The Two Academies

[TheWanderingShadow]

The next morning John was walking in the East hall, when he overheard people talking. "I'm telling you Joseph, we need you! We need at least one more fighter before we can safely leave!"
"Sorry Mike, I hate the shadowlings as much as the next guy, but I just can't go. I became a black cape so that I could help my home village fight the raiders, and thats what I intend to do. I'm sorry."
"I understand. You need to help your family and honor your promises before anything. I respect that." John heard a defeated sigh. He rounded the corner and saw an very unhappy looking black cape.
"What's wrong?" he asked. The man gave a slight jump at John's voice, and turned to him.
"A black cape! You're just the person I need!" he cried. He then mumbled something that sounded like. "If a little young. . ."
"What are you doing?" asked John. "I couldn't help but hear you saying something about shadowlings." The man drew himself up and said, "Yes. We're going to go out and hunt down every last one of those idiotic shadowling loyalists we can find!" John was shocked. Partly because of the boldness of this stranger's move, but also because his parent's death had flashed through his mind again. Great, now it's not just in my nightmares, he thought.
"Hello? Are you still there?" the black cape was asking.
John snapped out of his trance and replied "Y—yes, um . . . did you clear this with the dean?"
"Of course, of course." the black cape snapped. "Are you going to come?"
"Wh—wha? Me?" flustered John.
"Of course, you. Another Psy is just what I need to complete my team. You're a Psy, right?"
"Y-yes, a Psy assassin." John thought for a bit. He was still upset at the hurried way that the black cape had answered his earlier question. After thinking for a while more, he made up his mind.
"Alright, I'll come. I have a particular. . . ah. . . score to settle with the Loyalists." One in particular, he thought.
"Perfect. My name's Mike." He stretched out his hand.
"John." as he shook Mike's hand.
"Get ready and come to the West gate at noon. See you there."
Mike left, leaving John feeling confused Why did I just do that? It's way too dangerous. I should make sure the dean knows about this mission . . . John stayed where he was. This is my chance, he realized. My chance for revenge. This is how I'll get rid of the nightmares. This is how I'll get rid of everything . . .
Later, Ben noticed John packing up. "Going on a trip?" he asked.
"Yes, classes don't start for a little while, so I thought, why not take a trip to the Great Forest for a few days? I'm sure the fresh air will do me some good."
"Alright then, be careful of bugs. See you." Ben hurriedly replied. "Er. . .I have to teach Cryo class right now—I'm very late." He rushed off.
Strange, thought John. I've never seen Ben in such a hurry before. He shrugged his shoulders and continued packing.

Is Mike allowed to be doing this mission? I mean, did he get permission?

[cyso]

Bob was walking down the hall, lost in thought. His teacher, Grotius, was supposed to be starting a lesson in a few hours on cyro blast. Granted, it would be several more months before he masted the attack, but he still was excited. He turned a corner and ran right into Professor Hawk, the Cyro teacher for black capes. "Oh sorry, professor. I didn't see you." Bob said apologetically. "No harm done, don't worry about it. It was my fault. Now, um, I've got to get to a class." With that, the professor dashed off. "Strange..." He seemed to be headed towards the head dean's office, not his class room. Interested, Bob waited a few seconds, then walked over to the office. He didn't want to risk getting caught outside the office, but he could use his Sight ability to see what was going on. Professor Hawk was telling something to the head dean while some other teachers listened. When he was done talking, everyone else started to talk at once. Bob moved a little closer to try to hear. They were talking fairly loud, but he couldn't make anything out. Finally, he heard a voice say "Enough!" It sounded like the head dean. "I know the shadowling loyalist have been a problem, but there's nothing we can do about it without violating our treaty with the shadowling republic. They wouldn't like it if we killed shadowlings without their permission. Until we get it, we can't do anything." He heard some more murmuring, but the rest of the meeting carried on quietly. He didn't want to be seen outside of the office, so he walked off to a practice room in the basement. He thought about what he had heard. He harbored no malice against the shadowlings, but he had heard about how dangerous they had been before. He couldn't help but think about the dream he had last night. He wondered what it all meant.
Zack and Buggy are a little behind on their stories.

[MikeW781]

Yeah, Mike is allowed to be doing this. I don't mean charging into Sommnus and kicking the crap out of the shadowlings who liked the reign of Nelis, I mean hunting down the ex-slavers who are in hiding, and still attack humans on sight. Rogue groups that wouldn't be defended by our treaty with the shadowlings.

[Zackirus]

I'm Waiting for Buggy to Respond, But I guess I can guess he is going to say yes and the bug is going to stay with me. Also: You can do mostly anything you want (I will stop it if its too big) as long it doesn't interact of any sort with the other dimension.

Zack walked towards Cryo 101 with the Nymph underneath his collar looking out at the world. It felt weird having a bug near his neck but he had to deal with it. He turned the corner and came face to face with Mrs. Biyal, his Shadow Teacher. She seemed to be mumbling to herself, "Do I want support the killing of Shadowling loyalists or not?". She paused and saw Zack. She quickly hurried off and left Zack wondering what a Shadowling Loyalists was. He sent a message to Zaron. Do you know what a Shadowling Loyalist is? Zaron responded They are are a bunch of Shadowlings that are still loyal to the queen. Zack was going to ask about the queen but he was distracted by a couple guys who were talking, about Shadowlings, he tried to get their attention but they walked off before he could say anything. All he heard was meet they were going somewhere for a few days and meeting at the West Gate at Noon. Zack quickly ran back to his room and packed his bags. He would follow these guys and try to see what was happening.

My name is Frex," he told the kid, "I got here completely by accident." Zack didn't trust him, he seemed like a pirate to him, and he didn't like pirates, "It's true, I swear," Frex said, "I just got away from a group of Shadowlings about an hour ago, and I followed a student here, where I thought I could take shelter." Zack believed him this time and thought he should start over. "My name is Zack" Zack responded as he walked toward his window and looked outside. "You said you were on the run right?" "Yes." Frex whispered. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but the amount of Shadowlings guarding this place is a lot, and even more will be here in the morning because Mr. Srat might inform the Dean. You might want to stay low for a while. You're around my height". Zack reached over to his closet and passed him one of his uniforms and a spare blue cape. "As of right now, you're enrolled in Psy Academy. You have to work out the details later" Zack smiled as he handed him the clothes and cape.    

[MikeW781]

HL Dimension
Mike sat in his room, reflecting over the past few days. He had finally become a Black Cape, and was expecting to be recruited soon. That was always the pattern. Students advanced far enough, and then we sent to lead armies against any shreds of rebellion against the reign of Nelis. He had watched it happen many times. He had no friends in this acadamey, but that way a choice he had made. He had planned from the start on escaping as soon as he could, and had therefore become the perfect student for this. He had no close friends, so nobody would be punished for his escape, or notice him missing. Also, he gave off enthusiasm, but did not reveal his full power or his assassination skills so that he would be sent to a job where he didn't matter, and would have very little supervision. When the time was right, Mike could escape. When he was given his assignment, he would pretend to take it with pride, and then disappear on the way to his new "job". He would leave evidence that he had been attacked by spreading his blood on some spare clothes, and leaving several dead feral animals and weapons around his "corpse". To the shadowling overlords, it would seem that another human of little importance had been lost to the futile efforts of a rebel group. He had it all planned out. All his work, all his plans of the last few years came down to this. He grinned. He was ready.

[cyso]

Violating the treaty is a little bit of an overstatement, I guess. I just wanted to say that the dean didn't support killing off the shadowling loyalist yet, because he would then have to explain why the academy, which is normally neutral, killed a bunch of shadowlings. Of course, the shadowling republic probably would understand, but he believes that it would be much easier to wait until they get official permission to kill the loyalist. Some of the other teachers agree with Mike, that the shadowlings aren't under protection of the treaty, hence the bickering in the office.

[MikeW781]

Very well then, to appease the Dean, we could say we could ask the Shadowling Loyalists to come peacefully as they are wanted for questioning in the disapearance of several humans, and if they attack us we are permitted to use lethal force.
So, which we wouldn't tell the Dean, or anybody who wasn't in favor of this, would could just kill them and SAY they attacked us first. If this is okay with you, I'll put it in character dialogue.

[TheWanderingShadow]

Ben hurried down the corridor. He felt bad about Scanning John, but it was his duty to make sure the boy was safe. John's defenses were strong—partly Ben's own fault—but he had clearly caught the words "shadowling" and "mission". Ben hadn't heard about any missions recently, so he was rushing to the dean's office to make sure. He didn't normally go to meetings, but this one applied to John, too. I just hope that John won't get into trouble . . . he's still branded! Ben suddenly remembered. The thought made him run even faster. John better not run into any slave traders . . . fretted Ben.

Oops, I'm a bit slow. :P

[cyso]

I never said you had to appease the dean. Plenty of people agree with you. If you do a good enough job, you can kill them without a hitch and say that you were ambushed by shadowlings, and you had to strike back.
I think I'm a day ahead of Frex and Zaron, so I'll wait for you guys to get done with the night and move to the next day.

[TheWanderingShadow]

I think I'm a day ahead of Frex and Zaron, so I'll wait for you guys to get done with the night and move to the next day.

Zack's back there with them, too.

[Duskling]

Frex put on the garments, and the cape. Strangely enough, the cape was blue, which, from what Senz told him, was not one of the more powerful cape ranks. However, he put it on anyway, what choice did he have? He was grateful for Zack saving him from the teacher, if he didn't, Frex would probably be thrown back to the Shadowlings, and he certainly didn't want that. "I've never been here before," Frex told Zack, "How do things work here?"

[bugfartboy]

Sorry I'm late. I was on Vacation for the weekend and had no wifi.  I thought I'd said that but I guess not. I had started typing this out already though.

"A clever one aren't you?", Zaron asked. "Yes it's me. I've decided to spare a Nymph to reestablish contact with the upper world. I have spent so long in the dark. Keep the Nymph with you, as a favor to me. But try to keep it out of the light as much as possible. It's not good for it", Zaron chuckled. "But be a good boy and don't irk it. A tiny bite is all it takes. I'm not gonna be able to direct it forever."

Then he gave it orders to only show itself if necessary and learn. Content, Zaron went back to thinking.

[Zackirus]

Zack's back there with them, too.

No, I'm got up now.

[The Holy namelesskitty]

Cassiopia sat in her room in psy academy reading a historical account of the human/shadowling war, she noted with distaste that the war was won because of a human.

"Tratiorous," she thought "the lot of them. They'd sell their own mothers for a few coppers, such is their lust for gold and power."

She remembered her instructor, he was human but he seemed so nice, but then... She couldn't bear the thought. And there she sat fuming with anger and a general distaste for humankind as a whole. Then she thought, were shadowlings any better? To them you were a shadowling or a slave and if not a slave at least lesser because of race. Such hubris, she thought they hold themselves on their high horses never giving a thought to who they trample on their way. So which was better, a band of brigands, or a coven of pompous aristocrats? She spat, the world would be so much better if nither had won. She slammed a knife into a small table nearby her, "They should have all died and let civilized species run the world. She then recoiled as she became aware of her thoughts, she was a pacifist by heart and wouldn't harm another living thing. Her thoughts almost made her vomit. But then she reasoned that they were both a pox and a pox is a virus. Technically they weren't alive, taken by a sudden rush of sheer rage Cassiopia shoved the knife previously in the table into the illustration of the war imagining the blood dripping down and wetting the pages and the table and floor. Then she vomited.

[MikeW781]

HL dimension
Mike sat, awaiting his assignment. He has been told to come to the north gate, which was always kept shut for some reason that nobody remebered, if any had ever known. A shadowling greeted him, introducing himself rudely as Voidling. As always, Mike had a wave of disgust and hatred roll through him that enroached on his every sense, reddining his vision, souring his mouth, burning his skin, defeaning his ears, and giving him a smell of trash. But it was short-lived. At first, it had been longlasting, but many beatings and torturous punishments had seen to its longevity being dramatically reduced. Now, only the most sensitive and attentive of shadowlings could catch it, and most dismissed it.
"Your assignment, my putrid little fleshling, is to report to Sommnus to serve Her Greatness's military as a commander of recruits. On the way, you are instructed to pass through the Great Forest in search of rebels. This is a formality, as none rebel against the reign of the great Queen, but my superiors have ordered it. I shall accompany you, to ensure you do not....stray...from your duties. I am pertimitted to kill you at the slightest whim. Now, go and gather your belongings. You have ten minutes. I will meet you outside the west gate, where you will take my belongings as well."

Mike seethed at this. This Voidling was clearly a reject amoung Shadowlings, sent to fetch and follow humans; nevertheless, he had the permission to treat Mike like a mere beast of burden simply because of his birth. Yet the fool was arrogant because of this. Mike hadn't expected a guard, with the low opinion the teachers had of his power, but it was only a small obstacle. It appeared the "rebels" would simply have to kill a shadowling as well as a human. His hand moved unconsiously to the hilt of his knife. His parents would be avenged.