sorry about the sudden hiatus. life got a little hectic 

alistair & aerona are both available for experimentation

i'm withdrawing izumi  

-Avi-

A girl walked up to Avi as he stood while everyone else moved around. Most experiments seemed to be cooperating, which he guessed was good. Less pain for them all that way.

A female student walked up to him. Avi supposed she was pretty, if only he liked girls. And of course if he wasn't doomed to a short life in a lab. She asked, "May I ask about your enhanced or extra abilities?". She was trying to be polite but to him it just sounded stuck up.

Avi chose his next words carefully. He couldn't be rude, but no way was he just going to give her what she wanted to know immediately. "Besides the fact that I do have 'enhanced abilities', what more do you want to know? You people are the ones who did it to me. Without my permission, I might add." Dang, he thought. That went too far. He was much to tense for this conversation to go well.

He was saved from botching another interacting when a boy, the so called "golden boy" of this class came up to the girl asking her if they wanted to be partners. Avi stood there, tail twitching, slightly angry that they were talking about him like he was an object. 

Later that day, Avi learned that his "partners" were named Relven and Leskie. As he sat in a small cell stewing in his frustration and worrying about Zinnie, Via, and Nayr, another student came by. This one was a strange one, and came by often. Spiderwort was popular with the others because he brought teas and other trinkets. But Avi never took anything. He didn't like being indebted to others and quite frankly, didn't trust anyone. 

Spiderwort came by with a special tea he had made for the slight cough that had been rattling around Avi's chest for a few days. He ended his visit by wordlessly setting a small jar of golden honey on the ground. When he was gone, Avi slowly walked over and took the honey, savoring every bit. Although, he would never tell or show anyone else that.

@Amethyst: awesome!

-Cress-

People started partnering up and moving over to their experiments. Cress would be working with was AA-573, but she hadn't picked a partner.

She looked around for a few options and saw her roommate, Adine. She didn't mind Adine, but wouldn't call her a friend either. Adine was good at archery (but not better than Cress, thank you very much) and always got excited whenever her family wrote her a letter. She had a family. Cress secretly envied her for this.

Cress had been raised at the academy. She was cared for by the teachers, who all seemed to feel some obligation to take care of her. Cress had never understood why they didn't just send her away to an orphanage; it would've been much easier than trying to raise her. Maybe it'd have saved her the loneliness that had come with being the youngest child at the school for eleven years. 

But at the same time, this was her home. The staff of the academy were her family. More or less. 

Cress pushed these thoughts aside and approached Adine. "Hi," she said simply. "Partners?"

{Aly}

Lee laughed. "I'm not that great at science," she said. "I just love it. And I think that enhancements could be cool!! What about.. hmm. Oh! We could give Experiment 235 temporary rainbow wings!" She gestured to the experiment, who was glaring at them. 

For a moment, Aly thought about the perspective of an experiment. And she felt...a slight bit of empathy. But she soon shrugged it off as Lee continued, "Maybe what we discover could help Catastrophe's troops change color to camouflage and stuff!"

"What are you gonna do to me today?" the experiment mumbled, interrupting what Aly was about to say. 

Just then, Spiderwort, a fellow student, gave Experiment 235 a drink---which was tea, by the looks of it. Aly thought wonderingly about it for a moment...it seemed like Spiderwort was caring for them. Maybe it wasn't just her who felt the occasional twinge of empathy. 

"So. What about it?" Lee asked excitedly, after Spiderwort left.

"Sounds good, I guess," Aly replied. "Though I'm not entirely sure how rainbow wings give camouflage." She laughed. "I get your point though. Rainbow wings it is. So, we should probably gather the supplies. Maybe some iron oxide for red, yellow, and orange, chromium oxide for green, some anthocyanin for blue, and manganese violet for purple," she said, reading from her notebook. "Anything I'm missing?" She glanced up at Lee, and then her gaze darted to the experiment, who looked...miserable, or something related, she thought. But why?

&Leskie& 

"Besides the fact that I do have 'enhanced abilities', what more do you want to know?" the experiment replied, somewhat harshly. "You people are the ones who did it to me. Without my permission, I might add." 

Leskie, surprised, was about to reply, but then Relven walked up, smiling, and said, "Hey. Want to partner?"

"Ah, sure!" Leskie replied, smiling back. "Do you know what we should do for the experiment today?" She glanced briefly at Experiment 423, who looked rather displeased for some reason.

reposting. both alistair & aerona are available for testing and whatnot 

@sera okay, Cress is experimenting on Aerona

@Blackfooted Bobcat I responded to your question on page 7; just letting you know because now that we're on page 8 I was worried you might not see it

*Zinnia*

Zinnia continued sipping their tea and finally tuned in to Aly and Lee's conversation. Rainbow wings? They frowned. They liked their black wings; rainbow was not their style.

"Uh, how long is 'temporary?'" Zinnia said aloud. 

*Adine*

Adine hesitated after she sterilized her hands, glancing around the crowded room. She was supposed to choose a partner and an experiment. Sigh. Maybe she should have just skipped the class - her grades were usually quite good, she never skipped classes, so maybe if she had just pretended to have forgotten about it... Never mind, maybe she could make some experiment happy. There had to be something she could do to help them.

Cress, her roommate, came over. "Hi," she said. "Partners?"

"All right," Adine said, smiling. Crescent wasn't her favorite person, but everyone else was pairing up, and she had to choose someone to partner with. And she supposed it wasn't like Cress meant to get on her nerves, even if she sometimes did. She scanned the room. "Which experiment do you want to work with? Maybe Aer - 573? She's still alone." Something that she already knew was pity stirred in her. How terrible to be a being whose only purpose in life was waiting to be experimented on...

/Relven/

"Ah, sure!" Leskie answered with a smile. "Do you know what we should do for the experiment today?"

"I don't know," Relven said, "but I mean, I'm pretty certain we can think of something?" Oh, of course, he needed to know the experiment's "extra or enhanced abilities" (as the teachers said). He turned to the experiment. "What are... your abilities? If it's possible to know."

The experiment was looking vaguely angry, like he was truly angry underneath the surface, and come to think of it, Leskie had looked rather relieved when he arrived. Maybe it was one of these common student-experiment frictions. If only science class had never been invented, he thought, feeling irritated himself.

@Sera, Amethyst already responded so I'll post and then feel free to respond whenever!

-Cress-

Cress rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm already working with AA-573. Come on." 

They walked over to AA-573. "Hello, AA-573," Cress said. She glanced down at her clipboard. "Your extra/enhanced abilities are as follows: underwater breathing; enhanced vision; and enhanced endurance, strength, and flexibility at night." Cress looked AA-573 in the eyes, which were yellow. "Is this correct?" 

Aerona’s pale yellow eyes stared into Cress’s soul. 

Another person. She hated this life — really, she did. There was nothing much worth doing. There was a tank nearby — as same with all rooms. She dove into it, the water splashing on the floor and making a mess. 

She reemerged, her chin propped on the side of the tank. 

“mm-hmm,” she nods, clearly bored. 

AA-573, she thought. Why couldn’t they just call her Aerona?

Spiderwort~

Spiderwort finally sets the tea on the ground next to Avi. Things that he can’t put into words rattle around his head for a few seconds, and eventually he just repeats himself. “Drink.” 

He heads back to his desk and pulls out his current garden notebook. Spiderwort has several main gardens around the campus, mostly in all the spots everyone avoids so he can work on them in peace. But he has other plants sprinkled all around, and takes care of what other people have planted too. It’s still pretty early in spring, early enough that where he’s from there still might be snow. BIG’s academy is in a warmer area. He’s still not used to that.

Someone taps on his shoulder. He yells, knocking his chair back as he leaps to the side. No, no, no -

It’s the teacher. “Spiderwort. Find someone to partner with. You haven’t done anything useful in long enough.” The teacher raises an eyebrow. 

Spiderwort hesitates. “I - I - plants. The - the - since -”

The teacher sighs. “Your plants don't do anything for BIG, sweetie. They do nothing. Go help someone. Or study, because your test scores and all...”

Spiderwort can’t breathe. Wimpers escape his throat without permission, hands flapping furiously. His plants aren’t worthless. His plants are everything. BIG is the thing that doesn’t matter. 

“Spiderwort.” A silence, and the teacher sighs. “Why do you always ignore me? Why you’re still here is beyond me.” And then the teacher’s gone.

Spiderwort still can’t think. He isn’t sure what just happened. All his focus goes to his cat, and the purple crocus they’re holding. It’s just named Cat. A few potential other names had quickly been vetoed. Cat is good enough.

“Spiderwort.” It’s one of the kids, one of the ones who does good at everything. Colin. “Would you like to be partners? I’m working with 714 - I mean, Via. I’m working with Via today.”

Immediately, Spiderwort stiffens. He doesn’t usually work with other people. A few times people have asked him to work with him. Usually they get annoyed with him halfway. after that he can just draw, but it’s still not worth it. And it’s not like he wants to hurt the experiments anyway. He stands up and steps away from Colin.

“Er - would you like to be partners?” Colin repeats.

Spiderwort shrugs. “Why?"

*Adine*

Cress made an expression of Oh, come on, Adine. "Yeah, I'm already working with AA-573. Come on."

Of course you would be, Adine thought, already irked. She probably hadn't been wise to agree. She just wasn't in the mood for Crescent Auclair today. But oh well, they were partners now, she reflected as she followed her roommate, who was already leading the way across the room.

"Hello, AA-573," Cress said briskly, taking charge with ease. "Your extra/enhanced abilities are as follows: underwater breathing; enhanced vision; and enhanced endurance, strength, and flexibility at night. Is this correct?"

Aerona darted into a tank of water that stood nearby, and Adine jumped backwards to avoid being splashed. "Mmhm," Aerona said unconcernedly, her head still out of the water. She didn't look frightened or aggressive, as most of the experiments did, just unfeelingly calm. Adine sighed, looking at her clipboard. Sometimes being with experiments felt like trying to push a brick wall over with just your hands. "Great," she said, avoiding Cress' gaze. "So, what are we doing today? I was thinking of something like speeding up the growth of those wings."

@Amethyst: is there any particular reason Adine knows Aerona's name? Not really related I was just wondering why lol

-Cress-

"Mmhm," AA-573 said after splashing into the tank. A little water got onto Cress's shirt. She brushed it away, slightly irritated, and moved on. 

"Great," Adine said, though her voice suggested she felt otherwise. "So, what are we doing today? I was thinking of something like speeding up the growth of those wings."

Cress turned to her. "Interesting idea," Cress said. This was probably the highest praise she was going to give anybody all week. "When we're giving soldiers wings, we're going to need them to grow in quickly. But we will also need a method that will be gentle and will not cause much pain or discomfort." Cress frowned and sighed. The truth was, she had no idea where to start. Seventeen years at BIG and she still couldn't wrap her head around science. But she could never admit this to Adine, so she turned to her. "Alright, Adine," she said. "Where should we start?"

~Colin~

Spiderwort stood up and stepped away from Colin. Colin repeated himself. "Er - would you like to be partners?" 

Spiderwort shrugged. "Why?"

Colin glanced around to make sure nobody was listening. "I have no desire to hurt any of these experiments, least of all a six-year-old girl," he said. When talking to Spiderwort it was best to be direct. "You are always good to them. I want your help."

-Avi-

Avi decided he should probably be cooperative. So he folded his legs beneath him and settled down on the cold floor, motioning for the two others to do the same. They exchanged a look, and then both grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down. 

He sighed. "Well, for physical abilities, I was given enhanced senses, like hearing, smell, and sight. I have retractable claws and fangs and this tail." He reached behind him and ran his tail through his fingers as it twitched. "I have incredible endurance, speed, strength, agility, and balance." Then he slightly lifted up his shirt to show off his abs and smirked as Relven's eyes widened with jealousy. 

Avi then tilted his head to the other side. "As for other abilities," he paused, "I can see and manipulate emotions." At their confused faces he explained, "everyone has an aura of what they're feeling. I can read those, and also some thoughts associated with strong emotions. It's a little wacky though when I'm feeling strong emotions too. Some of your friends may be feeling more empathetic than usual."

He continued, "then I can access memories and project them into the air. Mine or someone else's. And the last one, well..... we don't need to get into that. I've only used it once and I don't plan on doing it again."

To avoid eye contact he looked out over the room and watched a somewhat attractive student. 

His partners looked at each other.