Common Room -- Main Pool

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Through the main entrance, the foyer is marble, opening onto a wide courtyard filled with the sounds of laughter and water. Marble columns separate the foyer from the inset floor beyond, another, shorter set of stairs leading down into the main room of the Water Dorm.

Marble columns surround the circular pool, the water crystal-clear, the colored tiles on the bottom easily seen when not obstructed by people. The transparent dome illuminates the pool even on the darkest of nights, the wide windows to the East and West allowing sunlight in from sunrise to sunset, and the steamy air caresses the skin like a lover. Sometimes, when all is quiet, whispers and giggling can be heard in the mists.

The pool is the gathering place for the Water Dorm. The main room is rectangular in shape, with steps circling down to the pool at the bottom so that students may sit at their ease upon the steps when they do not wish to lounge within or play amongst the pools. This room can easily hold 300 or more people and echoes with the gasps of wonder from first-time visitors.

<<Darcy>>

Vanishing from the library, Darcy returned to the dorm and the grand room of pools, which was his favorite place on campus.

The sylphs greeted him happily, having already forgotten his upset of before, just as Darcy had forgotten. Suspected by most but seen by only a select few, the sylphs were as substantial as the mists, and as playful as otters. They surrounded the shadow who played hidden amongst them, enjoying his enthusiasm and his pranks.

There were some boys already in the water or running about the halls, settling in or using the hot tubs or sauna, open for the entirety of the First Night as a special treat. There were even a few lounging in bean-filled chairs or gathering by the study tables, but Darcy stayed in the main pool room to play.

He saw when the new residents entered. They were freshmen, transfers, and swappers (those who had previously resided in a different dorm), and all gawked at the larger-than-life luxury reminiscent of the ancient Roman Baths displayed within.

There was Kevin!

He stood beside a tall boy with wings, which seemed odd to the shadow. Winged creatures most often went to Fire or Wind dorms. This, he felt sure, was the first winged one they'd had during his time at the university.

He couldn't resist moving to the wall behind and reaching out to invisibly caress those feathers, giggling to himself and sighing with the pleasure of their softness. The boys in the wind dorm slept on feather beds, didn't they?

Dropping to swirl around the new residents' feet with the slyphs in their greeting, Darcy dashed away with them after, his giggles silently accompanying them. It was a new term and this night always seemed to last forever ... and end too soon.

<< Kevin Bishop >>

He would look move into the dorm and look around in awe. He had never seen such a thing in all his life!! "Oh my god" he whispered to Toma who was walking in with him. "Have you ever seen anything like this?! Its amazing! Look at it!!" he was pretty slack jawed as he looked around at the vast romanesque space, the water all around. The heat was in the air, humid but not umpleasant with the breezes moving through it, helped by the different small sylphs in the air. He was a human in an otherwise strange world. "I can barely believe we are just like half an hours drive from where I lived all my life. Its unbelievable" he said staring around at all the sights.

He looked up at Chrysth "I just can't believe this place. Are you sure we havnt ended up in some film set or something?" he laughed looking around in awe as they moved through the room. A giggle made him turn, looking for the source, it was almost unearthly sounding. "Umm.. you hear that?" he asked Toma, since there was no one behind them. They were the last one in.

<<Toma Gala>>

He turned, he had fallen behind the others of his year and he looked down at the small chubby kid he'd spoken to earlier, his mouth quirking, "Yeah, I see it most every time I come in." He said, his eyes calm and still as an undisturbed lake, "You will too." He touched the other's head, his bird poked his head around to look at Kevin, then looked away, abruptly taking wing, seeming to blur for just a moment, before Dae vanished into the far end of the dorms, "I guess I should go. Dae's pretty unfriendly when the year starts." He said, "See you around kid." He said and disappeared in the direction that Dae had.

<<Chrysth Donis>>

He hurried in behind the taller boy with the bird, his eyes going wide at the appearance of the Water dorms, "Wow." He said, looking around, speechless, save, of course, the one word he'd already uttered. His wings opened, feeling the humidity, good weather to fly on, at least, that was the kind he himself liked. He looked around, already identifying the good high spots for him to land on. He felt something tickle his wing just faintly and he whirled, looking for something, but there was nothing... nothing but his own shadow. Hm...

"Huh?" He looked back to Kevin, "Oh, uh, film?" He asked, "No, no I don't think so." He'd heard about films, he'd always wanted to see one, he just hadn't ever had the chance. "It is pretty incredible." he agreed, a chill around his feet as he watched some of the other boys start to play in the water, splashing one another, he grinned, "Come on, let's go check out the pool." He said, toeing off his shoes and moving over the water, his wings opened and he beat his wings skimming the surface a bit before he banked, the edge of a wing cutting a swathe through the water, though he had to be careful, lest he get too wet, he'd be grounded for hours. He landed, next to Kevin, and deftly dodged the water that was flung at him and the other, his eyebrows raising as he saw one or two other boys laughing, "Come on, we could take them." He said to Kevin, undoing and kicking off his pants and flipping off his shirt as he leapt into the water, his wings raised up delicately as he splashed back.

<<Kevin Bishop >>

He would look up to the man in front, the one from the dining hall. "Oh.. I expect you have if youve been here a while" he said with a slight grin, watching the bird fly off before turning his attention back to Chrysth when Toma had wandered away after his bird, absently trying to fix his mussed hair back to some semblance of normality as he watched the people playing in the water. However as the other started moving off the walkway to the large pool, he hung back. He had never felt that comfortable going into swimming pools, what with him having a bit of extra weight n all. He wasn't super fat, but he wobbled a little more than he would have liked in several areas.

Standing as he was, he got a very good view of the way that Chrysth took off, the large draft of wind as the wings extended, extended seemingly far past what they were when on the other's back and he glided, yes glided over the water. He just stared, his mouth hanging slightly agape. His gaze moved upwards, trying to see the hanging cords that must be used, or something. Surely there hadn't been enough of a wind to lift the other off the ground like that, the whole place would have been awash with water from it. He just stared at the winged student as he undressed and lept into the water to face off with the two boys. The question of joining him in the fun went completely by him. To Chrysth, it had been just a normal everyday thing, nothing spectacular, but perhaps he had forgotten his companion was not used to such things, had never seen a person with wings before. He didn't know what to do. He just stood there, wondering why no one else seemed to find it strange.

Suddently it fell upon him like a crushing weight. It had all just been a windup. This wasn't normal. This place was so rich and well made that it could not possibly be a school, and if it was, he was the butt of some massive joke, some massive prank. This was the real world, and people did not fly with feathered wings like this person seemed to do. Hurt washed through him. It had been a couple of years since he had been at school, a couple of years since he had left, glad to be away from the snide little comments, the jibes in his direction. So what if he didn't look like a stick figure?! But he didn't seem to fit in here either.

He sighed softly, moving towards the other door where the rooms were meant to be. Maybe he would get to stay around for a while longer, even if this whole thing was a setup. It had been too good to be true getting his tuition fees and accomodation wavered. He knew there had to be a catch. Though it was a pretty expensive catch. He just didn't understand what anyone would gain from such an elaborate hoax. Maybe it was a movie.

<<Darcy>>

Darcy played happily amongst the sylphs, tapping on unsuspecting students and melting into the shifting shadows before they could suspect a thing. He even chased Dae for awhile, but the bird didn't have much of a sense of humor and quickly grew snappish.

It was too bad Kevin and the bird-man left so quickly.

The first night was noisy with the exuberance of friends who hadn't seen each other in months and were hyped up on the foods from the First Night's feast.

He was about to dive and pull on Dae's tail feathers again when the bird swooped to land on its master's shoulders, snapping its beak. Darcy never could tell when the bird was playing, but he certainly knew when to quit. Lux would yell at him and confine him to the room if he caught Darcy annoying Toma again.

That was one prank that hadn't really gone as planned. He had not anticipated the magnitude of the two men's reactions.

And, as if the thought alone had summoned him, Darcy saw his master step into the room. He didn't look around but stepped right for the door, running right into Toma. They bounced off each other, equally startled, and making the bird hiss its displeasure.

<<Lux>>

Still tired and sore in spirit, Lux kept his head down to avoid letting others see the state he was in. He just wanted to get to his room for some peace and quiet. He wasn't watching where he was going, the room empty and silent for all the significance he accorded it or its occupants.

"Hey!" he snapped as someone who shouldn't have been there got in his way. Catching himself to keep from falling, he glared at the one man he hated above everyone else, even his shadow.

"Watch where you're going! Ishmaen!" He swept his arm out with too much force from an ill-thought spell, still off-balance from his run-in with the librarian. He was not in the mood to deal with Toma tonight.

He had been studying ahead a bit, his books had been pre-ordered and he had been reading rather studiously, but night was falling and Dae was getting tired, so said by the whistling at his shoulder and if Dae was tired, he'd best be getting on. He closed his books and stood, stuffing them in his bag, having assumed that everyone was out of the dorm, when he ran into something rather solid, hearing the shouted 'Hey!' as he scrambled to catch the book that had flown out of his arms before it landed in the water. Dae caught it for him, hissing at the person he'd collided into. He grabbed his book from the phoenix, growling, his most hated enemy standing in front of him. "You!" He snarled, "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

He responded to the spell Lux threw with a deflection charm, sending the elf's poorly thought spell awry and followed it up by grabbing the front of Lux's clothes, shoving him hard over the edge of the bridge they were standing on. He didn't expect him to hit the water, usually the elf had a spell to keep him from doing so, "Ishmaen indeed, you damn bastard. You best watch out this year." He spat, "I'm not going to put up with your shit." His eyes cold as crystal, "You and your damage." He said, looking up when Master DiMarcoh appeared, his arms folded across his chest, a murderous look on his face.

"If you two are going after each other's throats again this year, I won't hesitate to put you in for consideration for expulsion. Go to bed. You aren't going to start something the first day." He said quietly, but it was like the quiet before the storm, it was dangerous to ignore the warning.

Toma tsked, turning and leaving Lux to do as he liked as he stalked off to his room, Dae following close behind.

~DiMarcoh~

He went to Lux, whether he'd fallen in the water or not and gestured to his hall, "I suggest you not pick a fight with him either." He said quietly, firmly as he steered the other back to his dorm, keeping watch for the evening.

<<Lux>>

He was already in a foul mood, worn out and thoroughly depressed. He cursed again when his spell went awry, his concentration shot, and didn't have the strength of mind to avoid making a splashy entrance over the side of the bridge.

He came back up sputtering incoherently in rage, his magic in tatters, and the damned annoying shadow's questions regarding was he okay? was he hurt? blah blah blah ...!

Only the Dorm Master's arrival kept the level of conflict minimal. As much as Lux wanted to shut him up and knock him out with a spell or two (not to mention finally make mincemeat out of that obnoxious Toma!), he couldn't afford to get expelled. Not with the next hundred years or so he owed the Librarian.

Thinking about York just made Lux angry all over again and he stumped after Professor DiMarcoh in brooding silence. Residents scattered when faced with both the Dorm Master and Lux's ferocious scowl.

(to Lux's Room)