New Limits [GIFT MASTERY CLASS]

The room was wide and tall, blank except for the air vents, with no windows or bright posters to distract the students in the room. What looked like cigarette smoke stained the ceiling. Kayla stared up at it in disdain. What kind of douchebag would smoke in here... A red padded mat covered most of the floor, and locked metal chests lined the walls. An odd sort of classroom, with bleachers instead of chairs. Even with all the students in attendance, the Gift Mastery class felt almost empty.

A stern looking woman with her hair pulled back in a ponytail stood in front of the crowd of students, with a piercing glare that could make a grown man flinch. "My name's Mrs. Harper," she started in iron tones, her voice ringing around the room. "I'm a Guardian here at the Academy, and I'll be helping preside over this class today."

Something about that sentence seemed to make the Guardian clench her teeth, but she continued on. "Instead of the usual, we'll be starting special exercises today. I want everyone to stand up, and if any of you brought weapons, leave them on the bleachers."

Kayla hopped off the metal bench with a sullen expression, hooking her thumbs into her short pockets. Lynn's gaze locked on her. "And no hats."

She didn't even have time to blink. One moment her cap was on her head, the next it was in the Guardian's hand... but neither of them had seemed to move. "Hey...!" she started to yell, but Mrs. Harper just talked over her.

"Hurry up!"

Blue eyes examined the teacher in a frightened manner. With the gaze she was giving everyone, he was certain that he did not want to be put on her bad side. Shifting, he took a look around the room, spotting people he did know and ones he only new from other classes. Only to be brought back to attention when the woman spoke. 'Something different? What could that be?' He assumed that he'd have his question answered soon. Though, it was still a moment of curiosity. No weapons too? Was this hand to hand combat? Standing, Leo gently set down his weapons, bow and quiver of arrows along with his trench knives. The student had actually grown attached to his trench knives. They seemed very easy to use and to him it seemed that he was actually fair at using them. Taking a few hesitant steps away from them, he then turned for the red mat, wondering and considering what could be next.

Those tones were not of a woman who was awash in generosity. Her loud and commanding voice scared Grace, who had never heard anyone speak so roughly before. She couldn't leave though, and only partially because of paralyzing nerves. This was a class for learning about one's gift, and Grace desperately needed to learn about hers, as much as she'd rather forget. Considering her unfortunate run-in with Kayla, and the upcoming Summer Tournament, her complete lack of offensive prowess was unacceptable. So even though the last thing she wanted was to be there, there she was.

With Mrs. Harper's gruff command, Grace quickly hopped to her feet, having no weapons to leave behind. Looking over the other students, she was surprised to see a bunch of them just carelessly placing down rather dangerous-looking items, which made her feel very uneasy. Is everyone just allowed to carry knives and stuff at a school?! In every instance, she was at a supreme disadvantage. Of course, it was pretty easy to spot those she had met before. After having spoken to Leo a few days earlier, he really didn't seem like the type to be holding a bunch of weapons, but then again, there they were. Perhaps it was more surprising that Kayla didn't have one though. Seeing the rather dominating storm cloud that was her sort-of-friend/sort-of-tormentor made her shiver with nerves. The last thing she needed was another embarrassing showdown with her, and in front of a bunch of students to boot.

Part of Hosa wasn't completely sure why she was here. When it came to her gift, she was almost a master but...Her time here at Beata was coming to a close, it wouldn't look the best if she missed some of her classes at the end, so here she was. She was relaxing on the bleachers when the 'teacher of the day' started to talk, grabbing the prefect's attention. Ar the command to stand up, Hosa quickly did so, but a grin appeared on her face at the command to leave their weapons on the beaches. Hosa almost never bought her dagger with her unless she knew she had to fight, and even then it was rather pointless. Who really needed a weapon when you could be your own? Not to say that Hosa was shabby with her weapon, she had become rather skilled with the dagger in the years at Beata. She just didn't need to use it most of the time.

Inari was sitting off to the side, gently petting her own tail as it laid across her lap. This way her way to calm herself down, being rather nervous for this class. Her gaze flickered up to glance at all the other students, but her attention was robbed away when the guardian started to talk. She listened intently, her fox ears flickering. She was nervous as she stood up, shifting her weight from foot to foot. When it came to her gift, she had no control. All she could do was set things on fire at the moment, and that wasn't the best thing to be able to do...And she couldn't even control that! She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. But that was why she was here, to gain mastery over her gift.

Devin was shifting nervously in his seat, tapping his leg with his hand in a rhythmic pattern for really no reason. Every one in a while his gaze would shift up to person that was standing in the front of the room, before going back to looking at his hand. His gaze only stated there when she started to talk. Getting up when she said too, his thin black tail flickered with uncertainly. His eyes suddenly widen when she said the 'no hat' rule, causing his hand to fly to the top of his head and pull off the Boston Red Sox hat he was wearing and threw it onto the bench behind him, revealing his black horns. He knew he hadn't been talking to him when he stated that, but he didn't really want to get in trouble...

Occ: I wasn't sure if this was just for the people in the tournament or whatever, so I joined with all of my characters. Better to be safe then sorry~

Brailynn had been sitting on the bleachers among the rest of the crowd, slightly surprised to see the unfamiliar guardian there instead of the normal teacher. That kinda sucked ass but she supposed it was no big deal. The young woman slipped the studded gloves off her wrist and left them next to her seat - standing with her hat still on; and only thinking to take it off once she'd seen another nearby girl's hat disappear in a flash. She set them on top of her bracers then before getting into line. No way anyone else would touch it.

One of the slowest to leave their weapon behind and pull themselves off the bleachers was Preston. He had only snickered at Kayla's hat theft for a moment before glancing around the room and sizing up the other students. Most of them that were here, he heard, were going to be in the Summer Tournament. In other words, most of the people here could be considered his competition. "Well, shit." Already there was a blonde guy with a practical armory on his back and another with horns growing out of his head. Things looked great so far.

Magic was sitting silently in the room watching others, and listening to the sounds around them. Magic wasn't paying attention when the 'teacher' entered the room, and started talking in that loud voice of hers. The loud voice had startled Magic into standing, and finally their power toned down to not make every sound so loud. They looked around the room, and saw everyone else standing and leaving weapons on the bleachers that they had sat on. Luckily Magic didn't have any weapons.. They felt like they didn't need any weapons with their power. They could manipulate sound for pete's sake that could be any range, but if only they could control it better.. Thats why they were here.

Destiny was there was well. She sat a bit away from the others and didn't really pay attention until the teacher walked in. She stood when the teacher told them to stand. She didn't really bother to bring her weapon today. She felt like she had a grasp on her power but she needed to know more, and get better so she didn't accidentally hurt anyone.

While students began leaving the bleachers at the orders of a new guardian, a small girl looked up in surprise as the shadow she had been sitting in disappear, only then noticing what she was supposed to do. Swiftly closing the tiny sketchbook in her hand, the blonde left her alarmingly large butcher’s knife on the seats along with a “sleeping” gray chick. Why she had it, who knows. “ She’s kind of scary,” Amelia thought while descending the stairs. All around her, other students were doing the same. “Are… all of these students in the tournament? Oh no.”


“Finally, we can start.” Barely fazed by the sharp tone, the dark-haired Winter stood from the first row of bleachers and taking less than a dozen steps before stopping along with the rest of the students. Almost inconspicuously, a small bag dropped onto his seat. Some might call it a man-purse, but the tiny bags of gunpowder inside shouldn’t be poked with sticks, words, or otherwise. In the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar face and casually waved at Grace. Standing with his hands lightly crossed across his midsection, Heron waited patiently for the lesson to begin.

Hieta had come to the class with an indifferent attitude. To be fair, this was only because his sister couldn't attend the session and Nicola personally wanted him to go so that she could figure out how to get back to normal again. At first, he had politely declined coming, but now, he saw the use in it - he did not want to try and kill students because he had lost control. Now, crimson red eyes were scanning the bleachers, and he had seated himself at the furthest possible bleacher and at the very edge.

Within the pockets of his jacket, his fingers gripped tightly at the cold, steel handle of a blade as he withdrew them from the hole. Twirling them around, the Spring kept a good look at the rest of the class, and since they couldn't see him, this shouldn't be too hard.

OOC;; Nicola's not allowed in because... still eight year old. And Lamia's well... Doing stuff, so one character. //not me being lazy

Another student rose as the woman in front told them to. He had to weapons or a hat on him, and was eager to take orders from this teacher. She seemed like the kind of person to focus on the student's powers and benefiting them. Lykos was all for that. Because he was new, he needed to get as much training as possible. There were a lot of students in here who were almost practically masters at their powers. That was the only frightening thing that Lykos couldn't shake off. He'd be going off against masters in their field. Biting his lip, he stared forward, determined to learn more about his power during this class.

Seeing that everyone was present (or at least everyone on time), Lynn curled her hands into fists, standing straight and at attention in front of the line of students, with the stern face of a drill sergeant. "Normally you would all be focusing on menial tasks to help hone the abilities you're familiar with..." Brown eyes scanned the crowd, looking for anybody out of place, only pausing momentarily on the boy with small black horns. "Most of you should have a basic grasp of your powers, what they do, how you use them. But today we're not focusing on what you're familiar with. We will be working to discover the new, creative applications to your powers."

Out of thin air, a clipboard seemed to just appear in her hand. Her eyes scanned down the list, and with no one touching them, the chests lining the walls just popped open on their own, one by one. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. They were all  filled with random junk.

"Grace Crowe," she called. A scarecrow-like dummy appeared on the far side of the room, away from everybody else. "Your gift has shown no offensive capabilities yet, but students with similar powers have documented the ability to summon shadow creatures, to create shields and weapons, and to use shadows to strangle, impale, cut, and smash." Her eyes flicked up from the clipboard. "Destroy the dummy without punches or kicks. That's your objective."

She moved on to the next on the list. "Hosa Corvina. You've already approached near mastery with your gift, it looks like..." Lynn flipped over a page, with a face that hinted at the beginnings of a smile. "And it says here last year, you were able to transform into a dragon in the Tournament Finals against Regina Froster. You're head and shoulders above most of the others here, so I want you to work on your most ambitious transformations, whatever that may be. Dragons, big animals, extinct animals, whatever you've never tried or think would challenge you."

Next down. "Leo Herman and Devin Morris. Your gifts conflict." She looked up at the boy with horns again, frowning somewhat. "Leo, your gift has other applications beyond wings. Light manipulation, physical enhancement... If the Academy's theory is correct, you shouldn't be able to touch Devin without causing harm. Devin, at the moment, you haven't been able to fully take on your... form. I want you two to spar. No weapons other than your gifts."

Frowning more, she flipped a page, giving the girl with fox ears a fleeting glimpse over the clipboard. "Inari Crevan. Focus on creating flames." Another training dummy appeared beside Grace's. "In your mind, create a column of flame, like a flamethrower. Burn the dummy to a crisp, tell me when it's nothing but ash. Don't burn the others." She furrowed her brow, narrowing her eyes at the next name on the list. "...Magic," she finally said, frowning. Beata Academy, home to the world's misfits and chimera, with horns and tails, the power of the gods at their fingertips, nameless and homeless. This was the only place for people like that. It was almost a little sad, in a way. "Focus on creating sound, like music or voices. I want the whole room to hear it."

"Destiny Williams, you will be working with Amelia McLochland and Hieta Kresnik."

She looked around the room. Destiny, Amelia, but... no Hieta that she could see. Lynn glanced down at the clipboard again, then back up, and with an exasperated sigh, took out a pen and crossed his name out. It ruined the whole exercise if he was gone. "Forget Hieta. Destiny, summon dead animals and control them. Amelia, try and hijack control. It should be a battle of mental will. Destiny, I also want you to focus on manipulating the life force of the... things you summon. Drain and restore it, interact with the souls and spirits, whatever it takes to push yourself."

OOC side-note: Destiny should be able to see and possibly interact with Hieta. She should get him involved in the exercise. -winkwinknudgenudge-
I hope I'm understanding Hieta's power right. Basically, Lynn doesn't really realize his whole "situation" or how his power works, so she doesn't realize that he's a spooky scary ghostman onii-chan. Her clipboard just says he has a form of demon physiology. hope that works out. ;^;

"Heron Sabine," she continued without skipping a beat. An array of random objects appeared on the floor in front of her. Plates of metal, a leather belt, a potted cactus, origami birds folded from bright colored construction paper, a diamond ring banded with silver. "We're here to find out if you can mimic multiple substances simultaneously." She stepped back. "If you can, we'll work from there. If you can't, then I'll find a new exercise for you. Don't put yourself into a coma."

Or die, she thought, but left it unsaid. "Lykos Braxton. You're a newer student, so there's a lot to work with. Your gift is adversely effected by emotional states, like fear or happiness." Her eyes flicked up, cold and hard, almost threatening. "So today, you will be working with my daughter."

Like all the other random objects, Addison Harper seemed to flash into existence out of thin air, inches away from the boy with bleached white hair. She took his hand, beaming up at him. "Hiya! My name's Addison. Nice to meet ya."

"Watch your step." It didn't sound like the cautionary advice of a teacher so much as the warning growl of a parent before they ripped your throat out. She moved on without another word.

"Preston Andrews." She knew his parents, although they'd almost never talked back when they were students together here. "You'll be focusing on generating and manipulating electricity without using an instrument or tool to channel it. Only your hands." Three small objects appeared in Lynn's palm. Metal pinballs, four inches in diameter. "You'll also try levitating these with electromagnetism."

Kayla stiffened up at the sight of them, a ripple of electricity coursing down her arm, but she'd already moved on. The pinballs had already teleported into Pres' hand. "Kayla Croft." She frowned, glanced up, and then to the now-hatless girl with blue lightning snaking up her sleeve. "You'll be walking on the ceiling. Br..."

"What?!" she snapped, cutting over her. "Are you an idiot, I can't—..."

There was a sudden stinging pain on the side of her face like she'd just been smacked, but there was no one there. Kayla reached up to rub her cheek, sparks crackling around her head. Lynn was standing over teen feet away, still staring at the clipboard, while Addison giggled from a safe distance. The younger girl waved sweetly when Kayla shot her a glare full of venom. She swore she could feel the ghost of a small hand on her face.

"Brailynn Moore."

Lynn didn't look up. "I'll be partnering with you this class. The rest of you, get to work. I'll be checking periodically on each of you."

The clipboard disappeared from her hands, the chests all closed, and she stood with her gaze locked on the girl with dirty blonde hair and a pendant with a green gem looped around their neck.

'Your gifts conflict.'

Yeah. They both knew, and they both didn't need to be told that. But it wasn't like the teacher knew. Leo tilted his head when she mentioned that Leo couldn't touch Devin without hurting him. He didn't ever touch Devin back when they were training...? Did he? Pursing his lips, he looked over at his opponent. He was about four inches taller than him, which wasn't much considering the age gap. At that moment, Leo desperately wished for a growth spurt. He could easily see the small horns on top of the boys head. 'Hadn't he worn a hat earlier?' He was sure that Devin had.

Stretching, Leo took a few steps into the mat, and turned to face his demonic counterpart. He wore an apologetic smile, knowing that he held a advantage physically. "I'll try and go easy on you, okay?" All the while, Leo knew, he had to find out about this light manipulation thing that the teacher had mentioned. How could he use that...?

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A child. She gave him a child to work with. Her child none of the less. What did she expect him to learn from her? Lykos gave the teacher an uneasy look. He didn't want to make the girl sad or angry, other wise, she'd turn to her mother.

Whack!

And that other girl was slapped from 10 feet away. This lady was not meant to be trifled with. Looking back down at the girl, he forced himself to smile. It wasn't a smile. More like a grimace, but it was as good as he could do. "...H-hi. Nice to meet you too." Lykos replied through his teeth, looking down at where she had taken his hand. What the hell did the teacher want him to do? This girl looked very happy and it made him nervous. He swallowed, unsure of what to do with a child holding his hand. He was not a baby sitter. Lykos didn't know about kids. Why do you even have them? They are weak and fragile. And if he were to break this kid, he'd be at the mercy of this lady.

I'm sorry...What? She wanted Hosa to do what? Hosa's once cool and collected attitude had quickly turned into a nervous one. Miss Lynn or whatever had been right about the whole dragon thing...Although Hosa had worked hard on not bringing it up for the last year or so. But she supposed that would always be on record but...She didn't want to actively try to turn into a dragon! She had almost killed Regina Froster and had lost control...But her mind did drift to the other option she had given her...Big animals...Extinct animals.

That had been something she had never tried to do as she started to walk to her own part of the room, breaking away from the line of students as she milled about what to do. She had never tried to do that. She had turned into a dragon...But never a dinosaur. That could be fun! But...The same worry she had about her dragon form loomed in her mind. What if she lost control? But she supposed a dragon was far different from a dinosaur. Dragons was a mythical, magical being. Dinosaurs? Just long and gone animals...Her eyes brighten as she came to a stop in a section of the room away from everybody else. Yeah...She could do this! But what animal then...

Her figure tapped her chin as she thought and thought, thinking long and hard about the different kinds to go for. T-Rex? No, to big and too much of a danger if she did lose control. Mammoth? No, to close to elephants and simply not that exciting. Velociraptor? Haha, no. She had seen old movie of  Jurassic Park  thank you very much, and that was bad if she lost control as well. Pterodactyl? No, dangerous as well a-...Well...It would be fun. She started to picture the form of a pterodactyl, trying to put her best image of one in her mind for her body to copy. But...Then nothing happened. She let out an annoyed sigh as she stopped her foot as she shook her head. Come on...She could do this! Focus! She closed her eyes, once more trying to focus the form of a pterodactyl. Come on...

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Devin blinked when his name was called, his green eyes staring at Lynn as she mentioned Leo as well, and then ordered them to spar. A frown appeared on his face, his devil tail flicking behind him as he glanced down the row of students to the 'angel.' Man, he liked Leo, he didn't want to fight...Besides, he knew it was a hopeless battle. He didn't have any abilities he could use, and if Leo's touch really would hurt him...Yeah, it was pretty hopeless alright. She even had mention the fact that he couldn't even use his demon form! But, what choice did he have? He blinked when he saw Leo heading toward him, before he came to a stop in front of him. His words did little to comfort the 'demon' but he supposed he had been in the right place with those words. "I hope so, as I feel like I am just going to be your training dummy for today," he said with a small laugh, knowing that he might as well be one. Now, he liked Leo. They were friends! But really? This seemed unfair. Like, super unfair.

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Setting fire to a training dummy...Great. Inari frowned as her fox-tail flickered, watching as the teacher went on down the list. This could be the perfect time to mention it but...Inari hated setting things on fire. I mean, she loved her gift and such...But not the setting things on fire on a whim thing, mostly because she didn't have control of that 'whim.' But she supposed that was why she was here, so when Lynn gave the okay to go off on her own, she made her way over to the training dummy. Coming to a stop a good distance away, she stared at it with a small smile gracing her lips. It looked kinda funny to her, reminding her of a scarecrow. But she supposed she would have to get started. Her ears flickered as she stared at the scarecrow, attempting to figure out how she would set it on fire. She had never had control over when to set things ablaze so...This would be rather new to her. At first, she simply tried to picture it on fire with her blue flame of fox-fire...But that didn't work, mainly because she was having trouble even picturing it aflame.

She pouted childishly at it when she failed to set it on fire, her tail lashing back and forth as she crossed her arms. The training dummy just stood there, and she decided that it was somehow mocking her although it was, you know...A training dummy. She really wanted to do this - complete this training. But it seemed the main idea of this lesson was what the main issue. She attempted to picture the dummy on fire some more, even attempting to really try to just summon the flames at it but nothing was working. She annoyed the kitsune to no end, and finally she stomped her foot in a huff as she closed her eyes "Come on!"

Then the sound of a crackling flame filled her ears, causing her eyes to flicker open. The top of the dummy's head had suddenly burst into a mystical blue flame - her fox-fire. Excitement filled Inari - mainly because she had manged to set that on fire and not herself or anybody else. She clapped her hands together, almost bouncing up and down in her spot. Yes! She was getting there! However, the sound of another flame came to her attention causing her to glance over her shoulder. Her ears suddenly fell back on her head as she let out a sigh. Well, so much for not setting herself on fire. The tip of her tail burned with the flame of the fox-fire, although it did no harm to her. But...She supposed she could use this. Walking over to the training dummy, she spun around and let her fox tail brush against it - setting it ablaze using the flame from her tail. She was sure this wasn't what Lynn was expecting, but it would work for now.

Grace gave a tiny, frightened yelp of surprise when her name was called out, feeling a bit put on the spot as the first name called, but it seemed as if everyone else was either too nervous or too focused to notice, and she felt more embarrassed for thinking like that. She tried to make eye contact with the instructor, but she was staring at her clipboard, and when her gaze finally flicked upwards, the young girl was too nervous to look her way, instead gazing at the scarecrow dummy that had materialized towards the back of the room. At least it was far away from everyone else, though when she began making her way towards it, a second one appeared close by for another person. At least they didn't have to spar; that would've ended terribly, at least for her.

Deep green eyes stared bemusedly at the scarecrow before her. No punches, no kicks. That was her objective: to destroy the dummy with just her powers. Other students had been able to do so with similar powers, so why couldn't she? Her stomach was slowly churning with nerves, and while the darkness was washing up and down her arm like a wave, it wasn't a power under her own power. On top of that, her concentration was broken upon the training dummy next to her having its head burst into flames. The... the fox-girl seemed capable of doing it. Why couldn't she? Misery rose up like bile in her throat, and she fought the urge to cry in front of an entire room full of people. In desperation, she lifted her arm and faced her palm at the scarecrow, trying to concentrate hard on... anything, really. Darkness played teasingly along her hand, but she couldn't get it to do anything but cover her hand, leaving her feeling an emptiness just as great as the one her powers forced upon her. What do I do?

Create the sound...? He could manipulate the sound sure, there was plenty of it in this room. But Magic never really created sound before.  This was going to be a bit of a challenge but he was sure it wasn't impossible. No nothing was impossible at least not in this place. He could do it if he stayed calm, and kept his mind straight. If he didn't then his power would become ineffective. He learned that the hard way that one time stuff happened.

With a sigh he sat down again. This wasn't gonna happen if he was standing. Mason closed his eyes and focus his mind. A song should be easier to create right? So he would have to find a song he knew very well. What song would that be though? He thought for a moment before deciding on a simple piano melody. No vocals should be easiest to create, and only having to focus on one unique sound would be easy too. One instrument equals one sound. Thinking this way made Magic feel better about his challenge.

With a deep breath Magic got start on his challenge. He started thinking of the song he wanted to create. It was a simple piano song that he remember from when he was younger. His mother played it all the time, so he remembered it very clearly. As he focused on the song he began to hear it a little, but it was soft like a whisper. He was happy that he managed to get the song to be heard slightly, but now he needed to make it louder for people to hear. That was going to be a challenge. He let out a sigh and started to focus again.  
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Destiny blinked. She was paired up with people? Three of them to be exact. Well the third the teacher couldn't see but the necromancer could, and she could tell he was there too, and that he was in fact dead. She never knew what was different about the dead and the living to her but she could always tell if something or someone was dead. "Hieta, your with me, and uhhh... Amelia come over here too."

Summoning was easy, but the life-force thing was difficult. She usually had to touch the thing she wanted to drain the life-force from, but there was once she didn't but that was a long time ago. With a sigh Destiny summoned two things. Both of them skeletons seeing how most dead animals here had their flesh already decayed. After a moment a human skeleton, and wild dog skeleton came running into the room and over to their master. This was honestly strange to have the skeletons around other students. Usually when the skeletons were around bad things were gonna happen, but she managed to keep her cool this time.

The skeletons stuck to their master, and looked at the others around the room. Destiny gave off a sigh. She didn't exactly know what to do with a dead student on her hands. Maybe he could take over the human skeleton and have a sort of body for a change? Maybe so. But she didn't exactly know what to do with with him, or if he could take over a skeleton for a matter of fact. Maybe since he was dead she could control him? Maybe so...

Amelia gazed about the room and focused on her partner, Destiny. Take… control? She hadn’t thought of the mental part of her power; she just assumed it was some sort of a mind-meld. Nevertheless, the blonde approached with an almost skip in her step. Where was their other partner? No matter how much she scanned and rescanned the bleachers, Hieta was nowhere to be found. Why would he sign up for the class if he was just going to ditch it? But Destiny seemed to be talking to on him. Huh?

She stopped just feet from Destiny, hands held behind her back. She smiled at her, a bit more so when the two skeletons appeared. The human was a no-go, people seemed off limits according to her power, and it also seemed very... Disrespectful. After all, they would have a full-blown personality, complex memories, and controlling one would be too much to bear for the either of them.

The dog, however, would be much easier. She wondered if it could see, hear, or even feel without any tissue. Time to find out. The shorter girl crouched in front of the dog and thought to it, hoping it could hear her. "Hi." Well. She didn't know what to say to a dog, less so a dead one. The canine needed to stay calm for this to work, and Amelia needed to know if it was aggressive or not. She reached out her small hand a little awkwardly, holding it in front of where its nose should have been. Could it even smell her? All these questions that might be rude to ask.


With his dark eyes focused at their instructor, Heron didn’t see the objects at first, just aware of them suddenly appearing on the floor. When she passed, all he could see was the leather belt. Although he knew it was possible he had advanced his power enough to be the leather, the thought of the poor cow that died to make it made him want to throw up. Plus, the time he touched a leather couch had left him with ugly brown “rashes” and a strange urge to eat grass.

After kicking the offending piece of clothing away, he sat cross-legged in front of the little cactus. This he could do. He focused the hardened clay on his legs, the sand his arms and torso, and the cactus itself his head.

"PhOtOsYnThEsIs. pHoToSyNtHeSiS." Oh no. The proportions didn’t turn out quite right at all. The single cup of sand couldn’t support the nearly ten foot, spineless, ugly, malformed cactus. At least he could think in here, still being a living thing and all. In a minute, he was back to a human form. More sand, less cactus. Got it.

Nope, this wasn’t it either. Now he was an unreasonably large pile of soft, yellow sand. When he transformed back, he laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling, wanting to groan in frustration. What was so hard about becoming a nice, proportional, potted cactus? Everything, he supposed. While his foot touched the little pot, his toes were slowly turning into clay. He didn’t bother stopping it, he needed to take a breather.