;somebody's always gonna try to label me INSANE.

[.bridget terrence;]

OOC//Yeah, this post is VERY hurried, but I'm...well. In a hurry. It's the best I can do right now xD.

The great, intimidating doors of Stonebrook creaked open. Only a little at first; just enough to allow a short blonde girl to poke her head in. She gazed around with wide blue eyes, intently scanning the foyer for any signs of movement. At her feet, a lithe black form slipped through before her. Her daemon stood up on his hind legs, his long hare ears erect. Girl and daemon didn't move so much as a muscle for a long, silent moment. And then, breathing a soft sigh, the blonde slipped inside of Stonebook Academy and shut the door swiftly behind her. There was obviously a guilty subtlety in her movements and manner; it would be enough to make any onlookers instinctively suspicious. Which was why Bridget Terrence had checked the foyer thoroughly before heading inside.

Bridget was a very outdoors-y kind of girl. She hated being cooped up inside all day, and so always aimed to spend as much of her free time as she could wandering Stonebrook's vast grounds. She found the scenery around the academy quite captivating, and she loved the fresh mountain air even in the chill of winter. If she wanted to go outside, not rain, nor hail, nor the endless amount of falling snow would stop her. Indeed, this showed presently. Tiny white flakes were clinging to her golden locks, as well as her daemon's ebony pelt. They'd spent quite a bit of time out there, at first just wandering around. Then, they'd settled by the lake and admired its frozen-over state. Kantai, as her large hare daemon was called, had investigated the lake and had estimated that the ice was thick enough to walk on. And so they'd enjoyed themselves skidding over the endless sparkling expanse, only without ice skates they didn't get very far. It had been fun all the same, though.

Now normally, Stonebrook didn't object to the students venturing out onto the grounds. In fact, they even encouraged it given a reasonable opportunity. But today, Bridget's wandering mind had wandered a bit too long, and even Kantai had lost track of the time. The end result of all this was that she'd ended up missing one of her classes. By the time she had realized this, the class would have been halfway over anyway, and she didn't care to be scolded and probably given a detention. So, she figured she'd...okay, well, skip, and tell the teacher the next day that she'd been sick. The perfect plan, right? Only now, she had to sneak back in. Bridget didn't figure any of her classmates would be uptight enough to sell her out(but then again, you never knew in this place), but she really didn't want to run into a staff member. She'd just hang around the foyer for awhile, then.

The room was large and ridiculously extravagant, with richly carpeted floors and paintings adorning the walls, some of which could only be described as creepy. Some people might rather spend their time in the lounge or the dorms, but Bridget found that if you set your coat down, sat propped up against the wall in just the right light from the fireplace, and stretched your legs out on the soft carpeting, it could be a very relaxing environment. And this was what she did now. Sitting down with her bag and coat beside her, Bridget crossed her legs under her Indian-style, and began to warm up. Kantai crouched beside her, his furry paws tucked beneath him and his black pelt brushing her leg lightly. Together, they gazed around in silence, their minds filled with unspoken thoughts. Bridget was quite chatty, and Kantai even more so, but sometimes these tranquil silences fell upon them where they simply allowed themselves to...think.

God knew there was a lot to think about, being in a place like Stonebrook. Bridget still wasn't sure what she thought about the place. At first, she'd absolutely refused to enjoy anything the new environment had to offer, simply because she'd been forced to come here. But mopey really wasn't in her nature, and soon she couldn't help but take an interest in the new world around her. Bridget had never before been in a place where magic was so...widely accepted. Stonebrook undeniably had a lot to offer, and she knew that. Part of her even liked it here. The other part, though, was uncertain and wary. Sometimes she got the feeling that things were just a little bit off, mostly because the staff here as a whole were just so evasive.

Presently, Kantai broke the silence. "I guess we missed that test." He commented, whiskers twitching.

Bridget tilted her head slightly, her eyes flickering toward them. She shrugged. "Mmm. Wasn't anything important anyway."

And such was her philosophy.

[xxRiley Todd]

If anyone were to ask: it was all Sayuri's idea.

They sat in the back of the class, paying no attention to the teacher. The small daemon scuttled anxiously around her human's feet while he stared blankly at his desk. He was playing with a strand of his black hair, twirling it around his pencil, as the teacher droned on and on. This has to be Riley's least favorite class. It wasn't only because the instructor was always going on about the same thing but the subject bored him to tears. Not to mention that today they just so happened to have a test that he hadn't bothered studying for. He wasn't even sure why they were having such a test; in all of his other classes the tests were hands on, not the ones you would take in a normal school unlike Stonebrook. But there was always that one class.

He didn't know how the idea of skipping the test came to him. Riley wasn't one to go around skipping classes just for the hell of it; he hadn't even missed a day of school. He went with the flow and that worked for him. The little meerkat daemon Sayuri made her way up onto his shoulders, where she watched him squirm in the seat. She was just as jittery as him, wanting to get out of the room as quick as possible. Her eyes trailed after the teacher who was pacing back and forth still talking about what he expected the test scores to be. It was at that moment the idea hit him. Sayuri sensed it and immediately gave him a look that said "it's a bad idea." He just grinned.

Riley raised his hand high, waving it a bit to make sure he got the teacher's attention. It did. The instructor stopped in the middle of his pacing and looked straight at the boy in the back. Dropping his hand, Riley smiled as innocently as possible. "You know how you said we could use our, uh, books on that one part?" He had to give himself some credit on hearing that. The teacher nodded. "Well, I left my book out...in the library. Could I go get it?" Sayuri curled up in the hood of his jacket, expecting the plan to backfire. For a moment it almost did. "I'm sure I have an extra you could use, Mr.Todd."

Oh that was just great: an extra copy. However, Riley was determined to get out of taking this test. "Oh, that's, er, a nice offer. But if I don't find my own book...who knows what will happen to it? Could I please go find it? I promise to be back in time for the test." What a lie. Luckily, the teacher fell right for it. He nodded slowly before agreeing with him and reminding him to be back soon. Riley gave a nod and a yes sir, then he was free.

Sayuri, who had climbed nervously out of her hiding spot once they had been accepted, clung to her human's jacket. Her eyes darted around as if looking for someone who would look right through them and see that they were breaking the rules. In a soft, slightly shaky voice she scolded Riley herself. "We're going to get caught, I just know it. This is a bad idea. A very bad idea. I just know it," He just rolled his eyes. "Everything is a bad idea to you. We'll be fine, Sayuri." She still looked wary, but she stopped talking and continued her look out.

After walking around for a couple minutes without a place to go or seeing a single soul, they heard voices. Riley froze in place, his heart beating faster. Who was it? Was it someone that they couldn't run into without their little journey coming to a halt? He wasn't sure. It hadn't sounded like someone he knew well. There was a possibility that it was a teacher whose class he didn't attend. Then again there was a possibility that it was just another student that had decided to skip as well. "Let's go back! I don't like this, Riley. I don't like this at all." Sayuri whispered into his ear. He didn't have an answer. To be honest he didn't like this much either.

He had never, ever truly enjoyed a stranger's company. He didn't trust strangers - why spend time with one? Although...he was in need of some friend here at Stonebrook. It wouldn't hurt to meet someone new. And if it happened to be a staff member he could just spill his story about looking for his book, even throw in there that he had gotten lost on his way to the library. Here went nothing.

Slowly, nervously, he walked into the foyer. Riley had always thought that the place was a bit too dressed up for his liking. Sure, the academy was suppose to be all big and special, but he thought that the whole lush carpets and lights and paintings (of which creeped Riley out to the fullest extend) was just overdoing it. It was as if they were trying to impress them...as if they needed impressing. Today, however, he didn't notice anything beside the girl. His secluded nature sprouted instantly as he backed up, forced himself to go in again, and walked briskly towards the fireplace where the girl sat.

Unfortunately Riley didn't make it all the way there. That part of him that told him that strangers were no good wouldn't let him go any farther. So he sat down against the opposite wall, a couple feet away from her so that he wasn't exactly across from her. Sayuri was curled up beside him, staring at the girl and the hare. Riley, on the other hand, avoided any eye contact with them. He put his hand together, set them on his lap, and stared at them while trying to think of something - anything - to say to them. Nothing came to mind.

[/size]

[.bridget terrence;]

Under the influence of the warm firelight and the blessed silence, Bridget leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She smiled faintly, an easy, mellow sort of smile that only appeared in those rare moments when she was at peace with the world. Conversation with her daemon had ceased, and now Kantai had abandoned his alert stance in favor leaning against his companion with ears flat against his back. His dark eyes were half-closed, and the pair almost looked like narcolepsy patients who'd gotten lost in the foyer. Actually, if that were the case, it might have made life a bit easier...at least, in Bridget's opinion. She'd always figured having a disorder and using it as a sort of scapegoat would be an ideal way to get away with things in this place. But while her mother, at one point, had been quite convinced that Bridget was bipolar, Stonebrook had given her a completely different diagnosis: she was an empath.

Said empath was now wondering if she should have been doing the homework assigned from classes she hadn't skipped instead of lounging around here. But while her thoughts wandered, she still hadn't opened her eyes, and so she hadn't noticed anyone approaching. Given that she'd come here to skip the rest of her class, she probably should have been a bit more aware of her surroundings, but that was Bridget for you. Kantai, on the other hand, stiffened beside her. His chocolate-brown eyes opened completely, and his long ears flickered upward. He paused for a moment, his nose twitching inquisitively, and then gave his human a sharp nudge. In response, Bridget let out a little sigh of contempt and opened one eye to glare at her daemon. No matter what the circumstances, Kantai could never settle down. She was about to rebuke him when she realized that he'd been trying to get her attention.

Glancing up, Bridget realized that they were no longer alone. She sat up and glanced the newcomer over as he sat down a few feet away. Beside her, Kantai rose to his paws and stretched, before taking a tiny, tentative hop toward the boy and his meerkat daemon. Bridget searched her mind and found that she couldn't match his face with a name, but he looked vaguely familiar. Perhaps he was in one of her classes? She'd attended the school for a few months, but definitely not long enough to learn the names of everyone around her. She was never really good with names, and it didn't help that Stonebrook's ranks seemed to be growing daily. Who knew there were that many kids with powers out there?

Bridget gazed over at the boy with an expression of mild curiosity, fidgeting restlessly. Her meditative state forgotten, she tried to decide where she'd seen him before. Was he...in the class she had just skipped? But no, that would have been too ironic. Still...maybe more people had been dreading that test than she'd thought. Amused at the thought, the blonde wondered exactly how common skipping class was around here. It was then, however, that she became aware of the slightly awkward silence that had fallen upon them. At first, she thought that maybe the boy had spoken to her, and she'd missed it, but when she felt the wary, bristling curiosity her daemon was giving off, she knew otherwise.

Kantai twitched his whiskers expectantly and opened his mouth to speak. It was unusual for daemons to speak to those other than their humans or other daemons, but this sort of etiquette had never held him back before. However, his human quickly reached out and laid a hand on his back. The black hare fell silent accordingly, his gaze switching to the meerkat daemon. Bridget's gesture had silently warned Kantai not to speak, because although she knew that the hare meant well by trying to start a conversation, she also knew that he was very bold. 'Bold' meaning that he often came off as...well, kind of rude. Not the best first impression.

Bridget, on the other hand, had no problem being the first to speak. "Hey...aren't you in Mr. Burnes' class? Room eighty-two?" She prompted lightly. It was a wonder she managed to remember all of her teacher's names, but there you had it. Even if she wouldn't have been able to remember them all, it wasn't like they bothered to learn every single one of their student's names. But Bridget's inward rant against the Stonebrook staff could be saved for another time. Offering a friendly smile, she added, "Guess that test was a killer,then?" She wondered how many others had decided to skip because of the mundane test ahead. Of course, Bridget herself hadn't decided to skip, but she might have considered it if she were actually given a chance to be on time.

Meanwhile, Kantai had retreated to her other side. His expression was rather disgruntled, partly because of Bridget's silent rebuke and partly because of an instinctive distrust of the strangers. Trying to appear nonchalant, he bent his head and began grooming his chest fur quickly. Bridget resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and ignored him.

[xxRiley Todd]

Blue eyes still glued on his fingers, Riley gave a soft sigh. He knew just how stupid he was being, refusing to start a conversation or even glance up at the other pair sitting in the foyer. His fear of strangers was unreasonable. That he knew was well. However, it was unlikely to change. It wasn't that he hated people whom he didn't know; how else would he have made any friends? He just didn't trust them. Really didn't trust them, which lead to his silly fear. It was more of a fear that he would say the wrong thing than anything else. And he'd talk, oh yes he would talk to anybody willing to listen. Just, he didn't want to say something that would chase anybody off. That was what he was afraid, not of the girl herself.

Sayuri on the other hand was afraid of people she didn't know. Not of chasing them off, but of the people themselves. Anything foreign frightened the meerkat greatly. She had managed to slowly back up so that she was almost behind her human, almost out of sight. She could, though, still watch the two on the opposite side of the foyer. When the hare brought his gaze over to her after being told to stay quiet by the girl's gesture, she decided that this spot wasn't very effective and climbed onto Riley's leg, where she cuddled up next to him.

He crawled a hand onto his daemon's back and began to pet her, to calm her down. To calm him down as well. The silence was starting to get to him. Would he have to say something? He hoped not. Or maybe they both would just sit there in silence until the next class. As shy was he was Riley didn't think he could handle that. If he had to remain there throughout that much silence he would have chewed his bottom lip off. Already it was sore as he nibbled on it nervously.

Then came the time when the girl spoke. Riley jumped slightly, surprised by the sudden noise after the long period of nothing. His head snapped up and he stared at the blonde that had broken the silence. He managed a friendly enough smile before answering the question, which he was only answer because he figured she couldn't possibly tell on him since she was sitting out here as well. "Er, yes. At least that's where I'm suppose to be," As he spoke, Sayuri raised her head and padded forward a bit, still clinging onto his leg with her claws. From there she could eye both the hare and the girl. She would squint her eyes at the human, then glance at the daemon, and back at the girl, trying to figure out if they could be trusted.

His attempt at a companionable smile had already faded, but a genuine grin appeared at her remark about the test. Perhaps this girl wasn't a no good stranger after all. "I don't have a real liking for tests. That's why you skipped, eh?" He asked, his years of living in Canada showing in his accent. Ever since he had arrived here he attempted to hide the accent and refrain from using words that only those in Canada would use, but there was always slip ups. He didn't seem to mind much this time, as long as he didn't do it again.

Figuring that it was safe, Riley moved over until he was right across from her. There he could look at her a little better. He defiantly recognized her from Mr. Burnes' class. He just wasn't quiet sure of her name, except that it started with a B. Or was it a M? Or a C? The thought of names made him realize that he had yet to tell her his, and he doubted that if he wasn't even sure of the letter that started hers that she could remember his name. "I'm Riley, by the way, and this is Sayuri," The meerkat didn't take her eyes off of the others.

[/blockquote]

[.bridget terrence;]

Bridget remained silent for a moment as the boy spoke, her head tilted at a slightly angle and her expression still one of curiosity. Well, at least her greeting had been received well enough. Although she'd managed to make a few friends during her time here, she'd also ran into her fair share of those who would...well, rather just be left alone. Okay, that was putting it lightly. Truthfully, she'd made a few enemies as well as friends. It was just that a lot of people had an everyone-for-themselves philosophy at Stonebrook, and you never knew exactly who you could trust. Sometimes the people you thought you could rely on would turn around and stab you in the back. Bridget tried not to let any of this phase her, but she'd been keeping her distance from most of the people she'd met as a result. She had to admit, this place kept you on your toes.

Not the classes, of course. The classes were all highly acclaimed, or at least they gave off the feeling that you were supposed to refer to them as such. There wasn't much math or reading, or 'regular' school stuff...for the most part. The classes here were more centered around experimentation with the students' powers, or bizarre history anticdotes that were all somehow connected but just didn't seem to fit, or some sort of exotic science course. Still, once you got used to the schedule, it was mostly a 'same-old, same-old' kind of routine. No, it was the people here, rather than the courses, that made her wary.

Still, this boy--Riley, as he had introduced himself, seemed friendly enough. Or at least, he was willing to engage in civil conversation, and that was good enough for her. It was nice to have someone to talk to other than Kantai, who could read her thoughts half the time anyway. Bridget nodded at Riley's words; tests were definitely not the best part about this school. And the ones that most of her teachers gave seemed so...pointless. Well, perhaps she was biased, but even so, it seemed that she wasn't the only one who had decided that this particular exam wasn't worth taking.

Shifting into a less tense position, Bridget answered his first question with a simple. "Yeah, pretty much." She was going to say more, that she hadn't actually planned it, but it just kind of had worked out that way, but she held her tongue. As much chatting as she did, hardly any of it was about herself. It made her far too nervous, perhaps even unreasonably so, and she didn't see much point of explaining her whole little adventure anyway. Instead, she wondered idly about the accent Riley's words seemed to have. Was it Canadian? She wasn't sure; she'd never been good at deciphering things like that.

Smile still in place, Bridget introduced herself in turn. "Nice to meet you. I'm Bridget, and this is Kantai." She gave her daemon a little nudge. Kantai, upon hearing his name, flicked his long ears toward her. He seemed determined to ignore the conversation at hand, but couldn't help his curiosity. At last, he looked up and returned his gaze to Riley and Sayuri. The meerkat daemon still looked nervous, and Kantai was a bit taken aback by her jumpiness. Shrugging it off with a snort, the black hare gave a nod of greeting as he was introduced, and then took to scratching at the loose fibers of the carpet restlessly. For now, he'd be content to listen to the conversation, and chip in if he had to.

Bridget gave the hare an irritated glance. His restlessness was affecting her, and in an attempt to calm him down, she rested a hand on his shoulders again. "So, how long have you been at Stonebrook?" She asked, turning her attention back to Riley. It wasn't a loaded or thought-provoking question, just the sort of chit-chat Bridget had a habit of getting in to.

[xxRiley Todd]

These two didn't seem that bad...Sayuri scuttled onto her humans shoulder, her favorite place to sit and watch everything. From up there she could spy on the hare and the girl. Well, it wasn't really spying seeing as she was in absolute view of the others, but that wasn't quite the point. As long as she was keeping Riley safe. Riley, on the other hand, wasn't so appreciative of his protection. He could hear most of her ridiculous thoughts - a good portion of them about keeping him "safe" and away from "harm". What kind of harm could come to someone sitting in a hallway next to a girl and an oversize rabbit? None, that's what. Sayuri gave an annoyed snort -good, she had heard that one- but he did his best to ignore her and all her protective thoughts while listening to the girl.

She introduced herself as Bridget, her daemon Kantai. He nodded in a kind of way to show that he acknowledged her. Sayuri, who was still a bit wary but had gotten past most of her nervousness, threw in "Nice to meet you too," meekly before growing quite again. She wasn't one to speak to others often, but she liked to show that she at least had some manners and wasn't just a quivering ball of fur. Riley, glad that his daemon was acting civil again, had to think in order to answer her question. Had long had he been at Stonebrook? He did some math in his head, then came up an answer. "About two years. They all kind of run together after a while," He gave a soft sigh. It was true; every day at Stonebrook seemed to seep into the one before it until they all became just a long day. "How 'bout you?"

ooc; eck, sorry it took so long to reply and it's so small xP my muse decided to leave me

[.bridget terrence;]

OOC// That's okay, I can already tell my post is gonna suck anyway. xD

Two years.Two years seemed an awful long time to be cooped up in this place. Bridget couldn't even imagine being here that long. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd always told herself to tolerate Stonebrook a bit longer, and that she'd surely able to leave as soon as she gained control over her powers. But really, now that she thought about it, how long would that be? It was Stonebrook, after all, who had the final say on who had 'mastered' their abilities. It was clever of them to word it this way, Bridget realized. It made everything sound vague, and didn't tie them down to a specific time limit. She wondered whether if by "mastering their abilities", Stonebrook meant the students actually getting complete control over their powers, or just using them in the way the school wanted them to.

She blinked, and beside her Kantai sensed her thoughts growing darker. He sat up, his shoulders rigid, and gave her a solemn stare. Bridget realized that he was right. She couldn't think like this; she's promised herself that she wouldn't end up being one of those people who moped all day, wallowing in their despair at being banished to this academy. Bridget had seen quite a lot of people like that here, and she couldn't understand how they expected to get out of here if they didn't have hope. It effected her too, of course. It was times like those when she hated her ability most...being an empath, she definitely had to push away a lot of unwanted feelings that weren't even hers.

But, trying to stay concentrated on the conversation at hand(her thoughts often wandered this way, so she was accustomed to having to jolt herself back to earth), Bridget returned her attention to Riley. "Ugh, I can imagine." She agreed, rolling her eyes. She hadn't even been here for a year yet, and she had trouble keeping the days straight. In fact...how long had she been here? Bridget frowned slightly. By now, she supposed, it had to have been around... "Six months, I guess." She shrugged, twisting her hair around her finger absentmindedly.

"And it feels like a lot longer than that." Kantai couldn't resist chiming in. Bridget agreed with a nod, though she couldn't help feeling a bit exasperated. Five minutes into a conversation, the black hare already couldn't hold his tongue. He was quite talkative, especially for a daemon, and she'd often been rebuked for this...mostly by teachers, unsurprisingly. But Kantai didn't seem concerned by her irritation, for he was now scratching his ear in a nonchalant dog-like fashion. She had to smile, at least a little.

"But being here that long, I guess you know your way around." She spoke to Riley again. Bridget paused, hesitating slightly, before asking her next question. "Do things ever get any less..." She searched for the right word. "Vague around here?" It was obvious what she meant. For as long as Bridget had been here, at least, she'd been able to get almost no answers out of any of the staff--or even older students, for that matter. Questions like "What exactly are we supposed to do with our powers?", "Why do we have them?", and "How long do we have to stay here?" all often went unanswered or avoided. It was frustrating, really, that no one seemed willing to give her any information. If there was one thing Bridget hated, it was being kept in the dark.

[xxRiley Todd]

When he thought about it, two years was a really long time. The first day he had arrived at Stonebrook Riley had assumed he would be out by now. He had good enough control over his powers, he wasn't a harm to society [at least he didn't think so.] So why keep him here? Pretty soon the days had just melded together until Sunday became Monday and Monday Tuesday and so on. He'd forgotten all about wanting to get out of Stonebrook. It was all the same to him. The outside world and Stonebrook was the equivalent to the mall and his house. Nothing special. Although occasionally, when there was nothing to do except sit in the dorm and let your memories take a hold of you, Riley would be reminded about all the stuff he had left behind. It was only on those days that he truly despised Stonebrook.

He gave a light smile as Bridgett's daemon butted into the conversation. Daemons didn't usually communicate with other humans; hell, Sayuri didn't even like communicating with him half the time. Unless she had to yell at him. Then you couldn't get her to shut up. Speaking of the little meerkat, she gave Kantai a look that said 'Why are you getting the middle of them with your unnecessary comments?' It was very easy to tell that she didn't like that, which was unusual for her. For the most part she wasn't so rude - for some reason she felt the need to bring that up to the other daemon.

Riley nodded as she spoke again. He knew Stonebrook like the back of his hand. There wasn't a room that he didn't know existed...at least, not one that he hadn't found. If he wanted to he could probably walk around the school and it's grounds blindfolded, and he'd still be able to find his way around. After a while he'd just memorized it, like you memorize the layout of a house you just moved in to. There was a short pause, hesitation, before Bridgett asked another question. "Do things ever get any less...vague around here?" The question caught him off guard. However, it was a good question. He hadn't really noticed it much before but nobody gave you a straight answer around here. Even the other students weren't much help. Nor was he. "Well...no, actually." He chewed on his bottom lip again. That question had gotten him thinking. "Nobody seems to know anything around here,"