Early Release -open-

[Max Abner]

Max was thirteen and it was Wednesday, which meant they should have been in school learning about all the important things in life, but they had dropped out of regular school to take up being a Chaser. Max was proud of being one of the youngest people to ever become a Chaser, but it had effected their schooling and if they didn't want to be seen as stupid then they had to take their education into their own hands and go to the library almost every chance they got. Today was one of those chances.

Max opened the doors to the library and stepped in. They kept walking towards the more educational books. Today was a math and physics day. Tomo shifted in the pocket of their oversized sweater and Max stuck their hands into the pocket to keep the snake from moving. She curled around Max's wrist and they sighed. They didn't allow animals in most buildings like this so their hand would be staying in their pocket.

Max found the section where all the math books were and began looking for a book that would teach them about some type of math. What Max found was a book on calculus and they took it off of the shelf then kept moving with the fairly large book under their arm. Math was probably one of Max's least favourite subjects, but they loved learning so even math wasn't that terrible. It was bearable enough that they would happily study it any day.

Next they had to find a book on science. Since they were also studying math today they had decided that physics would be the best thing to study as well, because physics was basically math with a bit of science thrown in. When they found the section with science books littered about on the shelves Max stopped and began looking for a book they hadn't read yet that was about physics. What they found was a book on the top shelf that was too high for Max to reach on their own. They stood on their tiptoes and tried to reach it, only to come up just barely short.

Max looked up and down the aisle they were in, searching for any people in the area. When they decided that nobody was watching they brought Tomo out. "Grab." Max whispered to the snake. She lazily wound her way up to Max's finger tips and then Max went up on tiptoes again and pointed to the book they wanted. Tomo gripped the book's spine in her jaws and pulled it off of the shelf and into Max's hand. Max smiled at her pet's clever mind and then turned to leave the aisle.

[Lon Grenweld]

Walking into the library again, Lon sighed in exhaustion. It was so hot outside, and it was nice to come into an air-conditioned room where he could just relax with the peace and quiet. Walking around, he remembered when he had met Scott, Skye and Ever at the same time, and wondered if he would meet any other people in the library today...

Due to the heat, Lon was dressed in a bright purple T-shirt and grey cargo shorts with purple sneakers. His clothes had been issued to be made by the government due to his situation, as normal clothes wouldn't fit him properly. Swishing his fox tail from left and right, he then scratched behind his fox ears and looked for something to read. Looking in the sciences aisle, he wasn't sure what to do. At the age of sixteen, he was nearly done regular high school. Most types of sciences and mathematics ended up being review of previous methods or incorporating new forms of questions into the same equations with a different conversion. Chemistry was pretty good for Lon, and so he enjoyed making reactions sometimes.

Looking at the bookshelf, he grabbed a book with the title "Caloric Conversions of Hydrocarbons" and walked away. Lon was carrying a backpack with him, and inside was some paper and pencils. Going to a nearby table, he did a few questions that he could make from certain facts out of the book, and decided to stop. Closing the book, he took paper and pencil crayons out of his backpack and placed them on the table. Flicking his ears up an down in a steady rhythm, he thought of what to do with the paper. Taking a sheet, he folded it into a paper swan and placed it on the table. Using a red and orange pencil, he drew and colored feathers on the paper swan. After coloring more and more, it began looking like a colored phoenix.

Lon smiled to himself and picked the bird up again after coloring it, and "flew" it around in the air. Making little noises sometimes, he made the paper bird "crash" into the table. Lifting it up, he placed it gently on the textbook and then rested his head on the table. He began to be bored again, and so he flicked his ears in opposite directions as he hummed to himself, thinking of what to do next...

[Max Abner]

After Max got their book they switched it over to the other hand and then put the hand with Tomo on it back in their pocket. Today Max was wearing baggy shorts that ended just above their knee and a sweater with the sleeves rolled up to their elbows. Their blonde hair was shorter than usual and and it was messier too. Today was a more masculine day, and thus they were wearing clothes more commonly associated with males.

They took their two books out of the aisle and into the main area with tables and chairs. It would be a fine place to study. Max was about to sit down at an empty table before something caught their attention. There was a boy playing with some folded paper that was coloured. From where they were Max couldn't really tell what it was that they were playing with so after they made it fall to the table and set it on a book. The boy rested his head on the table and Max looked around quickly before teleporting over to the boy's table. Very quietly Max snatched his little folded piece of paper off of his book and then they teleported back to their own table.

Once Max had it they realized that it was a little folded bird. They looked over at the boy again and chuckled to themselves. It was kind of cool. Max leaned back in the chair and held the bird above their head, imagining that it might have been flying. Max imagined this is what the boy would have done. They wondered if he would notice that they had stolen his little bird. Max was pretty sure that they had been very stealthy in stealing the bird. The boy had his head on the table and they hadn't just walked over there. Max smirked and placed the paper bird on their own book like a sort of trophy. Then they opened the book on calculus like nothing had happened.

Every so often Max would steal a glance over at the boy to see if he had moved. They noticed that they were wearing a bright purple t-shirt that matched their shoes. Max smirked again when they saw the tail and ears. They had recently met somebody else with similar aspects, although this person seemed to have less of a feline tail and more of a foxes tail. Max would have to ask them about it after their little game of steal the paper bird.

[Lon Grenweld]

Hearing a slight sound of teleportation, Lon's ears perked up slightly. Not moving from his position, he kept his head on the table and began to sense the aura of the person who appeared. It was a person who seemed to have a mixture of aura that mixed with itself, constantly stirring and switching from one dominant "color" to the next. The person seemed to be at the table, and the bird that Lon had made was there. Smiling slightly, he was amused with the little game that this person wanted to play. However, Lon was always one for adding an interesting element to the game, and decided to change the game itself.

Calmly, Lon got up and made another origami swan, this time smaller and colored it in the same fashion as the first. Then, he created a mirror next to a window with the harsh sunlight shining on it. Creating another mirror, he made the shape slightly different so the sunlight would be concentrated to a point like a magnifying glass. All of these mirrors were made with subtle hand movements one could easily mistake for tapping fingers impatiently. But Lon was quite patient. He loved these little games of "chess", and looked forward to the reaction of his "opponent", so to speak. The mirror was higher up, near the ceiling lights, and the ray of light shone down to the little origami phoenix.

How appropriate that it would be set on fire, like that of the mythical creature. Themes were important in a game like this, and so he enjoyed adding a little drama to the exchange. Hearing the slight hiss of heat from the paper, Lon smelled a faint scent of smoke as the little craft burned into a pile of ashes. Slowly de-summoning the mirrors with his right hand, he picked up the new origami phoenix and teleported over to the person who wanted to play the game. Gently placing it in the ashes, he smiled at the...boy? and flashed back to his seat, waiting for their next move.

[Max Abner]

Max's power involved stealing people's powers, so naturally they were more aware when people used their abilities, so when they boy started spawning mirrors Max looked up slowly. They didn't see what the power was at first, but then they saw the ray of sun hitting the bird they had just stolen. They followed it up closer to the roof where they could see the mirrors.



Max wondered how the ability worked. Of course they weren't entirely sure if that was the entire power or if there was more to it. Max looked back down to the bird once the mirrors disappeared only to find that it had transformed into a smoking pile of ash. Then the boy showed up.



Closer to them Max managed to get a better look at his ears, although only for a second because he flashed as grin and then was gone again. So that was the game he wanted to play? Max smirked and then looked around the room, trying to find something interesting that they could throw at him. Max pulled a piece of paper out of their notebook and folded it into a paper airplane. They weren't good enough to make a bird, but airplanes were pretty easy to make. Max threw the plane at the boy.



After throwing the plane Max put up a mirror in front of their face to reflect the guy and show him that two could play at his game of mirrors. This was fun to Max and they hoped that he was having fun too. After they were done playing their little back and forth with mirrors and folded paper Max would probably talk to them and find out what his power was and what all he could to so they could use it more effectively.

[Lon Grenweld]

Seeing the opponent use a technique that seemed very similar to Lon's own mirror technique surprised him slightly. As for mirror magic, he felt it was relatively rare with all things considered. As a paper airplane flew near him, he moved his head slightly and let the plane fly past him. Closing his eyes in thought, his ears moved up and down in a steady rhythm. Lon felt that this sometimes helped him figure out problems or come up with solutions to problems. After some thought and reviewing the technique used, he came up with a few conclusions; One, they could possibly have their own mirror magic. Two, they could be using a type of ability to copy someone's technique, or three, they could be using a type of illusion magic. In any case, Lon felt this was something to be studied further.

For sake of not letting them getting further analysis, Lon did not summon any other mirrors. Instead, he placed his hands subtly at the side of his body, as to be covered by the table, and desummoned the mirrors. Attempting to desummon the opponent's mirror was futile, and so it appeared it was of their own design. Pulling his hands back up, he made several paper footballs and fired them, one by one, at the worthy adversary. Then, quickly following the attack, Lon dashed over to a nearby bookcase to get some books, and brought them back. Stacking them up in an architectural fashion, he created a wall on the table in order to have less attacks come through. Looking over slightly at the opposition, he waited with a ready stance, capable of dodging incoming attacks. Lon was enjoying this game quite a bit.