.:Mythic Dawn{Fantasy Romance/Action RP}Semi-literate:.

[AngelofSins]

((Dangit now I'm gonna start!xD *Moos* I love Hiro. I love Soul Eater! I was Stein for Anime Expo this Summer. Ooh-*Sees Full Metal Alchemist icon and spazzes again* Yay for anime nerds! :3))

Leonard knew the way to the library so well he could have made it there with his eyes closed. There was rarely a day he didn't stop by to study or read, and sometimes just to stand by a bookshelf and marvel at the impressive amount of texts lining the walls. Some of the staff had protested giving them so many books, but Kastor had an obsession for books even stronger than Leonard's, and he'd figured he would at least give them something to do other then try to kill each other in their spare time. A good thing too, Leonard thought as he stepped through the Victorian oak double-doors with the same composed but eager manner he usually donned in here, or I'd have gone crazy by now.

Neither Laila nor Jake seemed to be in the library yet, but a quick mental scan of the room revealed the kelpie and her phoenix friend reclining in the back by the books on sea life and laila sitting not far from the two. For a moment he was suspicious of Hino's presence until he recalled Jake's warning that she would be deciding whether he was trust worthy or not. With a grim smile he began to weave his way through the book shelves, wondering how much she would sense about his past deceptions. Hopefully not enough to make her think he was still planning anything of the sort, but that was a possibility.

The three girls seemed to be in their own little worlds, a fitting analogy considering there wasn't a single person in the section other than themselves, and now him. With the pretense of inspecting the cover of a book on whales beside her, Leonard stopped between laila's table and the spot where Jake and Hino were standing. "Give me one moment, i will put up a spell for protection. We won't be heard with it, but we will be visible." The spell was easy, but he waited to see if the girls would protest his using magic when they didn't yet have reason to trust him.

[OneSmartChicken]

{{ Sonova--freaking evil, horrible Firefox. It closed out and not only lost my post, it lost all my tabs. >< -mutters- Oh well, I hated my post with a fiery passion anyway, and there wasn't anything terribly important up I don't think...

Whoo, lookit those awesome Bleach icons! XD Yeah let's geek out, baby. <3 }}

Jake glanced at Laila as she sat down, slouching as she examined the nix for any suspicious signs--nothing. She hadn't expected to find anything suspicious about Laila, but it never hurt to check. Hino looked up at her curiously, a lock of hair falling into her eyes. Jake smiled at Hino's wholly innocent expression, tugging affectionately on the stray lock before brushing it away. Jake's eyes had the soft, adoring expression reserved only for Hino, her beloved little phoenix. She would probably always claim to be indebted to Hino, not matter how many times she saved the phoenix. And when Hino caught on, she would stick around saying Hino owed her.

She turned away, hand still raised to Hino's hair, to watch Leonard stroll over to them, casual. Good. He was smart enough to know how not to look like a suspicious idiot. She lifted her brows when he told them he was going to cast a spell, then looked questioningly at Hino who smiled brightly at her then turned to look at Leonard as well, smiling at him too.

"You should also put in something to make our mouths move differently. Mugi says he can help you if you don't know the spell," she told him, eyes crinkling in an honest expression.

Mugi bobbed his head, sliding out of Hino's bag to sit back on his haunches on Jake's shoulder--kind of like the Geico gecko but a hundred times cuter and with a more irritable expression. "I would be happy to assisst," he hissed. "I am more reliable in spell-casting than most familiars." He sounded proud--and maybe a little arrogant--but he had good reason to be; he really was excellent at spells. He just didn't have anyone to cast spells with anymore. Well, technically Hino could but she sucked at it royally at the moment and he didn't feel like being turned into a water-based salamander again.

[Wolf_Fang_13]

((Yay, anime geeks unite! Hey Midnight, where did you get that Death the Kid avatar? I've been having trouble finding some))

Laila looked over as Jake and the phoenix noticing they were there. She examined Hino for any suspicion, but didn't find anything suspicious about the little girl. She didn't expect anything of that sort anyway. Hino was Jake's friend and for the most part looked like an innocent little phoenix. And she could clearly see that the kelpie has a reserved affection for the phoenix and that they have some kind of strong bond with each other.

Laila then looked up and noticed Leonard make his way in as well. Now it was time to see if he was really as trustworthy as he says. Yet she doubted that she will put her guard down during this time. The nix did notice that the sorcerer's entrance to the library was a calm casual one. Like he has been here many times. Of course Laila knows he has been here often because she has spent much time here herself. She has eyes and has seen him here almost every time she came here/

"A spell? Well even if our mouths move differently it would still be strange if no noise comes out. It would bring suspicion. Is there a way to make those outside of the spell hear a soundtrack of, lets say, us studying for a test together with our lips moving to match those words?" Laila asked while she drummed her nails on the table out of habit. She can never stay fully still so she usually did something with her hands when she had to sit still. As for magic, she was not sure what kind of spells exist or not. Though magic was not quite so foreign to her as well. Her kind where known to grant wishes of all sort, for a price of course. Though there was a reason why a nix would not grant her own wish.

[AngelofSins]

((I found it on photobucket.com. I have a ton of them saved on my account there. ))

"I hadn't thought of that. Yes, I'll change our mouth movements, and as long as we're careful with our words I can manage a spell that will contort the sound of our voices into matching sounds. Be careful not to speak too quickly though or it won't be able to catch up." Leonard whispered, flipping through the book with a cool and collected expression, never actually reading the words. He heard Mugi's offer for help and smothered a smile at the friendly manner the salamander was exhibiting. Friendly and cocky, but he'd rarely met a familiar that wasn't. Even his own had been before it had been separated from him by Kastor, a process that still caused his stomach to turn whenever he recalled it. "No, Mugi, I do not think I'll be needing your help, but I do appreciate the offer. Too many forces of magic working at once may alert the headmaster. It isn't odd for me to practice a spell or two, but if he thought I was working with another spell caster... no, better let me handle this one."

Now came the tricky part. Magic wasn't the sort of thing you could pass off as conversation while reading, or even as conversation in general, especially not black magic. Leonard's mouth was dry, forcing him to swallow rapidly lest he stumble over the words of his upcoming improvised spell, as he scanned the area around him out of the corner of his eyes. Nobody seemed to be looking, but he hoped the other girls would at least be familiar enough with his brand of magic to be on the lookout for a passerby. Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to trust their usefulness as guards, he closed the book and his eyes in unison, allowing himself to concentrate, and began to whisper the rough, hissing words that would allow him to summon the force of dark magic. The words were barely audible, but his mouth moved so quickly and in such a strange series of motions that none who passed by could possibly mistake his actions for normal speaking, especially not if they happened to look down and see the shadows.

In reaction to the words Leonard was whispering the patches of shadow cast in the sea life section had begun to come alive, leaping and dancing along the floor in tune with his voice. Slowly their actions began to take the shape of something with a purpose, gliding to the walls of the bookcases and-seemingly impossibly- the spaces in between, giving the entire section a washed-out appearance. No, black magic was not subtle, but his kind had never had reason to be.

[OneSmartChicken]

{{ Of course I didn't click this six times then forget to reply six times. Why ever would you think that?

:3 This reply may suck; I've kinda got a headache. }}

[right]Mugi made an odd hissing-chirping noise akin to a sort of "chuff", bobbing his head. It made sense. He considered telling him something else--it was obvious by his expression--then he glanced at Laila and decided against it. He didn't know her, and even though Jake seemed to trust her, he didn't quite trust Jake quite frankly. Mostly because she was a water element. And so was Laila. Goody.

He turned to blow smoke against Jake's neck, and was promptly tossed onto Hino's shoulder for his troubles. With a smug little wheezing chuckle he shifted to observe the wizard at work, 'wagging' his tail as Hino shifted to stand between him and the casual glance of possible passerby, obscuring their view enough to make them easy to ignore. She didn't question how she'd known to do that. She glanced around at the new substance shrouding them from view, examining the magic that fabricated it. This newly...re-acquired ability of hers was...interesting. It would certainly take some getting used to, to say the least.

Jake tucked her hands behind her back and leaned against a bookshelf again. "Subtle," she drawled, staring up at the ceiling. "Shall we begin then? Hino, you're here as a lie detector--don't get distracted." The little phoenix turned to look at Jake with wide, curious eyes, then she beamed.

"'Kaay!" she chimed, then turned around to face Leonard. She held out her hands to him with a sweet little smile and a tilted head, eyes crinkling and gleaming with warmth. Like the warmth of a gently crackling hearth fire, warming its house and its people tenderly.

"Mugi likes you, Mister Leonard," she told him politely as she caught his hands to give them a gentle squeeze. "Would you mind if I stepped into your head? Just a little? I won't see anything you don't want me to see--I haven't regained that ability yet even if I wanted to--but I may see more than you want me to." Hino's explanations; good for making people even more confused than they already were.

"Ah glad to see you're being extra thorough. Sometimes I forget you can be serious," Jake drawled with a grin.

"It's only polite to be serious with a wizard," Hino shrugged, turning her head to smile at Jake. "I don't think he's a liar though, not like that. Mugi's a good judge of character. Well except when it comes to water. But no salamander likes waterfolk." Technically, neither did phoenixes for the most part. Hino was special though.

Mugi rubbed his cheek against Hino's neck, examining Leonard with an unfathomable expression--or maybe it was just another version of his usual bored look. Either way. "A strong wizard, hiding in plain sight," he hissed, mostly to himself, then tilted his head away to rest his cheek against Hino's neck. "Interesting." Perhaps this school was not such a waste of time after all.

[Wolf_Fang_13]

Laila was impressed by the sorcerer's magic, but did not show that clearly on her face. Though it was interesting to watch him cast the spell and the shadows grow around them and form around the shelves. Living an isolated life in her lake, the only type of beings the nix ever sees would be the ones that choose to go to her lake. Of course she has read about sorcerers and dark magic, this was her first time seeing it on first hand. Laila also noted that the phoenix was no stranger to magic. The phoenix, Hino was it, seemed reasonably enjoyable. Maybe not her first choice of a friend, but a reasonable enough alliance. Like Jake said, she was their lie detector. Though Laila could never tell if Hino was lying as well, but it looked like she had no choice but to trust her.

As for the salamander, Laila was not sure. It was obvious to her that Mugi did not trust her. She can tell by the way he looks at her. Even Hino herself said that the salamander does not like waterfolk. Well, Laila would have to live with that, but naturally she did not trust the salamander in return. She would have to remember that and keep her eyes on him as well.

((Writer's block >.< ))

[AngelofSins]

((Ugh, sorry to do this people, my friend is bothering me about advertising her RP. We do need more people, but still.>_>' Here's the link if you feel like trying to join a 400+ page RP. I'll help if anybody does though, she sucks with summaries. viewtopic.php?f=28&t=20796))

Leonard finished his spell at last, relieved that they had not been caught or suspected of doing anything during his "show". When Hino told him Mugi was fond of him his lips twitched into a rare, slight but genuine smile. "Well, I thank him for that. And no, I can see how he might dislike waterfolk, though I hope he has no problem with the one here." The dark wizard glanced over at Laila pointedly, worried she might take offense from the salamander's behavior. "Anyway, now that we mention waterfolk... No, I'll leave that for later. For now, you may feel free to see whatever you wish, Hino, as long as you don't delve too deeply. Look only at what you must, all right?" He wasn't worried by the idea of her searching his mind, for she would find him to be trustworthy. Now, at least.

God, if she looked too far... Leonard grimaced inwardly at the thought. His mind was not something he wanted people exploring too deeply, not with what might be found there. If she flashed back to the memories of him betraying the other students, betraying Danielle, then she would also sense the regret and need to redeem himself these feelings brought on. Still, he'd prefer to keep those memories, along with those of what he'd seen Kastor do to students, and to his familiar, to himself.

[OneSmartChicken]

{{ I'm in an annoying roleplay joining mood so I'll check it out. >< Although I shouldn't cause I've got like a bajillion roleplays as is. }}

Hino smiled. "He'll tolerate them, if only so that Jake doesn't dump water on him again. Or so I don't accidentally turn him into a normal salamander again...There's a reason I didn't volunteer my assistance for the spell." She grinned at him, letting out a little giggle. Mugi sneezed and she blinked, looking down at him. "Oh right--sorry I got distracted," she murmured to the salamander and gave him a little kiss on the nose, making his eyes narrow in a happy expression.

Taking a deep, soothing breath, she turned back to Leonard and reached up to settle her thumbs on his temples, fingers sliding into his hair. "Go ahead and talk about your plans, if you please. It's easier not to get stuck on...different thoughts if you focus some." She closed her eyes then and relaxed, reaching out to nudge cautiously at his mind. The barrier felt familiar to her, like she was used to diving into people's minds, and she smiled at the feeling. Then she slid in and almost fell right back out. Dark wizards' minds were very different from normal wizards. Not evil, although some might think otherwise, just...different.

Allowing a moment to adjust, she sunk below the surface thoughts into his subconscious, shooing away errant thoughts of her own. This worked both ways, if she recalled correctly; now her mind was completely open to his, not that she'd ever tried to hide it. There wasn't much to see in there; just a lonely, short life with Mugi and assorted other fire-based animals as her sometimes companions.


Jake watched them for a moment, watched Mugi for any signs of distress, then sighed and went over to sit with Laila, grabbing a book off a shelf as she passed. A book on whales of all things. Apparently she was doing a report on whales. She smirked at the thought as she flipped the book open and mimed reading. "So, I assume you've got plans then--Leonard?" she drawled, watching him as if there wasn't a little phoenix standing absurdly close to him and reading his mind. Or at the very least as if that was perfectly normal and not distracting in the least. Which honestly it wasn't; Hino was never a distraction, not really. Not for Jake at least.

[AngelofSins]

Leonard, focusing on Jake so as not to bother Hino by searching through her apparently uneventful subconscious, nodded. "I do have a plan, though not an entirely formed one as of yet. I want to see what I can do with the people I have and try to train them as best I can. I don't plan on having them fight the staff, I only want everyone to be able to help us pass through the school. I want to recruit as many people as possible and make sure everybody is as informed as I am regarding Kastor's plans and experiments, preferably more informed. There are people I want to recruit, part of the reason I asked you all." Here his gaze did venture towards the phoenix, noting how she seemed to call people to her, how charismatic she was. "That girl, the wizard, isn't afraid of Kastor. I want her on our side, for her strength and when it comes to the maze she will be useful. I also want the water spirit, William, because as far as I can tell the ability to control water hasn't been passed on since and I need someone able to get us through the lake."

Technically he had answered the question now, but Leonard didn't finish. He did look away from Jake, not out of fear or embarrassment but so he could watch Laila, the one he felt would care more about this statement than the others. He wasn't going to tell them anything too detailed about his past, but he was going to have to open up to them some way if he wanted them to trust him, especially since either Hino or another student was bound to rat him out, and that wouldn't be any better. "If you want to know my reasons? I was one of Kastor's favorites. I sold out all the students I could, friends or enemies it didn't matter, as long as it was them and not me. Now I've stopped." He wasn't about to tell them why, though the memories of betraying Danielle flashed through his mind. Her screaming when they were attacked, screaming at him, screaming from fear and pain and god knows what else... "They still trust me though, so that's likely the only reason I've not been caught. The majority of students still think I'm on their side, but those who don't know me as the only one serious about heading a rebellion out of this place." Forgetting his thoughts were being watched, Leonard momentarily let his thoughts wander. Yes, he planned on heading the rebellion-but he wasn't so sure if her was planning on leaving with them, or leaving at all.

[Wolf_Fang_13]

((Sorry, I don't usually join RPs that have already started. That and I'm too busy with school and other activities I have to join any more RPs))

Laila watched as Hino put her thumbs on the wizard's temples to read his mind. It was quite an odd sight, considering they were suppose to have the appearance of studying, though it did make sense since there is no bone protecting the brain in the area where one's temples are. She did make a mental note to never let the phoenix by her head. Laila has lived quite a long time and did not want anyone intruding on something so personal as her mind and all the thoughts that run through it. The nix then follows Jake's suit of appearing of studying and takes out her notebook. Well, her notebook doesn't really have any notes since she just spends the whole class drawing in her notebook instead of copying down what the teacher is saying. She then took out a pen so she could take notes on how the meeting goes and copy down what Leonard says and his plans. To look like she is actually taking notes, Laila turns around and pulls out a random book from the bookshelf behind her. Apparently she is taking notes on sharks.

Laila listened carefully to Leonard's words with her hand automatically scribbling down notes on its own. Her head lightly tilted up when he mentioned waterfolk, but then changed his mind. That seemed to spark her curiosity a bit. She wrote a mental sticky note in her head to ask him about that later. "It sounds to me that you already do have a plan. You also seem to know the layout quite well and the obstacles that we have in store. How do you know this? Have tried to escape before? Or did a little birdie tell you?" she asked him. She still had some suspicion about him. He says that he stopped ratting out students, but he did not tell why. She restrained herself from asking feeling it might be something personal. For now she decided to trust whatever reason it is, but decided to monitor his actions near the Headmaster and teachers just in case. She then searched the dark wizard's eyes, trying to see if she could get a glimpse of something that could tell her she could trust him at least a little bit more.