Welcome to Gaia! ::

Annita Anderson was sitting at the base of a giant tree in the middle of the lawn. Her silver head was tilted down, examining her green, leather bound Sherlock Holmes book. You could barely see her thin pale, face from beneath the shadows. Her big, bronze eyes darted from side to side as she scanned the small print. After finishing the rest of the chapter, she snapped the large book closed. She looked out across the lawn calmly.
Annita slowly rubbed her aching eyes and hoped she wouldn't need glasses. She was always five inches away from her laptop or book. She took a deep breath and released it serenely.


Ava slowly raised her head from the drawing pad she was examining. The drawings they revealed frightened her greatly, even though she wouldn't admit it. The sketches of herself and other students seemed spot on. Her eyes raised at the sound of Bethan's voice. "Oh, hey!" She got up from her desk and opened the door to let her in.
Ava returned to her desk and layed her head in her hands. She took a deep breath and released a great sigh. "How was Geneva?" She smiled and then glanced at the drawing pad. "I should probably show this to you. It's drawings that were given to me by one of the students here. A Luna Moon.Claims she's been getting a new ability. The ability to read-or in this case, draw- the future. Drawings about the murder case..and of some of the students here." She didn't add that one of the drawings were of her. She picked up the pad and handed it to Bethan.

Bethan smiled thinly, too stressed out to relax properly with her friend. "Oh, you know how it is with husbands. You just happen to bump into an old ex, and they suddenly get majorly crabby and jealous." She sighed, before taking the pad from Ava and starting to flick through. "Um, Ava? Are these all about the murder case? 'Cos you're in here."
She began scanning the pictures with her PDA, running them through the school database, looking for any matches.
"Well, some of these ahve already been, you know... and some aren't students. So I guess we focus on the students? And maybe if we catch this killer soon enough, we can change what's gonna happen. The future's subjective, right?"
She put the pad down and looked straight at Ava. "So, how've you been? And how's Java?"

Netta smirked as she mentally located Annita, then saw her out of the window as well. Quickly, she wrapped up some bottles in cloth, placed them in her satchel, along with some bleach, then got changed into clothes more fitting for the summer weather: a red miniskirt, black vest top, white trainers, and, of course, her black net tights and top. They were the next best thing to being completely covered, and if she got cut, she'd bleed a lot. Probably to death.
Haemophilia, it's a b***h. she thought, slinging her satchel onto her shoulders. Oh well. I've got a nerd to bleed out.
Carefully, she made her way down to the lawn, and casually walked over to Annita.
"Hey, do you mind if I sit with you? It's a bit sunny for my kinda skin." She smiled at Annita with imploring eyes. "Don't worry if you don't want me to. I mean, it looks like you're just enjoying the quiet..." she turned her head slightly, waiting for a reply.

Java sipped some sort of green fruit cocktail, then turned back to his textbook. He officially started teaching next semester, and he needed to go over the old teacher's notes and see if anything needed to be changed. After that, he'd need to go through the student lists and see who might be joining his classes.
Well, at least he didn't have Kara to worry about. Anya had taken her for a camping trip in Snowdonia. Pretty sure she'll be safe with a girl who can turn into a wolf... he mused.
It had been partly to give Kara a holiday from the school - their parents were on a cruise - and partly to leave Ava and Java free to take their honeymoon whenever they wanted... as soon as they caught this killer.
Grinning, he pulled out his laptop (now upgraded with full access to everything on the internet - no student filter for teachers, thank you very much) and started browsing holidays... A month in the Mediterranean, Indonesia, the Caribbean...
He sent a quick email - hopefully she'd be near her computer.
Hey gorgeous, did you fancy anywhere in particular for honeymooning? I've got no preference as long as I'm with you wink
And don't worry about the climate, either, that can always be fixed xD
Love you, Java xxxxx
And... send.

[[Loving how Ethan 'shrugged *her* muscular shoulders'... Did he just shrug Harri's manly shoulders, or is he hiding something?]]

Ava ran both of her hands through her bright red hair and nodded. "Yeah, I know." You could hear the tapping of her sharp heel on the wooden floors. She was getting more and more timid every second this killer was on the loose. She didn't want to become a victim, though she doubted it. She nodded as she listened to what Bethan said. She lifted her head at the mention of Java and said, "Oh, um, Java. Yeah, he's, um, good..." Ava turned in her chair as her computer made a musical ringing sound. She read the e-mail he sent her and sighed. "Speaking of him, he just messeged me asking me where I would like to go for our honeymoon!" She waved her arms in the air. "And I have absolutely no idea! He wants me to choose, but I want him to choose and it's a never-ending circle of cluelessness and confusion!" Ava plopped her head onto her desk without replying to Java. She would do it in a second. Her emerald eyes were closed and she tried to focus on her breathing. In the midst of all this killer drama, she still had to have her honeymoon, which she was timid about. "I think I'm drowing, Bethan. I'm drowing in a murky, pitch-black lake and there's no one to save me.." She kept her head and body still as a statue.


Annita's head slowly turned upward to gaze upon Netta. She was surprised to see her, for she had never really talked to Netta. She nodded and quickly blurted out, "Oh, um, no! Go right ahead.." She scooted over from underneath the tree to make room for the other girl. She looked up at the sky for a moment before glancing at Netta's clothing. Annita wouldn't have been caught dead wearing net tights. She believed they showed the wrong image. Carefully, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to check her messeges. Nothing was there, so she placed the silver rectangle back into her skirt pocket.

Bethan rushed over and put her arms around Ava, patting her shoulders like she did to comfort her new sister-in-law Cassandre when she had bad visions. Ava's mind was practically screaming with nerves and fear, and Bethan could pick out individual worries.
"Ava, you're going to be okay, sweetie. You've got me, and Harri, and Java, who might just adore you more than we do! And I guess there's Ethan as well."
She stroked Ava's flame-red hair a bit, then pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, holding her hand, with waves of calm emanating from her mind.
"Now, Harri told me that they found a kid by the bodies, and he remembered speaking to Netta Cowell. She had an alibi, and it's possible he was just dazed with blood-loss and couldn't remember anyone else afterwards, but... we'll catch whoever this is. And we'll catch them soon."
She looked reassuringly into Ava's eyes.
"Why exactly are you nervous about spending time alone with your new husband, who, by the way, is madly in love with you. I know 'cos I kinda, um, read his mind... just to make sure he was good enough for you..." She smiled. "Tell me about that first, okay, and then you can reply to Java asking him for a shortlist of places. You can pick your favourite out of those. Easy. Now, talk to me..."

Netta sat down beside Annita, placed her satchel down next to her, and pulled out a physics textbook. She saw Annita glance at her tights and smiled. "It's too hot for proper tights, and I've got to wear something on my legs. You know, 'cos if I get a single scratch..." She drew her finger across her neck dramatically, then rolled her eyes.
"Hey, you're the techno-genius, right? Can you explain this whole static charge thing to me? I've got to read this for next semester and I don't get why things have to be earthed... But you're busy. Nevermind." She turned away again, frowning at her book.

Ava's eyebrows raised as she was reminded of Ethan. He was just another annoying problem waiting to unfold. She looked into Bethan's reasurring eyes and smiled. She was such a great, honest, and helpful friend. She nodded and took a deep breath. "Well...I'm kinda worried about the...'doing it' part." She used her fingers as quotation marks. "I mean, that's totally nerve-wrecking for me, ya know." She sighed. As much as she wanted to have a family, she felt she was too young for anything yet. Ava bit her lip nervously and said, "What was your honeymoon like with Chris?" She didn't mean to pushy or nosey, she was just genuinely curious.

Annita shrugged. "Oh, no..not a problem." She settled her Sherlock Holmes book down on the grass next to her bag. She smiled at Netta and said, "Don't worry. When I was younger and was first learning about Physics, I was kind of confused." She reached over to take the Physics book in her small, delicate hands. She carefully flipped open to a chapter and pointed to a paragraph. She explained everything she knew to Netta in full detail.

[[He already let you in, didn't he?]]

((Post as Ethan and Raaain biggrin ))