Nightmare Academy (Started)

Annie and Alex | Bedroom, the Anderson's house

Alex turned over in bed, pulling the comforter over his head. His parents were laughing and talking with some guest or another out in the kitchen. AGAIN. Didn't they understand the words "Three AM" and "Annie and I are leaving for school early tomorrow morning"? Actually, Alex realised, it was this morning. Weird. He was leaving home long-term this morning. He could hear Annie's soft snoring in the bunk above him, and Cedric snorted out little fireballs in his sleep.

Alex tried again to get some sleep, but his mother burst in through the door. He sat up and squinted in the light she let in. "Are you guys all ready?" she said, bustling around checking their room, although there was little to check. Their things had almost all been shipped off to the academy already.

Annie swung her legs over the edge of the bed and hopped down, landing in a crouch with her fingertips on the ground. She was already dressed. "Yup," she said with an ear-to-ear grin. Alex looked at her as if to ask if she was crazy. He grabbed his clothes off the bed rail and started pulling them on, bleary-eyed.

A red haired woman walked into the room. "Annie, Alex, this is Miss Smith. She's a teacher at your new school," said their mother. Annie couldn't wipe the grin off her face. She had always wanted to go to boarding school and it was finally happening!

Annie and Alex hugged their parents goodbye, and Miss Smith opened a portal. "Come on, Cedric," called Annie. The little dragon jumped up off the dresser and flew over, landing on Annie's shoulder.

"Hold on tight," said Miss Smith, grabbing Alex's hand. Alex took Annie's, and Cedric dug his claws into Annie's shoulder. They stepped through the portal, and found themselves floating in mid-air over a vast ocean. Cedric took off and did a couple loops. All the muscles in Alex's body tightened, and Annie wrapped her arms around him and hung on for dear life. Both of them closed their eyes tightly, so they didn't see exactly how they got there, but they landed safely on the porch of the academy, along with two other students and a teacher, all drenched in seawater, plus one other - dry - woman.

Mordechai, outside the Academy Grounds

"Well... what do you think?" asked Mordechai, staring at the Academy from a hill. Around him, Dire Wolves milled, jaws slavering, eyes blazing a hateful red.
Beside him, Wulfrich grunted, his monstrous ax (which doubled as a base- good for stabbing or unleashing an awesome riff, whichever came first) resting across his shoulder.
"I can sense the trainees arriving" he stated, voice as deep as his barrel chest suggested.
"Anyone promising?" asked Mordechai, softly.
Wulfrich leaned back, nostrils quivering, and sniffed deeply.
"A few" he said. "Maybe. That wretched headmistress is clouding my smell"
Mordehcai adjusted his belt and toyed with his watch.
"Good enough" he said. "And now, we go. I propose a little... test... tonight"
Wulfrich chuckled. He had been Mordechai's friend for a long time, and knew he meant business.

Alcander/Attic
Alcander was laboring over an ink-stained notebook, one of the many hidden in the trunk next to his cot. His white calloused hands seemed rough but gently glided his pen and ink across the weathered yellow paper.

Another nightmare. Just like the others. Alcander's dark brow furrowed when his mind went over the contents of his dream. It was another realm, and Alcander had to finish it just like the others unless he wanted to feel something painful like his gut being wrenched out of his stomach.

The world was ablaze in fire. The sky was a dark brown and tall mountains loomed menacingly over the entire picture, as if they were gods and could swallow the world whole. A little village seemed barely there compared to the giant rushing river and ghost-like aspen trees wavering in the wind. But of course, as in all of his drawings, stood a great egg. This time it was not pure white, but black and cracked. It seemed to say: this is your fault.

He shuddered. His aunt would be coming soon with the life-giving privilege of going to Nightmare Academy. Alcander's black hair swayed a bit as a purple portal opened. Unusually, a man stepped out, not his aunt.

"Hello." The man said sounding as if this was more boring than taking out the trash. Alcander did not feel the need to respond. "Are you Alcander Fenris?" Green, marble-like eyes stayed fixed on the intruder as the owner nodded. Alcander also somehow felt that he might get to like this sparse-worded man. "I'm Mr. Shmorenov, but you can call me Splicks."

"Are you here to take me away?" There was a blunt rude-ness when Alcander spoke but it reserved enough formality to get away with.

"Yes.The Headmistress could unfortunately not make the trip."

"I see."

That was all of the approval Splicks needed. He opened a portal and stepped half-way in. "Do I need to speak to your parents?"

"No, they wouldn't care if I never came back." Alcander's face was emotionless as he trudged into the portal, the shadows feverishly licking up against his pants leg.

Splicks looked uncomfortable at the least, but said nothing as he took the final step in and the portal closed around them. Alcander's last thought in the house was: "I'm coming home."
If you looked closely enough, you might have seen a rare, faint smile flit across his petal-like lips.

Samantha / Bedroom

Samantha sat on her bed quietly with a bag of chocolate chip cookies resting on her lap. The only thing illuminating her room was a small lamp that placed on her study table several years ago.
She was busy trying to distract herself with food as she tried to shake off the unsettling feeling left behind from her last nightmare, or was it a dream, she couldn’t decided. Nothing scary really happened but she was frightened nonetheless.
She had given up on the idea of falling asleep about an hour ago and decided to get dressed instead and snatch herself a bag of cookies.
She sighed for the umpteenth time that night as her thoughts wandered to the same topic that has been plaguing her mind for weeks now. Boarding school, Nightmare Academy.

I wonder what it’s going to be like, living away from by parents and my only friends Nikki and Emmitt… I hope it’s not too shabby a place at least, she thought

She looked down at the watch she got from her parents as a going away gift. It read 4:47 am.
She was starting get sleepy again so, she put her bag of cookies away and leaned back to rest head against the wall. She was just about to close her eyes as a purple portal opened, silently in the middle of the room. Her eyes snapped open when a figure stepped out of it and looked at her. She saw the portal close behind a lean man with blond hair.
“Hello, you must be Samantha.” He said
The raven haired girl got of the bed and answered “yes I am. I take it that you’re one me new teachers.”
“Yup, that would be me. I’m Mr. Jaeger, by the way.” He said with smile.
She didn’t know if she should have said some more, she wasn’t the most social of all people.
“We should get going now.” Mr. Jaeger announced suddenly.
She nodded and he opened the portal once again. He stepped in and gestured for her to follow him. Purple, my favorite color, she thought sarcastically as she stepped in behind him.

Eve Sharpe / Bedroom

The family Border Collie, Buddy, hops onto Eve's bed and sprawls out over her legs, whining as he sets his head on her knees. Eve nods and strokes his fur.

It's only for a little, Buds. I'll be back, she thinks, knowing how her parents thought about her speaking aloud to animals. But that didn't stop her from thinking of what to say if she could...

She wonders what the bording school - the Nightmare Academy - would be like. What classes would she be taking? Would she be able to make friends? Would she have a good time there?

Sighing, she looks down at Buddy just as someone knocks on the door. Buddy lifts his head up and pounces off the couch, disappearing, and a thin, dark haired woman walks in behind Eve's mother.

"Eve, honey, this is one of your teachers, Ms. Klein." Her mother smiles. "She's here to take you to the academy."

Eve stands and shakes the woman's hand, very aware of the dog hair on her jeans. She picks up her bag and hugs her mom one last time before following the woman through the door and to a swirling green mass. They don't hesitate to step through it.

Spoiler

Wait. Wait. Right now, I have 4 trainees? Okay? Confusing.

Madison Smith | Annie and Alex's Bedroom | The Academy

I walked in to see two delightful kids in the room. They had just woke up, and both of them looked at me with their squinted eyes. Their mother introduced me to them.

"Annie. Alex. This is Miss Smith. She's a teacher at your new school," the kind lady said, and I walked in front of her so that, they could take a better look at me.

"Hello. Nice to see you, all awake and ready! Shall we go now?" I said, opening up the portal. They jumped off their beds happily, and a small dragon followed Alex. They took hold of their hands, and I held Annie's hand.

"Hold on tight." I said. We stepped on to the Portal and I knew, we were all on our way for a whole new journey.

In minutes, we reached the Academy, and I landed on the ground with great balance, successfully on my legs. I saw Annie and Alex, on porch of the academy on the other side. I smiled and walked over to them, and helped them stand up. They looked around, excited.

"Who are they?" Annie pointed over to two kids -- Aoide and Juniper. Alex followed his gaze and looked startled.

I laughed and said, "That's Aoide and Juniper." I said. "You need not be scared of them. They're going to be with us too."

Annie and Alex frowned. They sure were hoping to be alone. Nai Tamerie, the headmistress of the Academy came in, with a warm smile on her face. She looked at us and spoke with a brave voice, "Hey guys, I'm Nai Tamarie. I am your headmistress. Feel fre to come to me about anything. Let's wait for the others before I tell you a bit more about your new home - Nightmare Academy."

Annie squeaked, Alex jumped, Aoide clapped her hands with joy. I noticed Juniper wasn't so happy. She just rolled her eyes and murmered, "Now, we have to wait for the other's too. Oh, bother."

I frowned a little, trying to figure the girl. But I guess, she must be just upset for coming all the way here.

She'll get along...

I called over the 4 trainees and sat on my knees. I smiled at all of them. They all looked at me with happiness (except Juniper who was just grinning). I smiled at them with white teeth showing out.

"I guess, we'll have to wait for awhile. But take one last look. After that, we'll be coming out here rarely." I said.

Alex's Mara let out small fireball which, almost burned the tip of the Alex's cloth. "Cedric!" he said, pretending to be annoyed and then laughed. Then, I saw Annie and Aoide talking together. Only, Juniper wasn't getting along. I glanced at Nai. And then narrowed my eyes Juniper. Nai nodded and we both walked to her.

"Juniper. Are you--" I started.

"Its June. Not Juniper. I feel like a baby when I'm called like that." she said.

"Okay. June. Is anything troubling you?" Nai asked her.

"Everything's well, thank you." she said, and turned to walk over to the other side, which faced the sea.

Rialla Nevar/ In front of Nightmare Academy
I scratched Arsenic behind the neck while Absinthe twined nervously through my legs purring softly. I dropped Arsenic gently and both he and Absinthe ran across the lawn. I watched them both smiling softly. "Are you another student?" Annie asked. "No I'm a teacher." I replied smiling at her sweetly. "Really how old are you?" She asked shocked. "17." I replied smiling as her jaw dropped slightly. "Wow." Was all she managed. I giggled. Cedric looked up at me his jaw smoking slightly. I dropped to a knee in front of him. "Watch it!" Alex warned me. I slowly reached until my fingers were in contact with the top of his head. I stroked back and forth lightly smiling as his eyes closed and he sighed happily. "Woah." Someone said. I didn't look back just kept gently stroking along Cedric's head gently working my way down to his neck.

Marcus/ - Room-in-a-lake
It was 2am...mabye... Of all the things to forget to put in my room, a clock was the one. Scgrup was in the bathroom, disposing of some excess radiation from an experiment. I had set up a small nuclear satellite that could see a shift in even the most minute shift in the air. it was sort of like a security system that had drunken too much coffee. Anyways, i had been waiting all night for an Academy rep to show up and take me away to wherever it was i was going, and I had eaten one too many Mallowmars. Scgrup came back, and I patted him, then I decided to go lay down on my bed. I flipped the switch to open the door to my bedroom. Inside was my little portal generator. It came in handy quite often. I lay down on my VERY comfortable bed. I'm serious, i could lay down for the rest of my life in this thing and have no issues whatsoever. I looked out into the lake that my room was in, enjoying the scene of fish swimming by. I took a sip of milk, and it went right up my nose as I saw what looked like a three year old swim into the glass and give me this really creepy stare. 'Great' I thought to myself, 'I'm hallucinating again.' I took another sip, and sprayed it all over the room as I then saw a person standing right in front of me.

"You know," I said, "You could have knocked."
"You know," they said, "You could have payed attention."
"Touche"
"You coming with me, or am I going to feed you to the sharks?"
"I'm coming. Let's go."
The teacher then opened a portal, and we walked into the grounds of Nightmare Academy.

Annie and Alex |Porch, Nightmare Academy

The twins waited on the porch for everyone else to arrive so they could recieve their instructions from the headmistress. Annie swung up and sat on the rail. Miss Smith knelt nearby, stroking Cedric. Alex kept a careful eye on him for a moment. The dragon didn't always take to people right away. He seemed to be getting along fine, so Alex walked over beside his sister. "This is pretty awesome, don't you think, Annie?" He was bouncing slightly in excitement.

"I love the colour of the sky," said Annie in a voice as quiet as a breeze, "I wonder if it's such a lovely lavender all the time."

Storm Morton/ The Mansion's Library
Finally! The day of Nightmare Academy had arrived. Storm could barely sleep that night, thinking about what it was going to be like. She sat in the Library upstairs, deep in thought. An onlooker would have been confused with the sight of a blind girl sitting among hundreds of books she couldn't read, even see. She knew this but had fallen in love with the smell of aging vellum paper and the mystery of the many stories to be told. In her petite, slightly tan hands she held a book curiously dotted with bumps. These allowed Storm to read, her fingers following the "words", little patterns being etched into her fingertips. This one read about fantastical creatures from an obscure medieval hermit's travels.

Her fingers left the book flutteringly. Her mind rambled among her past's ruins: the fire, her aunt, and the kind benefactors of the mansion. Without the kind and old, sometimes eccentric pair, of Mr. and Mrs. Weston, she would not be here or have this opportunity. In the middle of another thought, something about what would happen if a lion was crossed with a tree frog, something shifted in the air. A weightlessness enveloped her stomach, as if she was riding a rollercoaster and she had went down the drop.

"Hello!" Came a voice from the darkness, "I'm from the Nightmare Academy, I am a teacher there. What is your name?"

Storm rose steadily from the pile of pillows, collected from some far off land in the Indies. The teacher gasped, obviously, at Storm's lack of sight. She smiled at the recognition.

"May I say a few words to my...parents? Thank you, kindly. Oh, no, I don't need help, thank you very much." Storm meandered down the hall, down the stairs and into a room where the couple were working on their typewriters. The smell of smoke filled the room and Storm had no choice but to cough.

"Oh Darling, is it time for you to go already?" Mrs. Weston rose up immediately from her work and clung to Storm's erect body. "I'll miss you so much! You be a good girl, you hear? No scaring people with that sight of yours. And please, do as the teachers say and don't daydream! It's unbecoming. John, say goodbye to Storm. John?"

"Yes, of course." John's voice was gruff but loving. "Goodbye, Storm. Come back soon and see us as soon as you can." He whispered in her ear as he hugged her, "You know I don't believe in goodbyes. Bad luck. See you soon."

Storm was too overwhelmed for words.

"Let's get a move on then, shall we?" Teacher moved in front of Storm and that same feeling in the pit of her stomach of dropping occurred. Noticing Storm's expression, the teacher explained that this was a portal. They stepped in together and off they went.

Spoiler

I apologize for such a late reply, I have been talking it out with Life to stop messing with me in the last two days.

Anyway, thanks for clearing up some of the confusion you guys, and now I shall try to figure who is who and whom hasn't been picked up yet. .. I'll just take on Marcus, I guess? Seeing as the person who picked him was never really specified, and if not, I shall re-adjust it as necessary. Also, Tenshou, I slightly edited what you said in your post. Lukas seemed much too friendly there.

Lukas Jaeger|Samantha Madison's Bedroom|Marcus' Room-in-a-Lake| Porch - Nightmare Academy

As his orders were, Lukas was to pick up two new trainees, and he did so without complaint, as he set to his task. New blood was usually more interesting, but in a small corner of his mind, he had already listed exactly what he was to do if the new blood were to come along as obnoxious little brats. (Which was throwing books, as he usually would, but he had other plans. Things begin to become boring if they develop a sense of resistance to it afterwards. He'd have to buy heavier books. Lukas supposed that it made him a sadist in this sense.) Humans weren't exactly his favorite species, as there was only so many that you can tolerate. While on the other hand, non-humans were much more empathic creatures, he thought. There was an occasional one that wasn't so irritating.

Setting a portal into one room, where he met the first of the trainees he was to pick up, a 'Samantha Eli Madison', as it were. It was late into the very early morning when he got there as he glanced towards a clock in the room, walking in to take in the appearance what was to be the new blood, barely paying attention to the rest of the room as the portal behind him closed. It was this way that was less likely for unwanted intruders who came across on the opening in the fabric of space. The girl was raven haired, and at the very least, she seemed to a polite sort of person - very little trouble to expect, really. But the sneaky ones usually were rather deceiving, so he wouldn't take down his guard yet, not until he had a better reading on the child. “Hello, you must be Samantha.”

The raven haired girl got of the bed and answered, “yes I am. I take it that you’re one me new teachers.” Polite indeed. It brought a smile to his face, as small as it can be. “That would be me. I’m Mr. Jaeger.”

She seemed to have fallen into a silence, and seeing as he wasn't one to waste time, he announced their going. Not much of talker, was she? Good. He wasn't either. “We should get going now."

She nodded and he turned to open up the portal once again. "There's another that we've got to pick up first, so hold tight." Stepping in, he gestured for her to follow after, quite silent as they made way as the portal opened up to another room of the other trainee.

The kid seemed to be out of it, staring off into something as something else - a robot? .. It resembled a dog. - was about on the floor, doing what-knows-what, as he drew his attention away from it. It took several moments for whom he presumed to be the Marcus Draell he was to pick up, to notice that there another another being in the room. He could've snorted as he watched the boy spray milk from his nose or mouth - Lukas couldn't really tell as he had to hold back a chuckle, using his hand to block his mouth as his shoulders trembled in amusement. This was 'Marcus Draell', was it? Hopefully, the kid wouldn't be doing anything like that in his class.

"You know," the boy said, "You could have knocked." Great. An impudent one with a sense of supposed humor. How was he to knock? That would involve breaking into the kid's house and going some sort flight of stairs to do so. Please. He had better things to do.

"You know," he replied quickly despite rapid train of thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, a habit that he had tried to give up on since earlier days. Not that he was that old. "You could have paid attention."

"Touche." The kid shot back.

Lukas paused momentarily to think a bit. If he did pay attention, he would've have gotten as surprised as he did. Lukas made it a note to himself to teach self awareness of the environment around them so they could be able to sense Maras. If the boy couldn't sense him in the room, how would he be able to sense Maras? .. Though, it wasn't as if the kid was absolutely going to be become a Tamer. It brought little disappointment.

"You coming with me, or am I going to feed you to the sharks?" He added on some humor to counter the child, despite knowing that he'd never let this kid be anywhere near the mouth some shark, more concern for the shark rather than the kid. Humans must taste horrible, he had concluded long ago. Perhaps if the portal opened up in the sea, a shark might actually eat the kid. But he wasn't sure where it'll open up, or if the children could even swim.

The kid got up to follow, not letting Lukas having to wait long at all. "I'm coming. Let's go."

Lukas nodded as he turned around to create a portal and the three of them followed through to the Nightmare Academy, the portal opening up to some height up - not too high up, of course. They would die. - and he fell on his feet much like that of a cat, with his hands in pockets when braced for contact, his shoes meeting with the rocky ground of the porch of the Nightmare Academy. He ignored the stinging feeling in his heels. He stared up as the portal closed, stating something to no one in particular. "Not bad. Portal could've been a little lower though." Lukas looked back to see if the other two had any injury to be concerned about, seeing as the portal had opened up around 6 to 7 feet in the air, after all.