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| Fan Fiction: | |
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| Chaos Control | |
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| Fan-made Characters | Saige Cristallo |
Description: So far the first day of school has gone swimmingly for Saige and her new teammates. However, once the four find themselves being introduced to dozens of new people, things start to come to a head as some of their true colors are revealed.
Keep It Together[]
The shrill ring of a school bell on a Monday morning is not one to be trifled with. As such, Saige made sure she and her friends were diligent to pick up the pace after they took their group picture. She was so confident that their classroom was just inside the main building, around the corner, and the first door on the left. As such, she went right down that path. However Macy insisted detouring for breakfast.
By 8:55, her three companions were nowhere to be found.
"Unbelievable..." Saige breathed, leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest. She'd been one to make sure she was perfectly on time, if not early, and the fact class was preparing to start was disconcerting on so many levels. She was the leader of Team STRM; if something caught Tara, Raine, or Macy tardy or ditching, she'd most likely be to blame. What kind of leader lost their teammates on the first day of school?
"Your team ran off too, huh?" The voice sent Saige upright in her seat with a jolt. She looked over and came face to face with a newcomer who chose a seat to the right of her. He seemed like a decent boy—polished uniform, soft demeanor—but he was sitting at such an angle he didn't appear to desire any conversations, and frankly it bothered her. She relaxed herself and sighed quietly, leaning back in her seat.
"Actually yes," she breathed. "Everything was fine until after we took a first day of school picture."
"What?" He seemed to be in disbelief. "Who was the sentimental sap that insisted on that idea?"
Saige let loose a humored smile. "That would be me."
"Mhm. Right."
She narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You just don't look like the type is all," he shrugged, pulling a book out of his bag. "Actually, you look a lot like someone who'd want to skip the fun stuff and go straight for study hall."
"Funny you should mention that. Tara wanted to skip everything and go back to bed."
His head perked up, and he finally turned his full attention to her. When he did, she was expecting to see the other eye, but what greeted her instead was an eyepatch, a veil of half-brushed hair, and a number of extra wrinkles in his jacket. "You're on Tara's team? She told me her new roommates were a pain. ...I can't see what she was talking about, though."
"She's irritated by a lot of things. Especially me," she smirked. "I'm Saige."
He nodded his head. "Ringo."
R-r-r-riiiiiiiiiinnnnggggg!
Class had begun, and the teacher at the front opened his mouth to speak. Still, there was no sign of her teammates entering.
"Good morning, students. I trust you all slept well after yesterday's 'introductions.' I'm Professor Prestwick. I want to humbly welcome you all to Remnant His-"
"Don't start yet!!!" Faster than lightning, there was a loud WHAM against the door, catching the attention of everyone in the hall. Saige knew the voice too well, and merely responded with an irritated sigh and two fingers clutching the bridge of her nose. Professor Prestwick waited a few moments with an astonished look on his face, before approaching and unlocking the entrance. Outside, there laid three disheveled students piled up on the hallway floor, looking as though they had to ride on the wing of an airship to make it to class.
"...Well then," Prestwick stated simply with a smile. "I admire your determination to make it to class. Please, come in." The three picked themselves up off the floor and straightened up, strolling right into the room as if nothing humiliating had just happened.
The red-haired boy leaned over to Saige and whispered, "So is that the rest of your team?"
"...No-"
"Hi, Saige!" Macy chimed as she took a seat next to her friend. Now everyone was looking at her, and there was no way to hide the frustration she must have felt for letting such a thing happen.
"You couldn't have put a leash on her before we entered the building?" Tara asked with some hint of sarcasm in her voice. She looked up to the boy her partner was sitting next to, and nonchalantly waved. " 'Sup."
"Hey."
"Ahem." Everyone turned to look at Mr. Prestwick, who seemed more than done with the conversation as it was. "Please take your seats so we can begin, children." They complied, the rest of Team STRM taking seats down the row next to Saige. She let out a soundless sigh and relaxed her position, pulling a composition notebook out of the satchel slumped next to her chair.
"Now! I trust you all are familiar with some of Remnant's backstory, yes?" was the first thing he asked the class. They all seemed to nonchalantly nod their heads and murmur yes several times. While he started on his lecture, the first thing Saige did was take a ruler and start separating her page into grid before she started labeling the boxes with the three different colored pens she had on the desk before her. It was nothing short of exemplary; clearly she'd come to school prepared to learn the essentials.
"Psst." Saige's attention on the lecture was quickly overlapped by quiet snickering that came from her left side. She angled her head to look, only to find Macy holding up a sheet of paper with a doodle on it of what appeared to be a bobblehead Tara chasing her and Raine. Their leader furrowed her brows and turned her attention back to the front of the room.
Honestly, how was she supposed to get a grip on her team if they kept distracting her from setting a good example? She swore left and right that the probability of her being paired with them was as thin as the lead in her mechanical pencil.
---
Time seemed to fly by. One minute she was trying to sit through her morning classes in peace. The next... Well, she was walking from the lunchline with a tray in her hands, trying to identify the location of her three "companions." Her gaze flickered across the lunch room multiple times, until settling upon a threesome towards the center of a group of tables. Naturally, their disposition seemed unsettling, considering what a rowdy bunch they were. They were laughing, shouting from time to time, and for that matter taking playful whacks at each other. She let out a sigh and turned on her heels, planning on sitting outside where the atmosphere would be much less chaotic.
"Hey, it's you." Saige blinked and stopped for a second, angling her head to the left where she found a group of four gathered casually around one of the tables. No doubt about it, Ringo was there as well as three other individuals she remembered meeting in their dorm earlier that same morning.
"Mind if I take a seat?" she greeted the four with a half-hearted smile.
"Nice to see you again," Shark commented, raising his head up from the book he was so invested in. Evelyn seemed to be the same way having finished her lunch and writing things down in a spring green notebook set before her. Canaan and Ringo were still eating but greeted her nonetheless.
Canaan scooted over so Saige would have a place to sit, and let her perch herself him and his partner. "I had no idea Ringo was on your team. But I assume we can make up for our little meet-and-greet this morning?"
"This morning?" Ringo asked. "What happened?"
Canaan sheepishly looked away. "Well..." Just before he could explain, the book in Shark's hand snapped shut and he flinched.
"There was a bit of a mishap over Evelyn doing her hair," he stated bluntly, eyes roaming over to the silk-haired vixen sitting next to him. She pursed her lips and grunted briefly.
"Well, I'm sorry I'm just a little more feminine than everyone else on my team."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you need to take over an hour to get ready for school."
Saige blinked as the two exchanged their arguments. They didn't look angry necessarily, but tension was building quickly. She leaned over to Canaan and whispered, "Should I be concerned?"
"No," he sighed, ruffling a hand through his bright blue hair. "This is a usual thing. But they get along really well when Ringo and I are going at it."
"Arguments happen." Ringo seemed nonchalant about the whole endeavor as he bit off a large chunk of the apple he then had in his hand. "It'd be worse if any of us were each other's siblings."
Now he got her attention. "Oh? Why is that?"
"Because they argue even outside of school. I should know."
Canaan leaned over once more and let a mischevious grin spread across his face. "Ringo here's got a little sis- Ow!" There was a brief moment where he found his teammate's fist jabbed at his stomach, knocking the air out of him instantaneously. The redhead sighed and leaned on the table.
"Yes. I have a little sister who sometimes doesn't know any better about getting into fights." He downed a swig of soda and looked awkwardly away. "She's a little hot-headed, but hey—what can you do?"
She smiled and crossed her legs. "I know the feeling. I have two siblings back home who're a little rambunctious for their age. It's a little disheartening being away from them for so long, but on the bright side I have my teammates to ease the unrest."
"At least they give you some peace of mind," Evelyn spoke up, examining her reflection in a compact mirror. "It's tedious being the only female member of Team CRSE. Imagine three boys living in the same room as you. I have no privacy whatsoever."
"Hey, at least we got a room with four twin beds." She glanced up to Canaan. "Imagine how bad it'd be if you had to sleep in a bunk bed."
Her first reaction was a visible cringe. "I've seen other teams' rooms. Such tragedy, a room filled with nothing but bunk beds. Every morning you wake up and either hit your head on the top bunk or the ceiling."
"Have you tried some customization?" Saige asked. "Raine and Macy took the top bunks to make private nooks. String lights on the ceiling, old books in the corners, terrariums around the windows, and blankets hanging over the edges to ensure some privacy."
"...Speaking of which where are your teammates?"
"Hm?" She nodded back behind her. "Over there somewhere-"
"Tara, hold on!" The five people sitting at the lunch table looked the same direction to find a quaint little gathering practically losing their ability to keep calm. A sweat bead rolled down Saige's forehead, and she groaned, slumping over in her seat.
"Macy, you are so gonna get it!" Tara's voice was the most unique and easiest to point out. Her cheeks were flushed bright red, and her brow was furrowed low, indicating not a trace of happiness in her deathly demeanor. And then, the worst happened.
A slice of pie went splat in the redhead's face.
Tara paused all movement for a few seconds, sending an unnerving silence through the cafeteria. She then wiped the dessert off of her face, staring through Macy's humored soul with eyes so sharp they were like emerald green daggers.
Raine could only watch in suspense, whispering "Oh, no..." low enough for the girls not to hear, while Macy went about sticking out her tongue.
Splat.
This time mashed potatoes went flying and coated her face. Again silence reigned, and before anyone knew it, the two were simmering.
"So that's how it's gonna be~?" Macy intoned, voice raising in pitch and amplitude as she reeled back another handful of food. "Prepare to taste swift justice!"
"Back at ya." The two then shoved their hands into their lunches, and grabbed a handful of whatever was underneath them. Then food went flying, and chaos regined.
"Foooooooddd fiiiiiiiiigggghhhttt!" someone shouted from one of the surrounding tables. Immediately the students surrounding the three-fourths of Team STRM followed in their footsteps, and began tossing food and beverages across the cafeteria like there was no tomorrow. Saige and Team CRSE took the opposite initiative and flipped their table over, utilizing it as a shield against all oncoming objects.
"Is your team usually like this?!" Canaan shouted over the chaos around them.
Saige had no choice but to yell back. "I wished they weren't! Honestly, how the hell did I get stuck with them?!"
Ringo called back. "Luck is a heartless bitch! That's how I got stuck with these three-"
"Quiet, you!"
From one angle that seemed to be almost up in the air, a glob of pudding came flying down directly towards one of the five taking cover, specifically the black-haired girl who'd spent her whole morning doing her hair that was soon to be ruined. She never felt the projectile hit her, however, and looked up to find the pudding had hit the edge of Saige's lunch tray, held just inches over her precious head as a shield.
"Oh my god, thank you~!" she squealed. While the entirety of the cafeteria was distracted, the front doors to the room creaked open, and in came one of the most feared individuals in Siren Academy, smoking a cigarette.
She looked up at the impending chaos, raising a nonchalant eyebrow in question. "Who forgot to close the buffet line?" Food came flying in her direction, but she was quick to side-step, just narrowly avoiding a ponytail full of carrots.
Splat.
She didn't anticipate the oncoming pizza slice, which quickly swiped her lips and sent the cigar flying down to the ground where it landed in a pile of mushy peas. A look of anger overcame her visage. Quickly she moved back to the entrance doors, and with the wrench previously fixed to her toolbelt, banged it against the metal frame like a loud drum for everyone in the cafeteria to hear.
Immediately the silence overwhelmed a room full of seventeen-year-olds. Everyone in the cafeteria turned to look at the professor, faces first riddled with annoyance quickly followed by fear when they realized who it was.
Saige and Team CRSE were still sitting behind the tipped over table. Canaan poked his head up over the edge of the table to look at the professor, then quickly dipped back down and looked at his teammates.
"Who is that?" he asked.
Shark was the next to take a look from behind cover as he removed his glasses and proceeded to wipe them off. "That would be Professor Leilani Palila—the head of the mechanics department. I can see why half the student body would be frozen in place; her work ethic is especially formidable."
"Would anyone like to explain," Professor Palila belted at the top of her lungs, "why my school cafeteria is covered in perfectly good food?" Her deep marigold eyes scanned the area, finding all common individuals staring in wonder save for the three gathered at the center table, standing in a defensive pyramid formation. She glared at them and quickly approached, motioning with a finger for them to come down. "You three," she demanded, clearly unamused. Tara, Macy, and Raine looked to each other with nervous expressions as they stepped down from the table and followed behind the teacher like baby ducks.
"And the rest of you!" she shouted back to the crowd with one hand on the door. "Clean up this mess, or it's detention for all of you!" She promptly slammed the doors shut behind her and left with the three down the hall.
Once she left, there was an atmosphere of urgency as everyone slowly stood up and brushed stray debris off themselves before going to straighten the cafeteria back up. Team CRSE and Saige looked at each other, somewhat baffled by what just happened.
"I, uhm..." Ringo mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "I think it might be good if you went to check on your team."
Saige sighed and got up. "Yeah, I'm going..." Once she assisted the four in putting the table back upright, she exited through the doors and headed down the hall not far behind her teammates.
---
"Take a seat." The three teenagers entered the confines of what appeared to be a cluttered office, books and papers scattered about, desk misaligned from the rest of the room. They paused in front of an old mahogany desk where Professor Palila gestured for them to stand, and watched as she approached a door at the side. Pressing down on the doorknob and opening it just a crack, she said something to someone inside before swinging it open all the way and gesturing for the person in question.
"Alright, alright." The new individual's voice was low and raspy as he came out, straightening up his tie and taking a seat at his rather untidy work station. He fiddled a hand through a door. Finding what he needed, he withdrew a lighter and a carton, retrieving a cigarette as he held the light to the end and put it in his mouth, exhaling a deep puff.
"Well?"
He turned his attention back to his fellow teacher and stared. "What are they here for?" He gestured his cigarette to the three teens without so much as batting an eyelash in their direction.
Professor Palila crossed her arms. "They started a food fight in the cafeteria."
He leaned over his desk, turning the gold nameplate so they could see. On it the letters spelled out 'Professor Wolfgang.' Immediately two of them knew who he was.
Macy was the first to speak up. "I'm really sorry for our behavior, headmaster. We just-"
What she didn't expect was a low chuckle and for him to put his feet up on his desk.
Professor Wolfgang smirked. "Relax, kiddo. S'not like I haven't been there before," he pointed to where they were standing, "waiting before the headmaster to receive whatever horrible punishment he thought seemed fit. Ain't that right, Leilani?" He glanced over to the teacher responsible for reprimanding them, who at the time clearly wasn't in the mood for a laugh.
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Is there anything else you'd like to add to that statement?"
"Ah." Pointing a finger, he sat back up and looked through one of the many documents stacked at the corner of his desk. "Well assuming you three went to town, I bet you wouldn't mind cleaning up the rest of the mess after school's over today, right?"
"We can do that," Raine nodded.
"Great. Now go back to your dorm and clean up." Professor Wolfgang went back to scrawling something on the paper before him, shooing Tara, Raine, and Macy off with a simple wave of his hand.
"Wait." The person responsible for escorting them into the office held out a hand in front of them and stared him down. "Seriously? Cleaning up after school is over? That's what you deem necessary to punish them?"
When he paid her any heed again, he was reading a newspaper. "Imagine how much food is stuck between the cracks of the floorboards and in the hinges of the lunch tables. Once they get all that cleaned up, I'm sure they'll have learned their lesson." He gave her a hearty dose of side-eye, and realizing she still wasn't pleased rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. After that I sentence the three of you to take a shower. And uh... Fill out a form so we can put this in your team records. Speaking of which, where's the other one of you?"
Looking between the three of them, Tara, Raine, and Macy contemplated what to say.
"She sat somewhere else today," Tara spoke up. "Actually I'm not even sure she knows we started the-"
"Oh I know, alright." Quietly, all five heads in the room turned back to the entryway, where a rather irritated Saige stood with her hands balled up into fists. She looked as irritated as Professor Palila, whose demeanor softened a little seeing their team leader so pissed off at her own team. "Professor Palila, I'd like to offer an apology on the behalf of my team. They know not why they do these things, nor what the consequences are for doing them."
Raine pointed a finger. "Hey, we know plenty well that-" Upon seeing Saige's unamused face, he pursed his lips and nodded his head before turning back around.
"What's your name, ma'am?" Professor Wolfgang asked.
Huffing a sigh, she joined the rest of her team in line. "My name is Saige Cristallo. I'm the leader of Team STRM. These three are Tara, Raine, and Macy. My teammates."
"Aaaaah, I see. So which one of you sliced the Ursa in half at initiation?" Three of the four teens pointed their fingers to Tara, to whom he nodded. "Nice to see the polearm skill runs in the family."
"Thank you." was all she had to say on the matter.
"Alright, Team STRM," he huffed amid another puff of smoke, raising the newspaper up to block his face. "You can go. And uh... If Professor Palila isn't satisfied with your cleaning work, she can give you extra work during your Artillery Mechanics class."
The door closed behind them, and they looked to one another in bewilderment. "I can't believe that went so well," Macy chimed in, a grin slowly spreading across her mouth.
Raine laughed to himself. "At least we didn't get detention. We get this done tonight, and we'll have paid our dues. Now, let's-" He paused, looking at Saige's back while she walked ahead of them.
"...Let's go" she said, fists coiling tight at her sides. Tara looked at her questioningly and raised an eyebrow as their leader marched past. Without much to say, the three followed her back to their dorm.
---
The door slammed hard behind Saige. Late that night, after having carried out their punishment, Tara, Raine, and Macy were scattered about the room cleaning themselves off—one with a towel over his head, one with a brush running through her silky black hair. They looked up at Saige; she was upset, alright, and judging by the day's events, the three expected a serious tongue-lashing.
"...Saige?" Macy asked. "I have warm towels. You want one?"
Silence hung in the air for a minute, as she walked over and quietly picked a warm towel up, approaching her bunk before slumping down on the floor against it. She draped it on the coathanger hook mounted on one of the bed's support columns.
"Saige?" Raine looked over the edge of his bunk, dropping down next to Saige.
"...Do you guys have any idea how embarrassing this was?" she asked.
A sigh came from Tara's mouth across the room as she glanced over to her partner. "Chill, Cris. We cleaned up all the collateral damage. Your life didn't end today-"
"Shut up." she pronounced. Of all things, the redhead hadn't expected the sudden rebuttle. "This isn't how I wanted to start the year off, you know. I wanted to make a good first impression on my peers, meet some new people and all. But what happened instead? I had bad attention drawn to me in class today, missed half of the lecture, and of course, witnessed my teammates starting a culinary war."
Raine was at something of a loss for words. All he could do was laugh. "What are you talking about? You did start off the year like you wanted to."
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "What are you talking about?"
Macy jumped down from her bunk, patting a hand on Saige's head without needing to bend down. She gave a smile between forgiving and nurturing, tilting her head a little to show her enthusiasm. "You made a great impression on the teachers today!" she nodded. "Wolfgang and Palila were so impressed with how well-mannered you came into the office!"
"Plus you met our next door neighbors." Raine was right on her heels. "You got to have lunch with them, too! We weren't planning on that until next week when we got to know them better. And let's face it, if we hadn't started a food fight, you wouldn't have had such a good bonding experience with them!"
Narrowing her eyes, Saige scooted up onto the edge of her bunk. "You call that bonding?"
"Well yeah," he shrugged. "It's either that or on the battlefield. And I don't think any of us are planning on having a heartfelt conversation while fighting a Nevermore."
Tara took a seat next to Saige with a smirk. "I'll be damned if that somehow happens."
"Come on, Saige, you have to admit your first day of school was great!" Eager to get her in better spirits, Macy bent over in front of her friend and smiled. "It's only a bad day if you make it one by not ending it with a smile." She received no response. "Come ooonn, where's that smile?" She raised her finger and started poking Saige's cheek trying not to laugh. "Where is it?"
Saige felt a nudge in the side from Tara, and looked over to ser her urging her on. Finally she broke and grinned, pushing Macy's hand away. "Alright, alright fine. It was a good day. Chaotic, but good."
---
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