Ash and Carmine

Though they had almost nothing in common aside from their sire and their teleportation ability, Ash and Carmine often were seen together in their off-class hours. They didn't have even one common class, but maybe because of that, they were able to easily discuss what they'd been doing all day. Definitely the most chatty of the bunch would be Carmine, whose speech pattern was hopped up on caffiene and sugar and was so dramatically unlike her sisters that they often wondered if she was even one of them. Of course, she was, she just had to get her point across as soon as possible, and to others without telepathy that meant rushing things.

Between the two of them - and Cobalt truth be told - they could take a pile of garbage and junk and turn it into any number of things. If it could be built, and was of any use, Ash would design and build it. An engineer through and through, but not just one designing small items such as primative versions of the flitters she'd eventually get from someone else, but on up to large buildings ... or mech suits. Cobalt and Ash conspired often about that subject. Perhaps they could work with Amethyst to put in targeting and Carmine for the weapons... Of course they could!

Heck there was even a class for it.

But they weren't taking it, only Cobalt, anyway.

If Speculative Engineering wasn't enough for Ash to beat into submission with her skill, her Technical Writing course went by in a breeze. She had the benefit of not actually being one of those people to whom English was utterly nonsense or communication was difficult. She enjoyed the challenge of making something sound like it could be done by anyone who could read. This was most likely because any of her non-technical sisters might ask, "... but how do you put it together, in English this time?" Since half the time she'd have come off of Charybdis' Technical Languages class with a buzz in her head that made her want to create.

Or destroy - because that fabulous combination of Tactical Video Gaming (which she enjoyed for the sheer fun of playing video games for two hours every other day) and Property Damage Issues made her head buzz too. She took things she'd learned from Ramrod in the Property Damage class and applied it to the last class on her schedule, Dungeon Crawl was way more fun when you had siege machinery.

Though she passed it with flying colors, her Business Math was merely a distraction for Ash. It wasn't really that she stayed away from the numbers, numbers were the source of her talents. It was just... meh, boring! She didn't need to learn accounting, but there wasn't much else that period that had much to do with what she needed.

The Archaeology class she took was intriguing because they got to go to certain dig sites and see first hand what ancient people made, and if people made it, she could make it.

And then Carmine could weaponize it. At least that's what they always liked to say. There was very little about Carmine's schedule that wasn't about attacking something in some way. She was very focused, was what the grade councelor told the group's sponsor. What that meant was 'already set in a career path' and didn't much need to worry about piddly things like passing classes.

The only place that Carmine has a bit of trouble is her Speech class which she shares with Opal and Violet. It didn't much matter how many times she tried to slow down, she just speeds up. Ms Prescott suggested once, that she become an auctioneer. Then again, Prescott was impressed with her ability to recall dates and events for her Multiplanar History class, so perhaps all wasn't totally lost on the girl.

Carmine's eerie red eyes took in everything they could from the Caroline clone in charge of the Chaos Geometry class, because it was all kinds of awesome. Fractals and ballistics and ... yeah. Just plain fun, as was her Fun With Physics class. How aptly named, she thought. Momentum was her very, very best friend.

Because Carmine had a very strong healing factor, and was convinced that she needed to know such things, her Pain Compliance class involved her being shot by her fellow students, since she healed from it rapidly it wasn't much of a deal for her. Of course they made everyone sign waivers in order to attend the class and not get the school sued...

She had something in common therefore with Dominique Talshoy, the Current Affairs professor. She had the same kind of ability, but Carmine didn't have the same kind of scars that Dominique kept. Letting off some steam, the Paintball phys ed class was just a riot. Generally she would be made to stay in the bunker and use the sniper rifle because she was just too good a shot with just about everything else - they wanted to give people a chance, since that particular weapon had a long reload time. She offered to improve it, but Tony Axemurderer was able to convince her that the school could just keep the same equipment and once more, not worry about being sued by an angry parent.

Then there was the midday Dragon Riding course. If anything could have made Carmine put down her guns, it would be a dragon.

Ash and she chatted about that too. What if she could make a dragon? Or just... aid a dragon with extras? Cybernetic dragons weren't unheard of, not common apparently but they were definitely around. Heck there were undead dragons, so why not? (Their friends were often quite jealous - "you get to go back to a world that has a real life zombie invasion!? AWESOME!")

Ash had seen some students around with the little organic flitters helping them out, and decided to try making one for herself. It didn't quite work, and was way too heavy, but it was a start. When she heard about one particular place offering them up for trade in goods, she jumped at it. There were plenty of things she'd made that did work, and she dumped a whole bunch of those little doodads on the manufacturer. In return... a good number of inert little steam-powered critters.

Ratchet and Trigger got along well, though both of them show traits extremely similar to their keepers: Ratchet often would be found hoarding little screws or cast off bits of metal, and Trigger, well let's say its aim was impeccable.

Would a living dragon wish to bond one of these girls? Well, they both hoped so. And if not... they would be able to make one...

***

Evocation Zone and Tengerk are radically different than what the girls may have expected, but both suit their personalities and needs quite well.

Evocation Zone!