Boy of Light and Dust

Dayin

Dayin's head was throbbing when he woke up. On top of the memories he'd gained from William's magic, he also had a headache. He hadn't slept well either, knowing that there was a lot on the line once he actually started training. If he had dreamed at all, he didn't recall anything.

He sat on the edge of his bed for a few minutes, contemplating putting enough pressure on his temples to cave them in if it would help relieve the pain in his head. He decided it wouldn't be worth it and probably put him in more pain to do so and then forced himself to get out of bed.

He didn't enjoy the walk down to the classroom that Ica had let him know they'd all be meeting at in the morning. He hadn't bothered to comb his hair down at all, and so it stuck up every which way, and he was still wearing his clothes from the day before since he'd fallen asleep immediately after returning to his room and didn't feel like finding new clothes with his headache. His stomach rumbled angrily as he pushed the door open to find who he thought was Chloe and an unfamiliar boy, who he assumed was her brother, Alex.

"Uh, hi," he choked out, golden eyes wide. He'd expected that Ica would already be there when he arrived; had hoped he'd be there so he wouldn't have to make awkward introductions. "I'm Dayin."

The boy raised his eyebrows in amusement as he looked Dayin over. "Alex," he said nonchalantly. "Nobody else is here yet."

I can see that, Dayin wanted to say, but kept his mouth shut. He felt awkward. He didn't know either of them and he wasn't exactly the best at making conversation with others. He swallowed nervously as he waited by the door. He was sure he looked extremely awkward standing there, and the way Alex stared at him told him he was right.

His eyebrows raised further as he snorted. "We won't bite," he promised with a smile that Dayin thought said otherwise.

Dayin tried not to look exasperated. He just didn't want to make himself look like an idiot. "I didn't—"

"Oh, ignore him," Chloe sighed as she threw an annoyed glance at Alexander. "He just likes to make everything awkward." Her brother shrugged his shoulders as he looked away, which meant that Chloe was right. She smiled apologetically at Dayin. "I'm sorry for the way we originally met."

Dayin tried not to make a face as he tried to remember his first encounter with her. It hit him that she was actually the one who'd told Ica off for trying to start a fight with Jensen when he'd first arrived at the school. "I, uh," he stammered, "it's okay. It's not your fault that they like to argue."

Chloe made a face but didn't further the conversation because as she opened her mouth to speak, the door behind Dayin banged open to allow Jensen, Finn, and Samantha in. Finn looked exasperated and Jensen looked like he was in a bad mood. Dayin wasn't entirely sure why until Ica and Max followed them in, Ica looking extremely pissed. Dayin wondered what had happened, but didn't dare ask.

"Ah, good, everyone's already here," Finn said, breaking up the awkward silence that had filled the room after Max shut quietly the door. He cleared his throat as he glanced at Ica, who was still quietly fuming. "So, as I'm sure everyone has been told, this is to be kept amongst ourselves," he said, with his grey gaze sweeping across everyone in the room. "We do not want to risk our safety, or Dayin's safety."