Rick Knight

After the nurse's nod of approval, I reached out to allow Gervasius to clamber onto my shoulder. Once he was positioned comfortably, I took my things and began to leave the hospital room. I glanced over at Kazar just as I passed through the door, concerned. I need to tell the others that he may not be back for a while.

At that, I left, and began to make my way over to the rooms. It was dark, a lot darker than I had expected it to be, very little moonlight streaming down from the crescent in the sky.

It was then that I heard the second set of footsteps, ones that were desperately trying to match my own. I halted swiftly, turning to face whoever it was.

"Gervasius, did you hear that?" I asked him, as my eyes met empty air. The Lunemara shook his head.

I do not know what you are talking about. Perhaps you are just tired.

Shrugging off that strange event, I continued on my way until I was at the building. Once I had reached the lift, I was quick to press the button, folding my arms tightly against my chest as the structure shifted upwards. Although I wanted to believe that nothing had happened, I could not. I heard that. That can't have been nothing. It can't have been.

Gervasius commented on my distress as my hand went to the door handle of my room. Hey! He climbed onto my head and tapped it with one of his legs. Don't tell me that actually scared you! Come on, get a grip!

"Ok ok..." I mumbled, opening the door. I raised my voice to normal speaking level as I entered, seeing Rhys sat down and clearly bored. I smiled a little. "Hey Rhys! I'm back now. I... I'm not sure what happened. I think I'm ok now though..." I closed the door behind me, then went over to sit on my bed, and allowed Gervasius to jump onto the bedside table. "Did... did I miss anything important?"

"Nah, nothing interesting here, can't say the same about your class though, not sure what you all were doing there" Rhys told him.

Rick Knight

"Alright," I answered. "I think my teacher was doing examinations today on ability, either singing or playing an instrument. I didn't end up doing the exam because I fell ill beforehand, but..." I realised that my hands were shaking now, and I tucked them underneath my arms to hide my nervousness. "I will probably have to do it another day; I believe that that is what I was told." I glanced around the room for a moment, my gaze flickering, unable to focus on one element at a time, before returning to Rhys' face. "Other than that, I have no clue as to what will be happening the next few days. I suppose I should ask the others who are in my class."

Gervasius hopped onto the bed to sit next to me. What exactly are you so scared about? You're a Soinau, you should be good at this! I turned my head to look down at him, and gave a subtle gesture for him to stop speaking, but this only made him say more. Excuse me? I do not see why I should be silent.

"Just... please, I don't want to talk about it." I kept my words quiet so that Rhys did not hear, and I shuffled a little in the space on which I sat, keeping my hands concealed despite the fact that it was probably obvious from my expression that I was scared of what tomorrow could bring.

"Hey dude, are you alright? You seem a bit... on edge? Seriously, you can tell me what's wrong" Rhys offered reassuringly, looking over to Gervasius as to wonder what was going on.

Rick Knight

"I... uhh..." I removed a hand from where it was hidden and brushed a little bit of my hair aside. "You see, I may be a Soinau but... I-I've never sung before, and neither have I played an instrument. And the test will focus on one of those two things." I bit my lip a little. "The teacher told us to pick our b-best out of the two skills. And I can't do either." I placed one hand on the side of my head. "I... I don't know if I'm up for this. It's the first day, and I can't even do the basics."

Hey! Listen up! Gervasius was by my side, staring up at me with his round silver eyes, his antennae twitching. You can't be ready to give up already, you only just got here! There was a pause, and he waggled his arms in front of him. He glanced over at Rhys, then back at me. Don't disappoint me, you hear!?

""Well, let me tell you about a little something called screamo, it's considered singing, but you just angrily scream all the lyrics" Rhys told him, for some reason thinking his plan was brilliant.

Rick Knight

My face went a little red at the suggestion, and I cleared my throat. With clasped hands, I responded.

"I don't... I don't think I could do that." I pushed my glasses further up my face, giving an embarrassed smile. "I haven't got the voice nor the lungs for that kind of thing. I don't think I could be that loud for that long." As much as that style of singing would be useful for the Soinau skill set, I think the effort of holding that volume for so long would exhaust me quicker than using the power itself. "Though... thank you for the suggestion."

What can I do, then? Admittedly, I had never tried to sing before, but I was too afraid to. Folding my arms, I continued to think of what I could do instead. And all the while, the thought of having to perform to the teacher was creeping closer, my anxiety growing with each second.

Just try it! I glanced down at Gervasius. If you bloody fail, then at least you tried to a certain extent! I will be disappointed as hell, but I'll be a lot worse if you don't even give it a go!

"Why no learn how to play an instrument? If you got into this school for sound magic, you must have some sort of knack for instuments!" Rhys suggested.

Rick Knight

"The assessment will probably be tomorrow, and I don't have time to learn one." My eyes drifted to the darkness outside of the window. "I mean... I can play a Launchpad, but... I don't think that really counts." I rubbed the side of my head with one hand. "I signed up for sound magic because it is probably the only one I can do. When I was younger, I was ahead with my abilities to use it, but now I'm far behind compared to everyone else. When I signed up and took the exam, I was certain that I would be able to do this, but, after seeing the level that everyone else is at..." I sighed, and shook my head. "My abilities lie not in creating sound to manipulate - rather, I can manipulate sound being emitted from elsewhere. I can't do anything impressive with it. All of the tweaks I can do are mostly unnoticeable... My powers aren't strong enough to allow me to focus on both creating and changing sound at the same time, I have to put all of my efforts into one or the other to get even the most minor of things to happen."

My gaze drifted to the clock. It was getting late. I did not want the night to end, as I was terrified of what was to come. Nervously tapping the floor with my foot, I continued my narrative.

"My father has never been any good at magic. My mother wasn't anything special - she just about scrapes being average. I just... I just don't think I have the natural talent, I didn't inherit particularly strong magical abilities to begin with."

"Dude, my father wasn't a magician at all, and my mom is barely considered average, but me and all my sibs are fairly good at what we do, a Launchpad totally counts as an instrument, dude, you'll be fine" Rhys said, trying to reassure him.