((Haha, no problem, I like your little pirate tag signature thingy, too, by the way. ;D))

"Ahh," Bryn replied, even more confused now than before. She regretted not asking the bus driver if she was on the correct bus or not. She glanced around the building, noticing kids about her age walking into it. Maybe this really was her school. This would have to be the strangest school I've ever seen, she thought, looking it up and down. Looks more like a prison than a school, Bryn added as an afterthough. If it was indeed a school, did her mom know it looked like this? Bryn sighed, the unanswered questions bubbling in her head. "Well, maybe if we go in, we'll find out where exactly we are and what we are doing here," Bryn suggested, glancing up at the boy. She turned away from him, and began walking to what looked like the entrance of the 'school'. Stopping, she turned around, "Oh! I don't believe I got your name...?"

((Aww cmonn guys, Hawthorn isn't that bad. We have coffee. >.> But no milk. Or sugar. Or uh water. Man up! >.o. For future reference, I live at the school, so charge into my room with an AK anytime you feel like :> The following is Hawthorne character building))

The dawn's light crawled through the bars of the window and up the wall, and the cold died a merciless death. I ate the coffee they had given me, in little nibbles to bring out the flavor, and looked. The desert light- I would hate it soon enough- but now, all I could see was the way it caught the dust- glowed, and I smiled.

 Bliss does not live long in Hawthorne, and I remembered why I was awake at all- War Day. Every boy-there weren't many girls, understandably, although I had heard some things- had his turn to get the rocks- thumb to fist size, granite, cobalt, rock salt and same clayey bits, along with some cow skulls for knives. Most would be destroyed the ever-loving life out of by night. We so, in our labor, learned to hate rocks, and we were in the right place for it.

Welcome to death valley, the valley of your death. It is the driest, hottest, lowest place on the continent- and it was rock and salt and dust. This was not Canada. There was no universal healthcare- there was barely healthcare, most of it me. It was home for us. The students were not watched, but noone ran from here without coming back. No water, see. I thought of this as I laid the rocks out, painted a sharp black or white, the sun still low, scattered about the War Field. The students would come soon, and the 4 rules would be trotted out again., as if any student had not memorized them. 

1. Students split up into two teams, each with possession of a color of rock.

2. Destroy the rocks of the other color using all means. 

3. Last color with surviving rocks wins.

4. No Killing. 

All means included everything from throwing knives to sniper rifles. It was simple, and brutal. The huge boulders of the field put a prime on sneaking, and fighters were good. Aim was crucial, and so was courage. It was horrible, and it worked.

I walked around front to enter the main mansion, a stone cube, and I saw the Car float through the fenceless br*censored* gates. The Car was how many of us got here, and it was obvious why the name was so nonde- black, with no plates or make markings. It had the effect of making it exceptionally noticeable, but the management here were stupid. I sat to watch, and wiped my brow with a black handkerchief, as the driver stepped out and opened the door of the Sedan.

((Yeah, sorry abut that- I have this habit of making stuff up and then not explaining it well. Just fun.  Seriously though, ignore it if you wanna x3

The person in the Car is either you or Coar, either way, get out and meet me >.o

))

[Me? Please D:]

Erela stumbled out of the black sedan scowling murderously, hands clenched with frustration. 'You knock-kneed fat-faced evil derp!' she yelled, directing these comments at the hapless chauffeur in front of her. The man sighed and ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair as if this was something he expected almost daily, perhaps even hourly. 

'Calm down please,' he said in a quiet yet forceful tone, his eyes trailing Erela's movements. 'I don't want to have to tie you up.'

'Tie me up? Tie me up? What are you? Some deranged half-crazy ninja!? And what the heck is Hawthorne Academy? Idiot! You don't kidnap people and carry them away to some place in the middle of the honest-to-goodness-freaking-desert!' Pausing to catch her breath Erela aimed a swift kick at the man, catching him in the torso.

'There, see! Never kidnap a kick-butt chinese girl who knows wushu!' she yelled, still raging about the parking lot hands held in the air. Her face was white with exertion and she knew that she probably looked stupid like this, but this had gone too far for her to care.

'And see if I listen to whatever you tell me! I'm not listening to you, freak.'

((Wish granted :3))

I have, in my work, seen some strange things. It is almost a given. Most I have not laughed at.

The girl in front of me, maybe a bit younger, and roughed up, had certainly reacted stranger than most new arrivals. And I could not help laughing. No, most new arrivals broke down and cried, and these we often returned- they were useless. Some shouted at their kidnapper. And so many now would have relished to do what she was doing right now. I had a wild smile cut across my face. They had to keep her now- she was too good to risk to the other side-but she had built for herself something in this place. I probably should have walked over. The man wasn't weak, and probably could tie her up, and that would be work I did not want. I couldn't do that, though.

I got up and whistled, and shouted, as loud as I could, "Do It Again!".

Who the heck is that? I thought angrily as I heard the insulting call come from the direction the ‘school’ was, aiming another kick at the man. But my form was sloppy and he easily dodged. ‘Ugh,’ I hissed and stuck one foot out, tripping the hapless man.

Turning my back on him I inspected the person who seemed to have yelled at me to ‘do it again’. ‘Yes?’ I asked testily, holding my hands on my hips, anger at the man forgotten as I turned my fury on the boy. ‘Any reason as to why you’re telling me to hit him again?’ Of course, the chauffeur (or something…who was he?) used this as a chance to attempt to tie me up. I use the word attempt to imply the fact that he did not succeed. Actually, I managed to whirl around and catch with a quick kick to the chin and an elbow in the gut. He collapsed like a sack of potatoes.

‘Hah!’ I crowed with delight. ‘Don’t mess with me. I’ve got more than a decade of training under my…uh…belt.’ Kneeling on his back I happily stole the length of rope he was going to use on me and tied him up with a fisherman’s knot, taking care to avoid his thrashing legs.

Grandmother had been right to teach me wushu, and I was glad the Auntie One had gone through the trouble of teaching me knot work this year. Who knew I would ever have to use it?

‘So,’ I said with a sweet smile. ‘Is it your turn next or can I be *censored*ured you won’t attack me now that I’ve done away with him. I mean….I could fight you, but I’m tired and I want to go home.’

((Det. D:

Isn't your character Innarine?)) 

((Oh. Lol I fail. D: -switchy switchy-

HAI DETFAIS 8D)) 

[-twitches at loud and capitalized words- D:

HAI INNA-KINS 8D]

((-throws more loud words at ya-

HAI DET-FAIS 8D)) 

[-catches loud words and flings them back with kick-butt Chinese Korean girl skills-

HAI INNA-KINS 8D]

((;c

Didn't you know flinging is liek, sooo last year? D:<)) 

[ -sporks Inna-kins into a pile'o'poo and then sprinkles her with coconut shavings-

I heard that this is all the rage this year. Not sure why though. O_o;]

((That's so wrong. This is.

-drives a spear through Det's body and dips in melted chocolate, then covers in ice cream rainbow sprinkles-))

Why had I asked her to do it again?, I asked myself, but thought better of it. Dark things lie down that road.

"Wouldn't dare of it, darling", I said, "I have nothing against him, (but then why) or you." I had pity on her, but it was a stoic's pity, and it evaporated quickly. Life had to be accepted sometime. Approaching her, I said, "You must be new here. Welcome... to the Hawthorne School of Espionage and Clandestine Services. I'm Charlie, or 147," I glanced over at the man, who looked too old for this sort of stuff, and back ," And you?"

((Totally predictable dialog FTW >.o Also, slight evilness))

'Because I like hearing the sound of a bullet and a piece of wood colliding.

Because I'm hopeless with a shotgun.

Because I care.' 

Corainder Faye  

It's fine, Coar. It'll all be okay. Don't worry.

Three sentences. 

Three sentences is all it takes to break me. 

As I sit in my dorm room, staring out my window, I make a mental list of all the happiness Cilantro has brought me, hoping it would lift my spirits, but all it does is crush me. I should've known, should've gone with him, but no. He just has to be so protective of his little sister, given her his life, even.

And I can never live with myself for that.

So, here I stay, sitting on my hard cot, mourning like I never did before. Which is partially true, as I only did it once in the past. I know nothing will come of this, so I just zip up my jacket and head out the door.

It's time to explore this new environment. 

((AND BECAUSE INNA IS HAVING TOO MUCH FUN DRESSING COAR UP IN STUPID CLOTHES. 8D

And because this is a more personal post, so I wrote in first person.

And because we all need a nice, stupid sob story at times. 

And because Inna did a really fail job at writing this. D: 

I fail like that.))