Colors of Remnant

It's an average day for Auric as he strides into the library. He used to spend most of his time in his dorm room relaxing and playing games on his scroll or chit-chatting with friends, but now he feels like he needs to get outside. He said to himself, "Eh, let's check out the library," expecting to find some new books to read or even a peaceful study space. The smell of old books fills the room as soon as he walks in, and the quiet whispers of pupils deep in concentration instantly create a soothing ambiance that Auric finds pleasantly refreshing. He slightly loosens his tie and takes a book about the different cultures and customs in and around Remnant from the shelf. He walks over to a neighboring table, takes a seat, and starts turning pages, losing himself in the intriguing world of Remnant's many cultures. The calm atmosphere of the library gives Auric a much-needed break from the busyness of his daily life, enabling him to learn new things and broaden his horizons.

Turning a page, Auric discovers a hidden note tucked between the pages, pocketing it to read later.

Getting any kind of work done in her dorm room was essentially impossible for Kailyn - and that was before she'd been caught up in the prank war on the third floor of the ladies' dorm wing. With her entire room rotated 90 degrees and bolted to the wall? You could forget it.

The library was therefore a place of solace and refuge in a sea of unproductive environs, and so Kailyn found herself floating (it was several orders of magnitude quieter than walking, even on carpet - according to her mother, anyway) through the library looking for an open table so she could spread out her notes and do her homework. Spying a table occupied by only one other student, she zipped over and used her Semblance to softly place her things on the table so as not to disturb anyone before pulling out the chair and flopping down into it.

Her goal: finish the reading for Hapta's class, and maybe even get a little ahead if she could. Her math homework had been finished days ago - Kailyn wasn't sure if the professor was feeling out his students' capabilities in the first weeks of the term or if she was really just that far ahead.

Glancing up at her tablemate, her eyes fell on black locks, a dark complexion, and pronounced cheekbones. Human, by the looks of it, though she knew better than anyone not to make assumptions on that front. Turning back to her textbook, she picked up where she'd left off yesterday: Vacuo's political landscape during the outbreak of the Great War.

Auric looks up from his book, slightly startled by the chair's shriek, and notices a girl about his age, seated near him. He can't help but become curious about her all of a sudden, seeing how her blood-red hair flew like a dead kite, thanks to the air conditioner, and how her head was slightly tilted, for apparently no reason.

"I didn't even hear any footsteps; did she like, teleport or something?" He thought to himself, watching her closely and thinking to himself. He sits straight in the chair, intrigued, and resolves to introduce himself and learn more about this girl.

"Eh, why not?"

"Hey there, name's Auric." He introduced himself, flashing a mischievous grin as he brushed some locks from his face and held out his hand for a handshake, his palm covered with golden silk, thanks to Weave.

"Kailyn," she introduced herself in turn, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. "Nice to meet you."

His hand was remarkably smooth... Wait, was that silk? "Is that silk?" she asked, tilting her head the other way. "That's one hell of a Semblance you've got there."

Auric becomes slightly confused at her reaction… till he realizes he forgot to make the silk sticky.

…or could it always do that? He'll have to try it again at another time.

"Yeah, it's a nice party trick," he commented, chuckling softly. "It saved my ass a couple of times in fights and such."

"I bet," Kailyn agreed with a chuckle of her own.

"So," she continued, closing her textbook, "what brings you to Beacon, Auric?"

Auric's thoughts ran feral through the untamed wilderness of his mind when Kailyn asked that question, weaving intricate patterns of ideas, scenarios, and possibilities, most of them not ideally the best-case scenario.

It's not like it's bad or unlawful or anything; rather, it's more along the lines of: Who in the world would want to be friends with a guy whose parents were notorious criminals and who was a delinquent himself?

His mind was racing, but he quickly collected himself and took a deep breath, and sighed as he leaned back on his chair.

"Well, to be honest, it's more of a… redemption thing. Opportunity came at me to prove that a guy like be can change and be a better person," Auric finally replies, his voice laced with determination and a rare, serious look plastered on his face.

"I believe everyone—well, most people—deserves a second chance, and I'm determined to show that I'm not defined by my past."

Was everyone she met going to have some super-serious reason to be at Beacon beyond "I want to kill Grimm for a living"?

She wasn't really one to talk, given her own reasons for being here, but it was still a little depressing.

Kailyn sighed. "I think we're all looking to distance ourselves from something. I'm here because I refuse to let my past dictate my future. And also so I can give my past a giant middle finger," she added with a half-smirk. "And the food here's not bad either."

Auric chuckles for a bit. "Yeah, the only person who can cook better than this is my aunt."

Which reminds me to visit her this weekend.

"So," he continued, taking out a pen he 'borrowed' and spinning it, "You have any plans today?"

Plans? Hmm.

"Other than getting the reading for Hapta's and Zibaq's done, not really," she admitted.

"I still have nearly two-thirds of Vale's restaurants left to try - I might go knock another one off the list later, but I haven't decided yet." Auric wasn't terrible to look at, and he probably cleaned up decent. She could work with that.

Interesting hobby there.

"I know of a couple of restaurants in downtown Vale, they have a good menu."
Auric commented, looking at Kailyn in the eyes.

"As for me though, I'll probably just go play some fighting games after this, or train."

"I've found a few winners so far, yeah," Kailyn agreed easily. "A few losers, too, thought that's mostly due to the staff, not the food." She sighed. There were racists everywhere, but they were thankfully the minority in Vale.

She perked up when he mentioned training. "You wouldn't be in need of a sparring partner, would you?" she asked.

"That...sounds nice enough" Auric replied with a shrug.

"Cool," Kailyn acknowledged with a smile before opening her book again. She was here to do homework, after all.

They'd need to contact one another about future sparring matches, though, so she casually floated her scroll over to him with her contact info displayed so he could enter it in his own scroll.

With awe, Auric could only watch as the floating scroll approached, and as he took it out of the air, a feeling of innocent delight overcame him.

HOLY SHIT, SHE HAS TELEKINESIS! OK, Auric, just keep it cool, be you...for now. Now that I think about it, it does make sense why I couldn't her arrive here.

Struggling to remove this overwhelming euphoria, he cleared his throat as he typed in her number in his scroll.

"So, I'm guessing later, I get to text with a master thief? Because calling the authorities to report you stealing my heart seems very necessary at this point." Auric flirted, giving a smug smile.

Thief? No, she wa-oh. Hehe. Nice one, dude.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back," she joked, shooting him a finger gun as her scroll flew back over to slide into her pocket and her backpack floated up next to her. She unzipped it with a practiced motion before turning to stick both arms into it.

"If I can find it, that is..." she muttered, rummaging around inside. "Was yours the one with a bite out of it or the one with the tattooed ventricle?" she asked casually as she continued to dig around as if looking for something at the bottom. After a few more seconds, she gave up and shrugged. "Sorry, bro, this might take a minute," she confessed with a smirk. "There's, like, a lot of hearts in here, y'know?"

"Damn," He sheds a fake tear, "Take you time, I have all day...till I'm bored and decide to either leave, prank someone or annoy the librarian."

He shrugs, getting up from his desk, and putting his book back on the shelf.

"By the way, what's with the neck tilt? You got problem with your posture or your neck hurts?"

"Prank?" Kailyn asked, perking up immediately. "I like pranks. Who's getting pranked?" she asked as a mischievous grin slowly appeared on her face.

Neck tilt? Huh? Oh. That. Right. "It's a sensory thing," she quickly explained. "A slight head tilt gives me better resolution for my sixth sense." She tapped her temples as if to explain what she meant.

"So who are we pranking?" she asked.

"Never have I seen a grown person so intrested in playing a pratical joke on someone and honestly, I'm all for it, choose your victim." Auric commented

Wait, he wanted her to choose the victim?

Hoboi.

"Are you sure you wanna let me pick?" she asked. "My dorm's kinda in the middle of a prank war right now, so if you let me pick you're gonna be pulling yourself into some shit," she told him.

She wasn't about to let this dude yank himself into a full-blown prank war without at least warning him first, but if he wanted to join she wasn't gonna stop him.

"…I don't want to know what caused said prank war, but honestly, I really don't care." Auric replied, yawning as he meticulously looked through more books to read.

"But trust me, I did worse..and more devious… for the sake of comedy."

Kailyn's grin grew wider when he mentioned doing things for the laughs. "Oh, we're definitely pranking Heather. She thinks she's safe from my machinations, but she turned my room ninety degrees to the left. She's not getting away scot-free."

As to how they'd prank her, Kailyn had no idea. "Got any good ideas for what to do to her?" she asked.

Auric just gave her a confused look, his eyes searching her face for some understanding.

"I'm going to assume you mean 90 degrees in temperature and not angle, but anyways.."

He'd pause for a moment, stroking his chin in mock contemplation, before snapping his fingers.

"Try rewiring her alarm clock and scroll to go off at random intervals throughout the night, and at each interval, let it play some random moans, the ones that make people wonder if you're watching… ya know."

"No," Kailyn shook her head. "Literally 90 degrees rotation. She moved everything that was on the floor and bolted it to the wall. Carpet and everything, it was nuts. Joke's on her, though, I'm gonna leave it like that until term ends: it's great practice."

That wasn't a bad idea, and Heather did deserve it. "Gotta pick some really out-there shit, too - really make people curious how much she paid per view, y'know?" Kailyn's grin only grew wider as she thought about it.