The Keeper Exams

Wildlife - Task Four

User: THGF1234

Name: Miles

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User: Fantasyfan456

Name: Hannah

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User: AvengingDemigod

Name: Maris Gold

Banquet. Fancy people. Dresses, yah I don't do dresses. The last time I went to a banquet it was to kill someone.
And I was disguised as a man.
"I don't wear dresses Drake!" I shouted. He waved his hand at me in a shut up motion and continued looking at the assortment of clothing around my room.
Dresses, shoes, necklaces, bracelets, purses.
"Which one do you like, we should chose one that compliments your wildlife apprenticeship."
"Speaking of one of the apprentices like me has a dog. Can I have a companion like her?"
"I suppose, we can't bring any outside animals those, you'd have to find one in the gardens." I jumped on my bed and pulled my legs into me.
"I want a tiger."
"Absolutely not," Drake said looking at me with appall.
"Fine you're no fun."
"I am plenty of fun, now dresses."
I groaned dramatically and Drake rolled his eyes. "You do that to much for me to care."
"I hate you."
"I hate you too Maris," Drake held up a puffy silk blue dress. "Hmm?" I shook my head rapidly and looked at the dresses. Each was of quality I had never even touched, how am I supposed to do this?
I ran my hand against the fine silk and stopped on an elegant strapless black dress, embroidered a large golden with dark purple laced scales dragon that twirled around the middle and faces out at the bust. I picked it up and saw on the bottom there was reflective flames.
"Was this made for me?" I asked. I kept staring at it in awe. It was beautiful.
"It might have been," Drake said. I looked at him. "You love dragons."
"Thank you," I hugged him. "This is amazing."
"You're welcome Maris. Now please hurry up and get in it, I shall help with hair and accessories."
"Were you a stylist in a past life?" I asked.
"Maybe," he stepped out of the room and I quickly pulled the dress on and spun around. The soft cloth rubbed against my legs and I smiled brightly. It was wrapped tightly around my waist, then billowed out at the waist, trailing on the ground but it looked so overtly elegant I almost cried. "You looked ravishing."
"Thanks Drake."
"Now here sit and let me do your hair quickly." I sat on the bed and he twirled my hair up in a loose bun, a few tendrils of purple hair framed my face. "Now for accessories." He pushed me to the desk and I looked at the glittering assortment of things on it.
"Gold necklace to accent the dress," he said. I lifted a golden chain with a large purple rock on it.
"How about this?" I asked twirling it.
"Excellent choice, the amethyst will complete the scales and here some gold and black bracelets." I put on the jewelry and then Drake helped me stand. 
 "I'm not wearing heels."
"Fine, here," he opened the wardrobe and handed me a pair of boots. "I had the dress made to cover any shoes. You could technically go barefoot if you wanted to." I tilted my head questioningly and he shook his. "You're not going barefoot."
"If I can't do it don't put the idea in my head."
"Before you head off you must chose a companion to attend the banquet as your guest."
"Do you want to come with me?" I asked.
"I can't. I have matters to attend to, as do many of the other trainers," I nodded in understanding and Drake put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "I'll work on finding you a tiger."
"Thanks," I tugged on the boots and waved. "I'm gonna go find someone to come with me, wish me luck."
"Anybody would enjoy being your guest," Drake said. I ducked through the hallways quietly. I sniffed the air and looked around. Even with the power dampeners I can smell people's scents. Drakes behind me, several apprentices, Hannah's dog.
I sniffed again and found Andreana's scent. I followed it and approached a door I assumed was hers, then knocked.
She opened it and I waved. "Hey ally."
"Gold," she smiled brightly. "Hey what's up?" She shoved her hair out of her face and looked like she stifled a yawn.
"You're not dressed?" I said looking over her. "Come on you have to get ready." I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into her room.
"Oh right, it completely skipped my mind," she said. Andreana sat at her desk and started brushing her hair, then pulled out a makeup kit. "Sorry this might take a while."
"Huh, I didn't do makeup," I shrugged away the thought. Who needs make up when you have this awesome dress.
Dress, right, Andreana needs one. "I'll be right back." I ran back to my room and grabbed all the extra dresses off my bed, then quickly sprinted back. "Here we go, your wardrobe was empty so I brought the ones Drake brought. Did your trainer not bring you clothes?"
She looked up at me. "They...were supposed to bring clothes?" Andreana was silent and then smiled lightly. "Well thank you." She stood up and avoided looking me in the eyes. She picked up an elegant yet plain green one and showed it to me. "Could I borrow this one?"
"Yah sure," I sat on her bed and crossed my legs. I wonder if she thought I looked stupid, Andreana the marvelous apprentice with her strange side-kick that looked nice but sat like a dude. "You're probably wondering why I'm being so nice huh? You seem like the kind of person that no offense would take niceness as an insult or a weakness."
She smiled. "My power is emotion, I can feel when you are being genuine. And....well...." She tensed a bit. "It's....kinda nice to have someone be nice to you. I like to believe it's genuine. Besides nice words don't really mean anything other than being nice. It's not like it's genuine." She smiled again as she looked at me. "Thanks for the dress though."
"Welcome," I scratched my arm and looked around. "It is genuine though, me being kind to you." Andreana glanced at me as she put on her dress. "We're gonna be stuck together for hopefully a long time, better to be nice then to be a jerk and risk getting stabbed in the back." I sat quietly as she changed and then laughed.
"What?"
"I have an idea, your power being emotion and all. When we meet people at this banquet thingy tonight you can use your power to get people to like us, use it to our advantage."
"I was already planning on it," she said with a smile. She sure smiles a lot. "Honestly it's the only advantage I have, why not use it?" Andreana's smile dropped and I looked at her curiously.
"What do you mean only advantage?" I asked with a small laugh. "You're Angel remember. An all around bad-ass. You've survived without your powers yah?" She was silent. "Andreana?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She paused. "Just practicing modesty for the banquet." She smiled again confidently.
Seriously what is it with her and smiling. Andreana didn't seem fine, but I didn't want to pressure her. Last time I did that she looked like she was going to kill me. "Well alright then, you look great. Anyways Drake said that we have to chose an escort and I was wondering, since I don't have any family or anything that could go with me, if you wanted to be my guest and I'll be yours." I felt my face turn red. Way to make it awkward Gold, geez you only have one ally don't muck it up.
"Sure I'll be your guest."
"Cool," I jumped back off the bed and handed her one of my golden bracelets. "Here now they know we're a team. Should we have a name." I spread my hands out in the air. "Angelic Dragons," I laughed. "Or how about socially accepted and socially awkward. Me being the socially awkward one."
God you probably sound so dumb Gold. You're supposed to be tough, scary, well controlled person, not a five year old on a sugar high.
"Team name?" She laughed. "I'm good for Angelic Dragons. But if we get another ally could we add another adjective on there?"
I shrugged. "Obviously. Should we make more allies?" I leaned against the wall. "Who though?" It was Andreana's turn to shrugged. "Maybe that Hannah girl, she has a dog and she's a wildlife like me but I dunno or what about Noah, the physical? Though I think he would rather stab us in the back then be an ally."
She spun around quick and I fought off the urge to jump back. "Not Noah." She said sharply. "He'll betray us before we even start. I like Hannah, she's got sass. We should invite her to join us."
"Right on," I looked out the door and then back at Andreana. "Anyone else?"
"Well Emerald seems loyal and I like the fire in Gwendolyn," she crossed her arms. "However, I don't know if they'll get along with people like you and me. I'm not even sure if Gwen will be in an alliance at all, she seems so bitter about the exams she'll probably brave it on her own." Andreana went quiet like she was thinking. "Emerald also seems a little...noble. She may disapprove of or somewhat merciless tactics, being assassins and all."
"Ehhh, who needs them," I said. I looked back out the door and saw Kate and Thomas walking down the hallway, followed by other fancily  dressed apprentices. "Well time to go, shall we?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," she said as we followed behind the crowd. We both kept our distance, myself analyzing the way they moved, the way some of them talked. We arrived in a large metalish room and Kate started to talk, in all honesty I tuned her out. Suddenly everyone gasped and I looked down at my left wrist to see a silver band forming around it. I suddenly felt weak and tried tugging the thing off. I looked at Andreana and saw she was doing the same, then suddenly we weren't in the room anymore, but in another large building, music playing faintly.
"Dammit no," Andreana hissed. "Looks like we'll have to manipulate them the old fashioned way with wit and charm."
Damn she was right. "Well there goes plan A huh?" I stopped tugging at the band and realized Kate and Thomas were talking again.
Enjoy yourself blah blah blah. Make friends blah blah blah. Going out based on apprenticeship blah blah belch.
"Stupid band," I cursed under my breath.
"The Emotion Apprentices!" A voice announced. I looked up and realized half of the people were gone. "Andreana Crew, Gwendolyn Latimer, and Emerald." There was loud applause and I patted Andreana's shoulder.
"Good luck and save me a seat."
Andreana took a deep breathe and then walked out. I waited silently until there were only a few apprentices left.
"Wildlife apprentices," the voice called. "Miles, Hannah, and Maris Gold."
The other two walked out with their pets, Macy and the wolf. Man I really want a pet, maybe Drake will keep his word on the tiger, or get me a cat or something. I walked out after them and spun around in my dress. There were murmurs of awe in the crowd and I bowed. Waving I took my place by Andreana and food appeared near us. "Oh yum," I whispered to Andreana. "I wonder if it's any better than our cafeteria food?"
"Probably," she whispers back. "Tonight's the night they put on a show after all." A few of the apprentices looked at us. Andreana looked angry.
"Something I learned from watching the other emotions, they tend not to control their tempers well. If that's the case with you, then please try not to start fights," I said. "We both may not have powers but we are formidable without them. I prefer not having to kill anybody cause you jumped at Kate."
"I can control my temper," she said calmly. "And while I can be angry, I won't jump on anyone, honestly, Gold, I've controlled myself thus far, why do you doubt me?"
I looked at my lap. "Sorry, sorry, it was just observing the others- I'm going to go and talk to others, I'll meet up with you later yah?" I stood up quickly and walked away.
Good freaking job Gold I cursed at myself. What did I just say about mucking up the only ally/friendship you had down here. I was suddenly whisked away by random people;  shaking hands, taking compliments and wishings of good luck. I kept looking back at Andreana, hoping she wasn't too mad at me, and looking for potential allies.
Suddenly music begins playing and an apprentice offered his hand to me. "Who me?" I asked. He nodded. He was kind of cute, pale blue eyes and dark black hair. I wonder what power he had. I felt like a puppet as we danced around, magic seemed to be controlling my movements as well as this boys. I smiled. "My name is Maris Gold."
"I'm Roman, a psychic apprentice."
I nodded. "Psychic, huh? Cool."
"And you?"
"Wildlife, I would gladly give you a demonstration of my power but ah," I glanced at the bands around our wrists.
I laughed. "Yeah, that's a bummer." Roman looked at my hair. "Sorry," he smirked. "Just wondering, is there a story to the color?"
I shrugged. "There are too many blond assassins out there. Last month it was blue, keeping it changed, keeps the police from finding you. What about you any secrets?"
He smirked. "Not really, aside from the family problems and the fact that I have dreams that can wake me up screaming like a baby, I'm cool." He laughed.
"Wow weaknesses right off the bat," I said questioningly. "I was wondering dancing boy, why did you extend your hand to me?"
"You won't be able to hurt me with that information. Although I must say, you're pretty good." He stopped for a moment. "And why wouldn't I want to dance with you?" I raised an eyebrow in response. "Laugh a little, ok? It's the hair that caught my eye. I'm glad you accepted though."
I smiled lightly. "For your information, I happen to laugh a lot," we continued dancing and I wrapped my arms around his neck. "And another tidbit, I can use anything to hurt you."
"There you go," he dipped me. "When we are actually in the exams, I can use my powers, and then I'll be in your head." He pulled me back up. "I'm always two steps ahead of you."
"Well then, speaking of the exams. I was wondering if you'd like to ally yourself with me and my friend Andreana." I pointed at my spinning blond ally. 
"Sorry, I've already got my own team. But if it's any consolation, I really hope I don't have to kill you." Roman smiled. The music ended and Roman kissed me on the cheek. "Pleasure dancing with you." He gave a small wave and walked away, leaving me staring at the wall. At the end of the dancing Andreana moved over to me. "Well that was interesting."
I took a few deep breaths. "Yah that was exhausting. Are you still mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad at you. You don't need worry yourself to much."
"Okay good, well now that that's done I believe that during the dance I might have made, not an ally, but someone who won't try and kill us right off the bat, what about you. You danced with Noah didn't you?"
"Perhaps," she said glancing in his direction. "I'm still not sure though...what I wouldn't give to have my powers right now, or I could have picked him apart and seen who he really is..."
She trailed off and I snapped my fingers. "Well I danced with that guy Roman, and from the looks of it the two of them might already be a team. Superalliance," I looked around and saw more food. "I'm hungry, are you hungry?" I put my hands at my sides and smiled childishly as I realized my dress has pockets. "Pockets!" I practically squealed. "Thank God I had no idea what to do with my hands." I walked back to the food and listened to Andreana laughing behind me. "Shut it!" I put some cookies on a plate and saw star-grapes at the end of the table, then handed Andreana one. "Eat it."
"Why?" She asks laughing. "It's just a grape."
I shook my head quickly. "No no it's not just a grape. It is life giving, eat eat please?" I ate one quickly and took the plate of cookies back to the table.
I look back at her and I nearly dropped the plate as laughter over took me. "See I told you," I said to her surprised face. "Life giving." She nodded and I kept laughing. "How many of these do you think I can fit in my pockets?" I ask as I walk back over. "They also grow in the wildlife training room, so whenever you want more just ask."
"I just might do that sometime," she said.  I walked down the food tables, wrapping munchables in napkins and stuffing them in my pockets. "Are you sure you want to do that?" I looked back and nodded, another star-grape in my mouth.
"There's a table over there," I said pointing at a small abandoned table. "Do you want to go sit over there away from all this?" I asked gesturing at the people.
"I'd like nothing more than that," she said with a small chuckle. We walked over to the table, as soon as we sat Kate began talking again and I continued to tune her out focusing on my cookies and star-grapes.
"I've enjoyed my time as a Keeper," she says, that simple sentence catching my attention.
I forgot.
I forgot at the end of all this, the exams, the training. Kate was going to die. I bowed my head in respect and set down my cookie to listen to the end of her speech. She looks over at me and Andreana. I wanted to avert my eyes, but I hoped that they showed my regrets and my sorrow for what was going to happen to her. I wondered how a person could do that, continue living so peacefully, as she knew she was leading a group of children to her death.
Andreana's stomach rumbled and I quickly rubbed my eyes to wipe away any stray tears. "Star-grape?" I ask holding up a napkin wrapped bundle.
"No," she said simply. I looked at her cheeks and saw they were just as wet as mine.
"This is a screwed up system huh?" I said putting the fruit back in my pocket. "Let's make a deal Blondie if you're down for it." I held up my hand. "If either of us wins, we end this. No more exams, no more dying. If it takes slamming that medallion into millions of pieces, then we do it." I realized I had suddenly lost my childish personality, the assassin was leaking out again. Let it come out, was never trying to hide it. Exams are close anyone, might as well let everyone know I'm a force to be reckoned with and with Andreana as my ally, we are certain to kick ass.
She wiped her face slowly. "Deal," she shook my hand firmly and nodded. Andreana picked up her glass and smiled lightly. "To rebellion?"
I lifted mine. "To rebellion."