Ways and Means

[Dara]

The large school library was busy, many of the student body had massed here for study hall. Some where chattering in corners, some were pretending to study behind laptops and books.Yet apon closer inspection it was easy to discover they werent. The computer screens held other pages, small earphones gracing ears allowing the student to listen to there chosen form of music. And finally there were those that where attending to school works via various means be it trawling book shelves for the required literture or using the computers provided.
To end this picture of student learning was a stressed libraen asking for quiet , with her soft pleas generally giong unheeded. Noise levels dipping then raising.

In one corner she semi lay, stretched out on one of the comfier chairs the dark neko semi watched those around her. On her table lay a discareded top of the line laptop. On its screen was the beginnings of her project on Inferi. Although it was one of the names sometimes given to her father, it was the zombie like creatures that only semi held the neko's attension.

Despite her lack of proper study her grades levelled out at an average 3.5. The lazy cat achieved this by only working in class and getting others to do it her homework assignments for her. Having a wealthy bank account did have its uses after all. That and her wardobe of designer clothes, Desari demanded simply the best of everything. Including the black vest top and jeans she was currently dressed in., both designer of course With Black boots that hugged her calves.with la little diamond motive on them.
Lastly as always she wore her chain around her neck, the charm hidden under her top,

Few knew she was a demi goddess, and fewer still knew Hades was her father. Personal information like that was a rare gift from her, and only her close friends (such as the twins Snowrose and Redwhite) knew. It added a little mystery to the Neko or at least she thought so. And that was just the way she liked it. Study hall was beginning to bore her, Surely amongst all those presant there was a way to seek a little entertainment, wasnt there?

[Little Lion]

School had only seen it's first few weeks of it's long year to come. The best teachers of course started out strong with papers due to get the student's brains "flowing" again. It was all nonsense to Karuma, his mind had never stopped "flowing" in the normal sense of movement applied to the word. Things were always running through there. Still, as a "student" in the school he played along and did what he was told for the grade portion of obedience, at least. His behavior outside of academics was questionable. He had showed up in some of the classes earlier in the week but now his face was around less and less. He imagined nobody would notice, who were kids to remember who attended a large school or not? He didn't need the school for it's academics but rather for what it held in the library that, aside from research assignments, the students would never use. The library held it's esteemed books and history, both of which he was after. He doubted what he wanted to know would be easy to find at all.
By being in the school, Karuma couldn't escape the scrutiny of students, even if he was one or not. He looked the part, designer clothes of the twenty some crowd, the kind of things the seniors would wear. A grey, cotton- v neck t-shirt, faded jeans and black Adidas with the white stripes. He had a leather strip wrapped around his left wrist several of times, the form looking like a bracelet he had bought. It at least complimented his tan. His hair was the standard cut of only a few inches. Nothing about him was exceptionally outstanding. He was simply dressed, clean cut, just the right amount of everything. It was his personality that held a sense of dazzlement but now it was turned off and his mind was focused on a swirling tower of books.
Hovering a few feet in front of his chest was an old, red, book. The binding was wearing and the corners were bent, and faded. He had it opened to one page, perhaps two but in it's levitation it was hard to tell. There were too more books, a white one and a grey one, both of equally old, yellow paged condition. They were floating around him and he would "float" one closer while dismissing another. Of course, this made students look up at him. Some scoffed that he was a show off, others were impressed, still others had to toy with it. The students were still into testing each others powers so he received a chucked pencil which he deflected back at the boy. "No, it's not a bubble." He grumbled the words, rolling his eyes. Some people thought it was just a childish parlor trick and he had some kind of force field around him which was not as impressive as individually levitating each book which, he had to prove by deflecting heavier objects being tossed at him. "The next one's going to take you out." He warned, ducking off down an isle.
Karuma happened to duck down the desolate isle that Desari was in, lounging at the end. His floating books moved left and right of him and he flicked his pointer finger causing a fourth book to be drawn from a shelf and directed to him. As it passed in front of him, he noticed Dara's dark form at the end of the isle. He studied her for a second, she wasn't too bad looking but he had become more interested in what was laying on her desk. Things about zombies, the under world and... was that ghosts? Karuma could feel his heart beating faster, sinking in his chest. This school posed plenty of threat to him, the darker arts obviously had their draw to necromancers and thus, in some classes the presence of ghosts. That was the downfall of this school, the thing he hated the most. But he was taking careful note of the individuals capable of commanding these beings. Dara had just made his list. He held his gaze a little longer for good measure but he doubted he would forget her. How many Neko's commanded the dead?

As Karuma stared, he missed that a dictionary was being thrown in his direction, the guys expecting him to again miraculously catch it, but his attentions were fixed on Dara. The book went right by him and crashed into Dara's table and he was the only culprit in sight. Four more books floating around his torso.

[Asphyxia]

"Ghosts?"
"Nah."
"Zombiessss...?"
"Nay.
"The dead? Inferi? Souls?"
"Ehuh...mm."
"I give up." Sigh. Thump.
"Soul reaping, sucking, eating. Yes."
A drawn out of ebony eyes reverted back from their previous look to the tail of their ending socket while collected strands of ashen black swept back and tucked behind a fair colored ear. "Really? I'd never thought you'd be interested."
"You." A black glove lifted into the air and pulled back before stabbing directly at the darkened copy. A similar hand in the opposite direction mimicked the movement but opposite, pointing toward himself. "Me? Why would I be interested in that? It has no relationship whatsoever with death or the dead." A scoff was paused into the silence before the gloved hand lifted up and from the upper shelves conjugated a black book whose bind had been intact for the exception of the corners on the spine. The cursive letters had seemed sewn on and glued with more modern looking silver letters as their replacement. "Are you sure, Snow?"
"Her father is Hades. I thought you were the witty half."
"I thought you were the quieter half." The words slipped out in a mocking slur before the facial expressions contorted into distorted features, regaining their usual composure to define the more darkened aura from the black-haired twin. Tucking the book between his body and his forearm, the abysmal ebonies rolled against their available space in their socket having the lashes flicker along with their directional roll before signaled his look alike to follow. "Honestly, sometimes these things slip. She's not interested in me. Why should I be interested in her?" Pacing along the halls of the shelves, the dark neko faintly reassembled from halfway through the path leading to the back of the library where they held a place to lounge around and catch up on some reading instead of casual work.
"Why not?" The paler twin responded, the ebonies focused on his compared opposite, eyes a little more widen to denote the naive and quiet nature withholding his own personality and exerting aura. The composure kept a perfect stance and pace along with the walk but a simple denote here and there like a small shrug to himself or the cast down look always made him the innocent too-good-for-himself boy that never knew that much of the world and finding out would break the fragile little heart along with his frail body.
"I really hate it when you answer with that."
"Because you have no comeback for it? Perfect. There's no excuse." The higher but softer tenor spoke, the eyes casting around the shelves and examining around other people. Probably most of the things that scared the easily scared boy senseless was played in the card of Dara although something about her still kept him close, not just the fact that his twin brother wanted to keep them in good relations. Above that, looking at a large group of crowd was nothing. A usual nerve shaking inside him fluttering around his organs and the usual slosh of his stomach to cause a churning, bubbling effect enough to insinuate a hysterical, psychosomatic sickness. Redrose acted as the shield, the soothing, the sense talked into his mental breakdown. Redrose however had an overconfidence that won him over spots and socially mingling events along with a popularity scale entailed along with the historical events of why this school even existed in the first place. Although the darker twin didn't uphold to the name nor kept a proud clutch to that existence of his foe ancestor, the thought was there and not rejected from gossiping lips.
Both angels now began to approach the table where the cat hybrid sat close by. While Redrose's lips stretched into a light smile, Snowrose's features shadowed into a dull, ghastly pull. The contort was drastic enough to assume something sickening crossed his stomach and he was about to puke the contents inside, but it wasn't enough to actually believe the events were to happen into the immediate future. Both expressions shifted to surprise once a red book breezed by and hit with a loud thump against the table in front of Desari, turning in unison the heads toward Karuma, the one looking like the culprit.

[euh crap. It was forced :/ didn't want to keep waiting.]

[Dara]

Karuma's entrance into the libary registred low, at first on Desari's Radar. Sure he was cute, and the shoes marked him as at least minorly wealthy. It was the small fact the dark haired boy was showing of his talents. And as far as the lazy kitten could see it was nothing more than a parlour trick. A simple, unimpressive , parlour trick that any minor wizard could achieve. Not even the fact the four books, four heavy books that where probably heavy and cumbersome still didnt raise a flicker from the young neko. It was all notched down to testerone , that which made boys want to show off what little skill they seem to have.

A soft sigh uttered from her lips.She was bored. Her eyes left Karuma searching for better entertainment. She scanned the student body , eyes lingering but never for long. A familiar chattering was music to her ears. The twins had to be somewhere close. The familiar voices, one higher ,one lower. Now where were they. Sitting up slightly she searched those in the libary again. A smile spreading on her lips , a sparkle in her eyes. Both boys were trusted with her deep secret, and despite Redrose's thoughts she cared a lot for the twins. But she had ventured down the path lightly before and ran hastily back .

So it was with a smile she greeted them.Trying to ignore the fact Snowrose seemed he'd rather be anywhere but here with her.At least Redrose seemed to find a smile for her. Desari half rose to greet her friends "Hey... "She purred offering a sweetned smile. It was contorted into a sharp hiss as the book thumped down on her table, barely missing her beloved laptop.The smile dissapered into a scowl. It didnt take a maths wiz to know the culprit.Damn boys and there stupid tricks.With perfect grace she rose from her chair.Ears sharp,her tail darting angrily behind her.a scowl on her face. All things that showed she was one angry Kitty cat.

"Boy's like you" Dara hissed angrily striding up to Karuma."Shouldnt play with there damn parlour tricks as you might just realise there are some wizard-boy that you dont upset around here" The neko was smaller than her opponent but that wasnt stopping her.For the moment they had attracted some of the students attension. It wasnt many , just the few close enough to see . "If you had broken the laptop, that laptop." Her hand swept backwards gesturing to the item in question, "you would have had to replace it , and Ill tell you this it would cost more than those second rate shoes your wearing!"Her short burst of anger over, Curiosty began to rear its head.And Curiosty sometimes killed the cat but in this case it might just might end up making a fool of herself.
"What are you looking for anyway, that takes five books!How to make the little bunny rabbit jump out some little hat magic boy?"She grinned , unable to ask without making a joke at his expense. As a final move she attempting to grab the nearest book having to almost tiptoe for it finding it wasnt as easy as it looked.

[Little Lion]

In an unfortunate trait of "blonde roots" (much like his brother's constant lifestyle), Karuma hadn't payed attention to the facts. First, he was the only thing in Dara's line of sight that could have possibly intended to harm her and second the evidence was literally all around him. Although in a library it was possible for anyone to have committed the act, he should have realized to look innocent or point a finger elsewhere since he was the luckless man standing closest to an insulted female. All of that was out of his reach, his mind had steam rolled down it's own path in a parade of random thoughts ranging from what he was looking for to the minor fears inspired by the people surrounding him obsessed with a topic he'd rather stand a thousand world's away from. Eclipsed as his mind had become,, Dara's approach quickly gravitated it from the shadowy depths and brought his eyes back to full light. The cloudy blues flickered as she grew closer, his eyebrows moving up. He didn't have to wonder what she wanted, she was making it loud and clear.

"Boys like you."
Karuma's eyebrows went up and his lips formed a small "oh." Boys like me, huh? He knew this would be a fantastic speech since she was wrong from the first three words. He relished in people's mistakes, since he knew the outcomes of what he pleased, their follies only looked that much more stupid in context. Wizard-boy. Strike two, blondie. Karuma tried not to smile at the rebuke he was getting. It was a mouthful and so far-fetched. He, however, was learning a lot about this girl. He could guess she might be in some top clique. She wasn't cheerleader esque so the next best was that good looking group everyone was positive was simply sluts. She thought she was something spectacular, something smart, something to be respected, bowed down to and cowered. Now where had he seen that. Oh, mother mary. It hit him like a snow ball. Cold, hard and stinging. It reminded him of his mother in some strange comparison. He had allowed his dull expression to follow her hand from the laptop to his shoes in hopes that if his eyse were moving, they wouldn't betray the humor he was finding in all this. His eyes flicked towards the twins, of whom he noticed for the first time but the space was filled by Dara's body as she took another full stride towards him. He let her come close enough to brush him, but then he pretended to snap into alertness and took a step back.

"Woah, woah, honeybear." Karuma didn't move his hands for the books but instead held them up telling her to back off. Simultaneously, the books were inched just a bit higher from her making her goal of reaching them impossible with out a tiny jump. "Play nice and I might, might tell you." He backed up, the books sliding with him. "And, for the record, I didn't throw that." He shrugged and his hands rose, palms up. "As you can see," Two books landed in his right and and two in his left, hiding the deep set of scars. "I have my hands full." His lips slid into a slanted smile, fighting for dominance over his mouth which was still moving to form the words. "I think you're a little too bold for yourself. I see it's gotten you into problems before." Here, his smile turned snide and his head inclined towards Snowrose and Redrose. It was a low remark that he was certain would bother her and he was expecting a banshee rant for it, mostly denials and "what would you know", maybe even a "how would you know". Regardless, he had a feeling it might interest her in the slightest.

[Asphyxia]

The smile curving on Redrose's lips rose to an exposing grin. The simple tunes of Dara's purr was enough to lift his spirit and arouse the rest of his profound happiness to the surface. The simple light of his eyes was brought forth into a distorted, tainted reality. Her beautiful, cat hybrid frame disappeared into the hall and next to this tall, handsome by standards boy that had looked like the culprit in the situation. Her disappearance had been enough to arouse scowls meant scowls into his facial features; standard paranoia and immediate intimidation washed across his skin. The fear of being rejected but the automatic rivalry and competition of "making the best man win." To his relief, however, Dara had just gone to demand and reprimand the guy, bringing back the slightest of smiles and the crackling happiness awakening the numb feeling leaving him a stifled position. Turning his gawking expressions to his twin, his features shadowed again into a mindless frown. Snow had been cowering behind him all this time in hopes of avoiding any conversation or tangible contact with the woman that declared herself to him and that had so much exchanged love letters to. "Snow!" His elbow lifted into the air and bumped into his mirroring, lighter brother, trying to talk some sense into him. "Please talk to her."
"Why?" The voice come up in higher tones in form of a dragging little whine, his gloved hands lacing together and lifting in level with his chin, his teeth chewing slowly on his inner lower lip while the ebony eyes scanned back to the neko girl yelling at Karuma and reverted back to Red with a pleading wide span of a saddened kitten.
"Those eyes..." a twin gloved digit stabbed through the air and pointed before giving agitated waves horizontally. "Will get you nowhere with me, Snow."
Sigh. "No." The laced hands dropped and entwined around into their inner arms, folded against his chest instead.
"Fine." The heated words were mumbled in between pressed lips. His medium sized frame stormed toward the thrown book fallen on the table, picked it up and sauntered towards Dara and talking Karuma. Empty scowls once again took form over his countenance while the furrow knitted between his eyebrows. Sorry Dara. The thoughts pulsated in his mind before the book was shoved against the taller boy's chest. "You dropped this. Don't let it happen next time."

[and this is where my crap ends. it kinda died at the end, sorry.]

[Dara]

[ok reply take 2... proboards better not eat this one)

"Honeybear" The feline hissed angrily "Honey - Bear" She scowled angrily "I am not your honey, nor a bear wizard boy so don't call me that" She hissed watching the movement of the book. Not for the first time she wished for the gift of hellfire. Then she could burn that darn book and his hand, as well as that smug little smile on his face.

"Rash, bold Strike two Wizard boy" Desari smiled. She would gain control of this situation. She had been so careful not to act weird around the boys. Hiding her emotions watching her actions so it wouldn't fall to the gossips around school. That was one thing she was careful off, all to protect Snowrose. That must mean he had plucked it somehow from her head and that scared her. What could do that? Who could do that and what other secrets could he pluck from her mind. "I am a neko, that means I'm half cat " Brushing her ears "See cat ears " then she grabbed her tail "And see this furry thing its a tail. And like a cat neko's are lazy creatures that do not rush into anything." A strange scent entered her brain. It was something that repelled her but she couldn't identify. She put it down to that unwashed boy smell "You know wizard boy you really should wash now and again , theres that thing too called soap you know." Taking one step back to space them apart a little further.

"So you got a name?" She began only to be interrupted by Redrose. So much for being nice. Instead they got a display of testorone. Desari could not see his reasoning in stepping up to the fight. Karuma had done nothing to neither twin. And Red had never shown a reason to want to protect her. All she thought he saw her was simply a friend. A friend who could take care of herself. So to her there was no sense in the Angel's actions just confusion. Yet she wouldn't be mad at him. She would let him complete what he started. Only preparing to step it should it go to far , or Snowrose becoming upset . Until then She'd be the simple spectator.

[Little Lion]

Karuma slowly nodded as Desari went through all her corrections, over reacting on the cocky phrasing of 'honeybear'. Clearly the girl wasn't going to have her buttons pushed. He was thriving off everything she was telling him just by arguing. He could tell she liked control, she was certainly pushing all her points to an unnessicary limit and stressing the derogatory phrase for him 'wizard boy'. She didn't know better so he let her go. "Cat, huh..." His voice was quiet and he gave a small sniff. "I would have guessed closer to mangey rodent." He gave a shrug as though it should have been a good of a guess as any. Now she was plucking at him, insulting his scent which he knew couldn't be that bad. Could it? For a moment she got his eyes to wander down in a hesitant doubt. Nah. He was practically soaked in the addictive scent of Hollister, she must have been out of her mind. Desari got his eyes to spin again with her next question. They rotated slowly across her face, vascillating up and down the simple space looking for a break in her expression, a faulter to expose her intent of asking such a mild mannered question, his name of all ground breaking things, the fundemental question to a relationship of any minor or major degree. Before he could puzzle through for an answer, a book was shoved into his chest causing him to saunter back a step to gain his balance and, with his hands, allowed to fall to the ground. "No..." His quiet voice was drawn out. "I didn't." The icy blues fixated on the assailant. "This is me dropping something." He let the books in his right hand tumble down on Red's foot. "Just sayin'." His eyes tightened with visible annoyance rather then showing any hint of pleasure in his retaliation. He was taking a precautionary step back from the other kid incase he saw fit to redeem himself or further defend the hissing feline now backing out of their confrontation.

[Asphyxia]

The already angered twin's turmoil took a momentary lapse and stopped finally to the stretch his tolerance could withhold. Karuma's smart ass remark only contorted the features on the slightly smaller boy, but the sudden swish of the books floating now fleeting from his vision created a widen around the skin of his eyes and both in the iris of his eyeballs. The book successfully nailed his feet but Red's lips were thinned and pressed together, suppressing the noise wanted to whimper out of his throat only to be caught on his vocal chords and resonate through his nose in sort of a small, muted whine. The stretched skin tightened into smooth corners creating a smoldering effect in his facial features exclusively over his ebony colored eyes. Like a retaliating impulse, his feet kicked upward from the floor, causing the book to fling in Karuma's direction, aiming to hit him again. The raising hopes inside of the darker angel's emotions lifted his spirit and rose a wry smile across his lips. Besides the natural rivalry they already possessed thanks to the cat girl standing next to him, this new warfare of two ignorant men fighting over something moronic was the blunt sign of natural status enemy at school. Any chance of redeeming over a bad start wasn't a possibility anymore and the paranoia of men thinking their crush would choose over a boy that by standards seemed better than them worsened the potentially problematic situation. If and when the book hit him, Red's expression rose further into an outstanding smug outlook. "Just saying."

[Dara]

Any thoughts of leaving both boys to fight it out where soon dropped. Desari wasn't that vain but the words Mangy Rodent were a personal affront to wards her.Nor had the boy yet given his name.He was turning into just another rude boy that wasn't worth her time.

She needed a way back into the fight.That was easy, that book, the tool of the boys aggression.The only downside would be , once more Rose would be mad at her for her interface.But then again he was never mad at her for long.

Words in Latin where spoken under her breath, the book paused in its projectery, before floating to wards her.To the untrained eye it looked like a simple act of a spell or even telekinesis.To those that knew better it was a simpler than that. A small spectral creature, a feline ,an Puma in breed * had brought his mistress the book.Desari smiled sometimes being related to a god had its perks. One by one all the books Karuma had dropped on Rose's foot repeated in this manner, She had dropped them by her feet, Making sure the feline guarded them. With a wordless order it settled at her feet,awaiting its next command

With a glance to wards Snow, to check if he was alright the dark neko once more returned to gaze at her opponent. "Are we quite finished playing with our toys, or do you want to go play in the sandbox down the street.?"She asked airily addressing both boys as if they where mere children, words that would most likely anger both boys and put herself in the firing line.With a yawn she examined the red book. It hadn't been the one she had been grabbing for earlier,which proved Karuma's earlier protest that it wasn't even one of his books. Not that she'd admit that. Not now that she thought she had some control over the situation once more."Fighting with a book on Unicorns and other pathetic creatures, how childish."The book dropped on the floor next to the others. Picking up the next one she flicked through it, taking her time on the matter, as if she had all the time in the world. Some of the images inside sparked her dwindling curiosity. "Now this one O Nameless Boy, is just slightly more interesting, now are you going to share why it was a part of your little parlor trick earlier?" However nice it sounded , the words were clearly an order. One she expected an easy answer to.

* I chose a feline as some cats are seen as guardians of the underworld so why not look after Dara, that and I didn't want to copy tori and have a hell hound (kadaj) .

[Little Lion]

(you sad and lonely giirrlll QUIT CRYING YOUR EYES OUT >D)

Karuma's figure was turning to the side to minimize the space the books would hit him. He could have stopped them, by all means, but before he could choose to be hit by floppy books or make them fall, they were hindered in their flight. His hip slowly twisted back to it's standing position, a smirk quickly graced his lips, "Saying what?" He glanced at Red, returning the self-satisfied smugness, although this was not his personally victory. The books had done him a favor, strangely. He knew it had to have been the girl by the direction the first book was starting in. Immediately the fact got him wondering how the neko was accomplishing it. A warm pain started in his shoulder, deep in the tissue like an unreachable not. The pain emanating from it dragged up his neck and crawled down his arm resting in his elbow in the uncomfortable jolting pain comparable to hitting the funny bone. Intermittently, the hot ache would be replaced by a searing cold burn as if his life were being sucked out. He knew how she did it now, it was painfully obvious to him. Spirits, ghosts, spectral. He couldn't mistake the spot his pain was emanating from, the cursed scar dug into his flesh, the ruins burned into his shoulder blade. What should have been an aid in his powers was one of his biggest curses. He teeth ground across the inside of his lip to conceal the pain building up in his mind, begging for just a whimper, a groan any type of release. He allowed his face to nit a scowl aimed for the girl, she deserved it anyhow. The irritating pain caused him to remain mum on her frivolous insults. Had he spoken, he would have been allowing more chance for his crippling torment to become evident. However, he would spare a moment to answer her question, that much he figured he had to do in order to get out of here as soon as possible. "Cause, I didn't want to hold it. So wah-lah. Floating book." His voice was tense and irritated. Not the suave, smooth quips from minutes ago. He held out his left hand, flexing his fingers once signaling he wanted it back. "Research paper." He replied, hoping perhaps she'd let him go now. He didn't know how much longer he could stand next to the spectral cat. It seemed to have no great power, so he was able to tolerate it enough to keep in a standing position. However, under the voodoo of his childhood calamity, he still suffered in each moment like a car crash, the pounding of his head fading his vision in and out to the rhythm of the impulse of heaves with in his stomach The effect was much more bothersome to him then Red or Dara had become. He was debating weather to leave the book with her and get out as fast as he could or, in a moment of self-pity take out his pain on her by whatever means, take the book back and then go on his merry way. With each agonizing pulse, the second option was winning over his favor.