And then everything went widdershins [Open]

Murphy coughed and covered his mouth as he passed by yet another potion shop, some odd chemical smell wafting out from its weathered door. The sign on the window displayed dried lizards, some sort of withered animal's paw and... Jesus Christ was that a human heart?! He hurried past and tried to avoid eye contact while sidestepping the various denizens doing business in the narrow, crooked street. A wrinkled old woman cackled as he passed and called out to him in a language he didn't understand, to which he waved and gave a nervous smile before bumping into... well, he wasn't quite sure what it was. The figure was at least eight feet tall and half as wide, and the only thing Murphy could see under the giant cloak it was wearing was a muzzle with sickly yellow teeth which it gnashed at him. It paused, as if considering whether or not the scarecrow of a man before it was even worth its time. Thankfully it simply growled and shoved past him leaving Murphy more than a little shaken and in dire need of a smoke.

As he stepped into the alleyway he rummaged around in the pockets of his faded duster for the pack of cigarettes that he'd brought with him on the boat. Thinking back, the captain had given him directions to the academy. Just a straight shot up the pier and through town she'd said, so how the hell had he gotten this lost already? Putting one of the cigarettes in his mouth he tried to light it, only to discover that his lighter was out of fluid. Damn. He really shouldn't have been surprised, ever since he'd gotten the damned acceptance letter from the academy his 'gift', as the letter politely called it, had been more erratic than usual. He fished the letter in questions out of his rucksack and read over it again.

Even now that he was here, he was having a hard time believing the letter. A school, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that was secretly used for international witness protection AND a school for 'unique' individuals all expenses paid by some unnamed group. At first he'd thought it was a scam. He'd tried researching Starlight Academy but nothing came up, nor did anything on Cordelia M. Moor, supposed founder and headmistress of the school. Where things got REALLY weird was when he'd tried to find anything on the island Manta Carlos. Initially, like everything else involved with the school, nothing came up. But a closer inspection had found a fairly large nameless island, but when he'd checked the coordinates, his computer crashed...again. Well, it looked real enough, and it certainly was better here than back at home. Maybe his luck was changing after all.

@"Fae"

The voice behind him hadn't scared him, he'd later tell himself, and it was a shady alley in an equally shady part of town. Therefore, it was completely natural for him to leap nearly a foot in the air in surprise, thus causing him to bash his head on the fire escape of the building and trip over his own bag upon landing, leaving him a bruised heap on the ground in front of the children.

Craning his head up he squinted at the pair of them. They couldn't have been more than elementary school age, what the hell were they doing here? At least one of them was dressed to the nines which begged the question, what were they doing in a dirty alley? He coughed, “Yes little one, I uh, appear to have lost my way.” She mentioned a big house, either she was speaking of some sort of mansion, which could inevitable give him directions to the academy, or she was speaking of the school itself. Either way maybe she could help make some actual progress.

The other was was... odd. He seemed younger than the first, and whined appropriately but Murphy couldn't shake the feeling that something was... off about him. Something about him set his teeth on edge, but perhaps that was just paranoia, or maybe a potential concussion. “I don't suppose you could, uh, show me the way to this big house?” he asked hopefully.

@"Fae"

Once the ringing in his head stopped Murphy pushed himself to his knees and after a few tries, his feet. One of the children had darted off but he assumed that they knew where they were going... or at least he hoped. "Uh, no little one, I doubt I'll be living in any sort of big house. I'm looking for Starlight Academy, the school here on the island? My name I Murphy and I'm a new student here." He dusted himself off and took her hand carefully, as if worried about hurting her. "So what were you doing here miss... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

@"Fae"

Still a little woozy Murphy stumbled after the little girl, mumbling apologies to the people he bumped into as she led him through the crowd. She was going on about going to school at the big house, was she home-schooled? "Yeah, just Murphy. It's a pleasure to meet you, oh excuse me sir, Faeyt." ha managed, managing to avoid an annoyed snap by what appeared to be a large wolf man in full plate.

"Wait, wait, who's the lady? Your mother? I mean, I hardly need to meet her, I just need directions to Starlight is all." He twisted out of the way of a spiny robot waddling quickly down the street the other way. "Er, how far did you say your home was?"

@"Fae"

Book lady, like a librarian? And she'd said her farther was a gardener. Wow, if they had a big house with such basic jobs maybe they had connections to... the...school... Murphy flushed, finally putting two and two together. Thankfully the child didn't seem to really understand or care about his ignorance. Well, either way at least he was on the right track, finally.

"Ah, right you are. I suppose I really SHOULD have know- whoah!" As she toppled forward, Murphy lunged, diving to protect her head from the concrete as she fell. "Easy there Faeyt, you could have hurt yourself." It was only then that he realized something was amiss. Her eyes had a blank look in them, and her whole body was trembling slightly despite the warm climate. It was almost like she was having a...a...oh...oh fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck! A seizure, she was having a fucking seizure!

Working quickly he began yelling at people around him, "Oi, you there! Call whatever medical services this island has! Yes, you with the god damn phone. Does it LOOK like I'm fucking joking?" he pulled off his jacket and lay it beneath her head. Christ, what were you supposed to do when someone had a seizure? "Back off, give her some room to breathe!" he snarled as onlookers tried to press in. Useless, they were all being bloody useless as a little girl suffered a seizure in the middle of the street. It took all of his willpower not to start berating them then and there. Apparently having super powers didn't make anyone less incompetent than they already were... god damnit. He took the little girl's hand carefully and gave it a soft squeeze, "C'mon Faeyt, please be alright, PLEASE be alright."