he forgot to do his wing eyeliner. Luckily for him he always kept a small mirror on him and his eyeliner in his makeup bag that was in his large messenger bag. So he could do it on the go or if he needed a quick touch up for his look. And so with a smile he nodded at Vasuki.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go." And while saying that he was removing the flowers from his hair and heading towards the door. He had managed to get most of the flowers out and placed them in an empty vase that was in the room before walking out the door. He decided that the few flowers in his hair he had left made his outfit stand out more and thought it was a nice look.

He grabbed his mirror and opened it - with diligence and efficiency, as if he's practiced this a thousand times he put the winged eyeliner on his eyes to accentuate them and that they did. He then noted the casual look of Kyros and then his mug. He groggily walked over to the guy and placed his head on his chest.

"I think I spent too much time obsessing over class work again. Carry me down these hellish stairs." He grumbled, Kyros had known him since they were kids so he knew how he could be and Briar knew the male wouldn't deny his request. So he removed himself from Kyros, and looked at the male expecting a response. And he wondered if he would notice the growing dark circles under his eyes. And he gave a slight yawn as well.

"Did they finally get you a roommate? I haven't checked the portal to see the dorm assignments." He asked Kyros curiously.

Thaddeus Kircen Falker// Male//Lich Supernatural//G10//Sixteen//Mentions: Tsuki, Humans(ind)

There were many ways for a person to sit, polite ways perhaps, or at the very least, acceptable ways. Kir sat crookedly atop his seat, one leg closer towards his chest, and the other thoughtlessly extended over another couple of chairs. He hadn’t a device, nor some small hobby one could carry with them to pursue entertainment. A muffin about three quarters wide crumbled between his teeth, his fearful stomach having taken more than half of his cravings thus far.

He’d vaguely watch as, collectively, a grade of students assembled themselves inside the lunchroom. And as if bothered by their presence from the vast, isolated, cob-webbed corner that he currently claimed, Kir huffed within himself, raising his vision towards the window overhead which leaked such brightness, he nearly hissed.

The hefty timber outdoors basked in the daylight, and he could see the sun so vividly pulsating through its leaves. It began to coax him from the artificial towers of Dunhurt prep and out into the contorted wilderness that was nature. Nonetheless, Thaddeus stayed put, lifting himself amidst peeling a rather ripe banana. He fully turned towards the window, drinking in the insignificant activities that took place along the tree line.

And what made his eyes sharpen precisely and albeit darkly onto the campus parking lot was no other than the humans. Outwardly, some if not most supernaturals could easily blend into the flesh of a human being. .like himself perhaps. Should he exist from the rotten tethers of his lich form, Kir could easily pass as one of them. But what crowded at and beguiled his otherworldly specter were the. . .well, normal souls of humans. If he were to look at a supernatural being, their essence would be entirely different.

What hauntingly outraged him the most was how. . .delicious the soul of a normal being tasted compared to, well, everyone else. The last thing Kir wanted was to lust after a human. To be fair, he needn’t nor wanted to lust after anyone really, but the lich in him hadn’t a choice in the matter.

Now while Kircen isn’t necessarily a fan of the humans, he certainly didn’t hate them. Did they deserve that precious exhaust? No. Not anyone really. Disregarding the factor of their simplicity and in his books, inferiority, they were fragile. Should he have to hold back and restrain himself so the delicate meatbags don’t break, there’ll be a riot. Now he is a fan of riots, so that’d be a wonderful change of pace he supposed.

He’d let his gaze linger for far longer than he’d usually like, recoiling from the intrigue that crept within him. There's nothing cool about these people…right? But it’ll be fun to see what they’re like. No matter. Kir relocated his view, raking a cumbersome hand through his disheveled locs, and should he covet for the skilled graces of grease, he wouldn’t necessarily need it in this moment. His tresses, handsomely filmed in the dampness of liquid, slicked back against his scalp, and if anything, granted the visibility of his wrathful existence even further.

The cafeteria, although flooded with people he couldn’t hope to recognize, Thaddeus couldn’t help but pin his flighty vision onto someone. . .familiar. “Hey, fox.” He beckoned with a voice so thunderous a limitless amount of peers casted a glance over their shoulders.

“Tsuki.” Kir nearly purred. “Foxy.” He continued. “Pesky fox.”

Meticulously, he wove through the crowd. Wait, no he didn’t.

Thaddeus paved his way by pushing heads and kicking the back of knees, shoving his hands in his pockets as he reached her. Tsuki was his friend. And he wanted to say it was unfortunate, but for once, he couldn’t admit that. Kir shifted himself up close, his mouth quaking so as to suppress the upwards tilt that nearly throned his lips. “Hm. I just remembered something funny.”

Indeed he had. But was it of the past? Or what he meant to propose for the future? “Anyways.” Kircen huffed, absently kicking at the toe of her shoes in thought. “Amuse me. . .you know, like you always do.” He lifted his head, tracing a finger along the outline of her ears. “Damn, I forgot you have these shits.”

Its not like he didn’t see her often, but to be fair, amidst their many interactions, Thaddeus had hopelessly lost himself in the bewitchment of her gaze. Dark, wine red pupils that made him oddly thirsty. Like he needed a glass of water or something- Like everytime she looked at him, he bared his life force. He would never tell her this though, or anybody for that matter.

“Tell me what's in that tricky little head of yours.” Kir remarked, smirking ever so slightly. Had she thought of something? A way to mess up everybody’s day? Casually, he fell back onto one of the lunchroom benches, swinging his arms on either side of the table behind. “Eat here with me.”

Anya was somewhat skeptical about the Human Students starting at Dunhurst. Although she felt indifferent towards them, that absolutely did NOT prevent her from having feelings against their move to her school. The school that the Supernaturals attended, not humans.

Opening her eyes as she strode towards the large bathroom, she cursed under her breath for having such deep thoughts in the early hours of the day.

From there she stepped lightly into the large spa that occupied a large amount of the floor space. Anya sighed deeply, clearly content as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth.

***

It was only when she was getting changed around half-an-hour later that she realised her equestrian team had training today. As Vice-captain, she thought, clearly amused, I had better get going o I'm there early.

Pulling on her new jodphurs and a dark green polo shirt, she pulled on her long-boots and headed for the door, eager to get to the barn and club rooms that were just down the road from Dunhurst. She would make sure she was back in time to see the humans, of that she was sure.