Title: "The Sineclave" 02/?

Authors: Shila & midnightsfall

Rating: Eventually R; so far PG-13

Verse/Fandom: Original, Eidolonia

Summary:

Two very different young men are forced to share a room when attending school. Thus, the chaos that ensues when one makes friends with the cool crowd... a story of prejudice, romance, growing up, pretty boys, and other shit we haven't decided on yet.

Danielle, Lily, Alunae, Karin, Faile, Orion, Afriel, and Shi by lj user"midnightsfall"

All others by lj user"beautifuldorian"

Eidolonia and everything within copyright 2006 lj user"beautifuldorian"

Part Two: Fight for Your Right

The door swung open, letting the bright light from the hall spill into the candlelit room. Hitomi looked up from where he was draped over his bed, his sister perched next to him. She was taller than her brother, with sunny blonde hair and the same indigo eyes, as well as a hint of a frown. "Is this the punk who was being mean to you, Hito?" Her white fluffy tail swished and one ear flicked. She was threatening in a way that Hitomi just wasn't.

"No, it's okay, Haru," Hitomi said quickly, resting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from jumping up and socking Danielle one in the jaw. For all they both trained daily, she was far more interested and dedicated where the martial arts were concerned, and had a much shorter temper. They had a map of the entire school spread out before them - rather clever, really, to make such an effort to memorize it, rather than sneak off and get messed up as Danielle was planning to do.

Danielle glanced in their direction and sneered, before going over to his dresser to look for appropriate garb. There were two of them now. They made his skin crawl. "Who can I tell about vermin, I wonder?" he muttered, just barely loud enough to be overheard, while he searched through his clothing. It was mostly new, or at least new looking. He could have sworn he'd managed to squirrel away something he wouldn't be killed for ruining so soon, though. It took some doing, but he recovered a set of worn clothing, looking distinctly out of place both with him and the rest of the contents of his drawers. "Don't touch anything of mine while I'm gone," he said, with another glance at Hitomi and his sister, while he began looking for shoes. "Not all of it is nice to strangers."

Bristling, Haruka shrugged off Hitomi's hand and jumped to her feet. "Are you -threatening- us, you skinny little nincompoop?" she demanded, the snowy fur on her ears and tail poofing out. That tail lashed and her hands curled into fists, as though she itched to lay him out where he stood. Judging by the fact that she looked more muscular than Dani and Hitomi combined, it might not have been too hard for her.

Hitomi followed his sister up off the bed and grabbed her arm, trying to pull her back. "Haruka, you'll get into -trouble-. Mother will skin us both," he hissed, and she slowly deflated, still glaring at Dani and growling quietly.

"You'd better get out of my sight, rat, and if I hear so much as a whisper that you're messing with my brother I swear I'll pull out your intestines through your nostrils." She snatched up the map and grabbed Hitomi by the hand. "Come on, Hito, let's get out of this room. It smells overpoweringly of -ass-."

Danielle just lifted his chin, and sneered at them while they walked out. He'd been hoping they'd leave. He honestly didn't trust them alone with his things. He was tempted to say that no, he wasn't threatening them, his things weren't nice to strangers, but it might have made them stay longer, so he just bit his tongue and held his place until he was safely alone. He did have to admit... She was a little frightening. It might not be a bad idea to refrain from being too overtly cruel. When they were gone, and made sure the door was close, and changed into the other clothes, and his shoes, checked himself over, and slipped back out into the hall to look for Brennan. He didn't know where anything was, after all.

Brennan was right outside the door, lounging carelessly against the frame with a grin. "Did you chase those two out? Good going," he said approvingly. "I knew I'd made a good decision in inviting you into our little clique." There was no telling if he was serious or not; the playful smile on his face gave nothing away. He looked Dani over and nodded. "Good. Now all you have to do is have fun," said Brennan, laughing, and led him off down the hall. They stopped at several other rooms and the members of the group slowly rejoined them, with an addition or two of older students, before they trooped outside. A small group of girls - most of them over painted and overly made up, with dyed hair and skimpy shirts - wandered down the path from the opposite dorm to join them. A couple complained in muffled tones about the hike and their shoes, but after a quelling look from Julian they shut up.

And the walk -was- a long one - a seemingly endless march out through the school itself, down the streets to the wall and along the wall to the gates out of the city, and from there, nearly a mile of walking under the two slivers of moons that hung overhead, the muddy, early spring ground clutching at their feet as they went. Considering that Keeli, Shannon, Lysander, and Nico were all carrying large bags that had to weigh heavily, they made the trek in something quite close to silence.

Danielle walked in silence, taking in his surrounding with something like awe, only smothered and stamped down as far as it would go. Having fun might be harder than it ought to have been. He hoped not. Brennan had said the walk would be worth it, and it would take rather a lot to be worth so very much walking. He did not, however, complain, though he was compelled to. It didn't seem like the sort of thing he was allowed to do. He began to wonder what might happen if he did do something he shouldn't, and that occupied him for quite a long time, during which he seemed to keep walking on autopilot, with no real connection between where his body was and his mind was. He might have spent the entire walk that way, so long as no one interrupted him. But it looked like very serious thought, for someone who was supposed to be enjoying themselves. Very counterproductive.

"Why the long face?" came the idly question, and Nico was walking next to Danielle, looking down at him with one eyebrow lifted and a hint of a smile on his face. There was something reserved about him that said he might have understood the need for deep thought on such a journey. "Having second thoughts? Or just wanting to help us murder Brennan for picking a spot so damned far out there?" Was he joking? Those violet eyes were twinkling and he was smiling amiably. He might have said more, but Julian stepped over and nudged him with a forceful glare in Dani's direction. "Pardon me, I'm making him paranoid," Nicolas sighed, and with a grin for Danielle, turned to listen to whatever it was Julian hissed in his ear.

"Those two are a law unto themselves," someone observed dryly from Danielle's other side, It was Lysander, who had forgone his spectacles and was carrying what looked like an extremely heavy rucksack, especially as Lysander himself was not particularly imposing in stature. The little redhead wasn't even breathing hard, though. "Besides, the site is right up ahead. We'll get the bonfire going, and once you've some of the liquor in you your legs will forget the walk."

"I hope so," Danielle sighed, running a hand through his hair to pull it back from his face. He was breathing a little heavily, despite all attempts otherwise. It was undignified. But he was also out of shape, and there wasn't much he could do about it but ignore it. That blonde hair stuck to his forehead in places, and he picked it off his skin with an annoyed look. "Or else I might have to smother Brennan in his sleep. Or something worse, but that's all I've thought of so far. What's unpleasant and easy to get away with?" He wondered, a frown creasing his brow. It was kind of cute, really. He wanted to ask if anyone needed a hand, but... Well, there it was, things that just Weren't Him.

He had to wonder, though, why he still wanted to do them, if they weren't in his nature. But that was thinking for another time- the prospect of booze was too tempting to waste energy thinking about important things. He had to get where they were going.

Lysander let out a startled laugh. "Smother him in his sleep, huh? Yeah, I suspect you'll fit in well enough. Some of the others are very... tough-guy sorts," he confided, with a grin up at Dani. "Bren is our unofficial leader. Shannon hangs on his every word and occasionally proves mildly amusing. Nico and Julian... well. They've been friends with Bren since they were all knee high to a grasshopper. Me, my mom and Nico's are distant cousins, so we're on polite terms, and every group needs someone to remind them to actually do their schoolwork, and help them when they're lost." The glitter in his pale eyes said he didn't mind holding this role.

"You don't really -seem- like the troublemaker kind, so I'll tell you this much - only Bren and Shannon ever actually get busted. You stick with me, or Keeli - who NEVER loses his cool - or Nico, if Julian'll let you, and you're in the clear. We won't bring you in just to let you get busted. We're not those kinds of friends. We only fuck with -other- people."

The walk was finished before he could finish talking, and with a pregnant pause Keeli stepped up to the campsite, and did some odd sort of charm. Everything in a large sphere around the space dried out - the wood stacked there that had been soaked by the spring melt, the earth, the ring of logs around the stone-line firepit. With a cheer, the small group then filed into the empty space. One of the girls - tall and slender, with straight yellow hair and a full, red smile, brushed past Danielle, and turned back to look at him afterward. With a giggle, she looked away again, to whisper to her friend next to her, who also glanced back and giggled. Lysander snorted in opinion of this behavior. "They must think you're cute," he offered teasingly.

"I don't make trouble, no, not really," Danielle replied, stocking away this information, for he was certain it would come in handy. No one liked getting in trouble, after all, and he liked to think of himself as included in that general sense of "everyone" He found himself awed, yet again, by the display of magic... and began to doubt his own talent. He was pretty sure he couldn't do that, even if he knew how. He fought to keep from becoming jealous. It seemed pointless... And when the girls fixed their attention on him, Danielle fidgeted uncomfortably beneath it, a touch of pink to his cheeks that he only made worse by trying to will it away. "Ah. That's... Nice. Very good for them." He was praying they found someone else to giggle over. The attention might have been a little flattering, but he wasn't the sort of person who really liked flattery. It was empty, and Danielle wasn't too fond of it.

(...to be continued. . )

-sin sin-