Blue Birds [Open]

    Isa walked into the classroom, taking in everything; the fading baby blue wallpaper, the plants that she would forget to water, the posters that defiantly needed updating, the old chalk board that had old notes scattered across it and all the music books that were cramped onto an entire wall by the door. The room was small compared to the other class rooms she had walked past to get here, but she guessed that wouldn't stop anyone from coming to play. In the corner she spotted a table covered in plants that she assumed was supposed to be her desk. Almost right next to her desk, were all the music stands and chairs. All stacked neatly and almost screaming for someone to use them. Isa dropped her stuff for a moment to examine the practice rooms that were connected to the main room. She found 3 little rooms, and a studio at the end of the little hallway. She beamed happily at the sight of more places for students to practice on their own.

     Walking back out of the little area, she clumsily picked her bags up and walked to the windowsill. Isa set her things down, rolled up the blinds and opened the windows that covered most of the wall. The amount of light and fresh air that was let in overwhelmed her, not realizing how dark and stuffy the small music room had been before. The view outside was outstanding, snowflakes fell down slowly and danced gracefully in the wind. She could see students walking on the campus and could barely see the village. Isa smiled, even the cold winter winds wouldn't get her to shut those windows. 

    Quickly returning to her multiple bags she pulled open the smaller one and pulled out a couple posters, wrapped carefully and tightly together by rubber bands. Isa tenderly pulled the band off and rolled them out, looking at the walls trying to decided where to put them. She slowly crossed the room, posters and tape in hand, and pulled down the oldest posters. Replacing them with the newer ones she had brought.

    After she had successfully put most of them up, she turned her attention to the clock that was ticking over the door. She knew that students would be coming soon, but she had neglected to figure out exactly when they'd start showing up. Rubbing her temples slowly, she felt her tattoos come alive. Pulling away from her skin, they chirped happily as they explored the room happily. She watched as they poked and prodded at the plants, flew to the windows and rested happily on the music books. Some of the white birds found the snow positively wonderful, they rolled around in the light snow and caught snow flakes as they fell down. The blue birds caught her eye as they flew around poking the falling posters back up and pushing books back onto the shelf properly. The blue birds had always had a bit more OCD than their brethren. 

    Isa smiled and grabbed her two other bags and moved them to a corner where they wouldn't take up any more space. She crouched over and gently pulled out her violin, an old thing that her adopted mother had bought her when she went to college. She cherished it dearly and couldn't find another like it. It had birds on the finger board and the strings produced such a sweet ghostly sound. Isa started rubbing rosin on the bow and she awaited the arrival of her students.

It had even surprised Iris herself when she enrolled in the music class. Music was, in fact, the one element that had a habit of keeping her grounded. Her voice had matured beautifully with age and constant practice alone in her room, however it was incredibly rare that she'd choose to reveal it to just anyone.. And besides, if she was in an entire class, everyone had to create music together, so that nobody was soloed out. This way, she could enjoy singing without feeling pressured to do it alone! It would be one of her easier classes to say the least, and with a bit of experience with sheet music after Minnie's occasional lessons with her, she felt all the more confident about it, which was a bizarre trait for her to possess.

The girl walked quietly into the class then, looking at the interesting scene unfurl before her and nodding politely to the instructor. Of course, she couldn't marvel at the magnificent colors the room might've attained, but the image was marvelous nonetheless. Birds had scattered themselves across the majority of the room, and the teacher was preparing her bow for a violin, illuminated by a soft, paled, almost lilac glow in Iris' eyes. It was pleasant and often brought upon the memory of music, due to having seen purple curtains while the warped, aged memories of her parents' songs replayed in her head. Adorned in her simple, oversized sweater, she sat towards the back of the empty class, retrieving a binder from her backpack and beginning to thoughtlessly tattoo the paper with her pencil. Her lucid, green eyes flickered upwards every now and then, however, mainly she kept to herself, unsure of what she should be doing. Hopefully she wouldn't have to be asked to perform or anything..

Phoenix (Dexter was his real name, but he'd adopted the name 'Phoenix' for so long now that it had become a natural thing to him) woke up in the Ruby dorm, quite early in the morning one day. It was the very same day that the first music class was scheduled, and he had an open schedule so that he could go check out the classes and see which ones he was interested in (something he had worked out with the higher-ups, since he had never actually been to school... ever). Glancing at the scheduling chart that he'd gotten written up for him, Phoenix picked out some classes he'd like to go to in his mind. There was the power training class, mastering your power, art, combat skills, mathematics and anatomy....

None of them were going on at this time, however. There was one class that would be in progress, of course, but he didn't want to be that guy who started out his first day with an open schedule and the decision to combat skills, and he wasn't too interested in 'art and coexisting' at the moment, either. Normally he would have been, but he wanted something new, and he'd been studying art for long enough (a few years from what he could remember, but actually closer to around 30-40 years). That left the newest class... Music. Could be... Interesting, I guess. It's new, anyway. He thought to himself as he prepared his morning coffee. He wasn't the type to slack off at all, not after a year of living out on his own, mostly in the forest (which, again, was actually more like 30-40 years). No, he was active, always ready to get things done but going about them in a passive manner that would seem like laziness to the untrained eye, but was really just resourcefulness. No wasted energy; usually. He'd allow himself quite a bit of lee-way on that, though, since this was a new life and all, and he didn't have to be conservative anymore.

He put his coffee (black, no cream or sugar) in a travel mug and took a shower, preferring to let the coffee cool a bit. It was a strange preference, but he'd had it as long as he could remember. After his shower, he slipped on a pair of baggy black cargo pants, a blue shirt with yellow trim that looked like it came straight from china, as far as it's design went -- it was one of those shirts designed to cross over itself and tie off at the side -- and a red, hooded cloak over it all. He threw on a few necklaces, charms he kept around for reasons he didn't remember, and at last grabbed his large metal staff, slinging it onto his back with a draw-cord. He left it's detachable blade behind, though. He was better with just the staff, anyway. Then, grabbing his mug, he started on his way to the music room.

He arrived in little time, just under 10 minutes, and was actually a tiny bit late. Class would have started about a minute ago, but he shrugged and decided he'd just work on it next time. Walking in, he let out a soft cough to announce his presence. He didn't want to surprise anyone by sneaking up on them on accident. His dual-tone eyes (one gray, one orange) scanned the room carefully, spotting all sorts of birds. He liked birds. "My.. It appears the window... It has let in some birds, hasn't it?" He said in a cool, even tone, standing up straight and taking a sip from his mug of coffee. "My apologies, I am late. I will try harder next time to be more... Punctual." Speaking with a soft smile and a softer tone, it was clear that he was not uptight, but his words showed that he still had a high respect for the rules. At the same time, something about him seemed quite willing to break those rules if he didn't agree with them. "My name is Phoenix. I'm new here, and this place seems pretty cool. Sorry again, my name is actually Dexter. I'm used to being called Phoenix, though." His speech patterns were shifty and broken, like he hadn't spoken to anyone for a long, long time, but hadn't quite forgotten his language.

Phoenix walked in a bit more now, taking another look around the room. Not just birds and a teacher, but also a student. A girl in an over-sized sweater, a fashion which, for whatever reason, he found quite appealing. She was fairly appealing herself, he thought. But those thoughts weren't appropriate for school, so he put them into the back of his mind. He took a seat next to her, figuring he shouldn't be picky with where he sat; front, back, side or middle. Still, he questioned if his judgement may have been biased due to his previous observations. He put the doubts aside and just sat, smiling at her and waving, but not saying any more. He had to remove the large, heavy metal pole on his back, of course, so first he set that aside, hoping that it wouldn't draw any attention when it made the 'thunk' sound even though he had put it down fairly softly. He didn't want to interrupt any more, and he wasn't sure the girl would want to speak to him, so he after setting his staff down and having a seat, he took another sip of his coffee and directed his attention to the teacher, waiting to see what the day in this class would hold for him.


((A visual aid, for picturing Dexter's appearance:))

SPOILER: Click to show

-Isa-

    Isa stopped rosining her bow and set it down in the velvet case as her first student arrived. She stood up slowly and walked to the chalk board, writing her name on the board as neatly as she could. Knowing that her penmanship wasn't the best but wasn't always the worst. Isa remembered how her teachers used to laugh and say that she would become a doctor with penmanship like that, but she knew better; she knew she'd be teaching music.

    As she finished up writing her name, she heard a masculine voice behind her. Turning her head she smiled when he mentioned her birds, but said nothing of it. Well, she said nothing until one of her birds found an interest in his things. She strolled over to the little black bird that had settled on his metal pole thingy. "Shame on you Kaspar, you should know it's rude to get on my students things," Isa watched the little ebony bird fly away and land elsewhere, she shook her head and walked to the front part of the room. Taking a seat on the white spiny stool she decided that anyone else who came in would be spared, but only today. 

    "Welcome to my music class, you can call me Ms. Dolce. And since you know nothing of me yet, I'll just say that I play many instruments and that you should get used to having birds around. But I'm sure you'll be fine with them being around, no one else has ever had a problem with them before." She smiled and looked to the young lady who had her fingers working with a pencil in hand, she caught her eyes looking up every now and then. Isa glanced at the young man who had taken a seat next to her, Phoenix. "Since I don't seem to know either of you, I would love it if I could get your names, ages, powers and favorite kind of music." Her eyes fell across Phoenix, "Since you're already partially introduced, you can be the first to finish."

-Olwen-

    Olwen walked down the hallway quickly, her hot chocolate licking the sides of her cup. She had woken up at the normal time and was happy to realize that she had a music class today. But of course she had a whole list of little things that she needed to do before class; laundry, shower, do hair, chose clothing, make food, conjure up something that tastes like hot chocolate and tie her shoe laces.  She felt bad because she was really just nervous for her first class and now felt even worse because she was running a little bit late.

    As she turned down the hall, she saw the music room and slowed down a little bit. Happy to see someone else walk in before her, someone just as late. She strolled in behind him and heard him say that his nickname was Phoenix just before he went to sit by another student. She stepped further inside and rubbed her palms on her jeans before she moved to a seat somewhat close to the others. Olwen pulled her violin off her back and set it down on the ground, her sword still neatly tucked inside next to her bow. She almost regretted bringing it just because the school probably didn't want students carrying weapons on campus but it was too late to drop it back off at her room. 

    "Welcome to my music class, you can call me Ms. Dolce. And since you know nothing of me yet, I'll just say that I play many instruments and that you should get used to having birds around. But I'm sure you'll be fine with them being around, no one else has ever had a problem with them before. Since I don't seem to know either of you, I would love it if I could get your names, ages, powers and favorite kind of music." Owl looked around confused until she noticed the colorful flock of birds that had found a home in the music room. She glanced at the teacher ad wondered what her powers were, or if they involved talking to animals and controlling them. 

    Olwen looked to the guy she was close to and wondered what he would have to say about himself. 
     

As the tardy boy entered the classroom, he seemed to make his presence well known with both introducing himself and explaining his lateness. She lifted her gaze from the paper to peer upon him, and he seemed to do the same, causing her to offer him a timid, polite nod before returning her gaze back to the front of the room. He didn't seem inclined to speak to her, and she was perfectly comfortable with that. It was nice when others respected her wish to be a bit less social, even if it was in an academic atmosphere. Iris then listened intently as the woman began to speak, starting the class off rather abruptly. Ms. Dolce, she thought, mulling the name over and over again in her mind. Everything was clear and void of stutters in her consciousness.

However, the woman's request caught her off-guard, causing her only to glance briefly at the new arrival to the classroom. Speaking in public so soon? She must do it though, it was the teacher's order... Iris swallowed anxiously as she combed her violently trembling fingers through her long, wavy locks, anticipation rising within her chest. Luckily, the boy was required to finish before her, however that meant that the possibility of having to share still remained undecided. She'd already begun to rub the stones slung across her neck as she tried focusing on each student's colors, a polite yet spirited sunset-orange falling upon the boy. The teacher remained in her musical lilac, whilst the newest female mimicked a similar yet somewhat darker shade of violet, due to Iris spotting her violin. She whispered the colors to herself for a moment, before snapping herself out of the wretched habit. For now, Iris wrenched her fingers away from the sharp edges of the quartz, pressing her slightly bloodied fingers together in wait for the boy known as "Phoenix" to fully introduce himself, her eyes fixated upon him.

Phoenix nodded politely to the newest arrival as she walked into the room. As he realized that he also found her attractive, he simply chuckled to himself and almost shook his head -- but managed to stop, not wanting to make anyone think he was shaking his head at them -- figuring he knew exactly what was going on. You've been on your own too long, Phoenix. You're starting to think every girl is attractive. Then he heard the teacher saying something about the students introducing themselves, and he quickly brought his attention forward again. He curled his lip and nodded a bit, agreeing with her reasoning as to him going first.

"That's fair enough, I suppose." Phoenix said, standing up slowly and taking a long draft of his coffee, finishing it off before deciding to speak. "Well, my name is Dexter Alex Moreau," Dexter said, bowing slightly with one arm curled into his abdomine in a fairly formal show. Standing again, he continued to speak, "My powers are, as you probably guessed, where I get my name from; Phoenix, I mean. I can generate and control fire freely," Phoenix said, generating a tiny ball of flame at his fingertips as he mentioned generating, and only a second later he turned it into a bold, brilliantly orange portrait of the teacher playing a violin as he mentioned being able to control fire freely. He held the portrait for a few moments, before deciding that he had made his point and extinguishing it immediately. "Because of this I can also extinguish any flames I am in control of, and I can take control of any flames nearby. Secondly, I can transform, either partially or fully, into fire itself, but I shan't bother demonstrating that, as it would be too dangerous in a flammable room. Plus, it may scare the birds." For a moment it would seem like Phoenix was done, but his pause was only to find some way of demonstrating his final power. Smiling, he decided on something. He lifted his thumb up to his mouth and bit down on it harshly, enough to make it bleed quite a bit but not enough to take it off. He held up his thumb in display, and almost immediately it seemed to become coated in fire. "Lastly, I'm alot like the actual phoenix. Except, any injuries I sustain at all will regenerate, and quite rapidly at that. My wounds catch fire and usually are fixed within seconds. I can even repair an entire missing limb, or a wound to the heart. Though, unfortunately, I cannot fix any figurative wounds to that organ." Phoenix said jokingly. He bowed again, sitting down and smiling warmly as he watched Ms. Dolce, waiting to see who would go next. He guessed it would be the newest girl, since she was the latest, but he could be wrong.

"Oh! And I'm nineteen, my apologies." Phoenix added, as an afterthought, before going back to smiling and waiting patiently. His eyes, however, were no longer on the teacher, but on her birds. He held his finger out slightly, wondering if one would come to him as they always did in his forest. Of course, he had no control over whether one did or not, but that was the secret. They would rarely come to a stranger seeking to control them. Act cool and calm, and eventually something would come along. If not, oh well. He was lost in thought for a few moments, wondering how he knew such things, losing track of what was going on around him but snapping back into reality if anyone spoke.

     

    Isa

     Isa leaned back against the chalk board as Phoenix told everyone about his abilities. Her eyes were caught on the fire he created of a violinist and she smiled at his skills with fire. Though, when he bit himself she had to hold herself back; being so used to stopping students from harming themselves. She had to fight the urge to run and grab him a hello kitty band aid, but when she saw that there was no mark after a little flame appeared on his flesh her heart beat slowed down again. She had been so used to having students without powers that she kept worrying about the little things she had needed to worry about at her old jobs. 

     Isa watched curiously as he held out a finger, as if he wanted one of her little birds to take a seat on his exposed limb. Without a second thought, she turned to a plump red bird just as it made its way over to him slowly. The red bird, whom she had named Calsifer at a young age, sat himself down on the finger and began to groom himself. She shook her head and returned her attention to the other two students she had. She decided that the newest addition to her class would be next to introduce herself, since the other girl turned white as a sheet at the mentioning of introductions. Isa's eyes caught on the girls fingers as a red liquid dripped down them, her fingers running over a necklace she had on. She said nothing, but knew that she would ask her about it later on when it wouldn't be so public. Isa knew how it felt to be called out about something in an embarrassing manner, almost all of her teachers did it to her in her school years. She had hated it.

    "You can go next, dear. Tell us about yourself and your powers," She smiled at the girl. Curious about her past with the violin that she had brought and if she knew how to play it or had brought it to her so that she could learn how to play it. Either way, Isa was happy to have someone to teach about something that hit so close to home. 

Olwen

   Olwen watched Phoenix play with the fire in his fingers, feeling the heat from the little fire on her face. Surprisingly enough, she found that his healing ability wasn't that shocking; she had read about real phoenixes before and never thought she would meet someone who was basically one. As he had healed himself she saw the teachers face go a little pale and then return to its normal color a few seconds later. Owl was about to ask her if she was alright before a red bird caught her eye. She turned to see it land on Phoenix's finger, the round bird plucked at prodded at its feathers as it sat happily there."Looks like you've made a new friend," she said softly. 

    She leaned back in the plastic chair and picked up her hot chocolate before sipping at its contents carefully. Owl set it down again on the floor as she adjusted her hair, pulling it up into a messy bun. She pushed up the sleeves of her little jacket and used her combat boots to pull down her pant legs a bit. As she did, she inspected her clothing choice for the day. She wore black skinny jeans, her infamous combat boots, a light blue tank top and a wimpy black jacket that was supposed to keep her warm.

   Her eyes snapped up when the teacher asked her to introduce herself next, she felt her face heat up a little bit. Following Phoenix's example, she stood up slowly. Turning herself to face both Ms. Dolce and the other two students, "I'm Olwen Lithisi, most people just call me Owl, and I'm 16. My power is to...ah... read minds. I can hear peoples thoughts," Olwen paused and realized that some people might not like the fact that she could hear thoughts and explained further, "I can't read anyone's mind unless I look in their eyes first, it kinda creates a bridge between my mind and theirs. But I don't try to listen in on people's thoughts, but it just happens sometimes."  Owl looked down at her shoes for a moment, trying to decided what kind of music she loved, "And to be honest, I think I like rock more than any other kind of music."

    She sat down again, happy to have gotten that over with. 

With growing interest, Iris watched as Phoenix formally introduced himself, her eyes locked upon him as he thoroughly explained his abilities, demonstrating each dimension of the diverse power. She recoiled a bit at the sudden flames, her arms instinctively shielding her head as a result before peeking out to ensure that she was safe. Her skittish demeanor only seemed to have grown in intensity since the prospect of public speaking had surfaced. Unraveling herself from her contorted position, Iris wasn't as frightened by the blood as he bit himself, but instead yearning for his abilities. If she could heal herself both that easily and swiftly, she wouldn't have to worry about others seeing the anxious self-release, and it'd disappear quickly. A tired and nearly inaudible sigh was drawn from her gently parted lips as the male finished. One down, one more to go now...

Thankfully, the newest female mind-reader was the next to explain her origin and identity. So, now there was Phoenix, Olwen and Ms. Dolce. Each of their colors varied from one another, despite the similarity between the 16-year-old and the instructor's hues. The vibrance of the male's orange color correlated with his fire wonderfully, and this orange was overlayed with a thin veil of a tranquil gray. He appeared incredibly polite, and she appreciated others that could reveal such elegant manners. And the girl seemed charismatic and friendly enough by her tone, however Iris' heart thudded in her chest as the time had arrived for her to speak. Shuddering violently in her boots, the girl opened her mouth slightly, unable to produce any sounds for a few moments. She anxiously glanced at the floor, pressing her hands together, before murmuring, "I-I... I-I'm I-Iris F-Frost... U-Um.. I-I'm e-eighteen, and.. I-I use.. U-Use energy.."[/font] With that, she rose her shaking hands, conjuring a small sphere of white, radiating energy within her palms. It pulsated and quivered a bit with her trepidation to display her powers, dispersing the energy after only a few moments as to finish hastily. "I-I l-like.. S-Softer m-music I-I guess.. I-I d-don't h-have a p-preference, I-I think," she breathed, sitting down the moment she'd finished speaking and hunching her shoulders inwards ever so slightly as an attempt to avoid further attention. Iris was in a great deal of discomfort having to display herself so brazenly .. Or at least, she thought so.

Phoenix watched and listened politely, trying to memorize everything about both Owl and Iris. For a few moments he thought on how he liked Owl's name; another bird name. Lots of birds today, it seemed. Still, something else caught his attention almost as soon as he began thinking about it. The girl, Owl, could read minds if she made eye contact. This worried Phoenix deeply, to a level he couldn't understand because he couldn't remember why it should worry him, but he resolved to not look the girl directly in the eye. At least, not until he trusted her implicitly, which may take a while, or as short as a single conversation with her. Her power was definitely interesting, but then she said something about what kind of music she liked and he couldn't help but groan a bit and face-palm. He knew he had forgotten something, but he was too caught up in explaining his powers, mostly because there was a lot to explain and he got excited about them, because they were really the only thing he was proud of in himself. That was courtesy of his father, of course. He did like the fact that she enjoyed rock, however, as that was one of his favorites. That and Jazz. It really depended on what he was doing at the time.

He kept his mouth shut, though, as it came around to the time for Iris to speak. He could already tell that she was quite skittish and nervous. It was all these not-so-subtle clues, like flinching away from the small flame he had produced and staying bunched up for a moment like a wild animal, the fact that she turned as white as an albino ghost when there was mention of introducing herself (even if it was only in front of three people and some birds), and the way she kept fiddling with her necklace (though he hadn't noticed the blood yet). In a strange way, he actually found all of these things quite endearing, and he decided he wouldn't mind having her as a friend, though he'd have to try and find a way to not have to approach her, because even though he was pretty darn good at formal address in front of a group, he was terrible at one-on-one. He always wound up stammering and blushing like a 13-year-old schoolboy being confronted by a supermodel in lingerie. He'd have to work on that, but for now, he simply listened.

As Iris was speaking, he began to write down a little note, scribbling quickly and smiling to himself as he finished the note up only a moment before Iris was done speaking. Without a word, he slid the note over onto her notebook (the one she had been drawing on previously), the entire time keeping his eyes forward. Once he was sure she was done speaking, he waited a moment or two and then spoke again. "Sorry, I forgot to mention what music I like. I'd say Rock. Or Jazz.. It depends, honestly, on what mood I'm in. Though, I haven't had much opportunity to listen to music at all. I've heard maybe 10 songs in my life, I'd say, not counting bird's songs. He didn't stand this time, and made sure to speak in a soft voice, so as to not scare off the bird that had perched on his finger. He reached over to it silently as he finished speaking, using the hand that he was just writing with to stroke the bird gently. As Owl mentioned that he had made a new friend, he simply nodded, smiling, and said, "Yes, it seems I have. What's your name, little guy?"

The note that he had scribbled down and slid over to Iris; "Well done, truly. I could tell that was really hard for you, but you pulled it off, so well done. Sorry if this not is a bit off-putting, I just thought you should know, and I don't do very well with direct conversation."

Isa

     Isa smiled as each of her students introduced themselves, one by one. The girl with the mind reading abilities mentioned liking rock music and Isa knew that they would have many things in common. Not only did they both have common interests in rock music, but Olwen also carried a violin around with her. Though she felt like the two of them would get along nicely, she kept thinking about her mind reading abilities and how hard it would be for her and those around her. Having to hear their thoughts or have a conversation with someone while staring at the ground. 

     Her eyes fell upon the last girl as Owl sat down, Iris. She was a bit shaky at first, and when her hand rose to show the lovely ball of energy Isa smiled at her ability to show it for as long as she had. Since Isa had been unsure if she would be open enough to do that just yet in front of the group. When Iris finished Phoenix quickly added that he liked rock and jazz. But when he said that he hadn't really listened to music, she was shocked. "Goodness gracious! I guess that I'll have to introduce you to the wonderful world of music then."

     Isa stood up and moved to her desk, grabbing her CD's as she did so. Opening a disc compartment she turned on some piano music this kind music wasn't her favorite, but it was something so start off with so that they would get used to background music in the class room. Isa slid out from behind her desk as soon as the music began to play and went back to the front of the class, but this time she sat a bit closer to her students. She spun her chair around and sat in it backwards.

     "Now that all of you have properly introduced yourselves, I will happily tell you about myself." Isa thought for a moment, wondering where she should start. "My full name is Isa Dolce, I made up my last name because I don't know my real parents. My age is none of your concern, but feel free to guess. It's not that big of a secret in my opinion. I love all kinds of music, but rock has a place in my heart." Isa paused and held out her arms, calling to her birds. Within a few seconds, the ones who had grown bored with the room flew back onto her skin . Returning to their tattoo state, while the other ones stayed off her body, content with where they were and what they were doing. "My tattoos are my power, all these birds come from my skin. I've got 23 tattoos total, 22 are birds and the other one is a moon on my back. I could show you some day if you ever needed to know what shape the moon was in but it's concealed at the moment. And that is really only the basics about me, so if you ever want to chat I'm usually open for conversations."

Olwen

     As Owl sat down, her eye caught on Phoenix and how he seemed to tense up at the mention of her mind reading abilities. Olwen almost felt bad for being so good at reading people without even needing to hear their thoughts, but that trait had come with hearing what others think. It had also become a bad habit, something she would do when other people were around her. She would notice things like how Ms. Dolce would tap her fingers on her legs as if she was playing an invisible piano. Or how Iris rubbed her fingers across her necklace, despite the drops of blood that were dotting her fingers as she caressed the piece of jewelry. 

     Olwen pulled her eyes away from the other people in the room as she sipped at her hot chocolate, tired of trying to piece together these people's personalities. When she put the mug down, she saw that their teacher had moved to her desk and had turned on some soft music. As Ms. Dolce returned and sat down, Olwen kept her eyes down on her shoes. Not wanting to be rude and hear anyone's thoughts. But when she started telling them about herself, she couldn't help but watch as her birds flew into her skin. Owl couldn't help but smile at this strange and beautiful power. Having tattoos as companions seemed handy, someone to mutter complaints and secret things to when no one else would listen. 

     "Ms. Dolce, what exactly are we going to be doing today?" She hoped that it wouldn't sound offensive, but she had been hoping to get into a practice room to discretely take out her instrument (so no one would see her sword that was also within her case). 

Iris noticed a swift movement of Phoenix's hand towards her binder, piquing her interest at once. She took the thin object in her hands, opening it by the binding and shifting her gaze to the new scrap of paper now embedded within it. Tilting her head ever so slightly, she read over the note a few times, unbelieving at first. It wasn't usual that someone would be so courteous, especially due to only meeting him recently, thus her trust was incredibly fragile. The girl couldn't help but permit her expression to soften from fear to a neutral, almost contented state. So, she must've been even worse at public speaking than she'd previously thought, for even complete strangers were able to discern just how anxious it made her.

Like Phoenix, the girl had absolutely no intention of locking eyes with Olwen. There were too many dark secrets that she longed to keep hidden away, including her mind constantly spewing out opinions based off of another student's colors.. Besides, if someone were to hear her speaking about a person's hues, it would be viewed as something a mentally unsound person would even consider. Now, Iris took the effort to avert her lucid, green eyes from the 16-year-old, not even casting a brief glance her way and focusing solely upon Ms. Dolce. The birds had captivated her from the start, however she was too tentative to even reach out to the avian creatures. As some of them almost morphed into intricate tattoos across the instructor's back, Iris could only gaze in awe in response to that spectacular display. Her countenance brightened considerably as the gentle strokes of the piano's keys drifted through her ears, even as a tranquil, background element. Music always had that ability to quell her worries, thus her intense liking of it. Iris then listened as Ms. Dolce explained herself further, enjoying her personality. This wasn't a teacher that seemed to push themselves too much upon students, keeping the girl far more comfortable. Thank goodness she doesn't appear too straightforward, she thought, releasing an internal sigh of relief. Her eyes wandered back to the note she'd been given then, looking to the final statement. I do not do well in direct conversation either, or any conversation for that matter, she thought, her mind's voice freed from the shackles of stuttering.