[Episode 4] The Worth of a Soul

[CadetNewb]

"What'cha doooing?" a familiar voice spoke right into Sakura's ear.

Coco was hanging upside down from one of the branches of the tree, her skirt kept in check by hands held dutifully by her side. It seemed she had been hovering over the other girl for a bit, watching her watch the others. Here, at Nishi-Ku, Coco was perhaps the very newest student - a bright, intelligent little girl that had been bumped up several grades due to her aptitue. Lively, energetic and lovable, she was the top of all of her classes! Or so went her back story. She totally did not watch Azumanga Daioh and totally rip one of the character's reason for being underage in the school and classes!

This was what she had done while Duncan was away - where to? Nobody knew. But he'd visited or sent cards sometimes. This time, it seemed he was going to the base of Mount Fuji...it didn't worry her in the slightest though!

"You aren't looking at their butts, are you?" she went on, asking the other girl below her.

[Kokuten]

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Alright children! To your seats, to your seats!" proclaimed a woman strolling from the hall with an authoritative voice. The words had a commanding tone that was lined with the sprinkles of warmth that made them sweet to the ear, hiding the tart, imperative nature of the statement. Heels could be heard clacking down the silent hallways with only the afternoon clubs to keep it from sounding ominous. They sounded wide, heavy, with purpose. Whoever was the other teacher had a strong presence, something imposing, quite like Miller when he took the reins of a group of students.

When she walked in, there was a certain astonishing aura that gripped everyone in the room, as if the flames of her personally licked and ebbed over their own minds. Miller could feel, as could his other presence. Miyuki felt somewhat pressured, as if her innate element was being repulsed slightly. The others could see it in her hair, a vibrant flow that appeared to resemble the very element her personality imposed. Her eyes were a bright green, as quickly gathered everyone up in the room with its lightning, arcing over to each and every person like they were being chained under it. She had fair skin, somewhat ripened by age, yet tendered by years of love. Her body was a very slight hourglass, tone and build suggesting a certain athleticism that had seen and intense amount rigor, but not for a long time.

She adjusted her glasses, and set down a few books. Emilia could see, as could Riley, the nature of the books. They were tomes that resonated with Spirit Magic, the more ethereal cousin of Necromancy. Yet the most striking feature of all was more shocking than anything that could be described to a stranger.

"Good afternoon, children. I am the new temp," she greeted, "Some of you might recognize me, as we've met before, but there are a few eyes who I don't recall. Allow me to introduce myself."

The teacher bowed, as was ceremony in Japan.

"My name is Elizabeth Caxton."

[Gwathdraug]

Riley's eyes went wide and she made a small, short whimper like she had just had the wind knocked out of her as Elizabeth Caxton entered the very same room she was now most certainly trapped in. Laoise only got a shaky thumbs-up and a short, muttered explanation on how they would be “comrades once more” and “while the clouds stay to torment” before the young magician placed her hands over each other with her palm facing towards the desk.

The girl set her mouth firmly in determination and placed both her hands against the desk in front of her and then shoved as hard as she could. The desk began to move forward with a screech before abruptly stopping as Riley flew through the chair she had been sitting at - followed rather quickly by the desk behind that and even eventually Emilia as Riley was propelled to the back of the class.

Stopping herself the stage magician's feet once more found purchase physically and Riley placed both her hands on Emilia's shoulders. Now effectively as far away as she could get from Mrs. Caxton and with a certain amount of stranger shielding her from view Riley stretched her head over the top of the seated girl's shoulder. Riley absentmindedly gave the older girl in front of her what she hoped was a comforting pat on her right shoulder seeing as if she was a non-mage this was all very confusing, and if she was a mage it was even more confusing seeing that the stage magician's cloak prevented any signatures of magical ability usage from escaping outside of its folds.

“Surpri- ah, ahem. A wonder to see you here ma'am!” Riley force-cheered her way through gritted teeth and even managed a veteran wave that almost seemed genuine. “How's the house and, ah-" Riley's mouth stopped as she remembered certain rules the Caxtons had given her to follow when she had first met them. Paraphrased they had gone a bit like: don't talk, don't show, don't be stupid.

Freezing up in her position behind death's daughter Riley squeezed her eyes shut and tried to not panic - or, at least, not panic anymore.

"Well, ah-ha... welcome to the club?" The young magician whispered to Emilia lamely.

[Kalshion]

"Eeeeep!" yelped Sakura as she suddenly jumped up like a cat, smacked her head on the branch above her, and landed with a thud on the branch she had just been on. "owww......" she groaned and rubbed her head. She looked over at the young girl but didn't get angry or anything, perhaps getting scared nearly half to death was a good thing considering she was deep in thought. "I was just watching them, that's all, being around others like me is better than being at home..." she grumbled and laid back down on the branch, propping her elbows on it and resting her head in her hands. "Wha'cha doing here anyway?" she asked.

[Luca]

Hold on. The teacher thought as he was about to tear his hair out over the children's conduct, Everyone here is a mage, except for Emi, but- His train of thought was interrupted with the arrival of a new ... temp? There was nothing on the board about this earlier, nor had Mr. Miller been informed of it. Had the second teacher on duty also called in sick? He had stood up from his desk to attempt to bring everything back to order when the new temp arrived.

"Ah-h, m-Mrs. Caxton, pleased to meet you." Mr. Miller bowed towards the new teacher while trying to once again ignore the antics of the students, who'd simply snapped into place. Then something clicked. Caxton. Caxton... whose name was that again?

A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.

As he lifted himself up from his bow, his eyes darted towards the books she had set down on the desk. The teacher couldn't put his finger on it, but he was feeling something and it was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he then resumed eye contact with Mrs. Caxton and said: "Please, take a seat a-and we'll begin."

Those green eyes were staring into him, and he could feel the power and command. It was unsettling Mr. Miller immensely on both levels, since he had no idea what she could be capable of. He'd then realised that Riley, bless her, had done something very taboo. One of the few things Duncan kept drilling into everyone during his three days: "Don't show off your magic in public!" was the gist of it.

His blood froze as he tried to evaluate Mrs. Caxton's next action - for all Miller knew, Mrs. Caxton was fully aware that she was in a class full of magicians, teacher included.

[Kai]

Miyuki's wrath was stifled, no, Squashed, by the sheer weight of Mrs. Caxton's presence approaching and entering the room. She bowed in her desk, as if some oppressive force was physically pushing down on the back of her neck and spine, trying to pin her to her desk. Fighting as hard as she could, the girl kept herself more or less upright, but it was quite an effort, mentally, to allow her will to remain unvanquished under the circumstances. Miyuki was not one to lose, and she certainly wouldn't lose to Percival's Mother.

"Welcome Mrs. Caxton." Miyuki greeted the teacher, trying her best to hide the way the woman's magic pressed upon her by keeping her tone as even as possible.

*********************************

Raiko seemed to be completely unperturbed by the revelation that the second teacher overseeing the detention was Elizabeth Caxton. She even stood and responded to Mrs. Caxton's bow with one of her own. "Good Afternoon, Mrs. Caxton" Raiko responded amicably, with a friendly smile, before settling back into her seat and making herself appear interested in what was going on, all the while ignoring whatever it was that Riley had set herself to do.

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

There was simply no escaping the madness. Riley could not be contained, it seemed, not by anyone- not even Mrs. Caxton...

Caxton!? Emilia forgot all about her discomfort with the stage performer, she was entranced by the idea that this woman was Percival's mother. Death's daughter stared intently with hazel eyes at the new temp teacher. She gave the appropriate greeting, but was otherwise silent, even ignoring Riley. The girl had no self-control. Emilia wasn't even from this realm and she fit in better- she even knew the policies on magic shadowing, which the magician girl blatantly refused to obey. She was nice and all, but Venezia didn't like Riley's rebellious attitude. It made it hard for Emilia to learn and focus and generally do the things her mother had asked.

"...Welcome to the club," was the phrase the struck the wrong cord. It didn't make a lick of sense to Emilia, for whom it was intended, and seemed to imply that she was an outsider.

"Sit down!" Emilia retorted in a harsh but quiet rasp. "You're behaving like a-" she almost said satyr baby, but caught herself, "an infant."

[CadetNewb]

"Just watching you watching everybody," Coco replied.

The girl then, twisted about and gently landed on the same branch as the other, her steps unusually light and feather-like. "You're not looking for other butts to shoot, are you?" she asked with a polite menace fitting for a little girl. "I can't let you do that Sakura," the Zombie Mahou Shojou added. "It's just not right, going around and putting arrows in people's rear ends. I mean, you got my brother there more than once," the little girl babbled. "I mean, it's almost like you have a thing for butts. Anyways, are you supposed to be in there?" Coco asked curiously. "I know I am, but I think something's going on," she explained.

"Hopefully, the adults won't be smart enough to look out the window and see us pigeons sitting here!"

[Kalshion]

Sakura glanced over her shoulder at Coco. What is it with her facination with butts? Doesn't seem right for her to say that... err... or me.. she looked back at the window. "I'm not a student here," she said and looked over at a bird that was flying around the tree and that landed on a nearby branch and began to pick at a leaf. "Most adults are just stupid anyway," she grumbled and turned her attention back to the window.

[Kokuten]

"Now now now, children, calm down, calm down," spoke Elizabeth, raising her fingers up in the air as if a conductor would, leading an orchestra into silence. First, the woman turned to Miller and nodded respectfully to the man. At that moment, he didn't feel much of that imposing stare, but something akin to the electricity being gently subsided, as if thunder set to the far east. "Mr. Jonathan Miller, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, my son tells me all sorts about you. He says you are a decent-hearted Scotsman. You have nothing to worry from me, Mr. Miller, I am a simple school teacher, who just happens to have a frightening gaze. Ho ho, it's so troublesome, you know. I had my husband thinking I hated him when I first met him. Ho ho ho! Could you imagine? So silly."

The woman tossed her hand one side, still laughing genially. The door she had come in from closed by itself.

"Ah, and the children. It's been so long since I've had the privilege to stand at the head of a class. Albeit this is detention, and the class I used to teach was a Spirit Thaumaturgy 12 class." Elizabeth looked outside the window, still smiling, "For example."

She raised her hand.

Outside, purple, glowing chains erupted out of the tree that Coco and Sakura were nestling themselves in, and without giving them much time to move, wrapped and bound their limbs, dragging them through the window, incorporeal. "As you can see," Elizabeth explained, "using Spirit Magic, you can summon ghostly chains to bind people and force them into an ecto-plasmic state. It even works on the undead! Handy, no?"

Coco and Sakura were released at that, finished with being the guinea pigs of Elizabeth's demonstration. The imposing woman stared down the two of them with that strangely sweet smile that somehow chipped lovingly at one's own soul. "Alright, girls, you may take your seats. As of now, for charges espionage, you are sentenced to Detention! Oh ho ho ho ho!" She laughed in that same jolly way that also seemed to chip at someone's soul, like a prison warden delighting in the suffering of those around them.

"You see, children, and teacher, this area of magic has many uses, but relies heavily around the use of spirits and their objects to bind other things, like people or objects." Elizabeth raised her finger into the air, letting out that ominous phrase once more, "For example."

Suddenly, the room was filled with the clattering of chains and locks, as they came in to appearance. They looked as if they had always been there, rusting, rotting, taking dust, but they lined the entire classroom, "You can border a perimeter with a foreboding curse. Normal, non-mags will get near this, and feel uneasy, as they would trotting through a grave yard! Though that's simply it's ambient effect, it also serves to contain rowdy mages and spells! Though that's not all! Not all at all!"

Riley's wrists soon found themselves shackled, and in chains, with her self being swept up to the front of the class. She hovered above the others in her boyish outfit, before landing right into her surrogate mother's arms. The Caxton Matriarch gripped the girl's shoulders before her eyes took an unnatural glow.

At once, Riley's boy-uniform clothes were torn from her by a set of clothes that replaced them. Instead of wearing a modern uniform of the school, she was wearing a more retro girl's uniform. It was the sailor variety with a pleated skirt. The troublesome illusionist was set down, and turned to face the rest of the class, as an example, "Like I said, objects of Spirits can be used to be bound to corporeal bodies. Such as this uniform. As of right now, I've bonded it to Riley's very soul, so that she may never take it off until I tell her so. For an undefined period of time." The tone was obvious. Riley was being punished, but Elizabeth was playing it off cooly. As cool as a woman like that could get.

At that, Riley was pushed forth back towards the class, ushered towards her seat. Then, Elizabeth spun on one heel, and raised her hand in a welcoming way to the rest of the class.

"Now!" the temp spoke, in a sing-song voice, "Are there any questions?"