The gymnasium was empty.

Pretty sad, actually. It was only four in the afternoon, and yet it was completely empty. Well, not completely empty, but empty enough that you could hear yourself think. Which was something Evander Stavros always loved. He was hardly ever found in the gym, and when he was it was because it was empty. Evander had found he rather liked being alone, and he could always create someone to talk to with his illusions. Actually, he would still be talking to himself, as he controlled everything about his illusions. He was sitting in the stands, in one of the main rooms. Not a side room, where the girls practiced ballet and dance, but a main, big room. There wasn't much Evander could do here. He could sit and wait for someone to come and find him. But that happened no matter what he did, so he didn't bother himself with waiting. He had other ideas.

Evander quickly made his way to the gymnasium floor. He took a quick look around, making sure no one was watching him. He hated that. If someone wanted to watch him, or anyone for that matter, they should make themselves known so they aren't creeping people out. He sighed, now wishing he had some form of company. He shrugged. He stared at one of the corners in the room, focusing on creating an illusion. Three seconds later, a carbon copy of his sister Phoebe appeared. He had always liked using his sisters in his illusions. He did that a lot at home. Created an illusion of one sister and sent it to bother the other. But in this case, he was just using the illusion for a bit of fun. A basketball appeared in the illusion's hands. She started running past him. One thing Evander loved about his illusions was his complete control over them. To provide an example, we'll use the present situation. As the Phoebe illusion ran down the court, Evander quickly manipulated her legs. She tripped and fell, and the illusion disappeared. Evander was already bored with the illusion of his sister. That also happened a lot.

He turned his back to the court and headed back up into the stands. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do now. Go up to his dorm? Nah. He didn't want to bother his roommate. Walk around the school? Nah. He didn't want to be bothered by other people. Stay here? Yep. He took a seat in the stands, a bit far up, and started doing what he did best. The gym was suddenly filled with noise, as players darted around the gym floor. Five on five. Basketball. It was entertainment for Evander, so he took it. If one walked in, they would, in the vast majority of cases, think the players and the game to be real. However, if they took a moment, they would smell chocolate cake, not sweat or that gym smell that always smelled like the smell. And usually Evander created that scent whenever he was in the gym. Just so he didn't have to smell what it usually smelled like.

He watched the illusionary game continue, though he didn't need to as he was controlling the entire thing. One player threw the ball to another, only to hit an opposing player in the head. This then started a fight, and the two illusion boys starting to hit each other, and soon one knocked the other unconscious and the game continued. After a few more minutes, the game disappeared, and Evander began to have a staring contest with himself and the wall opposite him. He didn't have much to think about. Life wasn't the most complicated at the present moment in time. So what was there to concern himself with? What was there to think about? Perhaps his relationship with his sisters. Evander wasn't the closest with either of them. They had just turned out so different. Both were royals, and both were what Evander strived not to be. Royals. What was so bloody brilliant about being a Royal, or a majestic for that matter? Cliques were just so pointless. They were all just vain, power-hungry teenagers who wouldn't admit they weren't any better than the rest of the population at AA.

And now he had gotten himself started. What was so wonderful about the five majestics? He couldn't see anything special about Alice Black, or Simon Flynn, or any of the other three. What was wrong with the world? And the 'royals', yeah, sure. Just another way of saying little servants of the majestics. Yet each of them managed to get on Evander's nerves in some way. Alice was just too peppy, too... 'I'm going to be friends with everyone'... and Evander couldn't stand that. Simon was just an idiot. And the rest were just... gah. Evander couldn't stand it. So he sat in the stands, staring at the huge pair of dark green eyes he had created for the wall. Yet another illusion, of course, if you couldn't figure that out.

The afternoon. The best time to be alone, well if you don't include two other clones of yourself. The only time Rei didn't have the company of her other selves was during school, while she sleeped and hanging around other people. Today, there was a good reason for making clones. She was going to practice her ballet before she got all rusty and wouldn't be able to even do on squat. It had happened before, and it wasn't pretty....

That one afternoon Rei sported a light pink leotard, skintone tights, black leg warmers and her ballet shoes drapped over her sholder and her hair in a bun. Rei's coppies, who's names will be Rin and Ran (don't ask) wore the same think as they followed closely behind, never taking their eyes off the gym door ahead. "It was cold today..." Rin said.

"It's winter... It's going to be cold, right Rei." Ran pointed out. Rei tuned the two out, sometime she was the most annoying person to be around. Rei wated Rin and Ran to disappear, but she needed them for what she was doing and when she asked other people the declined.

The closer the three got to the gym the more Rin and Ran would bicker, and about nothing really, the weather was the main topic at the moment. "Shut up!" Rei hissed over her shoulder. The two shut up quickly, throwing worried glances at each other. Well, we can see who's who. Rei is the 'angry side', but both Rin and Ran are a mixture of 'outgoing', 'shy' and 'fragile'. This was doing nothing for Rei's nerves of course.

Finally reaching the gym, Rei threw open the doors with Rin and Ran closely behind. But the three weren't alone. There sat a boy, older than Rei, in the bleachers and a game of basket ball going on the court. Rei stepped back, she hated those typs of sports, she alway got hurt in some way. Then Rei noticed who it was and regathered herself. Evander, Mr. Illusion in the flesh. "Hi Evander." Rei waved, Rin and Ran did the same as the walked over to the male.

Well, at least he had someone to talk to now. Or three...

Rei Kaunnagan was the last person he had expected to walk into the gym and say hello to him. She had walked in a few minutes after the illusionary basketball game had taken place, and as she said hello the pair of eyes on the wall disappeared. Well, he had almost gotten away. Someone had managed to find him. Her and her two friends. Duplicates, actually. He had always thought the ability interesting, but then again, he could do the same thing. Only they would be illusions. And he could make them disappear whenever he wanted, or create more. Evander could produce the illusion of anything, which was what he loved so much. Someone could create fire? He could create the illusion of it, and even manipulate the senses so it actually felt like real heat. He took a moment of his time to look over Ms. Kaunnagan. He had never been able to pronounce her last name correctly. He always messed it up somehow.

Whatever. At least the girl always had company. Evander could create his own, but he controlled their actions, thoughts, speech, and everything about them. He thought Rei's clones had a bit more freedom than that. Could make for some interesting conversations, talking with yourself. Then again, you might not want to know what you really think about your personality or appearance... it might not be the best conversation. But it'd be interesting. And that's what Ev needed at the moment. An interesting conversation. Hopefully Rei could give it to him. At the moment, Ev had no idea what they'd be talking about. So he attempted to think of something to start them off with. Maybe a hello in return?

"Hey, Rei... and Rei... and Rei..." He wasn't sure if Rei called her clones by her name or something else. Maybe clone one and clone two? It was like that movie he had seen a few years ago. Star Wars. She could create her own clone army. Now that would be pretty sweet. She could even play herself at basketball... The thought of... actually, he didn't know what he was thinking. So he just finished off his thoughts with a question. "What do you need?"

"Hey, Rei... and Rei... and Rei..."

Rin and Ran sighed in unison. Rei just shook her head. Here they go again She thought to herself. Earlier, when Rei had said something along the lines of that, the two had given her a lecture about their individuality and how they wanted different names, hence, 'Rin' and 'Ran'. They were the only doubles who had done something like that, and Rei was still stuck on that, how in the world could that have happened?

"RIN! My name is Rin..... Is that so hard to get, we're not all like Rei you know. We're people too." Wrong, they're not people. But Rei knew better than to interupt herself.

"And my name is Ran", Ran said quietly, fingering a stran of loose brown hair.

Seeing as the two were done, even though that was not the answers she was expecting, Rei returned her attention to Evander. She thought as he asked a question, "What do you need?" Rei smiled and shook her head.

"Oh, I don't need anything. I just came to practice." she held up her ballet shoes. "I didn't think anybody would be here and when I saw you it was kinda weird, I mean not weird but unexpected. So I came over to say 'hi'." Rei rambled, stopped, and took a deep breath. She always rambled when she talked to Evander, it was probably because he reminded her of her brother. She loved her oldest brother the most, and Evander was sorta like his substitute while he was off traveling. Evander wasn't all like her brother, he was nicer, and funnier sometimes. This really put a damper on Rei's new 'happy' mood, since she hadn't seen or heard from her brother in years..

That was just lovely.

They had personalities, too. Rei could have her own little party with herself, as her duplicates weren't exactly like her. And now he was getting yelled at by her duplicates, and that was never a fun thing. If Rei was yelling at him, alright, but... oh. She was sort of yelling at him. Indirectly. Through her clones. "Rin and Ran?" Where'd they get those names? Rei didn't look very pleased with the interruption, and Evander found it funny. He could have some fun with this, couldn't he? Just create the illusion of several more Rei's across the gym floor... but that wouldn't be as much fun as he had thought it would be only thirty seconds ago. He decided against it, and continued his reply. "Alright then, let me try again. Hey, Rei... and Rin... and Ran..." Better. Even though he didn't need to have those pauses in there. Whatever. It didn't matter.

Practice, for ballet. Hmpf. Evander had never had much love for the 'sport', or pastime. It didn't really count as a sport in Evander's book, but whatever. People found it fun, so alright. As long as he didn't have to participate. Just a friendly hello from Rei, and her duplicates, was alright. He frowned after she was finished speaking. "I can vanish, if you'd like. Just an illusion, but hey, you won't be able to see me watching you practice." To demonstrate, he created his illusion. He disappeared from Rei and her clones' view. To anyone but himself, he was not there. Though he was, just not in appearance. To demonstrate yet again, he created one more illusion, and Rei's duplicates vanished. Grinning, he ended the illusions and stood up. Rei and her clones were visible again, as was he. "Well go on and practice. Don't let me bother you."

ooc: gah, miserable post...

"Alright then, let me try again. Hey, Rei... and Rin... and Ran..."

Rin and Ran smiled in approval, Rei just thanked god she wouldn't have to listen to the two have a hissy fit. Well, mostly Rin.... she was the one that talked too much, thinking the world needed anything but silence.

Evander didn't seem too thrilled about the whole ballet practice thing, but Rei didn't want him to leave. She liked talking to him, as a friend of course. Rei watched him demonstrait his ablilities, making himself and her clones dissapear. When everone reapeared, Rei clapped, like she was at a magic show. But stuff like that, happened everyday, so it wasn't like 'OMG! Where did they go', it was just 'Coolie-oh, your getting better'. She smiled, it was nice to have fun like that, even though it would have been funner if she didn't expect things like that to happen every two seconds, everyone was off the walls here, everyone.

"Well go on and practice. Don't let me bother you."

"Oh, Your not bothering me, I was kinda the one bothering you.... I don't have to practice right now....." Rei said quickly. "Unless my good friend Evander wants to help me?" She asked poking him in the ribs. Chances were, he would say no, but it was worth a try.

"Now wouldnt that be fun?" Rin wispered to Ran behind her hand. You couldn't really call it wispering since Rin said it loud enough for Evander to hear.

"Yes.... it would" Both Rin and Ran had an evil smirk on their faces as they watched... waiting for Evander to reply.

((something so amazing should happen now, something unexpected, but I don't know what...... just a suggestion))

Oh god.

He had to repeat that question in his head. What? Practice... ballet with her? He was very ready to just say, 'no, sorry', but didn't, feeling that he needed to find a nicer way to say no than just flat out saying it. Imagine if anyone walked in. He might as well shoot himself. There was NO WAY he was going to go out onto the gym floor and practice ballet. The only way he would attempt to practice would be if they were very much alone in a room with a locked door and no windows. Yes, that sounds a bit wrong, but he would prefer no one see him embarrass himself. Which was on his mind as he attempted to find a way to say no politely. Oh, and yet her duplicates were thinking about how fun that would be. For THEM. They'd be better than he would be, and they were nonexistant in their own existant way.

So he decided to ask a question instead, that sort of didn't really say no in the sense he had wanted it to. "By help, you do mean just point out when you fall or something and tell you to improve... right?" There was no way he would go out and practice with her. A bit of help, alright, fine. He knew nothing about ballet, or dance, or anything that involved dancing. It was three on one, though. He would only have a chance if he could make up twenty seven illusionary people and have Rei outnumbered. Eh. "Alright, just so you all have something to giggle about in math class..." he mumbled, obviously meaning Rin and Ran. This would be so much fun... right. And he could fly.

He stood up, let out a great big sigh that quite obviously meant, 'Alright I'm doing this but you'd better not embarrass me because I won't like that and I already don't want to help you out and I honestly don't know why I'm still speaking because I don't know and this is getting repetitive and... gah...' only in a much quicker fashion.

ooc; something amazing? they both spontaneously combust? as in, just burn up and die in half a second... but no... not very realistic... eh.

"By help, you do mean just point out when you fall or something and tell you to improve... right?"

Rei wanted to laugh, and she did. "No silly! I think I can figure out if I fall or not, you kinda hit the ground at that point. I'm not stupid." Rin and Ran looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Alright, just so you all have something to giggle about in math class..."

All three faces went blank. WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?! Rei replayed the last thirteen words in her head. WAS THAT A YES? She screamed in her head. That was the only thing she could do, nothing was coing out of her mouth and Rin didn't have some smart remark. Rei pulled herself together, taking a deep breath and processing the sentence in her head as she watched Evander stand up. A smile spread across Rei's face and she clapped her hands together. "Are you for real? This isn't a joke or anything... right?" And who cared, he just said 'yes', well, it was more like a 'I don't know how to tell you no, so alright' but it would do. So how would he feel if Rei said she really didn't need his help at all? and that it was all just a joke... Well good thing no ones going to tell him.

Rei grabed his hand and pulled him to the middle of the gym, "If it makes you feel better, you can stand there, look pretty and tell me when I fall. Does that sound too hard?" She said bouncing off the the other side, clones in tow, to put on her shoes.

((wow, bursting into flames, sounds fun, but then they would be dead and we could bring them back as zombies))

He regretted saying what he had said the moment he had said it.

It wasn't just the blank look on the three faces that told him they were beyond surprised. It also wasn't the minute and a half of shocked silence that occured. It wasn't even the fact that she was pulling him down to the gym floor. It was actually the fact he now felt extremely lazy, and wasn't really looking forward to this. "I suppose I am for real..." he mumbled to himself as she pulled him down to the gym floor. It didn't look as if he could get out of this one. Actually, he could have gotten out of this one. All he had to do was create a few simple illusions. One, an illusion of himself standing where he was right now to trick Rei and her clones. The other illusion was the one where he wasn't there. But like stated above, he was suddenly feeling very lazy, and so didn't bother. If she asked him to start dancing, on the other hand, he would be forced to disappear.

His overall mood rose as she told him what he was going to be doing. Just standing there looking pretty, pointing out the obvious. Lovely. He could have done that from the bleachers, couldn't he? Obviously not. He nodded, now wishing he had said no and let her go down to practice herself, he stood there watching her put on her shoes. He turned his gaze to her clones, and started thinking about pointless things. "I wonder if her clones are EXACT clones... besides personality... hmpf. Maybe, maybe not. I remember someone who could create duplicates from last year... their clones looked nothing alike... well, sort of. It must be wonderful fun at parties, having three of you to enjoy the party and everything in it..." He sighed, and an ice cream popped up into his hand. Chocolate. He licked it, and it vanished. Wonderful.

ooc; ooh, yay, zombies would be fun... the moaning and the groaning and the eating of the brains and... I suddenly want to watch a zombie movie...

Perfect.

Rei tied up her shoes, Rin and Ran doing the same and skiped out to the gym floor. Rei streched, warming up of course, you know, like how they say you shouldn't go swim right after you eat. Something like that. She sat down on the floor and reached to touch her toes. "Evander, tell me something... about yourself," She said quietly, her eyes closed as she concentrated.

Perfect form! Back straiter! Toes pointed, your not doing it right! Rei's instuctor's voice rang throughout her head. She closed her eyes tighter, he never gave her compliments. There seemed to be something wrong about everything she did.

After Rei finished streching, she started on the recital piece she was supose to practice. Rin and Ran did the same, filling in for the other girls that would be there. "When is this recital thing again?"

"It's supsose to be-whoooooa... shit!" Rei looked up from the ground, as she lie on her back. As she tried to get up a sharp pain shot down to her ankle. "OOOOWWWW!" she screamed rubbing her ankle in pain.

((so this post is bad, this was the best thing I could come up with without them dieing))

Oh, lovely.

She wanted to hear something about him? He was bored as hell, didn't want to be doing this, and had the sudden desire to be back in his dorm. That was rude, though, wasn't it? Something about him that he could tell her? There wasn't anything he could think of that was interesting about him. He could create illusions. She already knew that. He loved chocolate cake. She knew that. He strongly disliked dancing because he couldn't dance at all. She could probably gather that from this conversation. So what was there to say? He didn't like his sisters all that much? Eh. That was known by many different people, including his sisters. He couldn't do anything about them being attention loving little girls who... eh. Enough about that.

He was about to say something, what he did not know nor did he have to figure out, when Rei tripped. Well, at least he didn't have tell her something about himself. That was one good thing. Now he had to think of something he could say to her pain and suffering. Good luck? Sorry, but I have a test... right now, and so I'd better leave? Eh, once again rude. "You alri- ah, that's a dumb question..." He could honestly think of nothing to say besides, "S'pose you'll need to go to go to the nurse's office..." He grabbed her by the arms, and threw one of those arms over his shoulder. Woah. She was heavy. "You're heavy, you know that?"

ooc; eh, not any better...

"You're heavy, you know that?"

Rei sat there for a moment, trying to figure out the nicest way to say what she wanted to say. "I'm not heavy. I'm only 110 pounds, I thought that was light for my age..." she whined like a five year old. "And I'm not some sack of potatos, you can't just pick me up and expect me to come along quietly. I'm just fine, I don't even need to go to the nurse!" She said all of this while she squirmed and strugled to get out of Evander's grip.

Rin just sat on her butt and laughed the whole time, like there was something funny about this. Ran on the other hand was closely following Evander, a concerned look on her face. Biting her nails the same way Rei did when she didn't know what to do. Rei squirmed more, she was not going to be seen carried to the nurse over a little injury like this. Rin laughed harder, Ran started on the nails on the other hand and Rei squirmed harder, finally getting free and falling to the floor landing on her 'good' foot. HA! I'd like to see my instructor do THAT! she thought with a smug look on her face as she hobbled back to her stuff.

"You should really go to the nurse. Just let Evander take you there and you'll be healed in no time." Ran pleaded. Rei shot her a glance that said: What the hell are you talking about? I'm fine I don't need the nurse. but much shorter.

Whatever.

If she didn't want to come along quietly and see the nurse, that was fine with him. He was just trying to be nice. He shrugged as she finally got away from him, and frowned at her first... actually, her only reply. One of her clones had said the other thing. One hundred and ten pounds? Wow. She was light. Eh. She had felt pretty damned heavy. Maybe it was her trying to get out of going to see the nurse. Though it would have been very much more convient if she had been a sack of potatoes. She would have had to come along quietly. "I think you do need to go..." He shrugged as she finally released herself from his grip, and watched one of her duplicates laughing at her. At least someone found this funny. Evander found it slightly amusing, that Rei could be so persistent when she was obviously in pain. Why? Pride, perhaps? Or just stupidity. Evander was leaning more towards the latter as the answer.

"You sure you want to go hobbling around the school like that? The nurse could have it fixed in half a second, and you'd be fine. She has a job so she can heal you, after all." Whatever. If she wanted to be stubborn, fine. He'd let her suffer. He did agree with what Ran said, though he didn't like the glance Rei had given herself. Before Evander started to get confused, he turned his attention to her other clone, the one who was going to die laughing. Hmpf. She could at least stop. It was getting very annoying. He concentrated for a moment, and created another illusion, what must have been the fifth one that day. A very big boulder had just appeared in front of the laughing clone, which Evander was assuming was Rin. It started rolling, as most objects do when pushed. Evander was just making it roll. It would hurt. Especially if it flattened her. The clone, that is. Not Rei. That would be a bit too much.

Rei sat on the floor, staring at her ankle. It did hurt, and if she did go to the nurse, she could be back dancing in about ten minutes. So why didn't she get her stubborn butt up and get it over with? Because that's what she was, stubborn. She was not about to go to the nurse just because that's what every one wanted her to do.... weird. Rei took a deep breath and wiggled her toes ignoring the pain shooting up her leg, maybe something was broken...

"Rei... just go okay, for me... I mean you...uh...for us."

Rei sighed, watching Evander try to pulverize Rin as she ran away trying to get out of the way of the large machine's reach. Rei snapped her fingers, absorbing Rin back into herself; even she got tired of that laughing.

”All right then, I’ll go,” Rei said picking up her stuff and standing up. Half a second... and I better not feel any pain! Ran nodded like she knew what Rei was saying in her head, she probably did, she did know herself better than anyone. Confused yet? Rei leaned on Ran's shoulder and hobbled to the other side of the gym. Why she picked to be on the side farthest from the door is still a mystery.

Good.

At least she had agreed to go. Whether she would carry out that agreement and actually go was yet to be seen. But she had managed to ruin his fun. He had been SO close to rolling over her clone with that boulder. The boulder had disappeared, after smashing through the gym walls and mowing down a squirrel that had been sitting around outside. He threw her other arm over his shoulder, once again, and proceeded to help her across the gym.

"Glad you're not being stubborn..." he mumbled to himself, even though he had meant to say it aloud so Rei and her remaining duplicate could hear him. Well, he'd take her to the nurse's office, drop her off there, tell her what had happened, and leave. He needed to eat, anyways. Maybe head off to lunch. He frowned, thinking of all of the things he could be doing at this particular time, and continued walking.

ooc; end of thread? my muse has left me when it comes to this threadage...