Kain's Entrance

Kain walked along the hallway to get to the Dining Hall. It was all stone and wood, giving him a sense of security and longing as this was the first time he had come close to anything he had lost two years previously. Keeping studiously away from the other students - those that wandered like him and those that strode purposely - and kept towards the outer edge. He leaned to the side and trailed his pale fingertips against the aging stone, luxuriating in the feel of age and power that dripped from the walls. His pale pink lips curved into a little smile of pleasure before he realised what was happening. Quickly, he wiped the expression from his face and reassumed his 'bored' expression. A bland face with dull eyes - though they were a startling contrast to the hue of his face - nothing that would draw too much attention to him.

Of course his very nature would see that he was noticed. Not comfortable with the idea of clothes after so long not needing to wear too much, Kain had found a compromise with long black leather pants and an open necked black cloth shirt that opened into a V down his smooth chest. Unconsciously, with the sleeves also cut, he was showing off his best features. Showing off what he had to offer – just as he had been trained to do. His footing was soft padded leather that covered his toes. Similar to slippers but more serviceable and they made not a sound on the wooden and flagstone walkway as well as even less on carpet. His movements were graceful, like a cat's and there was a silent menace to him. It clung to him the way he walked, his eyes and his fingers, his face etched with that deadly beauty that had to be supernatural, and yet it wasn't.

He stopped when he came to the door, the scarred man seeming to loom over him, even though he wasn’t paying too much attention to a single person there. Still, Kain shrunk back against the wall, managing to look simply uncomfortable, rather than cowering. Still, his averted face hid the curiosity his eyes held. How did a man attain that many scars? Why was the first person to greet the new and old students alike so horrid looking? Did they intend on terrifying the newcomers? With a quick glance, he saw that the apparent ploy was working, on some at the least.

Ordered inside – he saw it as an order – Kain sidled up to the fruit. He did not think why he needed to choose, he never thought why a command had been given. The vampire was conditioned to take commands at face value. But he had learned over the years to interpret the wording of those orders. And so, with only the word “Choose” to go off, he let his mind think on what was expected of him.

To survive in his world, he would often have to anticipate what his Master wanted. And the scarred man didn’t look like he wanted any fruit. So, Kain had to choose for himself. Even as the other was walking away, he looked for any signs or indications of a preference, but there was none. So seemingly, Kain could choose the fruit he wanted. Looking at the bowls, Kain did not hesitate. He had learned that as well, though it had been a particularly hard lesson.

He chose a soft and succulent cherry, carefully from the top and side so as not to disturb the others in the bowl then Kain walked away from the table to allow other students to choose. He saw the other students sitting and chose a small quiet corner for himself. He observed with sharp eyes his surroundings but without appearing to do so. The cherry he left on a plate in front of him. He did not take any other food. Though he could eat whatever he wanted, normal food did not give him the sustenance he needed. And besides, he had not been told to eat, and he had learned very long ago to never assume.

Julian came soaring up the steps, no one else was around, he was late! Dear god, forbid it, he was late. A twisted sort of grin was over his face, he wasn't that worried, really, and he ran into the Foyer, looking around, nothing. Well, except a big book with a bunch of handwriting on it. He ignored it and went through into the Dining Hall where he looked around. No one looked at him funny and he grinned, he'd gotten away with it! He slipped in, ignoring the bowls of fruit and trotting down to the tables. He was about to sit next to an attractive sight, when a heavy hand laid on his shoulder. Apparently he hadn't been as sneaky as he'd hoped. He looked up at the scarred man that glared down at him and 'ulped' in his throat. Apparently over six feet didn't hide very well in general populace.

"You didn't check in with the rest of the guests." The scarred man said and Julian's gaze darted to the side.

"Are you sure?' He asked, "I..."

"You didn't. Check in." The scarred man frowned deeply, making those scars look stark and he looked anything but pleasant.

"Right." Julian spontaneously changed, big ears appearing at the side of his head and falling back as the scarred man took his shoulder and steered him back into the Foyer.

"Name." He pointed to the book and quill and ink.

Julian took up the quill and dipped it, signing his name, a bit nervously, as the scarred man watched over his shoulder. Then he was frog-marched into the Dining Hall, "Umm..."

"Pick." The scarred man instructed, pointing to the fruit. His ears went back further as he looked over the fruits, picking up one of the oranges that were there and the scarred man moved with the other to the table once more, sitting him next to the vampire he had intended to sit next to from the start. "Stay until someone comes for you." The scarred man growled and Julian's ears pricked forward in agitation, snorting as the scarred man walked off, though he looked away quickly as he looked over his shoulder, immediately striking up conversation.

"Hi! I'm Julian Landon, nice to meet you, talk to me to make it look like I'm doing something other than causing trouble for that man over there." He said urgently to the vampire, nudging him with his elbow and grinning at him, "I'm a shapeshifter, you're a vampire right?" He spoke loudly and generally he himself was very loud, he smiled at the other, "What's your name?"

Kain sat quietly, just observing without actually looking like it. The single cherry remained on his otherwise unoccupied plate – and Kain left it alone. He saw the teachers lined up on the Head Table all in a neat and pretty row as the scarred man drifted through the room, making students do as he wished. It was not the teachers and Kain watched, it was the scarred man whom he had yet to learn the name of. Despite his scurrying about, that one man held authority in the way he walked and talked – to either students or teachers.

His table remained pretty empty – being a quiet and isolated corner – but the Hall was filling up faster than it was emptying, and someone had yet to come collect him to his dorm. But Kain was patient, awaiting further instructions in that void like space he created for himself to rid himself of boredom. Some days it would be weeks before he received so much as an order from his Master. No! Former master…. He was free now and he had to remember that. But…it was so hard. Hundreds of years of ingrained behaviour was hard to let go of.

Kain sniffed the air, identifying many species he knew as well as other he did not know. A shape shifter came towards his table, rather, he made a beeline for him and Kain prepared himself for yet another task. But the scarred man intercepted him and took him aside. It only took a few minutes, but soon the shifter was back, plopping himself next to Kain and introducing himself.

The shifter, Julien, was loud and rather chatty. And when asked his name, Kain supplied it immediately, “Kain ma-“ he strangled off the last word. It had come too easily. Besides, Julien was a student here, apparently, and that made him of the same ‘rank’. But, truth be told, even other slaves had been elevated above him. Kain shifted his gaze to the scarred man, who was for the moment watching them. Then the teacher turned away to attend to a few more students and Kain released himself slightly. It was clear that he was at least allowed to talk.

“Are you new here?” he couldn’t think of what to say as finally turned to the shifter, ‘seeing’ him for the first time. He could not stop the blush that rose to his cheeks, his ivory pale skin giving him away. But the colour soon faded and the brief sparkle in his eye was replaced that quickly with his dulled glaze.

<< Duncan >>

From the rafters of the dining room a shadow lurked, peering down at all the new people down there, all the smells wafting up towards him. They always did good food on the day with the new people, an offering to placate him to allowing them into the building unharmed. He puffed up his chest a bit in pride in the men. He had trained them well. Mmmm.. duck, and boar.. and chicken.. oooh and some venison there at the top table. His tongue snaked out as he silently hopped between the rafters making his way that way. The new people had been in for a while now, and he saw none he particularly disliked. He had a couple of years ago, and they had turned the man-thing away. Yes, they were well trained men.

Peering down, his deep navy crystalline eyes looked, watching as people from the water rooms left, the earth ones having done so a while back. Now there were only two areas left, and half as many men. Hmm.. he didn't want to scare them, well.. he did, but he didn't like the scent of urine in the hall. Some of the young ones that came here had weak bladders, and a shock, properly timed, could cause a stink. It would be a shame to waste other more delectable smells. He eyed the hunk of venison on the top table, but no, on second thoughts, what was that over there?

He would carefully waddle his way along the rafter, before leaping from one to the next, as nimble as any cat, but larger. Yes, that looked tasty, but it was sitting next to one whose nerves he could even taste in the air. Hmm.. how to go about extracting the meat without causing a stink? It was a dilemma, a challenge. He liked challenges, it kept his wits sharp. Leaping down to take it, no that was out, even if he was quick. He had learned from experience that some man things didn't take well to being shocked, even by someone as handsome and studly as he was. He would waddle along a little bit more, peering at the hunk of meat from another angle. There was another man-thing there, he could smell beast off it, while the scared one was definatly dead. Hmm.. actually, the dead ones didn't tend to scent mark with their fluids..they didn't really have any as far as he could tell. Perhaps it was safe after all.

He would leap down, taking a chance, but not too much of a chance, landing on the other end of the table near a couple of man-things that had been here for a couple of cycles. They knew him. They knew he would be here. He landed lightly and would streak across the top of the table to the hunk of meat, grabbing it with his foreclaws and teeth, dragging it back away from the two to settle down on the table-top to eat his prize. It was about time these new ones understood whose den this was!

While Kain awaited an answer, his senses roamed. He briefly touched other's minds, an ability he had learned from an early age. It had been one of his Master's favourite past times to order Kain around just using his mind. And sometimes he didn't always want to be physically touched. For those students and teachers he touched that were aware of what he did, he withdrew immediately with a apologetic tone. Those others he didn't even bother, just skimming the surface to guage reactions, if any, to his presence.

Without meaning it, he found himselfstaring at Julien. It wasn't an impolite stare, it was simply that. A stare. His eyes, being slightly glazed, seemed to pass right through the shapeshifter, not truly seeing him, but still taking in all the minute details that made him unique from any other being in the hall. As he stared at Julien, he detected motion and flicked his gaze towards the end of the table.

The strangest sight greeted him. It was a beast, unlike one he had ever seen, waddling across the table towards him. Actually, towards a rather juicy hunk of roast. To Kain's astonishment, there was almost no reaction to this appearance by most of the other students. And then a claw snaked out to take the meat, dragging it only partway across the tabletop, and tucking in. It ripped the meat indelicately, gulping great masses of it down.

Kain had no way of knowing that it was a dragon. He had never seen them before, and indeed had never actually even heard of one. He blinked, as much surprise flickered across his face. But it was swiftly followed by a deep curiosity and the glint returned to his eyes.

Unknowingly, his fangs had extended, his green eyes invaded by red and his claws lengthened.

Julian's ears flicked as the other finally spoke back, "Kain, hm?" Interesting name, he kind of liked it. "Me? Yeah, uhm, transferred here, used to go to a human school, got kicked out though." He grinned slightly sadistically, some of the students panicked when something looking remarkably like a tiger started prowling the grounds..." He shrugged, though his attention turned when he scented something new. Scaly and serpentine, definitely reptilian, but slightly more warmblooded. He turned, following the vampire's gaze. He tilted his head at the smallish sort of beastie that crawled across the table, one ear flopping to the side before it righted.

Being a shifter it gave him sway with various creatures, even those with human intellect, so he snicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, he wanted to see this up close, he'd heard of dragons, of course, and he'd even seen pictures, but nothing really up close and personal. This part wasn't greed, not now, this was pure curiosity, "Hey, Kain," He said, "How old are you?" He asked, trying to coax the dragon, he had food in his mouth, he wasn't likely to want to come over for want of something else to eat and encroaching on another's food was strictly forbidden in all walks of animal life. Little things, you know. He gestured for the dragon to come over and if he wanted to, he would, if he didn't, he wouldn't force him. He turned to Kain, "You're new?" He asked, "How'd you come here? My parents knew the school and figured it'd be a good place to keep me in line, I figured what the hell, and so here I am. What're you into studying?" He inquired, one on the dragon, obviously he was a natural occurrence so obviously he would be around, even if Julian didn't get to meet him tonight.

<< Duncan >>

He would tuck into the meat. Oh, it was good, so good. They had outdone themselves this time in their offerings to him. The meat was just perfect! He ripped into it, though half way through eating it (barely moments since he had snatched it) he was aware of the growing threat coming from the dead one. His gaze fixed on the one whose eyes were glowing, whose claws had unsheathed in challenge for the meat. He could even see the tips of teeth being bared at him. He would grip the meat, a low growl rumbling in his chest as the small wing-like structures either side of his head fanned out, as did his wings that moved up and around him, making him seem at least three or four times as big as he had been. He hissed, his wings moving in tiny but super fast way that made them humm threateningly. How dare this one try to challenge him for the meat! It was His meat! It was ALL his meat!

The room had likely quietened down by now, gazes watching the display on the tabletop, and assessing the threat therin. Some years went by without such displays, but it was quite impressive, especially if one was sitting down and the dragon was standing on the table like he was, in full display. The teachers sitting at the head table just watched, the students behind the dragon moved back so as not to be hit by flying potatoes and carrots as the tail swiped back and forth, knocking the vegetables everywhere.

Those with sight that could see magic in the air would notice the swell of shielding that had become far more obvious around the little dragon, ensuring that magical retaliation would not take him unaware and unprepared.. or physical for that matter, though his scales could handle a lot.

Should Kain's instincts continue to surface to deal with the threat and challenge, the little dragon would move to settle himself more firmly standing over his hunk of half-eaten meat, and he would roar. The roar would start off small, but many of the student's and teachers would either clamp their hands over their ears, or steel themselves for what was to come, for a moment later that roar from the little beastie would swell with the aid of magic to the bellow of a dragon 50 times his size, rattling the windows dangerously.

However, should Kain have quickly got his instincts under control and backed down, Duncan would settle back down, his wings folding away and he would tuck back into the meat, finishing it off until only the bone was left. He would change his position slightly, gripping the bone, his gaze returning to the dead one as he methodically crunched through the bone, making a point until it was all gone.

He looked over to the shapeshifter and would only then, once he had finished his choice bit of meat, move over to take the offered bit from him. It was about time someone here showed him the difference he deserved and gave him offerings! He would take the meat, gulping it down, but would move to stand over where Kain sat and would swipe whatever food was in front of the vampire, breathing out sharply from his nose, which would cover the vampire in a small cloud of smoke. He settled down, satisfied that his point had been made, and would munch on whatever was left on the table, leaving some in front of the shifter that had offered him meat.

He finished off what was around him that he fancied, waddling down the table to take titbits from other students, pleased to note that they all seemed to get the point, then passing them by, allowing them to eat what was left. Moving to the edge of the table, he would wiggle a moment, then make a well placed leap onto one of the other tables and go through the same thing, table to table, even the teacher's table, until he would glance back to the one he had landed on initially, making a final leap back there and settling down, his stomach quite distended from the mass of food he had consumed. He would settle down and start cleaning his scales, small licks of flame coming from his jaws to caress over the deep blue before he would lick at them, making them shine.

Kain wasn't sure what to react to first. Usually such a thoughtful and careful being, Kain was forced now to act quickly with what little information he had. He blinked, only realising by what the dragon had done that he himself had Changed. His defensive instinct had triggered, something that had been beaten out of him nearly two hundreds ago. Perhaps his last year of freedom had changed him? He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing. Retracting the Change, he reached out to take some meat and offered it to the dragon. But it was in full swing now and in its arrogance, failed to notice his offerring. While it waddled away, Kain vowed to make it up to the pretty little creature.

Sitting there, holding the greasy bit of meat, Julien's words finally came to him. He stared at his outstretched hand and dropped the meat quickly, the mass making a solid thump on the table. He looked around and realised he had inadvertantly placed too much attention to himself. He blinked and turned to Julien.

His voice was quiet when he spoke, soft and slightly subservient, "I am close to four hundreds. Yes, I am new and I have never heard of this school before. My Master's slayer thought it might do me some good being here. I do not know what I like to study." he shrugged, his voice matter of fact, "I've never done it before."

<<Julian Landon>>

Julian's animal ears disappeared and he turned to the other, whistling softly, "You're pretty old to not have gone to a school before." He commented, "Your master?" Interesting terminology, probably his sire was one of them old ones stuck in 'the ways' as they were. He'd read up on all manner of vampire history of course, more because he was interested in it, rather than out of necessity. He watched the dragon and when he finally came around to him, he rubbed a hand over the other's scales if he let him, quickly registering 'dragon' in the back of his mind as well as a run of DNA from the drakling. He probably wouldn't be able to attain that shape as of yet, magical creatures were tougher to take than a non-magical creature, being as he had to copy and rewrite his body a little different (rather, a lot different) than a normal animal would, but he'd be able to experiment with it, wasn't every day a shifter got to touch a dragon.

"So you like it here so far?" He returned his attention to Kain as the dragon continued down the way and he nudge the vampire a bit, "You've got a lot of history under your belt, regardless of study, maybe, if we're in a couple same classes, I can get a few stories from you." He liked stories, a bit of history buff, it was his best subject (when he wasn't causing trouble) and he actually worked for the grade. "What do you know about..." He trailed off and fell silent as a teacher approached the table.

<<Professor Dacon>>

She flashed a small smile at the shifter and tapped Kain's shoulder, "Come with me please." She invited the vampire, the scars over her form stood out starkly almost against her tank top. She led the vampire outside and smiled faintly, "I'm Professor Dacon, I teach the Zoology course here." She offered a cloth bag, "Please take one." She said, shaking the bag, the tiles clinking against one another. She was the no-nonsense sort, and had the sort of look that could be sadistic if one wasn't careful. As the other drew a tile, she flashed a wicked smile, the red tile was obvious in it's placing, "Fire dorm," She said, "Nauthiz wing." She checked the image on the other side, "Room 220. Go up the hall on the left there." She pointed and waved as she turned and strode back into the dining room, leaving the other to find his way as she made her way over to the shifter.

<<Julian>>

He was sent the same way as the vampire and as he made his way to the room at the end of the hall, he wondered who his roommate would be, "Room 113." He murmured and pushed open the door.

((OOC: Kain is just going to continue in the Fire Dorm now. ))