How to Kill 101

Lily continued to watch the group of annoyances from afar. She hated loud people with a passion. Oh well, it just meant that she would just have to get under their skin. Quite literally in fact. Lily didn't care much about killing or death, she was a controlled person, she wouldn't go insane if someone made her angry. Which meant, she needed to be open with a closed door. Warm and friendly, but mysterious as well.

Looking up at one of the teachers, she began to rack her brain of the best way to annoy him. Her thoughts suddenly stopped and went to a different direction. Lily was becoming impatient, when would the groupings be decided? This is getting ridiculous. She thought.

Twenty minutes left of orientation. Hands clapped together to silence the masses. Conrad was already focused and didn't have to crane his neck around to see the Maestro. A hush fell over the crowd. The entire auditorium became quiet, so very still, that one could hear a mouse scampering behind the walls. It was unnerving.

The Maestro was suddenly quite serious, his mannerisms calm and precise as he laced his fingers upon the podium. Something about his twirly mustache had changed - it was now the epitome of badass. Sort of. The Maestro was still a rather strange looking character, but he was no longer a man who was prone to abusing his power. He was maintaining an air of professionalism, the same stoic attitude with which he had murdered two freshmen. He looked straight at Conrad as he spoke. "It has been lovely meeting you all. And entertaining you of course. The Sweepers have done a fine job of disposing the bodies and cleaning up the blood, wouldn't you say? Give them a hand."

Then his eyes fell upon Gregory Parisii. "I would like to draw your attention to our lovely faction co-ordinator, Lucinda Blackletter. She will be assigning you all to your factions. Listen well. Or else, hmm?" His eyes flickered to Riley Cromwell. Then his gaze shifted to Maxwell Sonrico. Suddenly his attention fell upon Marie Rochefort. A heavy silence.

The Maestro looked over at Serene Lily and chuckled before walking off the stage, vanishing in a blast--a smokescreen bomb.

Blackletter twirled a curl of her hair around her index finger as she walked up to the podium. There was a sudden crack. Conrad thought it sounded like a gunshot. In reality, it was Blackletter chewing gum. Blue raspberry by the looks of it. She sighed and without so much as a transition, began naming names: "Cromwell, Riley - The Elite Faction; Crusan, Abellio - The Elite Faction... Jenkins, Leroy - The Damned Faction; Lily, Serene - The Slayers Faction... Parisii, Gregory - The Slayers Faction... Rochefort, Marie - The Damned Faction; Russell, Conrad - The Damned Faction; Sonrico, Maxwell - The Elite Faction..."

This went on a while longer until Blackletter snapped her book of names shut. She mumbled to herself for a moment before announcing, "This year's faction leaders... For The Elite, Étienne Éxupery; For The Slayers, Lu Xun Boyue; For The Damned, Arthur Hastings. Have fun, darlings."

Conrad rose from his seat, noticing everyone else having done the same. There was a sudden wave of students heading for the west exit. Presumeably they were all off to their next class. For Conrad, that would be Poisons with Lu Xun Boyue. At least his first class of the day (and today only) was with someone relatively nice. Still, that stunt he'd pulled earlier with Marie was etched in the forefront of his mind.

Conrad shook his head and waited for the crowd to dissipate before moving onward. Everything from last night was slowly coming back to him. He'd hacked into the main site again and dug up some info on the inner workings of AdM. While they were in class, each and every student would be monitored like a hawk. Grades weren't necessarily based on a success or fail rate of the current subject. Behavior patterns were taken into account and so was social standing amongst peers. The more notorious you were, the worse. Well, that made sense. The point of being an assassin was to maintain a low profile.

Yet in this ridiculous school set-up, cliques were bound to form and one had to deal with instant gratification and hormones and drama--Conrad was relieved that he was already done and through with his high school years. He'd know what to expect, and he'd take a few punches to make it through this not-so-new setting. Actually, he might not have to deal with drama. At least, not public drama. They'd kill anyone caught sucking face. Of course, love wasn't the only source of heightened emotions and stupid impulses.

He rubbed his temples and wondered if there really was a guy named Leroy Jenkins here...

Great, poisons....with the not-so-bad teacher. Gregory turned toward the exit, and sighed out of annoyance. The classic massive traffic jam of students. How delightful. He realized something, that being, this was a school of assassins, everyone was focused on class, if a few people had already teamed up in a pact, then they could easily kill someone in this mob and get away with it, provided they were really tactful about it.

Sure, the chances were unlikely, improbable, even, but it was better to be alive than dead. Gregory slowly worked his way out of the mob. It probably would only be a few more minutes until he could, with relative safety, make it to the next class. He wanted no bloodshed on his person during his first day attending AdM.

As the crowd began to flood out of the grand auditorium doors, Marie slowly skipped up to Conrad, hands folded behind her back. "It was quite a mess we got in back there, huh? She leaned towards Conrad, hands still folded behind her back. "It's pretty funny how we were put into the same faction! This'll be interesting..."

She then glanced at the golden watch that was conveniently strapped around her wrist, "Oh, well I better get going, or I'll be late to poisons class!"

Marie then turned away from Conrad and exited the auditorium, most of the students had already left, so it wasn't much of a hassle.

Riley was looking in the other direction when the Maestro glanced at him, but he could feel the intensity of the gaze. He was lost in his thoughts about this new year--another year in which he had to survive. When Blackletter called his name for the Elite faction, he smiled. As if I'd end up anywhere else; it was where I was last year and this year shall be the same. He sighed and stood up. I suppose I should get to class.

As the students began to file out, one curious newcomer dared to glance at Riley thinking that he was quite beautiful. However, the newcomer blinked once and Riley had vanished.



Riley stood outside of the Poisons classroom leaning against the wall nonchalantly. He had taken the road less traveled: sidewalks, secret hallways, trees, walls, ceilings, and more, but he arrived before everyone else which was all that mattered. However, the boy found himself quite bored again. "Poison. Such a deadly substance. It has me quite curious about lunch. At least I should get a laugh at all of those freshmen fools gulping it down as if there was nothing wrong with it; there isn't, of course, except for one plate....," he spoke aloud in a nostalgic voice. He was kinda happy that the new year had started. It was pretty much luck of the draw last year until Riley had learned countermeasures.

I still remember when I went out and bought all of those hamsters to test my food for me! Riley thought and giggled. Boyue got a laugh out of that too, if I remember correctly. He said I was doing it all wrong. Did I unintentionally manipulate him to help improve my poison detection? Oh well. I wonder if he's actually going to teach countermeasures first this year or if he's going to jump straight into uses. Damn him for being so unpredictable...

The entire time Gregory walked, he had weapons at the ready. He assumed that everyday this year the school's competitive atmosphere would have this effect on him. Although the students who'd left the auditorium in a swarm were far off, any of them could be hiding behind a corner, ready to kill anyone dumb enough to lag behind. Figures. Hm, if some people here are actually prone to making out in an auditorium full of assassins, then they may be vulnerable to intimidation tactics as well.

It wouldn't due to choose something particularly exuberant. If he did make a kill, he didn't want all eyes on him about it. The ability to frame someone would be immeasurably valuable here. Gregory believed he would have to learn the art of putting others on the spot if he wanted to be doubly successful in his efforts to be rid of the competition. If I could have the majority of the school believe someone else had performed the act...planting evidence...I could potentially take down two birds with one stone, maybe more, if I can determine who is friends with whom. He looked out a window, while depending on his sense of hearing to detect any out-of-place sounds.

The entire time he had glanced around, no one was present. Ironically, he felt he was being watched at all times. It's an assassin's school, there's always someone watching someone. Even if that isn't the case for me, such a place could inspire paranoia in most everyone's first year. After a rather vigilant stroll behind the mob of students, he had finally arrived at his destination. Great. Poisons. Maybe I can learn how to make mine a little more potent so the opponents dies even faster... Gregory smiled subtly at the thought of someone unknowingly dying from a painless poison surging through their veins, and suddenly collapsing on the ground when they were to deal the final blow to him.

Hopefully, that would never be the case. Although, one can only hope in a school like this.

The layout of AdM was quite simple in spite of the elegant architecture. The Renaissance-inspired buildings were constructed of high-quality materials, the work of a master craftsman. One could tell that the structures were beginning to show their age, yet the fact that they were still standing said a lot. --the dormitories were all to the south of campus. To the west of the auditorium were all of the classrooms. Beyond that was the track field and even a rose garden - no one knew who tended to the flowers. To the east were recreational facilities and the cafeteria. And finally, to the north, there was a heavily guarded barracks, the entrance blocked by belts of chains. Rumor has it that the padlock was rigged to explode when tampered with, so picking the lock was out of the question.

Conrad paused outside of his Poisons class. The door must've been unlocked and yet everyone was standing around, presumably waiting for the teacher. He knew patience was a virtue, but he didn't like being a sitting duck. He was about to reach for the door knob when something caught his eye. A faint gleam of something liquid-like was coating the door. "What are you waiting for!" someone shoved Conrad aside and grabbed the door knob.

Big mistake. Conrad watched in horror as the boy started screaming about his hand being on fire. The guy ran off in search for a water fountain or something. He hesitated but approached the door again, wondering what sort of poison that was. "Oh, that? Chili extract. Isolated capsaicin to be exact. It's nothing lethal, but it stings like a--Class started two minutes ago, didn't it? Excuse me, dude!"

Boyue hummed and pulled out a handkerchief, opening the door with the cloth. The strange teacher hurried into the classroom and began writing something on the chalkboard, most likely his name.

Conrad walked inside and stared at the bottles and vials on Boyue's desk. It was like sophomore chemistry all over again, except that screwing up could potentially kill you. Well, the chances of it were more likely than the standard counterpart. He took a seat and stared at the lab materials before him. There was some sort of chopped up root prepared and a pair of tweezers at every desk.

"As it is the first day, I thought we'd start with something harmless yet entertaining. Class, we're going to learn how to cause food poisoning. Isn't this exciting! ...yeah, no. It's not. Blame the Maestro for watering down my curriculum. Bleh. Maybe I'll sneak in something cooler after we're done."

Conrad stared warily at the single component that could supposedly cause an upset stomach. He prayed that someone sane would sit next to him. "Rochefort, there's a seat by the window. Go on. I think you need some fresh air. Parisii, sit by that dude over there. The carrot top. Riley-kins, you get a spot up front. Uh, let's see... Actually, I don't care where you guys sit. I was just trying to remember names."

You failed epicly at remembering mine, sir. Very funny.

What an odd teacher...at least the class will be interesting as a result. At least he gave me an excuse to get acquainted with the doomed...carrot top? God, I hope that doesn't stick. Gregory took the seat designated by Boyue, even though he had the free will to chose any other. His excuse? He was too lazy to pick out his own, and Boyue presented him a lax suggestion.

A first glance made the carrot top-styled boy seem out of place in a school like this. He didn't seem like assassin material. A second and a third glance bore the same results. Disinterested, he looked out a window nonchalantly, and then continued on to looking board. His gaze then took in the vials of poison. His best friends, of course, if an accident happened to occur, they could become his worst nightmare. I love this place...kind of.

I guess it might be best to do what this.... Teacher.... Says. Oh whatever! I like window seats anyway! Marie smiled as she walked over to her seat; she quietly inspected her seat for potential traps, liquids, and .... Bombs.

Once she sat down, she was surprised, the seat was quite comfortable. He remembered my name, that's nice... She glanced around the room, large vials of dangerous-looking liquids were placed upon Boyue's desk. The sun was actually shining outside, too. It was a surprise to Marie.

It's a shame, actually! I wanted to sit next to carrot top, or whatever his name is. Oh well, I like my seat, so that's fine... Marie quickly glanced at Conrad; then focused on her insane teacher, Boyue.

Lily said nothing when the Poisons teacher spouted out seats at the students, then nonchalantly cast his own ideas aside as if they never happened. Lily couldn't help but smirk, she liked this teacher. This guy is a complete nut...I like him. She thought to herself. Lily walked up to the girl Boyue called Rochefort and sat down next to her. The other seats were already taken, and Lily didn't give a damn who she sat next to.

"There's going to be a party in hell, and I'm going to be there." Lily muttered to herself. "I wonder when lunch is."

With one look at the psychopathic girl, Lily shook her head and kept her thoughts to herself. Honestly, if this girl ends up being an assassin, I'll cut off my tongue...or not.

The day was already quite interesting now. Two people dead in the auditorium and one wounded from a poison that was obviously going to be on the doorknob of the Poisons classroom. Irony, perhaps? Regardless, as soon as no threats were present, Riley entered the room along with everyone else. Names were called for seating arrangements, but Riley knew Boyue too well to know that he would not stick with them. Nevertheless, she decided to take her seat right up front. She felt that she learned more when she sat in the front.

Looking at the ingredients in front of her, she knew this was going to be easy. Looks like countermeasures will have to be saved for later; luckily I already know them. She glanced around the classroom at the newcomers. It's a shame that they don't. Oh well. I guess he never taught us how to upset another person's stomach. That would have made for a great prank. Instead, we had to resort to using a poison to set one's liver on fire. I wonder why it was just the liver that was affected? I can't remember....maybe it had something to do with the liver's chemical makeup or something of the sort. Looks like I have some reviewing to do.

Riley sighed and looked longingly out the window. She was growing weary as she grew more adept at being an assassin. She couldn't help but miss the normality of her old school no matter how idiotic those people could be. The reason had to be that this school life was now becoming her new normality. What a shame, for it had been so exciting last year. Now, the friends she had made were now dead and she was all alone. I guess it serves them right for not being adequate enough to perform their tasks with efficiency, she thought gloomily, her gaze becoming blank as the sun became reflected in them.

Maxwell inspected the poisons room for seating positions he could take up that would make him comfortable in the classroom. Since his first subject was already sitting next to a rather comical person of the sorts, Maxwell took it upon himself to sit next to another subject he'd been observing. He had already gathered that the pink-haired person's named was Riley Cromwell and judging from the information he's gathered he had calculated that the person was at least not a freshman. He could not pinpoint the exact year but it did not matter to him. The seat he had taken was at the front, he was always comfortable with that position as it was.

Maxwell then put his right elbow on the table in front of him, curled his fingers into a loose fist and rested his right cheek in the fist he had made.Judging from the looks of the person next to me I could gather that whatever the gender on this person is, that it uses its looks to convert people into puppets. A skill I'm not quite fond of. yet again, I now know that the major I've been assigned to is being a janitor. This is quite degrading if I might say so myself. Maxwell then decided it was fit to observe both Riley and the boy he met that seemed to respond to the name of Gregory. So Maxwell sat concentrating on his new teacher's every action.

Boyue turned his back to the classroom and began writing instructions upon the board. He included a few diagrams, showing off his dazzling drawing skills as he did so. There was a picture of the original plant prior to preparation, a long scraggly looking thing that resembled the mythical mandragora. Above the picture, Boyue wrote out the name of the plant: Gurglerot.

Conrad stared at the name and wondered if that was really what it was called. He shook his head and read over the instructions. He stared. And stared some more. And then some. Conrad raised his hand. "Yeah, dude? Oh! Let me guess, you're wondering why the steps branch off. Well~! Consider this your first pop-quiz. Obviously there are multiple choices you can make while preparing this poison. Whoever creates it the most accurately gets full marks; everyone else gets graded on a curve."

Trial and error, was it? And more competition encouragement? Conrad let out a sigh and stared at the chopped up Gurglerot bits.

1. Pour the prepared Gurglerot into the mortar.
2a. Grind the Gurglerot into a thin paste. 2b. Mash the Gurglerot and strain the juices. 2c. Skin the Gurglerot.
3. Add water.
4a. Pour 3/4s of the solution into the vial. 4b. Pour all of the solution into the vial. 4c. Pour 1/5 of the solution into the vial.
5a. Cap the vial and shake it until it changes color. 5b. Cap the vial and heat the solution until it changes color.
6. Clean up.

Conrad turned to his lab partner. He noted, "The first step is easy enough, but what do you suggest we do next? ...it reminds me of a visual novel."

Marie investigated the materials in front of her. On her desk was a contraption used to grind, strain, and skin the Gurglerot, a vial of water, solution, and a bunsen burner.

"Hi there, I think I'm your lab partner!" Marie cheered at Lily as she slowly poured the prepared Gurglerot into the mortar in front of her.

"What do you suggest we do first?" She heartily asked.

Gregory looked through the three options. 2c was obviously wrong, therefore, there were two choices left. Fifty-fifty. He looked at the next numbered steps with care. "Looks like...2b is a good choice. Yeah. Let's do that. Gregory continued looking through the following procedure options to predict the best answers ahead of time. Hm....this is kind of fun...I hope someone suffers due to a mistake. That'd be borderline hilarious.

Gregory looked around with hope that someone made a potentially lethal mistake. Although, since it was the first day, that was going to be highly unlikely. What kind of teacher would kill off his or her students on the first day? His attention was once again paid to the task at hand.

Maxwell scanned through the instructions and knowing through his information on Riley, he knew this person was his lab partner and in so doing so he began following the instructions. If Riley's really a senior to my current class, then she'd might help me if I get anything wrong. But this will depend on if he actually wishes to put out the heart and effort to even care about my existence. Can't make assumptions anyway.

Lily gave Marie a smile, she didn't seem hostile towards other girls, it seems. She looked up at the board, examining the instructions. "I think 2b would be a good choice. It sounds like something you're supposed to do with herbs, so why not this?"

"What do you think? I'm no good with poison stuff anyway." Lily asked.

"I agree, 2b sounds like a safe route to travel... Oh, wait one second, kay?" Marie pulled a black hairband out of her pocket. She quickly tied her long, red hair back; it probably wouldn't be good if she got it all mixed up with the chemicals.

"Okay, there we go!" Marie flung her hair behind her head and onto her back. "So, what did 2b say again?" She looked at the instructions written on the board once more, "'Mash the Gurglerot and strain the juices'" She repeated as she read off the instructions.

"Yup, it sounds right to me!" Marie cheered.

"I'll do it then." Lily said. She took the mortar of Gurglerot and began to mash it with a mashing tool. (xD) Her hair never got in her way, it was always pulled back into a ponytail. Rarely did she ever let her hair run smooth on her back. It just didn't suit her style.

After some time, Lily finished and placed the mortar down gently. "What's next? Add water...Okay, so where's the water then?"

Looking around their desk, Marie discovered a beaker of water near the far left corner of their desk. "AHA! There it is!" She heartily cheered as she stretched her body over the table, she grabbed the water and returned to her seat.

"I guess I'll do this step, then!" She cheered once more and began to excitedly pour the water into the Gurglerot mixture.

"Hmmm... Step four. What do you think about this one?"

"I'm pretty sure this one is c. A and b look like it's putting in too much, there might be a bad reaction if we put in too much." Lily said, measuring out the Gurglerot mixture into fifths and pouring the required amount into the vial.

"All that's left is to cap it and either..shake it or heat it." Lily frowned, looking at the instructions. "What do you think? Heating it seems a bit...dangerous."

"I agree. Heating it might be a bad idea, incase Boyue decided to place some kind of destructively flammable material inside of the Gurglerot..." Marie commented as she scanned the table for the vial's cap. After a few seconds of searching, she located it. She then grabbed the vial and easily capped it.

After shaking it up, the vial turned into an ominous color. "I-I assume that this means... We're finished?"

Lily looked at the odd color, and frowned. It was rather strange to see a plant change color from contact with water. But she wasn't going to question it. Lily wasn't a Chemist.

"I guess that's it. Let's get to cleaning up then." She said, starting to sop up the extra juices with a damp rag.

Riley yawned and gazed indifferently at the creature beside him. His gaze then went back to the board. Too bad we didn't go over this last year. At least I did pick up some things. He glanced at the instructions once more before consulting his partner.

"Well, hello there," he said pleasantly, his voice as thick and sweet as honey. "My name is Riley Cromwell, as you may have figured out. You certainly don't look like an idiot, so I'm not going to treat you like one. Now, don't get your hopes up pal; we didn't do this last year." He looked over the instructions...again. It was fairly easy to figure out what the first choice was, but he wasn't about to reveal it. He would test his partner's intelligence for real. "So, what do you think about number 2, eh?" he asked his partner as he prepared the Gurglerot.

Straining the root bits didn't sit well with Conrad. There was a mortar and pestle for a reason. It seemed odd to neglect the tools. Then again, with a pure extract, perhaps the poison would be more potent. Conrad considered the two choices they'd narrowed it down to and finally decided, "I think we should try something different. Let's mix the stuff into a paste." Without waiting for a confirmation, Conrad took it upon himself to create the paste. He ground up the bits and pieces of Gurglerot and coughed as a few fumes wafted in the air. He was beginning to feel queasy.

Conrad didn't dare hand the nasty paste to his partner; no one should have to suffer through such a foul stench. Quickly he added the water and let out a sigh of relief as the smell faded away. He stared at the black goop and wondered how much they needed. 1/5 didn't seem like nearly enough and 3/4 sounded the most plausible. Yet something about the two didn't strike Conrad as quite right. "Waste not, want not."

Conrad glanced over to his left and saw a young woman take a seat. She was a blonde yet not very bubbly as per the stereotype. She was rather pale, almost ashen in complexion, and wore but a simple white dress.

"Quinn, so good of you to join us. Were it not for the grace period, you know I'd have to deduct points due to your tardiness." Boyue clicked his tongue impatiently and waved her off dismissively.

The girl known as Quinn bowed her head and murmured, "I apologize. My summer assignment took longer than the Maestro had anticipated. The Sweepers required some assistance during the aftermath. ...I shall catch up."

Conrad heard a few whistles and rolled his eyes. Hadn't those boys seen the couple from earlier get shot? No, of course not. A pretty face was enough to induce amnesia. He returned to his lab experiment and prodded at the black goop. "I say we use all of it." It must've been the girl's words influencing his decision. She could have just as easily been lying, but Conrad was willing to bet that she was a prideful sort, and wouldn't have given him the wrong information.