Expect the Unexpected

[Eos]

Eos stared at his hands, covered in tree sap, and wished he had the foresight to bring gloves. Oh well, it was too late for that, so instead of thinking on it and aggravating himself, he took to licking the palms of his hands the way a dog would.

He looked up to find the tallest tree in the forest surrounding the Athenaeum, half hidden in the falling snow. The snow had surprised almost everyone as it had started up earlier that morning. No one knew Eos had asked Zeus to do such a rare thing at the Athenaeum. Maybe Mnem and Morph knew, but only because they knew everything that happened there. And Eos had to get it approved by Mnem before doing it. Tahi knew as well, only because she had helped Eos a bit with his unual “lesson plan”. She had given him one of her opals, the kind that helped with magic. He had been using it for practicing his fire magic. But after his impromptu lesson exchanges with Eri, he didn't feel like he needed it anymore. Then Tahi had given him permission to use it for his lesson.

At that moment the opal was tied around the tallest branch of the tallest tree at the Athenaeum, surrounded by swirling snowflakes, waiting for some courageous warrior to brave the heights and cold to get to the stone. Eos himself had only accomplished climbing so very high by not looking down... his heart still felt like it was beating in his ears and right under his collarbone. The man detested heights.

But just height and snow wasn't much of a challenge. Deep in the dungeons Eos had found the perfect monster for the “lesson”. A small winged chimera now sat on a branch near the opal, guarding it's new treasure. Chimeras were a lot like dogs, territorial and protective, but also quick learners and willing to take orders once you showed them who was boss.

Eos, bundled up against the snow he had been expecting, retreated away from the tree, only to lean against another to wait. Right then some of the warriors were probably reading the note he had left on the bulletin in the dinning hall as they ate their last meal of the day. But if no one got the stone by sun-up he would go get it himself and give it back to Tahi... or maybe Tahi could get it instead. Eos had enough climbing done for a lifetime. Having your feet planted on the solid ground was much better than swaying at least 40ft in the air, he thought to himself as the snow started to worsen.

[Guest]

Jane had seen the snow outside and dressed up warmly. After all, if she was to get some opal or something in the forest, she would have to be dressed warmly. It was a big forest, with a lot of places for a little stone to hide.

Now she was standing at the edge of this forest, looking up at the sky. The only time she'd seen snow in her time was on a planet so cold that they weren't allowed to go outside, even. So now she marveled on its cold, pure, whiteness...

...but not for too long. Jane was determined to win this competition, even if it was just for something to do.

[Guest]

[ oh my, I really need to draw an updated version of Jane xD ]

[Kai]

As Kai stepped out of the Authenaeum and out into the falling snow, she was very grateful Lady Tahirah had given her some winter clothes. It seemed almost as if Tahi knew it would get cold out... Kai hadn't questioned her Mentor. Better to leave that alone unless Lady Tahirah wanted to talk about it.

She stared up at the snow, wrinkling her nose as the cold little drops touched her. As a fire charis she didn't like feeling cold. But as a fire charis that had trouble with her magic, this was an opportunity to get her hands on something that would help, an opal.

With a sigh she walked around aimlessly. It seemed an impossible task, the grounds were GIANT. One little stone wouldn't stand out. Especially with the weather making it so hard to see.

[Guest]

She started walking around the forest, trying to think of where she - or rather, Eos - would hide an opal. She would just tuck it under a root somewhere random where even she wouldn't be able to remember where it was, but would Eos do something like that?

Lost in her thoughts, Jane continued to wander around the forest.

[Kai]

{Eos: *is kind of an idiot... so yes*}

[Guest]

[ xD ]

[Guest]

Bjorn had been sleeping outside.

Y'know as you do.

He was well equiped for cold weather as he himself came from a bitterly cold country...in fact, he welcomed the snow, would have danced and drank and sang songs in praise of the falling flakes because he didn't like the warmth that this place generally provided...all day...everyday...

However the snow had not woken him up and it had settled over and around the sleeping dane at the base of a barren tree.

[Kai]

Kai was freezing and the snow mixed with the coming darkness was making it very very difficult to see anything. So she held up a hand and lit a small fire, letting the fire dance above her skin, giving a dull orangy light to what she assumed was the forest.

That's when she had an idea, she held her hand higher and scanned the ground for a sparkle, glint, any sort of reflection that would let her know where the opal was. Why was the pole-arms teacher so crazy?! Finding a needle in a haystack was no small feat.

[Guest]

Jane saw a fire in the distance, sparkling off the snow and illuminating the shape of what she had to assume was another student. Well, it couldn't hurt to ask how they were doing with this hunt, so she walked towards it. It was getting kind of hard to see much without a light anyway, and Jane wished that she had some kind of flashlight.

[Kai]

Kai froze as she saw a figure walking toward her, but she soon recognized her as Jane, another student, and walked toward her.

"Hey Jane," Kai greeted her with a smile as she hopped toward her, letting her fire illuminate them both.

[Guest]

"Hello." Jane looked around at the snow. "So I see you're out here on this crazy hunt too. Any ideas?" She didn't know Kai very well, but that was alright. She'd gotten more used to socializing with the other students since she'd arrived, her military training relaxing a bit as she let herself just have fun.

[Kai]

"Not really," Kai admitted sheepishly. "Other than looking for the opal to reflect the light from my fire," she explained. But an opal was only, what? A few centimeters in diameter?

[Guest]

"That'll be hard in this snow," she said, looking around at all the twinkling, sparkling snow. "I was thinking that we have to get into Eos's head and try to think of where he might put it, but I don't know him very well so that hasn't been working."

[Kai]

Kai frowned, shoulders drooping with hopelessness. "I don't know him well either. I don't even have a class with him," she told the other girl.

{Eos: *foreveralone*}

[Guest]

"I'm in his spears and axes class," Jane said doubtfully. "But he doesn't really...show much of himself, if you know what I mean? I still don't know much about him, except that he's the instructor for the spears and axes class." She shrugged. "Oh well, we'll have to make do without getting into his head and outwitting him then. Let's keep looking."

[Kai]

"Hmm... Lady Tahirah knows her pretty well," Kai mused.

{If you know what I m- *javelined*}

Kai's fire flared bigger so they could both see better as they continued their search. The silence broken by the sizzles of the snowflakes hitting the flames.

[Guest]

"This is hopeless," she said after what seemed like an hour of searching though it couldn't have been that long. "It's going to be impossible to find something that small in a place this big..."

[Guest]

Eri had been quite surprised upon waking that morning to find herself shivering and her window pane frosted over. It had been a long time since she'd seen snow, and what better way to celebrate, she thought, than to go hide outside and pummel as many people with big chunks of the fluffy white stuff as possible. Or at least she thought that until she noticed Eos' note.

Dressing in one of her warmer sets of semi-stolen, hand-me down, boys clothes and a long brown cape; she went bounding out into the forest whooping and hollering like the little hellion she was, her lantern swinging wildly on her hip as she began her search for the opal and her favorite teacher to torment.


((wow.... I can't believe I forgot to post on this. What a fail on my part. Anyway here ya go XD... Addi won't be joining in this time I'm afraid ;3;

Addi: *curled up in her room with a blankie and some tea* Its warmer in here ;w;...))

[Guest]

Jane heard some whooping and hollering and looked around. "I take it we're not the only ones out here," she said, somewhat amused. "And I think I have a pretty good guess as to who that is..."

[Kai]

Kai straightened up at the noise, listening carefully. No, definitely not alone.

"Who can that be?" she pondered, both to herself and to Jane.




Meanwhile deep in the forest, a certain blonde haired demigod's ears perked, and his face fell. Oh gods no, he thought to himself as he heard a hellion screaming. He wasn't sure which hellion it was yet, but he had an educated guess.

[Guest]

"Well they sound female," she said thoughtfully. "Obviously very excitable, and energetic, and ready for some fun..." Jane smiled a bit. "I know who my guess is."

[Guest]

Eri continued along her way, eventually stopping her hollering in favor of humming giddily to herself as she skipped along kicking up big clouds of snow as she went. Continuing along, that is, until she spied the two girls up ahead.

Grinning broadly, she sprang forward with a sudden burst of speed and tackled the two girls with a loud squeal of "HI GUYS!!"


((she's still so obnoxious... otl Someone please knock some sense into the brat XD))

[Guest]

Jane rolled as she hit the ground, though it was hard when there was somebody on top of her, and she quickly wriggled out from under Eri. "I thought I heard you out there," she said, shaking some of the snow off of her and sticking her hands under her arms to warm them up. It was COLD...she should have worn some gloves.

[Kai]

Kai hit the ground with a little groan, her flame going out and leaving them in the dark. "Eri," she sighed and tried to sit up. The girl was just so hyper.

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