Today's Assignment: Stay Hidden

[Purity116]

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| Lily
| Age: 18
| Mythical Creature: Unicorn
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Lily felt so bad for Ace, and silently thanked him for being concerned about her. She knew somewhat of what was going on, but she didn't know why exactly how to explain it, looking to Henry for him to explain. Henry stared at Ace, seemingly debating with himself, though not very affected by his speech. Grand looked sympathetic, but he didn't know the answer either, so he watched Henry as well. Finally Henry opened his mouth to reply to Ace's question with a blank and even tone to his voice that was so out of place in the fear of Lily's mind, "You have a parasite."
Lily didn't really have time to process his words before the others in the room reacted, and the reaction was far less sane than Henry's emotionless tone. A multitude of angry and scared exclamations of many varieties exploded throughout the room, and Lily was sure she heard from the true forms of many of those gathered, chirps and hisses and clicks and roars. Grand sent out a calming beacon and began to speak slowly, his voice stern and controlled, "We know what to do about this. We've been trained for this. The only factor that could be a problem is how weak the host appears to be right now," his eyes flicked to Ace, somewhat sad, "but even that should not... be a problem." He walked toward Lily and Ace, finally preparing to address their questions in a way they could understand. A link had formed between herself and Ace in their similar emotions, questions, and circumstance. For a moment, a split second, Lily couldn't tell whose lifeforce was being sucked, hers or Ace's, if she was a unicorn or a dragon, if she stood nearer to Henry or Grand, so complete was her connection to him at the time. Ace seemed stronger than her, and far more worthy of being.
"A parasite is a magical creature who sucks magic power and lifeforce from a magic being until that host dies, then moves onto a new host. Ace," he addressed Ace, eyes kind and attempting to calm him even as he told him the disturbing news, "you have a parasite attached to you, which Lily here," he waved airily towards her, "sensed when you came into contact with her." It made sense to Lily. She had known the thing was sucking lifeforce from Ace, to the point where it could kill him, she just hasn't known what it was called, or how to remove it. It seemed that Grand and Henry knew what to do though, so Lily felt a bit of relief.
Lily piped up quietly, knowing who she was once more, feeling as though she needed to explain a bit more for Ace, "I'm attached to all things natural," she turned sorrowful eyes to him, trying to apologize for something that wasn't her fault, but wanted to show sympathy for, "I can read thoughts, especially when I come into contact with someone. My powers sensed the pa-parasite and forced open your memories and e-emotions," she swallowed, "and lifeforce to me so that I could try to help you... since that's my natural duty as a unicorn." She hadn't known where her last few words had come from, but once they had passed her lips, she knew them to be true. Her job, her whole existence and purpose was to heal, and heal she would. The moment Henry and Grand told her how to remove the parasite and kill it, she was going to do it, do it and right that which was wrong in the world.

[Purity116]

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| Mairianne
| Age: 18
| Mythical Creature: Griffin
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Mairianne heard the strain in Kyle's voice and immediately felt a little bad for reacting so strongly and making him more nervous. She stopped pacing and backtracked a little to sit down at the nearest table with a slightly sad sigh. "Maybe Lily's strong magic just reacted with Ace's. They are both powerful creatures after all," she sighed, hoping her explanation was correct and they were just being chided for not being careful enough in public. She couldn't hear a thing from the room. It was probably sound-proofed with a spell, like a few of the rooms on campus. She half-smiled sadly at Kyle, then motioned him to come sit next to her.

[Guardian-Angel]

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Name: Ace Gilbert
Age: 19
Creature: Dragon

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Ace stood in shock, not sure how to react. Should he be scared, angry, sad? What emotion was he supposed to feel? Was he supposed to cry or shout? "It...it won't kill me, right?" he asked, then realized that the dean had already said that it could kill him. "When did I even get it? If it's been years then I should be fine...right? Since it hasn't killed me yet..." he trailed off, his eyes widening. Killed. He could actually die from this thing...as in being gone from the world. No longer existing. The end.
His legs shook and he leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor, the world around him going distant as the weight of what Grand had said finally fell on Ace. The pain in his neck was from a parasite that was slowly draining his life force. There was a living thing in him. The thought both disgusted and terrified him. But...what if there actually wasn't a parasite and it was something else? Something that wasn't dangerous?
He looked up and opened his mouth to voice his thoughts, but quickly stopped. He could see everyone's magic gradually fading, and with some of the creatures he couldn't even feel their magic anymore. "You're lying!" he shouted, closing his eyes tightly and pretending what he saw hadn't happened. "You're just a bunch of liars!" Tears rolled down his face as he began crying. He struggled to stand up, trying to head for the door, but the edges of his vision went black. Feeling faint and weak, he almost fell, but quickly grabbed onto Lilly's arm to keep himself balanced. "If you want to help me, then make them admit their lying," he choked, looking into her beautiful eyes. While everyone else's magic was fading, hers was getting stronger over him, almost to the point where it could influence him like a human.

[Guardian-Angel]

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Name: Kyle Merrill
Age: 18
Creature:Manticore

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Kyle sat down next to her, unconsciously scooting closer to her. "Yeah, maybe," he nodded as he took a deep breath to help relax. He tried to come up with a topic to talk about that wasn't related to the problem at hand. "I told you about how I was aiming for an art degree, but you never told me what major you were going to get," he turned towards her, smiling slightly. He actually enjoyed talking to her. She was very nice and understanding, instead of harsh and rude, unlike most of the people he had talked to in the past.

[Purity116]

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| Lily
| Age: 18
| Mythical Creature: Unicorn
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Lily was shocked once more by the strength of Ace's emotions and feelings, his panic and loveliness, his pain and fear. She just stared into Ace's eyes, his skin glowing to her. He was a natural being who needed her help vanquishing something unnatural.
In the background she heard Grand and Henry speaking; Grand, "How do you want to go about this? We two alone should be able to handle it, right?" Henry, "I'm not sure. This is a bad case. It seems like the kid's had it since he was born." Grand and Henry moved to take Ace away from her in order to try and take the parasite out of him, but she sent a mental command to stop to both of them, almost tangible in its strength, and though they were both alarmed, they both knew of the unicorn's mysterious instinct to heal, the ancient knowledge of unicorns which connected her to all the humming energy in the natural world, worked miracles in times of extreme duress, which they must have recognized in her.
She bit her lip in trepidation, then began gathering up lifeforce from the plants and animals nearest. Grand and Henry were far more experienced than her, but... she knew, somehow, that she had to heal him, that she could, and she knew she must.
Lily felt into the depths of Ace's form, into his magic, feeling the parasite's reaches within Ace. It was sucking up the last bit of Ace's force, approaching the deepest part of him, that solid core of energy which she didn't know what to call. His life... spark. The parasite wasn't natural but a bit of its wants, its feelings, registered in her and she shivered in disgust. The thing was done with Ace, bored almost. It wanted her.
"Ace," her voice was small, but she responded in kindness to his fear, her tone emerging with a smooth calm she didn't know the source of, "Everything's going to be fine," she forced her calming magic upon him, something she hadn't done before, but did now, physically forcing his heartbeat to slow, stealing his panic from him, taking it into herself and smothering it with the natural state of the world, which she suddenly realized, out of nowhere, was love. "You just need to trust me, okay?" She opened up her love and admiration to him, for a being she hardly knew but loved for living.
She felt the parasite awaken to her presence, both eager, for it wanted to attach to her, and afraid, digging in deeper to Ace, which sent an echo of his pain through her and she clenched her jaw and sucked Ace's pain into herself, her anger growing as she watched her new friend, joined by memory and circumstance and a mental, emotional, magical connection she still didn't understand, be in pain, be anything other than completely joyous. She knew from the release of his memories into her that he was a nice guy, a very nice young man actually, and certainly not at all out for her power, which she appreciated. She hated to see him in pain, nor could she bear the idea of him dying. She refused to allow it. She sent her reach for sucking up lifeforce to a slightly longer range, intent on gathering as much magic and lifeforce as she could to help, because... it soon became clear that she would need more power. The parasite was an old one, and had murdered more than just Ace. She felt all at once too inexperienced for this, and ancient, a thousand years old, knowing more than she rightfully should, only really being a unicorn for a short while.

[Purity116]

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| Mairianne
| Age: 18
| Mythical Creature: Griffin
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Mairianne couldn't help laughing. "To be honest, I have no real idea." She shrugged, shaking her head slightly. "I mean, I put down aerospace engineering, and I like the idea of building planes, since they allow creatures without wings to fly, but..." she cocked her head, studying the wall, "that's a lot of work. And I'm a little lazy. Plus, I have so many interests and passions, it's difficult to choose just one to pursue." She looked back to Kyle, smiling. "Sorry I'm too indecisive and all over the place to give you a straight answer." She laughed, not really sorry.

[Guardian-Angel]

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Name: Ace Gilbert
Age: 19
Creature: Dragon

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Ace listened to her words, feeling himself relax as a gentle warmth flowed through his body. He felt like he was in another world where it was only him and Lily. Everyone was else somewhere else, far away. He tried to remember what was going on, but thinking at the moment was like running in quicksand. All of his thoughts were slowed and jumbled up. He did at least know that there was nothing to be afraid of, and that everything was going to be fine. Suddenly, he felt pain ripple through him, starting from his neck and spreading through his body, as if he was being torn to pieces. However, as soon as the pain started, it seemed to fade away into nothingness. He wondered if he had actually been in pain or if it had just been a figment of his imagination. He did, however, feel even weaker than before. Unable to stand, he fell into Lily’s arms. Her body was warm, just like her magic. He wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep in her arms. He wanted the warmth of sleep to envelope, but he felt a cold darkness pressing on him instead. The darkness was hard to resist. He forced his eyes to stay open, but the blackness of death whispered for him to just give in, to give up and surrender. “Lily,” he whispered her name as he tried to focus on it. He had to stay awake for her.

[Guardian-Angel]

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Name: Kyle Merrill
Age: 18
Creature:Manticore

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"Well, I don't have wings, so it would be cool to fly in a plane," he told her, not mentioning the fact that he didn't have any wings because he was deformed. "I've actually never really been in the air before," he frowned, then shrugged as his smile came back. "I'm sure that whatever you end up doing will be something you enjoy, even if you can be lazy at times, like me."

[Purity116]

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| Lily
| Age: 18
| Mythical Creature: Unicorn
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Lily didn't even know what she was going to do to help him, had no idea what force drove her to kneel down, barely supporting his weight, his life spark wavering under the parasite's influence, was barely aware that she moved at all when she pulled back only enough to look into his eyes, or when she reached out to lay one hand on Ace's cheek, and the other wrapping around his neck in the back where the parasite was closest to his skin.
The parasite was deep-rooted within Ace, its disgusting presence and tendrils intertwined throughout him, and it made her so angry. Rage burned within her as she gathered the lifeforce of plants and animals within a mile radius, farther than she'd ever gone before, leaching little, unnoticable amounts, from every human and mythical creature within the space as well until an energy bunched together like a pushed spring, ready to snap at any moment, filled her human form, glowing under her skin until it began to burn her skin from the inside out. She leaned forward, only faintly registering a second before she did that she was going to kiss Ace, but the moment she did, the energy and magic burst from her through the meeting of their lips, and from her hands, into Ace. The parasite squirmed and set up a mental squeal into her brain that tore painfully across her mental links, but the surge of magic pouring into him from the collection she had attained and from her own magic didn't waver. Beginning in his limbs and moving toward his torso, then his head, the magic began to fill him up, burning with her imbued healing power the limits of the parasite and taking the place of the absence. It was a grueling process, every moment and every bit more she worked to dislodge the parasite, the pain Lily could feel in Ace's body in her connection to him, grew, and every time it grew, she wanted to cry anew, each millisecond a terrible acid to her insides, lightning constantly gaining momentum in conductors not fit to hold it, which she was sure must have been far more terrible for Ace, though she shared and attempted to alleviate his pain by taking it into herself, but... the pain was neverending, the parasite's damage so vast.
With a shared shutter, Lily felt the parasite slowly begin to ooze out of Ace's body, its body a ghastly slime from a wound that opened up on Ace's neck under her hand, desperately trying to connect to her lifeforce in order to survive.
Here Henry and Grand and a few others aided. They killed and destroyed the thing as each bit of it emerged, pulling its dead carcass away from the both of them, something Lily had no idea how they did, either kill or carry something without substance, though she was eternally grateful. She couldn't have fended off the thing from her and still continued to expel it from Ace.

[Purity116]

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| Mairianne
| Age: 18
| Mythical Creature: Griffin
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Mairianne smiled gratefully, "Thanks. That's really nice of you to say Kyle," she didn't entirely believe him, but it certainly changed the way she viewed him; she reexamined Kyle as she looked at him this time. Once he relaxed, he was actually pretty cool, and his slightly off-center smile unique, almost cute, not disturbing or off-putting... at least to her. She could already tell they were going to be good friends, which brought more joy to her smile again.