Post by gvb on Nov 16, 2024 17:40:05 GMT -6
There was an obvious commotion in the gym as the cameras for The Academy live show stopped rolling. In five years of history it never occurred that a student didn’t show up to a match, and the fact that the person in question was Mars only increased the concern.
Paizlee was freaking out, babbling about the ghosts getting her friend, and not even Noah’s attempts at calming her down seemed to work. Even though the mask was covering his face, you could tell that Razor Wolf was pretty upset too by the way he was pacing back and forth. Her scheduled opponent Nathan Maddox was still standing in the ring, now joined by his girlfriend Raya, looking more annoyed than anything.
The two team leaders, Lady Magdalena and Helena Noir joined their students along with Gianluigi Vaccaro. There was a lot of buzzing but the question everyone was asking was always the same. Where is Mars?
“Gian…” Came the voice of Maud, the MWE social media and Academy Counselor. Her tone carried the same concern everyone else, some more than others, seemed to be sharing. She didn’t say another word, she wasn’t going to and Gian didn’t give her the time, leaving the small crowd of students and trainers to meet the blue haired girl.
“Lady, Helena. Please watch the students.” That was his command, authoritative yet polite at the same time. The two team leaders gave him a nod and turned back to the rest of the kids, talking to them while Gian and Maud left the room.
“Tell me Maud.” He said, holding the door open for her as they moved through the hallways.
“She was supposed to meet with me this afternoon, but never showed up. I didn’t give it too much weight, it wouldn’t have been the first time she showed up late. I thought that maybe she was with Helena, you know, getting ready for tonight’s match..” A sigh escaped her lips, the same shade of blue as her hair. “But she hasn’t quite been herself the past few days, I don’t know if you have noticed.”
The Principal shook his head, His expression was somber, a shadow of guilt making his voice tremble ever so slightly. “With Tobie and Juliette coming back in my life, I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have.”
“Hey, that’s why you hired me, remember?” She quickly chimed in, accompanying her words with a warm smile aimed at comforting her boss. “Her online presence dropped consistently this week, she barely tweeted and rarely engaged with the other students, even those who are the closest to her.” They reached the staircase leading to the first floor, where the student’s rooms are situated. “And even when she did, she seemed… Off.” The irony of that statement was not lost on her, not even in this moment of concern. For the quirky self-proclaimed alien, odd behavior was normalcy and seeing her acting with composure was an anomaly. “Even her reaction to the card’s announcement. I don’t need to tell you how strongly she feels about Nathan and how vocal she was about her thirst for revenge. And yet, when I posted the card all she had to say was OK.”
“Odd, indeed.” Gian briefly interrupted her as the two began to walk up the stairs.
“Yeah.This is why I wanted to talk to her today. She spent most of the time in her room…”
As they reached the second floor, Gian headed to his right but Maud quickly stopped him. “This way.”
The principal raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. “Isn’t her room down this hallway?”
“The new one is.” Maud nodded. “But a couple of days ago her she asked Paizlee to help her reclaim her old room, the 113. They couldn't get in that night and came up with a plan involving..." Maud couldn't believe what she was about to say. "Ghosts, to steal the key from your office. But I guess Mars couldn't wait and broke in the morning after. Ever since then, she spent most of her time locked in there, only coming out for the mandatory training sessions.” Maud turned to her left and began to walk toward where she knewt Mars would be, followed by Gianluigi. Not another word was spoken by either of them until they were standing in front of the door. “Mars? You in there, darling?” Maud raised her hand, knocking at the door as the melody of her voice echoed in the empty hallway.
The hinges creaked, the door swinging open to the slight pressure with a somewhat sinister sound. A cold air draught caused Maud to shiver, her arms hugging her chest as to protect herself from the sudden temperature drop.The room itself was bare, no bed and no furniture left after the incident from two weeks ago. And no light, except for the pale moonlight glow creeping in from the windows.
Sheets of paper and notes scattered all over the floor in an only apparent disorder, colored snack wrappers standing out from that chaotic sea of white. And there, right under an open window was Mars, laying still sprawled on the floor.
Gian’s first instinct was to reach for the phone inside his pocket. Maud instead made a beeline to reach the motionless student, kneeling next to her and leaning in to check her vitals. The Principal’s fingers tapped furiously on the screen, his hand raised the phone to his ear. “Wait.” Maud’s voice caught his attention, his eyes moving to the blue-haired girl. She was smiling, the tension and concern completely gone from her now relaxed face. “She’s sleeping.”
Gian closed his call before the Emergency operator could pick up, sighing a breath of relief.
“Fucking hell… “ Maud blurted out, leaning against the nearest wall and tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling, a heartily, liberating chuckle shaking her body. “I almost shat myself.” As soon as those words left her lips, she stiffened up, turning her attention to Gianluigi. “Uh, pardon my French, boss.”
Gian reacted with a chuckle, his facial expression appearing more relaxed now. “Should we wake her up?” He asked, choosing not to make a big deal of Maud’s colorful language.
“If she slept through the day and missed the show, I’d say her body needs to rest.” Maud’s eyes moved back on Mars, shifting her position in her sleep, curling up into a fetal position.
“Go home Gian, I’ll stay with her.”
“Didn’t you tell me earlier that you were seeing someone tonight?
“I would rather deal with an angry date than seeing your wife upset. You just got back together, you should be home with her and your daughter.”
He nodded in agreement, not that she had left him much room to argue. “Alright, I’ll go back to the gym and tell the students that Mars is feeling sick.”
“Yeah, that sounds plausible. She’s probably going to anyway.. It’s freezing here.” Maud interrupted him as she went to close the window.
“I’ll get you some blankets then. And thank you, Maud.” Gain added before leaving the room. The Social Media Manager nodded her head, waiting for the Principal to leave the room before grabbing her phone to cancel her date..
Time passed ever so slowly in the silence of room 113. Tiredness, fatigue and that peace that comes after highly stressful situations resolve all caught up on Maud as she began to slip into drowsiness, sitting on the cold floor of a bare room.
“M-Maud?” The voice belonged to Mars, although it sounded deprived of that usual sparkle. Calm, collected. unsettlingly normal. “Why are you here? I was coming to see you in a bit.”
Even though it came in the worst possible moment, right when she was abandoning herself in Morpheus’ sweet embrace after hours spent watching over the sleeping student, Maud couldn’t possibly be upset at hearing her voice. She opened her heavy, tired eyes. Her lips curled into a sweet smile she gifted to the young student. “Oh, sweetie. It’s 3 o’clock on a Saturday morning. You slept, I assume, through the whole day and missed the show: you got us all worried.”
“No. No. Nonononononono!” A flash of pain, like she was stabbed through her chest. Mars’ hands immediately clutched around her heart, thumping way too fast. Maud caught the signs and immediately moved behind her resting her hand on Mars’ back and speaking softly in her ears.
“Breathe darling breathe… In and out, slooooowly.”
She inhaled and exhaled, guiding the student and helping her regain control of her rhythm of breathing. “You dab in astronomy, right? What star is that one?” She asked, hoping to distract the young girl from whatever was haunting her and causing this panic attack.
“The very bright one? That’s Deneb, of the Cygnus constellation.”
“Very well…” She could feel Mars relaxing, her heart rate coming back to a more regular pace. “Tell me everything about Deneb then.”
Mars seemed more than happy to share her knowledge with her. It wasn't often that people showed interest in her passion. "Well, it's a first-magnitude blue supergiant star in the constellation of Cygnus and one of the vertices of the asterism known as the Summer Triangle, as well as the head of the Northern Cross. I can tell you some more specific stuff if you want, but you'll probably find it boring... Oooor I could talk about Draco, it's my favorite constellation and it's right there." Her finger pointed at the sky, relatively close to the star she identified as Deneb.
"Why not both? We got all night to get through, darling. And I promise you, we will get through it."
Paizlee was freaking out, babbling about the ghosts getting her friend, and not even Noah’s attempts at calming her down seemed to work. Even though the mask was covering his face, you could tell that Razor Wolf was pretty upset too by the way he was pacing back and forth. Her scheduled opponent Nathan Maddox was still standing in the ring, now joined by his girlfriend Raya, looking more annoyed than anything.
The two team leaders, Lady Magdalena and Helena Noir joined their students along with Gianluigi Vaccaro. There was a lot of buzzing but the question everyone was asking was always the same. Where is Mars?
“Gian…” Came the voice of Maud, the MWE social media and Academy Counselor. Her tone carried the same concern everyone else, some more than others, seemed to be sharing. She didn’t say another word, she wasn’t going to and Gian didn’t give her the time, leaving the small crowd of students and trainers to meet the blue haired girl.
“Lady, Helena. Please watch the students.” That was his command, authoritative yet polite at the same time. The two team leaders gave him a nod and turned back to the rest of the kids, talking to them while Gian and Maud left the room.
“Tell me Maud.” He said, holding the door open for her as they moved through the hallways.
“She was supposed to meet with me this afternoon, but never showed up. I didn’t give it too much weight, it wouldn’t have been the first time she showed up late. I thought that maybe she was with Helena, you know, getting ready for tonight’s match..” A sigh escaped her lips, the same shade of blue as her hair. “But she hasn’t quite been herself the past few days, I don’t know if you have noticed.”
The Principal shook his head, His expression was somber, a shadow of guilt making his voice tremble ever so slightly. “With Tobie and Juliette coming back in my life, I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have.”
“Hey, that’s why you hired me, remember?” She quickly chimed in, accompanying her words with a warm smile aimed at comforting her boss. “Her online presence dropped consistently this week, she barely tweeted and rarely engaged with the other students, even those who are the closest to her.” They reached the staircase leading to the first floor, where the student’s rooms are situated. “And even when she did, she seemed… Off.” The irony of that statement was not lost on her, not even in this moment of concern. For the quirky self-proclaimed alien, odd behavior was normalcy and seeing her acting with composure was an anomaly. “Even her reaction to the card’s announcement. I don’t need to tell you how strongly she feels about Nathan and how vocal she was about her thirst for revenge. And yet, when I posted the card all she had to say was OK.”
“Odd, indeed.” Gian briefly interrupted her as the two began to walk up the stairs.
“Yeah.This is why I wanted to talk to her today. She spent most of the time in her room…”
As they reached the second floor, Gian headed to his right but Maud quickly stopped him. “This way.”
The principal raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. “Isn’t her room down this hallway?”
“The new one is.” Maud nodded. “But a couple of days ago her she asked Paizlee to help her reclaim her old room, the 113. They couldn't get in that night and came up with a plan involving..." Maud couldn't believe what she was about to say. "Ghosts, to steal the key from your office. But I guess Mars couldn't wait and broke in the morning after. Ever since then, she spent most of her time locked in there, only coming out for the mandatory training sessions.” Maud turned to her left and began to walk toward where she knewt Mars would be, followed by Gianluigi. Not another word was spoken by either of them until they were standing in front of the door. “Mars? You in there, darling?” Maud raised her hand, knocking at the door as the melody of her voice echoed in the empty hallway.
The hinges creaked, the door swinging open to the slight pressure with a somewhat sinister sound. A cold air draught caused Maud to shiver, her arms hugging her chest as to protect herself from the sudden temperature drop.The room itself was bare, no bed and no furniture left after the incident from two weeks ago. And no light, except for the pale moonlight glow creeping in from the windows.
Sheets of paper and notes scattered all over the floor in an only apparent disorder, colored snack wrappers standing out from that chaotic sea of white. And there, right under an open window was Mars, laying still sprawled on the floor.
Gian’s first instinct was to reach for the phone inside his pocket. Maud instead made a beeline to reach the motionless student, kneeling next to her and leaning in to check her vitals. The Principal’s fingers tapped furiously on the screen, his hand raised the phone to his ear. “Wait.” Maud’s voice caught his attention, his eyes moving to the blue-haired girl. She was smiling, the tension and concern completely gone from her now relaxed face. “She’s sleeping.”
Gian closed his call before the Emergency operator could pick up, sighing a breath of relief.
“Fucking hell… “ Maud blurted out, leaning against the nearest wall and tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling, a heartily, liberating chuckle shaking her body. “I almost shat myself.” As soon as those words left her lips, she stiffened up, turning her attention to Gianluigi. “Uh, pardon my French, boss.”
Gian reacted with a chuckle, his facial expression appearing more relaxed now. “Should we wake her up?” He asked, choosing not to make a big deal of Maud’s colorful language.
“If she slept through the day and missed the show, I’d say her body needs to rest.” Maud’s eyes moved back on Mars, shifting her position in her sleep, curling up into a fetal position.
“Go home Gian, I’ll stay with her.”
“Didn’t you tell me earlier that you were seeing someone tonight?
“I would rather deal with an angry date than seeing your wife upset. You just got back together, you should be home with her and your daughter.”
He nodded in agreement, not that she had left him much room to argue. “Alright, I’ll go back to the gym and tell the students that Mars is feeling sick.”
“Yeah, that sounds plausible. She’s probably going to anyway.. It’s freezing here.” Maud interrupted him as she went to close the window.
“I’ll get you some blankets then. And thank you, Maud.” Gain added before leaving the room. The Social Media Manager nodded her head, waiting for the Principal to leave the room before grabbing her phone to cancel her date..
Time passed ever so slowly in the silence of room 113. Tiredness, fatigue and that peace that comes after highly stressful situations resolve all caught up on Maud as she began to slip into drowsiness, sitting on the cold floor of a bare room.
“M-Maud?” The voice belonged to Mars, although it sounded deprived of that usual sparkle. Calm, collected. unsettlingly normal. “Why are you here? I was coming to see you in a bit.”
Even though it came in the worst possible moment, right when she was abandoning herself in Morpheus’ sweet embrace after hours spent watching over the sleeping student, Maud couldn’t possibly be upset at hearing her voice. She opened her heavy, tired eyes. Her lips curled into a sweet smile she gifted to the young student. “Oh, sweetie. It’s 3 o’clock on a Saturday morning. You slept, I assume, through the whole day and missed the show: you got us all worried.”
“No. No. Nonononononono!” A flash of pain, like she was stabbed through her chest. Mars’ hands immediately clutched around her heart, thumping way too fast. Maud caught the signs and immediately moved behind her resting her hand on Mars’ back and speaking softly in her ears.
“Breathe darling breathe… In and out, slooooowly.”
She inhaled and exhaled, guiding the student and helping her regain control of her rhythm of breathing. “You dab in astronomy, right? What star is that one?” She asked, hoping to distract the young girl from whatever was haunting her and causing this panic attack.
“The very bright one? That’s Deneb, of the Cygnus constellation.”
“Very well…” She could feel Mars relaxing, her heart rate coming back to a more regular pace. “Tell me everything about Deneb then.”
Mars seemed more than happy to share her knowledge with her. It wasn't often that people showed interest in her passion. "Well, it's a first-magnitude blue supergiant star in the constellation of Cygnus and one of the vertices of the asterism known as the Summer Triangle, as well as the head of the Northern Cross. I can tell you some more specific stuff if you want, but you'll probably find it boring... Oooor I could talk about Draco, it's my favorite constellation and it's right there." Her finger pointed at the sky, relatively close to the star she identified as Deneb.
"Why not both? We got all night to get through, darling. And I promise you, we will get through it."