The Space For Me And My Ukulele

[Arisa_Howl]

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"I can give you a minute if you need it." Daniel offered as Tyler and Lulu seemed to have a bit of a standoff. Lillian seemed to want to protest and started to say something, but she quickly trailed off, seeming conflicted. Daniel gave her the best advice he could, and thankfully, the wolf girl seemed to finally calm down and start to really hear what Daniel was saying. "Yeah... I hear ya." She was munching on the jerky all the while and Daniel couldn’t help but admire the smell. He’d have to ask Jude to send him some in his next care package. Finally, Lillian stopped and turned around, heading back to talk with Tyler and seeming to have a new resolve. Daniel nodded to her and couldn’t help but smile. Whenever he could help guide someone else’s way, whether it be teaching them a new skill or making them smile or giving them advice…Moments like these were the ones that made him feel like he was doing something right. Like he had a purpose.

Daniel went ahead and limped along, the boot on his foot making it rather slow going. Granted, he was getting around faster than he was before when he was limping on his unbandaged leg, but now he could feel the pain medication starting to kick in. It was starting to get a little darker and he had a feeling that as soon as they made the soup delivery, he would have to head out to his evening classes. As much as he would have liked to spend the evening getting to know Lillian and the others more, women in need came first and directly after that was his studies. The girls who were sick had Dexter, Tyler and Cyrus to take care of them so he knew he would feel guilty if he didn’t go to his lectures.

Within a few minutes Lillian was bounding to his side again and he could hear her from several feet away as she came sprinting towards him. "Okay. Tha's done.” Daniel nodded, feeling proud of her for trying to fix things and he gave her a little pat on the shoulder as encouragement. “Let's get some soup fer Saria an' Naddie, 'kay?" With a grin, Dani said, “Yeah, let's go.” feeling more energized again.

It didn’t take much longer for them to reach the cafeteria and Daniel pushed past all of the other kids in the cafeteria, grabbing a bowl of soup that was set out. He figured the lunch ladies probably didn’t want kids smuggling out their good dishes, but honestly, they would just have to get over it. They had sick friends to take care of and he had broken the rules before. In fact, because of his smoking addiction, he was already breaking campus rules all the time. This wouldn’t be a big deal to him and he could always just return them later. After grabbing a bowl of soup in his own arms and then turning to Lillian, Daniel asked, “Okay, we have the food." And suddenly, a smile rolled over his lips and he got an idea. "I’ll race you back to see who can get there first without spilling any of the soup. What do you think?” He was having a fun time and felt like having a little contest with the girl. Daniel was always a fan of sports, so healthy competition was something that he missed in this off season. Although he had the boot on his foot, if the goal was to go as fast as you could without spilling the open soup bowls, then she would have to slow down to something at least closer to his speed. Daniel gave her a grin, trying to put her in the mood for competition. She seemed like a girl who could take a punch, so something simple like this should be fun for her.

 

[Arisa_Howl]

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As soon as Dexter’s hand hit Naddie’s forehead, he seemed more concerned for her than ever. Apparently, it WAS a fever after all and the angel pointed out a spare bed in the infirmary, advising her to lay down and try to get more rest. Before she knew what was happening, though, and before she could make a step towards the bed, all of the boys seemed to have a ‘whose tummy is prettier’ contest and they all began lifting their shirts and joking back and forth with one another. Lulu didn’t seem to like that at all and she burst out of the room, Dani following after her. She didn’t know him very well yet, but if he was friends with Dex and Tyler, she’d have to become friends with him! Plus…if he was another human…That’d be awesome. Tyler ran out of the infirmary after the pair and Naddie was left with Dexter and Cyrus. The ghost was very kind and insisted on leading her over to the empty bed. She was so short that she had to hop a little to swing her legs on top of it, but it was the same way in her dorm room. She was used to it now that she’d been there a few weeks.

Cyrus even offered to stay with her and Naddie grinned at him a little before sneezing again. She was thankful at the moment that he was a ghost, or else she would be sneezing all over his body right now. A part of her wished she could stay with Dexter and Saria, but everyone seemed to think she needed to lay down for a while, so she did just that. Naddie turned onto her side, curling up under the covers and laying down, facing Cyrus. She didn’t close her eyes and go to sleep right away. Instead, she looked to Cyrus, with a smile. She wasn’t tired right now, but laying down did feel pretty nice. And now that she had medicine in her system, it would no doubt put her to sleep in a bit. In the meantime, though, she figured she’d get to know her ghost friend a little better.

“Cyrus, how long have you been a ghost?” Since she was still a kid, she hadn’t been taught that some things shouldn’t be asked or might be touchy subjects for other people. She didn’t ask it to pry or be rude, nor did she think he might even take offense to it. Instead, Naddie stared up at him with fascinated, curious eyes. Naddie always loved learning people’s stories. She had met ghosts before, and of all the different races out there, they always had the best stories. Since they didn’t have bodies with which to live with, they were natural observers and as such, they always had the best stories to tell. She wanted to hear what he had to say and listened expectantly, hoping to get to know him better.

Suddenly, she heard Saria scream and Naddie, scared to her wits end at the shriek, jumped so violently that her chest yanked itself up so she was sitting up and her hands grasped the edges of the bed. “What was that?!” Naddie looked around to see Saria sitting up in her bed now and a wide smile spread across Naddie’s face. “Saria!!” The siren had been worried sick about her friend and now was elated to see her sitting up. She wanted to run over to her…But then she remembered that Dex and Cyrus had told her to stay in bed, so she tried to restrain herself.
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[Arisa_Howl]

As soon as Dani suggested the idea of going to pick up food for Saria, everyone else seemed to agree on the plan, including Lillian who instantly began bouncing ideas off of him, and he almost turned to leave. However, right at that moment, the little blonde siren pushed past him and from there, all hell seemed to break loose in the group. Everyone instantly asked if the girl was all right and Daniel guessed that she had already befriended the group. They all treated her sweetly, like she was their little sister, and Daniel couldn’t help but smile. They really did have a family going here…Hopefully, someday he could be a part of something that special. Naddie nodded when everyone asked if she was sick and coughed and sniffed several times due to the fever.

And then Naddie saw the angel. It was a rather funny scene, actually. As soon as the girl had noticed Dexter, her whole face turned as red as a rose and he and Tyler began laughing at the scene, Tyler in a much more boisterous manner than Dani. Although the human boy found this whole thing to be hysterical as well, he didn’t want to embarrass the young girl too much. Everyone had to have their first crush at some point, and Naddie looked just young enough to be around the age where girls start thinking about boys in a larger capacity than normal. He wasn’t about to humiliate and upset such a pretty little thing. He just didn’t have it in him to break the heart of a kid with a dream.

As soon as Daniel pointed out Naddie’s expression, Dexter’s face got as red as hers was and Naddie couldn’t help but lower her eyes in utter shock. She wasn’t sure how to react. Did she run? Did she say something about it? A part of her wanted to tell them to shut up or stop treating her like a little kid, but instead she was just frozen and sat there, unable to utter a word. The werewolf decided to sarcastically turn this into a contest and when Naddie heard Tyler say something to Lulu, the siren lifted her eyes only to see him lifting his shirt up and showing off his bare chest. Daniel couldn’t help but let out a boisterous laugh at this display and applauded at Tyler’s bravery. As soon as Tyler asked for Daniel’s opinion, he decided to go along with it and held his hand up to his chin, making a dramatic show of examining his abs as if he were an artist looking at a sculpture. “I do believe that, in comparison to Dexter’s abs, yours have more of a glisten to them. And just look at that fine detailing! Is that weight lifting I detect?” Daniel even bent over and put his head a few inches from Tyler’s stomach, suddenly doing what he thought his sister might do. Not having her around always made him a little uncomfortable, so in a way, in that moment he felt like filling that space somehow.

Naddie heard Dexter’s voice tell her not to look and she obeyed silently, her face redder than ever. He reassured her that Saria would be all right, and when he asked about her she had to take a minute to gather herself. She sniffled and coughed before responding to Dexter’s question, in a way hoping that someone would come to her assistance. She didn’t take care of herself. It wasn’t how she was raised. In a way, a part of her childishly wanted attention from someone else so they would offer to take care of her. But…no, that was immature. Naddie didn’t voice the longing for someone else’s aid and instead looked to Saria. She needed the help more right now…I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. “Yeah, I’m sick…I think I might have a fever. I’ve never had one before, though, so I don’t know what to do…” Hopefully, she would figure it out.

As soon as Daniel finished his dramatic examination, his laughter was completely cut off by Lulu stating simply, in a very harsh tone, “Dex,” before insisting to him that they should head out to get Saria some food. Daniel wanted to ask what was wrong, but by her body language, here and now did not seem like the right time to ask these sorts of questions. Daniel nodded politely to Lillian before putting his arm in a comforting manner on her shoulder before looking to the group. “All right, we’re off.” Then, he took a piece of paper off of the bedside table and took a pencil out of his pocket, jotting down his cell phone number and sliding it to Dexter. “If you need anything, just give me a call.” Then, Daniel escorted Lulu gently out of the infirmary and they started in the direction of the cafeteria. Daniel always loved trying to understand others and work out their problems. If he could try and assist Lillian by figuring out what was wrong and giving her advice, he would be glad to. If not...he always hated when his friends were upset and he could do nothing to help. He felt responsible. In a way, he already felt bad that something was upsetting her, as if he had been the one to cause her pain. He had a tendency to blame himself for just about everything, and right now, as much as he wanted to help, he also felt guilty for her mood. “Lillian, are you all right? You seemed a little off in the infirmary.”  

[Arisa_Howl]

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At last, summer had arrived. While everyone else was either in summer intensives or out playing on the beach, Daniel was one of the few people in the gym. The place was essentially empty right now and Daniel took advantage of having the place to himself. Sweat poured from his brow as he, dressed in nothing but a gray tanktop and long black pullstring exercise shorts, laying down and bench pressing a large weight with seventy pound weights on either side. The earbuds attached to the ipod in his pocket blasted his workout mix into his ears, filling his entire body with the music that always pumped him up. The once average-built human boy had drastically changed in appearance since he arrived at Valencia a semester ago. His body was now very firmly toned and his average muscles were now much stronger than they had once been.

Every student there for the summer was there for a reason, and…well, as the only completely normal, never been trained to fight a day in his life, human in combat class in the spring semester, Daniel had become famous for getting his a** kicked almost daily in class and as a result, he flunked Fallon’s class. Everyone, even he, saw it coming from day one, as much as Dani hated it. In high school and his first year of college, he had been considered a reasonably strong guy, especially when it came to his endurance levels. He had stamina like no other, but as soon as he came to this school, in comparison to the immortal and magical classmates he was put up against, Daniel was a weakling. For quite some time, his depression had gotten progressively worse because of these constant failures, but after smoking more marijuana than usual one night and having a long chat with Ellie, he decided to try and think positively about the situation. While being hurt every single day and having bones broken was humiliating, he had come to befriend almost everyone in the infirmary and he had really funny stories for his sister, at least. Granted, seeing him get hurt all the time really upset Ellie, but he was getting used to it. In fact, he was embracing it and using it as a motivator. Ever since his second week of combat classes, he had made it a habit of his to exercise every single day, not only working on lifting weights and working up his strength levels, but also running around campus in the mornings and the evenings to push himself and build his agility. Slowly, he was getting better and better at fist fighting, and although he still had his a** handed to him on a regular basis, he was learning. And now that he was getting better progressively, his determination to succeed had pushed him to take the summer intensive class for combat. He had to prove that he could do it. He was not leaving this school for monsters until he got a passing grade in Fallon’s class. There was no way he would let himself fail.

He had heard horror stories about what Laurent was planning for the class and Tayte Fallon had seemed all too excited about it, but he was ready. Even if he ended up breaking some more bones, he was really good at biting his way through pain now and his pain tolerance was practically inhuman. If he couldn’t brag about anything else, he could at least say he was really good at sucking up pain. And who knew? Maybe after this summer, he would actually win a fight for once, or at least tie with someone. If any freshman humans came in for the class, he knew he could at least take them on. And if not, maybe this class could at least teach him some survival skills and give him more great stories to tell. Daniel had actually started having regular dreams about beating Tayte Fallon in a fight and as much as she intimidated him, the idea of one day standing a chance against her or even anyone else at this school was too beautiful of a dream to just give up on. With a smile on his face, Daniel continued lifting weights, determined to add another 10 pounds onto what he could lift within the next week. He had been stuck on lifting 140 lbs for far too long and he was ready for the next challenge. He could catch up with all of his friends later- right now he had to focus. Focus…

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[Arisa_Howl]

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Ellie was in the middle of a phonecall with someone’s parents who, quite unfortunately, didn’t quite speak English. This would have been all right if she could have just found the language they were speaking, but as she kepot trying to look up some of the words they were using, frantically using anything from online dictionaries to books to the tomes that were left in the front desk cubicle, nothing seemed to be of any help. The language that this parents was obviously not a human language and now was one of those moments where she really wished she had some sort of candy that she could eat and magically understand every language of the world. The sound of it reminded her of the language Yang had been speaking to the other mermaid girl. It had a similar sound, but it was a little lighter, full of more rounded sounds…Maybe a water nymph? She took her best guesses, but in the end the woman ended up hanging up on her in frustration and Ellie heard the dial tone ringing in her ears, letting her know that she had failed. She knew Italian. She knew English. She knew German. Hell, she could even speak a little bit of Spanish and Romanian. Enough to get her through a casual conversation, anyway. However, as far as knowing the languages of other races, she was a total stranger, and now she was really wishing she could understand even more. With a little bit of curiosity, she started flipping through one of the tomes about tongues, but as she looked through the index, she quickly discovered that there were so many scattered languages that there was no way any single human being could learn them in a lifetime.

Hm…Maybe…Maybe a witch would know how I could learn faster…Ellie looked both ways, making sure none of the other employees were watching, but they all were too consumed in their own work to care what the hell she did at the front desk. With a grin, she pulled up the registrar’s list of students, and thankfully they were all organized into classes, and from there further divided by IQ levels, gender, and then races, followed by their ages. Ellie assumed that if there was a way to make someone able to understand all languages, they would need to be smart as hell to pull it off, so Ellie instantly clicked on the highest IQ slot of the school. At first, Ellie clicked on the men’s slot, but then she slowly realized that the chances of a man taking her seriously in this endeavor were probably slim. They’d probably be too busy staring at her breasts to make her a potion or whatever it was that she needed. Of course, if they were sexually attracted to her, that would make it easy to discuss the subject of payment, but…No. She decided against working with a male witch and moved on to the girls. It seemed as though the amount of witches in the higher IQ levels was pretty high, but one of the first to pop up on the list was was one of the youngest in the school. While many of the students were typically ages 17 and higher, ranging all the way to around 4000 years old, it looked like she was only 16. Ellie grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, jotting down the name Rosa, Saria, then tucked it away into her pocket before closing down the screen.

Within a second of her closing out the program, the bell attached to the front door rang and Ellie raised her head to see a boy wearing a skirt walk in with a beautiful red fox. She would have been surprised if she was a new student, but she had already been at the bizarre multi-racial school for over a semester now and was used to seeing strange sights among the student body. The fact that a guy had a pet and decided he wanted to cross-dress for the day was low on the list of things she would really give two shits about. Ellie put on her best professional smile as they walked in and said simply, “Hello. Is there anything I can help you with today?” God, that’s weird. I sound like the old, boring receptionist that no actor wants to get stuck playing in the movies. Hearing the sound of her voice being twisted into some boring, office receptionist, so serious and mundane, almost made her gag but she knew that it’s what she had to do. Part of the official description of the job, after all, was to act polite to all students and help each individual out to the best of your abilities. Well, she had the polite down, and because she wasn’t really biased towards any race (with the exception of vampires. They freaked her the ******** out for…personal reasons), she was practically ideal for the position. Most people were, in one way or another, rascist, as no one person could really like every single other race in the world. It was just impossible. But she was pretty much the closest to it that you could find.

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