What an odd day today was. Not only was Rei alone; no clones or anything but it wasn't snowing. This winter, that's all it was these days, snow, snow and more snow. But just because there was no snow falling from the sky didn't mean it would magicly become warm. Well, it could but whoever had that special power to go against mother nature sure as hell didn't know how to use it. Or they just liked to be forzen popsicles....

Rei walked down the crowded hallways to the band room. The body heat made it feel farmer but Rei was still cold. So cold she had gone back to her dorm earlier to throw on her new red sweater that now decorated the top half of her body, while skiny jeans covered the bottom, tucked into a pair of white and red air force ones. Thoses were her favorite pair of shoes, only because her sister wanted them but couldn't fit them, it was nice to have something her perfect sister didn't.

Finally reaching the band room, she opened the door, it smelled. It smelled like dried spit, moth balls and wood, what a combination. Of course this thought was pushed aside by the fact that Rei was not the first one there. Great... She thought to herself as she looked at the clock on the wall.

The three others in the room didn't even look up as she walked in. Two males and a female. All older than her of course. It wasn't a surprise they were there, it was just a surprise they were there at that time. Rei was sure she had gotten out of class early enough so she could have some time to herself in the band room. Curse the crouded hallways and the weather. Rei decided to get out her clarinet. It had been days since she practice and she wodered if anybody would notice. They probably would, unless they were too wraped up in thir own thing. Option two was looking good right now. No one ever really cared what she did and didn't do. Finally, after about two minutes, the female looked up, pushed her straberry blond hair out of the way and smiled a toothy grin. Rei smiled back, and the girl went back to her instrument. Rei sighed, freshmen never got much respect.

Moments later, the males, a brunette with shaggy hair and a red head with curly hair began to play on the drums..... loud. The female joined in on the trumpet and the three had their own little thing going. Rei was going to join in but it seemed out of place. She seemed out of place.

((yes I know it's a horrible firtt post my bad, I'll be better))

(It's midnight and I'm on a time constraint, so excuse the shortness and suckiness.)

Arthur was wandering around the halls of the school. He was tired. His free hours had been long ones of practicing his guitar. Eventually, he had decided to go to the band room. Groggily, he had gotten up, thrown on some suitable clothes, brushed his teeth (or rather stood there with a foamy toothbrush in his mouth) and left the dorm. Instead of packing up his acoustic, he left it strapped to his back. People in the halls dodged the shambling Nobody as he drudged through the buildings. He was halfway to the band room when he realized that he was not wearing a sweater. His body began to shiver, waking him up a bit. He started to pick up his pace a little bit. His guitar narrowly avoided having its neck cleaved off by door-frames a lot of times.

Once he was in the building, he sat down on a bench near the door. He looked out the window, viewing the gray, overcast sky with contempt. Arthur normally enjoyed the cold, but he was not prepared for this. He stood up and his guitar pick fell out of his pocket. It skidded on the ground and went down a drain. He sighed. Now, he thought, Now, I have to go back to my room to get another one. This is not a good day for me. Whatever, I can at least get a sweater. So he began the trek back to his room. As he was opening the door, he realized that there were probably spare picks in the band room, and that this trip was probably in vain. He went into the dorm, kicking himself mentally, and got a few picks. He also packed his guitar away in its case so it wouldn't bang around anymore. Leaving the building, he realized that he had forgotten his sweater. It's not worth it, really.

So Arthur's day was not going well.

He reached the band room and heard some noise inside. Opening the door, he was greeted by a musty smell. Four people were inside. Three were playing something. He didn't know them. The other person was Rei, who he knew. She was just kind of there. Arthur was not afraid to play with these people, but he wanted to let them finish what they were playing before he insinuated himself upon them, so he took out his guitar, strapped it on, and sidled up next to Rei. "Hey. You here to practice, too?" he whispered.

The three went all out... why? Rei was lost in thought, she came here to practice, alone really. But the truth was that she didn't come to practice. The band room was just a prop, something to get her out of her dorm without her roommates sufficating her with questions. Then, another human walked into the room. Rei wanted to scream out in protest... beg the person to leave, beg all of them to leave, but she didn't. She turned her head slightly to the left to see who the new addition was. Arthur. Rei half wanted to jump out of her seat and give im a giant hug for saving her from bordom. She also decided that wasn't the best thing to do right now...

The three stopped their playing, or as Rei would say, their thrashing about. Arthur slid into a seat next to her and she smiled, glad he was there. Rei wondered if it showed on her face. Probably.

"Hey. You here to practice, too?"

"The truth?" Rei didn't even wait for him to answer as she continued. "Not really.... I came to think, but then I walked in the room to this." she said gesturing her thumb to the group of chattering teens behind her. The urge to scream at them wasn't as strong now, but she still wanted to and for no reason. 'Angry' Rei. Rei sighed shaking her head trying to rid her self of the evil.

"Anyway.... you practicing today?" SHe asked pointing her pinky at his guitar.

((no worries, its 11:45 here and this is the best I could come up with))

He looked at his guitar, and started to think about why he'd really come. "Well... I thought so, but... I've been practicing for hours straight. I dunno why I came. This is really strange." He paused for a moment, looking slightly nervously at Rei. "But I'm babbling, and I should stop that now. I think that would be good." The door creaked open. A person, probably a junior, came in, carrying a long, rectangular case. He walked behind the others and pulled out a keyboard. He set it up on its stand and plugged it in. After about half a minute of listening, he started playing with the others. Arthur, having been sitting for a while, decided to break his silence. "I think... I think I'm going to join in with these people. It'd be nice if you could too," he whispered over to Rei before standing up and flipping his guitar over. He walked to the corner and quietly tuned it. Then he walked back over, pick in hand.

Arthur listened to the beat and the melody for a little bit. He picked out a chord progression in his mind that would fit and began to strum. The people seemed a little disconcerted at first, and they looked at him, expecting him to stop under the pressure they were throwing at him. Still, he played on. The trumpeteer turned forward again after a minute or so, as did one of the drummers, but the other drummer and the keyboardist continued to stare at him. Arthur was looking at his left hand following his fingers as they formed the chords shapes as if by their own will. He thought briefly about whether he was impressing Rei with his act, but he put this out of his mind, as it distracted him.

Finally, the drummer spoke, albeit quietly. "Why are you playing with us?" The music continued around them. Arthur kept playing as he responded. "I'm just practicing with you all. You want me to stop?" The drummer looked down. Arthur looked back to his guitar. Suddenly, there was a flash of movement in his peripheral vision. He turned his eyes to his right. Something was flying towards him. In the instant he had before collision, he hardened the bones in the right side of his head as much as he could. There was an impact, though it did not hurt his strengthened bones much, and he fell to the ground. His guitar landed harshly on top of him, and though it was very light, a string snapped and lashed him in the face. It stung for a moment, and Arthur just remained still. Finally, he stood. In front of him was the drummer, holding his hand in pain. The drummer looked at him and ran from the room. The other people looked fearfully at Arthur, then at the door. At once, the all hurried out, leaving their instruments behind. Arthur stared at the door after them for a moment before turning to Rei. "I wonder what that was about."

Rei listened as Arthur explained. Babbling... Rei smiled, "No worries I bab-" The door creaked open, interupting Rei's sentence. Rei watced as the male walked in and set up his keyboard behing the others. Rei listened as they played, still fighting with herself to play or not.

"I think... I think I'm going to join in with these people. It'd be nice if you could too."

Rei noded slowly, as he walked away. She watched him for alittle while, finally making up her mind to join in. She tuned up and waited or the right time to join. "Why are you playing with us?" Rei looked over her sholder at the drummer, at first, thinking he was talking to her. She then realized he directed the question to Arthur. See! No respect for the freshmen...

"It's a free country, he can do whatever he pleases," Rei replied after Arthur. She went back to tuning, turning her head until she heard a thud. She snapped her face around. The teens ran out of the room. Rei snapped her fingers, creating a clone. She pointed to the door, signaling for the double to chase after the teen as she dashed over to Arthur.

"Your not hurt are you?" She asked, frantically checking him from head to toe. "That was just rude I can believe he would do something like this. I mean look at the school we go to, someone was bound to get hurt" Rei rambled on, only stoping once for breath.

((Don't be mad at me, I know it's bad))

Arthur grimaced and stood up. The pain from the snapped string was rapidly fading. He brushed himself off. "Nah, it's nothing. See, I've got this bone thing going on, so I can harden my bones pretty easily and fast and then just make them go away, just like that." He paused, trying to work out his own run-on sentence. "Yeah, the string hitting my face hurt more than the punch did. It's kinda strange." He realized that he had not yet dissolved the extra bone. He poked it once, feeling how hard it was, then his body started working at it. He stood there, waiting for his internal juices to slough off the bone. He looked at the ceiling for a few seconds before realizing that Rei was still there. He looked back at her. "Yeah, that was my body dissolving the extra bone, you know, to this day, I still don't know how that works, isn't that strange?" Another pause. "Man, I can't form a working sentence today." He laughed. Then, with no provocation, he walked across the room. On the way, he picked up his case. Arthur went to a table and sat down. He took out the proper equipment for changing a string and the string itself and set out to work. As his hands moved across the hollow body of the instrument, he went into a reverie. How did I handle that back there? Did I look stupid? What does she think of me now? His thoughts raced around. Geez, I hope I didn't make an idiot of myself in front of Rei. I wonder... No. I shouldn't've come over here without telling her what I was doing. I need to get back there. He finished winding the peg and stood up, leaving the guitar where it was. He walked back to Rei.

"Sorry about that. I wanted to fix my string as fast as I could, if it's snapped for too long, it might do damage to the bridge, and I don't really want that to happen, because that thing's an heirloom, and this is a long sentence, I'm really getting out of breath." He took a huge gulp of air. "Yeah." He stopped talking and sat down. "Well, this has been fairly awkward. I wonder why that is." He looked at Rei.

"Nah, it's nothing. See, I've got this bone thing going on, so I can harden my bones pretty easily and fast and then just make them go away, just like that."

"Oh yeah, you have that coolie-oh bone thingy..." Rei mentaly slapped herself. Do you even know how stupid that sounded? Coolie-oh? What were you thinking?!

Rei listened to him talk, and talk, and talk. But she couldn't say anything, if she didn't force her lips shut the war that was raging in her head would have been verbal... and in Japanese of all things. That's just the sort of thing she did, yell in another language. I really have to work on that... She noted to herself.

"Man, I can't form a working sentence today."

That seemed to force it's way pass Rei's mental fence. "Oh not to worry," She said walking to the drum set and picking up the sticks the male left. It was the band room, and she was in band so she really didn't need to go ask if she could play them. "...I used to play the drums..." Rei said quietly, only to find out she was talking herself, Arthur leaving her to fiddle with his guitar. Rei shrugged it off and started to play a rock beat. Simple and easy. The way life should be but never was.

"Well, this has been fairly awkward. I wonder why that is."

Rei looked up at Artur who had returned. "It's the school we go to. Everything would have to be fairly awkward at some point. But it's not everyday you see someone try to cause a fight in the band room," She said over the sound of the drums.

(Sorry I haven't been able to respond, I've had a hectic week.)

Arthur stared at his hands. "I suppose. These abilities everybody has... It's not really any different than a normal school, I think. It's just that all of the malice, bullying and fighting is magnified by a huge amount." He scratched his cheek. "I mean, this kind of stuff happens anyway. The tensions are just a lot higher here." A pause. "I used to be in the elementary school band at my school. I played the clarinet. The drummers were always total asses there. I never liked them much after that. Now, I have a lot more of a reason to affirm my dislike, I guess." He stopped talking and looked down to his guitar. He began to tune it, plucking a string and turning the knob, plucking and turning, plucking and turning. As he did it, he began to speak. "I, uh..." Pause. "I... No, today..." Another pause. "Look, this hasn't gone too well. I hope you don't think..." Ah, shit. How do I word this? His left hand jerked, twisting the tuning knob too fast, and another string snapped. "Wow, I'm going through strings like crazy, huh?" Glad for the intervention, he stood up and went back to the table. He stood working in silence. As he was finishing up, he heard the door slam. Oh my god, is she leaving? No, no, no... He flipped around, exclaiming, "Don't leave! Stay for a while!" When he did, he saw that she was still there. He looked to the door. The drummer was standing there. Arthur gulped. "So, uh, hello. Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to hurt your hand or anything like that." The drummer walked up to him. "You didn't, eh?" he said to Arthur. He grabbed him by the shirt and tried to lift him into the air, but could not. Arthur couldn't help stifling a laugh at the failed attempt.

"Oh, so you think I'm joking, do you?" One hand moved from the shirt to Arthur's neck, and tightened. Arthur spoke raspily. "Ah, shit."He tried to harden his neck, but he could not with the hand already there. "You know what I can do, right?" He grinned. A flicker of flame came from his mouth. Arthur stared, rapidly gaining confidence. "You... You can breath fire?" He motioned to Rei. "Hey, this guy can breath fire! Isn't that weird?" He felt a shoot of flame touch his cheek, blackening it a little and hurting not at all. "Well, damn it. I don't know how I could defeat someone like this. Oh, wait a minute, what's my power? Bone manipulation, right? So, theoretically, I could alter my knee bone and use it as a weapon, no?" The drummer's eyes widened and he looked down. Arthur's leg, with a large, sharp knob stretching the skin and his pants, jammed into the older boy's groin. He fell down. Arthur left him there and walked over to Rei. "Still, I wonder: what's his problem?"

((I sooo didn't see this here until today. Excuse my stupidness and my short post if it comes out that way...))

Rei stopped playing and listen to Arthur talk. He was right, just like a normal school, "I wish this was a normal school..." she sighed. She'd give anything not to have powers right now. All they did was cause trouble and get you into worse fights.... just what everyone needed. Rei looked up at the ceiling, the plain white 'I'm so boring you could fall asleep' ceiling.

"Don't leave! Stay for a while!"

Rei jerked her head over to where Arthur was sitting, "I'm still...." She was inturupted by the echo of the door slamming. She looked over to fine the drummer holding Arthur by the shirt. Oh what a joy, he came back. I thought I told my clone to deal with him.... Rei didn't need this, Arthur didn't need this.... heck the world didn't need people like this, yet here they were... in the band room in the middle of a fight because of what now? "Oh, so you think I'm joking, do you?"

"I do... Mr. 'ooooh I'm so tuff I can breath fire out my mouth'..." she said raising her and like she was answering a teacher's question. THs guy was really pissing her off. A few more comments of his and she would have been pushed into another self, a meaner one.... She was so close to throwing his drum sticks at him, but she realized he was on the ground. What had happened in the two or three seconds she was talking to herself? She looked up at Arthur, "Don't you think you over did it alittle? I mean, what are we supose to do with him now?" She asked pointing to the male roling on the floor in pain.

Arthur looked at the boy, then turned his eyes to Rei. "I don't really think so. I mean, this guy threatened to burn me alive. I'm not sure he had any intention to put action behind his words," he looked down towards the boy again, who was no longer rolling, and was just kind of twitching now, "and I don't think he did. But he was invading my personal space, and I've never liked fire. It's not lethal or anything. I've had to do that for a long time in school. The teachers never suspected that it was anything besides are normal knee-kick-thing. It's not bad long-term. It just hurts. Hurts a lot," he added. "This whole business is weird. I inherited some kind of gene that one of my ancestors got from, I dunno, some kind of fucking disease. I don't know about you, but a lot of these people here got them from, like, radiation. They should have died, but, instead, they can do crazy shit like altering maatter. Nobody thinks about it. My family knew this girl? She can melt things. SHE CAN MELT THEM. I mean, okay, keep them under control. So she marries this guy, right? Big happy fucking deal. He's very loyal all of the time. He has an affair with a coworker because she drugs him, something like that. She finds out through her friend, right? He comes home, all nice and all, with flowers and chocolate, going to apologize and explain? SHE MELTS HIS HEAD. She just melts it! Next day, she wakes up, and realizes what she's done. She turns herself in. They realize that, for whatever reason, she can melt stuff, so they can't keep her in a cell. They have to kill her. Lethal injection, bam, she's gone." He sat down on the ground and stared at the ceiling, hugging his knees. "Why are we burdened with this? Why? It's all good for a while, but days like this make you wonder. Wouldn't it be better if we didn't have these goddamned curses?" He trembled a little. "Why?" He thumped his fist on the ground. "WHY?"

He sighed. "It's all bunk. This stuff's bound to happen at a school like this. I mean, Aura's literally a brew of some of the most powerful teenagers in the world. And what are teenagers but a mix of angst with a liberal amount of raging hormones. Everybody here is full of carnal urges and stuff like that. I don't know. I'm just spouting now." He looked at Rei and laughed weakly. "I'm sorry about this. This doesn't seem like the kind of day that you wanted, is it? I feel bad. Can I make it up to you at all?" He stood up. "I mean, this whole affair has just, I dunno. Not good. Is there anything I can do? Buy you lunch or something?"

"Melted his head, huh?" Rei sat next to Arthur and hugged her knees to her chest. The mentel picture of someone getting their head melted off was not something you think about everyday. "And... they killed her for it?......Well I'm not saying what she did was good or anything and she does deserve it but i wonder if she was in her right mind when she did it......... well of course not...... she melted his head......" Rei nugged the boy with her foot. He rolled over and groned, mubbling something about revenge or getting someone back or his teddy.... something like that but Rei wasn't listening, she had turned back to Arthur. He was rambling on about something again and it seemed to be the right time to start listening.

"Wouldn't it be better if we didn't have these goddamned curses?"

Rei ruffled Arthur's hair and smiled, "You don't want that do you? I mean what would life be like without them? Things like what happened to that woman won't happen to us. For one... we have this place to learn and be taught how to control ourselves and two.... we have other people. Friends who are blessed just like us and are going through the same thing. That woman, I bet she was all alone and had no one to talk to about what she was going through. And....." Rei stood up and packed away her clairnet. "We're still young and this school doesn't really tolerate a high level of violence. Kinda hard to go melt someone's head of here. Anyway, lets go, I'm starving and didn't eat breakfast this morning." That was a lie. Rei always ate breakfast, out of habbt really. But Arthur owed her for the messed up day. But, she wouldn't be so mean, she'd pay for her lunch like every other day.