Outside the Campus' North Gate, Wednesday Morning

[seeks_truth]

She had heard the first shriek when she'd left the dorms complex for her morning jog. There had been dead eels on the lawn, but she had not paid it much heed.

Then there had been the second shriek, as she approached the gate. It had given her pause. What was out there that was, apparently, throwing fish at the school

Comments

[hexentotchen]

Hanna had noticed this on her way back from class, and gone straight to her weapons locker. Gun, bow and arrows, knife, all at hand, once she'd realized that there were other people doing this. She would not be trying this alone, Sparkle. She promises.

"Where are they coming from?"

Anything more existential like why are they flying? could be addressed after they were all dead.

*bang*

[kenselvren]

"We're not sure," Jalian called back. "Last time there were deadly things, it was another island."

[hexentotchen]

"I didn't realize there was another one close to here!" *bang!*

Hanna wasn't sure she'd seen this girl in her classes, so when she got a moment she maneuvered closer, on the girl's left. "I'm Hanna. This is my third week here."

And an exciting week it is turning out to be!

[kenselvren]

"I'm Jalian," she answered, saluting Hanna with a knife. "I have been here almost one year now." She whirled and sliced another eel in two. "There's another island there," she pointed. "We had to sing to it before." Her dubious expression probably said what she thought of that.

[hexentotchen]

Okay, Jalian. Hanna was not one to judge. But that sounded... ridiculous.

"Are you joking?" Hanna aimed and fired at a grouping of eels, scattering them with more shrieking. "...I do wish they would be quieter."

[kenselvren]

"Yes," Jalian agreed. "Quieter, I mean. No, I'm not joking." She made a disgusted noise. "The little island was upset and sent ghosts, or something. We had to sing a lullaby for it. Anders was there, too," she pointed out helpfully.

[hexentotchen]

PUtting that with some of Anders' offhand remarks gave Hanna some of a larger picture there. "So this is like a prank to it?" Hanna paused and said severely, as she pulled her bow off her shoulder, "Someone needs to discipline that island. If the island did this."

Hey, Ingvar's mom is listening. Not that Hanna knows it.

"Would singing work on these? I don't think they can hear us..." Experimentally, Hanna gave a high-pitched shriek before aiming an arrow at a knot of them.

[kenselvren]

"I don't know," Jalian confessed. She stabbed another that was heading for them.

[hexentotchen]

The eels didn't seem to react to the shrieking, and Hanna shrugged, then went back to shooting arrows at them. "Has anyone been bitten by them yet?" she wondered. "They're a fantastic nuisance. But I wonder how harmful they are."

[kenselvren]

"Nobody here," Jalian answered, taking a second to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "But I don't want to give them a chance."

[seeks_truth]

"The water, I assume," Cassandra called.

She twisted, slicing through an eel on her way down.

[hexentotchen]

Hanna should have thought of that! Cassandra was right. And very skilled; impressive. Hanna carefully aimed her bow away from the others, getting a clutch of eels to the left that had been slithering over each other in the air. "If we can clear them out here, we should probably check the shores, to see if we can find them," she called out.