Sheridan's First Day (Closed)

Sheridan entered the courtyard uncertainly. Ash sniffed around, excited at the adventure a new place held. Sheridan strained his ears, but detected nothing. If there was someone here, he could not hear them. The prospect made him uneasy. Apparently, his dorm was Pyxis. Wherever that was. With a soft command, he urged Ash onward, coming to a stop in what he sensed to be the middle of the open area. Perhaps someone would be able to direct him to his dorm. Sheridan growled to himself at the thought of having to interact with another human being. As far as social skills went, his were nonexistent.

He began to regret coming to the school. He had nowhere else to go, but still. Aunt Nadie's funeral had been a year ago already. He knew what she would say if she could hear him now. 'Don't call me Aunt! It makes me feel old, dammit!' He nearly chuckled aloud. He quickly tore his thoughts from his aunt, numbing himself to the now-familiar pain. It hurt too much to remember.

"Let's sit down, bud," he murmured to his best friend. Ash found a bench and settled himself beneath it after his master sat down. Sheridan scratched his dog's head absentmindedly as he thought. He was going to need help here. His fiercely independent spirit protested the very idea, but he had no choice if he was going to find his way around the damn place.

With a glorious thump on his chest and a sense of accomplishment and valor, Lon emerged from the brush of the forest. He led a march with his cloned colleagues, two of them following behind and dragging some kind of beast that had been hogtied and, by the looks of it, beaten into submission. It was definitely still conscious as it was clearly still moving its multiple shark-like eyes, but it was at a point where it couldn’t do much to rebel and just allowed whatever its fate might be to come to it. The bubbling green sacks on the lizard-like beast’s back slithered along the snow like balloons waiting anxiously to pop.

Two of the Lons kept close to the beast’s sides, making sure that it did not do anything suspicious or attempt to break free again, the gashes on their snowsuits suggesting that there was a mighty battle that had taken place in order to get the creature into the position it was. The last of the tiny children ran up from the rear, excitingly meeting up with the leader of the pack whilst cheering “Yeah! Red Reapers do it again!”

The leader of the Lons rolled his eyes and sighed, like a disappointed sergeant. “No matter how many times you say it, that name sounds stupid.”

“Hey! You came up with it” the other Lon defended.

“No, you came up with it” he rebelled in a blasé tone.

“Exactly, so by extension, you came up with it” Lon replied in a smarmy manner, crossing his arms as though he had made a valid point.

As the duo of Lons continued to argue, one of the guardsmen broke off from the pack as he noticed a bystander. By command, he was supposed to warn anyone who came by about the dangers of the beast that they had captured. They didn’t quite know what they were going to do with the thing, but they had to inform one of the teachers or staff about the monster they capture in order for the thing to never harm another student again. One of the six versions of Lon almost got his leg torn off, as evident by the missing lower half of his pant leg.

The boy rushed over to the older guy that was resting on a bench with his dog nearby, Lon thinking it weird that the boy had a pet on the premises. He didn’t know that pets were allowed at school. It wasn’t like he had any to take advantage of that knowledge anyway. The clearly shorter and younger child took a proper stance in front of the blind bloke and stated “Uh, just to let you know, don’t panic about the Cyst Beast, we have the situation under control. Just avoid poking the pimples on its back and you should be just fine. If one of them does pop, we’ll let you know and proceed with some kind of emergency plan. I don’t know what the procedure is, but I’m sure one of them does. Any questions?” he finished, hoping the boy didn’t have any because frankly he didn’t know if he could answer them.

Sheridan raised a dark eyebrow, turning his head to face the person in front of him. The owner of the voice sounded young. Younger than him, at least. Great, a kid. Ash turned a mildly interested gaze on the boy, sniffing his shoes.

Sheridan tilted his head ever so slightly, trying to read the environment around him. He heard many identical voices. That couldn't be right. Several people with the same voice? He did indeed sense some sort of beast nearby. Ash noticed it the same time he did; the dog growled at whatever creature was in their proximity.

Sheridan's sightless eyes seemed to drill into the boy before him, their gray gaze intense and unyielding. Another emotion was at the forefront: annoyance. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, kid. But I hope there's someone who will be able to show me around this place."

He stood up, towering over the boy. "And what's a Cyst Beast?"

The other guardsman took notice of his absent partner and took notice of him socializing with some guy with a dog. Well, if he was going get to pet that dog then so should he, it was only in fairness. So, the other Lon abandoned his post in order to catch up with his fellow sentry, leaving the drooling and defeated demon to his other four clones. He knew full well that the three of them could handle the creature if it somehow busted out from its restraints, so there was no emergency. Besides, they were on school ground at this point so it was safe to say that the campus police could pick up the slack if all went awry.

The Lon that was in front of the blind man took no notice of the man’s lack of sight considering that he didn’t give off any blind vibes. Sure, his eyes were a bit funky, but outside of that he seemed to be directing his attention in all the logical places, on top of that most people at the school had really weird eye colours to begin with. His math teacher had orange eyes after all. He listened carefully to the civilian and his mouth made an O as he uttered the swear word.

In the nick of time, the other Lon arrived on the scene just in time to hear what the older student had to say and immediately gasped, following with “he swore!” pointing at the boy with big bug eyes as though he was shocked he’d even mouth such a word.

“Shush!” the other Lon silenced as his fellow clone stood at his side. “Ignore him, he got the dumb half of the brain. Anyway, we found this crazy thing in the forest that might harm other students so we got the drop on him and transporting him to the proper authorities to face judgement.”

“The Cyst Beast is that big thing with green pimples on its back over there” the clone continued as he pointed to the dazzled creature in tow of his brethren, assuming that the teenager could see, well, anything. “The monster manual says that those bubbles on its back are full of acid. So cool.”

As the boy passed mention of a guide, the two kids’ eyes glowed and they stared at each other for a brief second to assure that they were both thinking the same thing. One of the boys turned around to inform the rest of the group of what they were doing, whilst the other faced the titanic teenager. “Fear not, we can show you around the school. We’ve been here a long time” he stated proudly as he pumped his fist against his chest, knowing that his Superman logo was hidden underneath the thick winter jacket. If there was ever a moment where his sense of heroism could be satisfied, it was now.

"Damn right I swore," growled Sheridan to the boy who had made the stupid comment. Honestly, was this a school for little kids? How old were these guys? Six? Sheridan mentally shook his head. It didn't matter.

Either way, for some reason, they were unable to pick up on the fact that he couldn't see. Sheridan wasn't sure whether to be grateful for this or irritated. When most people found out he was blind, they started treating him like he was made of glass. Like a cripple. He decided it was best that he keep his disability a secret--for now.

The group of kids in front of him all seemed to be arguing amongst each other. At one point, one of them undoubtedly pointed to something--or someone--he was supposed to be seeing. The 'Cyst Beast,' apparently.

"Ash, up," Sheridan commanded in an undertone, ushering his dog to his feet. Ash licked the hand of the nearest Lon, wagging his tail. Normally, he wasn't allowed to be petted in public. Sheridan guessed that the kids either couldn't read Ash's 'service dog' vest or didn't know the significance of it.

"Lead the way, then," said Sheridan gruffly to the boy in front of him, who seemed to be the leader.

As the older student asserted his fondness for cursing, the Lon that had accused him raised his hands and wavered them around whilst recreating the meme that Neil Degrasse Tyson made infamous. Officially, it is referred to as the ‘watch out, we got a badass over here’ gesture. The clone that was with him elbowed him in the stomach to stop him from continuing his mocking spree and in turn that clone ceased his actions and went over to pet the dog. It wasn’t until then that Lon picked up on the vest that the dog was wearing, more specifically what it said. For his own purposes, he didn’t let his fellow clone in on what it said and with how unobservant he tended to be he might not pick it up on his own.

“Yeah, don’t worry we can handle this! Go show that guy around I guess, we’ll catch up with you guys once we find a teacher or something” Lon prime shouted back to the two strays as the beast and its escorts vanished into the distance.

With that, it was only two Lons left over, which was more than enough for an effective tour of the school. The less stupid Lon (for sake of avoiding confusion, let’s call him Lon 1) began to scratch his head, unsure of where exactly to begin. They were already in the Court Yard, so he supposed that would make for a good starting point.

Lon 2 (the other one) was skeptical of the point of a tour considering the older boy was clearly blind, but he decided to humour himself for the sake of seeming like he was doing something important. Overall, he was not a big fan of this incredibly closed off and slightly jerky guy.

“Uh, yes. Okay, we go this way first then” Lon 1 stated as he pointed to the side of the building. He somewhat confidently led the charge, waddling through the snow with his stubby little legs. He supposed that he should attempt to engage in small talk in order to keep the older boy’s attention, or at least he guessed that’s what older people did in order to feel… old. Frankly, he really didn’t care if the titanic teenager became his friend so long as he put in a good word for him with the staff. Something along the lines of ‘Oh, I don’t know how I could have managed life here at Foresta without Lon’s guidance. You guys should give him an award or something.’ “So, you’re new? Ooo, what’s your power!? Or, uh, what’s your name. I guess that’s more important” he asked as he walked backwards.

Lon 2 on the other hand, decided to take the rear of their three man pack. He kept a good eye on the older student in case he did anything he didn’t like, mostly for the sake of calling him out for it.

Sheridan tromped through the snow behind the leader kid, following the sound of his voice. Ash guided him true, the dog having to lift his legs high to wade through the snow. He didn't mind, of course. The cold was his natural element.

The snow reminded Sheridan of the harsh Maine winters of home. He'd heard that some places got no snow at all, their winter seasons being mildly chilly at worst. How could one live in such an environment? Southerners were a bunch of wimps anyways. Wait, Leader Kid had asked him something. The dual elemental snapped his attention back to the conversation that unfortunately awaited him.

"Yes, I'm new," he affirmed the boy's first statement, a bit unnerved by his unnatural enthusiasm. Damn, this kid could smile in the face of Armageddon. And he'd probably ask it a million questions. "Name's Sheridan. Sheridan Mace." He purposely avoided the power question. If the kid and his identical buddies were lucky, they'd never have to see his so-called 'gift.' He had a feeling that one of the kids, the one who had ever-so-diligently pointed out his less-than-polite way of speaking, didn't like him. He suppressed a grin. This could be fun.

The trio continued to trot through the snow until Lon 1 reached a clearing in which the groundskeeper had cleared off much earlier in the day. Considering that he already had the gaps in his boots filled with snow, it was probably best to follow the beaten path from that point forward, so long as he doesn’t get frost bite. It wasn’t like it matter anyway, it wasn’t going to be a permanent injury unless the real Lon acquired it and he was hoping that he wasn’t the real one. He was 80% certain he wasn’t.

He reluctantly continued the conversation, disguising his lackluster boredom with blind enthusiasm. As a child, it was very easy to do that. “Ah, cool cool. I’m Lon, and so is he” the boy replied as he pointed to his clone behind Sheridan. Lon 1 quirked his head curiously since the older guy seemed to either ignore or didn’t hear his question about his powers. The thought of him not having any crossed his mind, but then why would he be at Foresta? Maybe he wanted to hide his powers, but again if he was going to be ignorant towards his powers why would he go to Foresta instead of just shunning his powers altogether. Maybe it made sense to Sheridan, but Lon 1 couldn’t comprehend it, so he just simply asked again. “So, what’s your powers then? I mean, if they’re good enough you could probably come with us the next time we go monster hunting” he continued to prod.

Lon 2 poked his head out from behind the weighty giant and frowned profusely at the very suggestion that someone outside of their kind would join them on their hunts. He extended the displeased gesture further by shaking his head slowly and assertively.

Lon 1 merely shrugged it off and eagerly awaited the older boy’s answer, admittedly more curious to know what the man was capable of than anything else about him. If the boy were to say something like water breathing his interest would fade almost immediately. Though he would suppose he still had to act nicely in order to get recognition for his tour guide deed.

Sheridan blinked in confusion. Two with the same name? Well, at least it confirmed his previous suspicion about the identical voices. "Clones. That's new."

He felt the ground open before him and he walked more easily, no longer burdened by having to tread through the snow. Still, the frozen water made its presence known rather uncomfortably in his boots. He shuffled his feet with distaste. He liked snow, but not that much. He tilted his head toward the insistent Leader-Lon who once again asked about his powers. This kid just wouldn't give up.

"My powers are the control of light and darkness." The words held the dullness of a rehearsed speech. "Though more often than not, they control me. And what's this about a monster hunt?"

Sheridan deduced that in this place, all monstrous creatures were reality. The only monsters he'd ever heard about at home were the ones told of by the storytellers, and of course himself. Demon-spawn. He grimaced inwardly as the old nickname returned to his memory from whatever dark recesses he had shoved it into.

The gleaming wonderment that filled Lon 1’s eyes previously was swiftly extinguished once he heard Sheridan’s summarization of his abilities. In his mind, he interpreted it as the boy basically being a human flashlight in that he could make things light or dark. For their purposes it was completely useless, so it wouldn’t even make up for the fact that he wasn’t one of them. Frankly, he was expecting to hear something cool or dangerous since it almost seemed like he was reluctant to say anything. Maybe he was embarrassed with how useless his ability was. The part where he stated that his powers controlled him somewhat confused the boy, maybe he had no control of when he made something lighter or darker.

“Oh, well, that’s cool, I guess…” Lon 1 added as he scratched his head. He was ready to move on with the tour at this point, but the other Lon butted in on the conversation when Sheridan expressed interest in their hunt, attempting to do so before Lon 1 offered him to join them again.

“We hunt down monsters that could pose a threat to the school and others. Like the Cyst Beast. We’re kind of a big deal around here” Lon 2 added, polishing his knuckles against his chest in an arrogant manner. Lon 1 rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about it too much, so long as you stay out of the forest, you should be fine. Some of those beasts out there might be a bit out of your league” he continued, hoping that he would sway the older kid off the topic of the monster hunting so that he didn’t ruin their fun. The last thing they needed was to have a blind flashlight that couldn’t control himself weighing them down and blowing their cover.

Lon 1 proceeded to subtly shove his other self out of the way in order to remove the barrier between him and his follower, not to mention he was being kind of rude. Then again, Sheridan was not exactly being Mr. Urbane either. Regardless, Lon 1 had a job to do. “Alright, so that over there will lead you directly to the main hall. Most of the time you’ll need to head through there for classes, though it’s really crowded sometimes” he instructed clearly as he gestured toward the front door in the distance, not unlike someone with the job of tour guide would.

Sheridan bit back an indignant retort at Lon's underwhelming response to his powers. The kid's only power was to make copies of his annoying self, so the elemental shrugged it off. It wasn't like the boy had ever seen his ability in use before. His gift was difficult to explain in the least, so demonstration was the easiest way. He marveled again at the reliance that most people had on vision. They had to see something to believe it. That was a bit of a drawback.

And 'out of his league?' If he could destroy a town, he could certainly take on whatever beastly creatures this school held. He knew that he was going to ignore the second Lon's advice about not going into the forest. The forest was his home, and taking Sheridan out of his environment was like trying to teach a fish to walk.

"As far as monsters go, I think I can handle myself, kid," Sheridan said to the second Lon, lowering his gaze to the direction of the boy's voice. He turned to face the direction of the presumed Main Hall, releasing Ash's harness as he did so. "Let's go, bud."

With a grin, he vanished into the nearest shadow, racing toward the entrance of the Hall. The sound of Ash running just ahead of him was his guide. He felt the familiar darkness consume him as he teleported from shadow to shadow, traveling through them as easily as one would through doors. He hadn't used this particular power in a while, and felt a cooling relief as he embraced his darker half. His brighter side was once again repressed. Sheridan knew the damage it could do. It was safer to stay within the darkness, and push back the light.

But a small voice in his mind told him he couldn't hold back forever. His eternal night might have seemed impenetrable, but eventually, the sun would return.

He halted just before the front door, the shadows rolling off of his figure like a cloak. "Thanks, kid!" he called back to the Lons. "I guess."

(ooc: whoops, forgot to add this. Thread closed, on account of Lon successfully guiding Sheridan to the Entrance Hall. Now on to the second chapter of Sheridan's adventure.)

Once Sheridan was introduced to the front door by Lon, he began to look around absently trying to figure out where he would direct his guest next. He scratched his head again, not exactly sure what the next natural step would be. Perhaps he wasn’t cut out for the whole tour guide business, then again it didn’t seem like he had to put up with the act for much longer.

As Lon 1 was focused on where to go next, Lon 2 was focusing on the other boy, scoffing at the notion that light bright could handle himself. He couldn’t even see without his dog, and while he had a sizeable amount of muscle he was still severely handicapped by his lack of vision. Regardless of any of that though, he kept his mouth shut. Lon 2 was somewhat confused as the teenager allowed his dog to roam free and then suddenly vanished from sight. His lips perked curiously as his head whipped back and forth as though he was trying to figure out where the boy teleported to. “Huh, he never said he could do that…” Lon 2 trailed off.

“Do what?” Lon 1 questioned as he spun around, quickly growing the same perplexed countenance. “Where’d he go…”

“I think he teleported or something. I dunno.”

“Well, that’s cooler than what he was letting on…”

In that moment, Sheridan shouted back at them from the front entrance before creaking the door open and escaping from their care. Lon 1 looked rather straight faced whilst Lon 2 still looked utterly confused about the situation. “…How did he figure out where the door was?” Lon 2 quizzed his fellow clone whilst scratching his head.

“What do you mean? I pointed it out to him” the other Lon added, looking at his clone and wondering if he had a stroke in the last couple of seconds.

“Dude was blind, or at least I think he was…” Lon 2 retorted, unsure if he should be trusting his instincts anymore.

“Huh, weird. Wait! Why didn’t you tell me he was blind!? I was pointing at things the entire time he was around!” Lon 1 shouted as the two began to walk off in order to catch up with their fellow clones.

“Eh, I thought something funny would happen. I guess not. Maybe he was pretending to be blind.”

“Well then, at least he said thanks…”

Then the duo walked off into the sunset, feeling like they accomplished something, but overall nothing of importance. All in all, it was a good day at Foresta.