Making a visit...

[Mesutashi Niaku]

Mesutashi climbed up the familiar steps of the Astronomy tower. She hadn't been there in a while. She reached the top surprisingly quickly. Memories flooded back of late nights or parties held there. Suddenly a lump formed in her throat. She saw again Morgan throwing a fireball of hate at her. She felt again the hate and light fighting inside her until the light could quench it, but this time Mesu realized it wasn't a memory, but it was really happening. She froze and just felt the struggle until she could stand it no longer and channeled negative energy into her bracelets until the hate had nothing left to feed on. The light triumphed again and she sighed. She then kicked the wall with all her might and grimaced at the pain. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could have been as she was wearing combat boots with steel toes, but that steel sure as hell hurt.

Mesutashi looked around the room. She was unsure of why she had come there, but there had to have been a reason. She thought... no... felt... something would help her, perhaps set her worries aside. She wondered if she'd find the answer to her new powers there or someone to stop her if they went out of her control. There was no one there though. The room was empty and cold. She wondered if it was an omen of her future or that of the school.

[Lynette Pearlcombe]

Lynette climbed the steps of the Astronomy Tower, her expression tentative but graceful. The last time she had been up in the Tower, less then tranquil things had occured. She was hoping for a quiet moment in contrast to the chaos of the other night's visit.

Hearing a soft thud of a foot, Lynette nearly jumped, but squeezed the instinct down to the bottom of her feet. Instead, she tried to smile as she glided out onto the floor.

"Hello?" She whispered, feeling the outer cold pound in on the cold that enwrapped her inside. She stifled a shiver.

[Mesutashi Niaku]

Mesutashi turned around and looked at a girl who had just entered. She remembered her from somewhere, but couldn't quite place the face with a name or place. She smiled meekly. "Hello. Have we met before?"

She tilted her head in thought. "Was it the library, the meeting of the Cabal?"

She then got a chill and waved her wand, summoning her thick black cloak to her shoulders. She sighed worriedly. "It just keeps getting colder around this school and always raining or windy... Have you noticed? The very air of the school is sick with anxiety." Her voice was low and barely a whisper, but she knew the girl could hear her well enough in the dead silence that stifled the tower.

[Lynette Pearlcombe]

Lynette watched Mesutashi carefully, then inclined her head. "I was in the doorway." She said simply. She strode farther out onto the floor, looking upward. I'm rather used to it, she wanted to reply, but knew it would lead to further questioning. And she repelled pity like a Banishing Charm.

Instead she replied with, "I notice that too. The anxiety of everyone. Everything, really. It's practically oozing out the walls." She wasn't lying. She could feel tension growing and tried to stay off school grounds whenever the rules permitted it.

[Mesutashi Niaku]

"It is, and I feel it all so very clearly. This empathy can be a real bugger sometimes." She sighed and sat on the edge of the window sill. "I think even people who are not empaths can feel it though, maybe not as clearly, but still feel it. It's hard not to when there's a war approaching. I also have other things to worry about besides the war, which doesn't make matters any better." Mesutashi thought back to the Lake, the Dance Hall, her meeting with the Ministress, the Common room, the chair that splintered when she was practicing; all examples of her other problem that was steadily becoming more and more present each day.

[Lynette Pearlcombe]

"Thus is growing up, right?" Lynette pointed out gently, clicking one boot heel to her ankle, then switched. "Juggling things, even to the extreme. Good luck." She sighed pointedly. She took a few steps to stand beside the girl in the windowsill.

"An empath, huh? Were you born that way?" She asked quietly, trying to draw both their thoughts away from the complications of war.

[Mesutashi Niaku]

Mesutashi shrugged. "I guess so. I mean of course when I was little I couldn't control it, but I believe it was always present because when it kicked in it didn't feel like a new power... you know? My parents say i'm gifted with many magics and they'll all come to the surface in time. It's learning to balance them as they do that will be the hardest part. Each power will be stronger than the next and they will try to force the older ones aside. I'm trying my best though to keep them equal."

[Lynette Pearlcombe]

"Lucky," Lynette breathed, gazing at the girl with a new interest. "I'm nothing special. A walking textbook, but nothing special." She shrugged nonchalantly, seeming to have come to terms with her plain self ages upon ages ago. She tightened her grip around the edges of her jacket as she watched the girl with quietly brewing awe.

"Do you not have any idea as to what powers you may have next?" She asked softly.

[Mesutashi Niaku]

"Not a single clue. Well, I mean that my brother has telekenesis, my older sister has power with fire... my little sister used to have shape shifting abilities, I can change my hair and eye color, but not my overall shape. She could look like a tree, a car, anything... I used to love her as a tree. I'd sit with her, under her. I'd read her stories and poems. I'd sing to her. When she laughed at silly things her branches would shake and create a warm breeze, even on the coldest days..."

Mesutashi smiled lightly and shrugged. "But I don't think I'll get those powers, as they did. Powers must be distributed to one child and one child only in my family. A law of sorts... it's a bit complicated i suppose, with my family history."