I'm thinking of dileing back Crona's stuttering. I meant for her to have one but its sort of gone from a subtle neurological anomaly from her schizophrenia to a full on speech impediment. I just thought I would mention it before theres any change.
Crona scarcely felt such excitement that wasn't overshadowed by crippling anxiety. It could be stated however that since her new life began the moments came far more often, but even still she found it hard not to be at least a little intimidated by the thought of what was to come the next day. As an understudy of her father she gained some notoriety in the scientific community for assisting the professor in the field of applied sudo-science and para-psychology, want to know if its possible to talk to dead people? Want to build a cyborg zombie pig? You talk to the Stien family first. Crona had been approached by her father with an opportunity to get in touch with her fellow lab rats and start a reputation for herself. Friday morning she stumbled into the study hall were Maka and soul were toiling away on some trivial school work. She had a toothy smile spread across her face. Soul recoiled when he looked up into her face, that smile usually meant danger but she only stood their trembling. Maka looked up with concern. "are you okay?" She stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "do you need to sit down? Did something happen?" Crona's expression calmed slightly "I'm- I'm fine I promise." "are you sure?" Maka ushered her to a seat. "everything's great." soul tilted his head "things that Crona would never say?" he went back to work. "professor Hawking is coming here! T-to the DWMA!" Crona said with amazement thick in her voice. "shhh" Maka shushed her with a finger to her lips. "lower your voice." "I'm s-sorry I'm just so exited." Maka nodded with a smile "I know and I'm happy for you. But who professor hawking?" Crona bit her lip here eyes became wide and dilated. "hes a phsyker, and hes the smartest person ever!" she exclaimed. "shhh" Maka shushed her again. "how do you know hes the smartest guy ever?" soul asked. "because h-he is!" she exclaimed "okay yeah, you got me convinced now." he started picking his teeth. "we'll why is he coming?" Maka asked still with a soft smile. "he wants to see my father and mothers science and rrrr-research program. If he likes what he seees he'll grant the school a sum of mony to put towards the science program." "really they put you in charger of that?" soul raised an eyebrow. Pain shot from the top of his head and down his spine when maka smacked him with her heavy leather bound book. He yelped in pain and sulked like a dog punished by its master. "that's great Crona." Maka smiled at her as she put her weapon of paper and ink back into her book bag. Across the re room Ox sat trying to study, but how could he with his two worst ememys in the room? Ox made the best grades over all and he even made it to three star miester befor maka and Crona but yet still professor Stien treated them as if they were the better students. And now to hear that Crona received such a high honer and he wasn't even considered for such made him burn from the inside out, his bald head red as a blood spattered soviet banner in a rose bush. He needed his revenge, he had to have satisfaction and it was in this fury that he formed a plan in that egg shaped head of his.
"welcome Professor Hawking..." crona looked into her bathroom mirror. She widend her smile "Welcome!..p-professor Hawking" she groaned. She took a deep breath "welcome professor hawking" "the hell are you doing?" soul asked in the door way. Crona was startled and shrieked "i-i was just -um practicing.." soul quietly stared at her for a moment and walked away "everyone in this town is weird but me.." Crona was silent she fidgeted for a moment "W-welcome p-p-professor Hawking, its nnnn-nice to meat you.." she silently looked herself in the mirror one last time "nailed it."
professor Stien and Crona stood at the entrance of the DWMA, Crona was nervous. Why was it that any time she wore her good cloths (the all white outfit) that she always ended up feeling this way? Stien didn't say anything like "well this is your big moment." or "just imagine him in his underwear." he knew that would only make it worse. He did however give her a firm hand on her shoulder as a sigh of support. There was a knock at the large wooden door, at that moment the air was so thick with tension you could cut the air with a chainsaw. Crona stepped forward. And put her hand on the nob and pulled, the door didn't open, she pulled again and again but the door still wouldn't open she jerked the nod but the door refused to budge. "Crona." her father said, she turned her head. "turn it." Maka stared at him with a question mark burning in her face "turn the nob." Crona registered the words in her nervous mind racing at a million miles an hour. "oh.." she turned the nob and opened the door. She was aw-struck. A somewhat shriveled elderly man in a wheelchair sat in front of the door, his hair was alike salt and pepper, the sag in his face only deepened the shadowy complexion of this sacred psychonaut. Crona forgot all of the words she had practiced. "don't worry, I didn't need help getting up the stares." she heard a voice, she didn't see him move his lips, he was unable to do such as he suffered complete paralysis. "wh- what?" Crona stammered taken aback by the voice. "I said I didn't need help getting up the stares. Do not concern yourself." Crona looked around, there was no one else around but him and behind him was the grand stairway leading to the entrance. "may I come in or do I have the wrong address?" the voice came once more. "yes..y-yes professor hawking. please right this way." she tried to squeeze out of the door so that she could push him inside. "don't worry I have it under control." his voice came. She stopped and backed away. His weal chair slowly rolled forward, its worth noting that the wheelchair was not electric or have any means of propulsion what so ever. He rolled up to Stien. "its nice to see you again Franken." he said to Stien his eyes glancing up to him, Stien smiled "good to see you Steven." "iv heard so much about you since the last time we spoke." Stien nodded "they say a lot about you as well." they both started down the hall. "THEY do talk a lot don't they." Crona looked out the door once more. "if he cant move..who knocked?" she shut the door and quickly started after them.
"unfortunately I have a lecture to give. But my daughter would be honerd to give you the tour of our facilities. Crona smiled, this was something people only dreamed about happening to her. "ill leav you guys to it." he smiled and turned to the classroom door and entered. Crona stood their silently, after a moment she realized that professor Hawking's eyes were pointed right at her. "well?" he said Crona shook her head "oh.. yes right this way." she staid as she began to shuffle down the hall.
In the darkness Ox ford moved through the Science and chemistry lab with purpos. He made his way to the back were they kept live specimens. Several tanks were full of poisonous snakes and lizard not commonly found under ones crawl space but rather in the darkest corners of the most twisted treelines.
Inside a one of the glass tanks sat a large wasp nest. Gently, oh ever so gently he pried off the lid of the tank and quietly set it aside. On the shelf next to the tank he gently put down a fog horn used for signaling boats, over the cap was a blinking device a makeshift remote trigger synced to a remote. Gently he made his way through the class and out a second door behind the desk at the front of the class. There were small windows to the other side which append to be a biology studys room. He silently lie in waiting watching out of the window. Havar was in front of the biology room door, he placed a "wet floor" sign in the hall and began to mop the hall, he watched and waited fro crona and the professor. Finally they came to the part of the hall. "here it is." Crona gestured to the series of doors before them. She looked over at Havar. "lets not track throgh his just mopped f-floor. Ill show you the chemistry lab first." "agreed." Hawking said. Crona opened the door and turned on the lights. "here we are, if you would like I can s-show you some of our work." "that would be fine." crona nodded to him and started across the room. Ox watched through the window, as soon as Crona entered the center of the room he pushed the button, at that moment the fog horn across the room sounded with one low pitched ear shattering note. Crona twitched being taken aback by the sound. Suddenly the room was full of the buzzing or an insect armada that swarmed from the wasp nest. "oh n-no ooh god r-run!" Crona threw her hands up and ran across the room an into a wall falling on her back. "oh dear." hawking looked around with his tired eyes, the air around him began to glow as a bubble of energy formed around him shielding him from the flood of wasps. Ox watch laughing hysterically filming the whole thing through the window. Crona stumbled up the window being stung repeatedly "i see you! I s-see you Ox! I'm reporting this!" she cringed as she was stung on the side of the face. "aaaah!" she crurled up in a ball and blacked out from the attack.
"Well at least he probly got detention for the next three months.." Maka said at Crona's bed side. Crona was awake and had recovered fast enough, however he moral was critically weekend. She didn't speak. "come on, Ox is a jerk, when he showed everyone the video no one thoght it was funny." soul passed by in the hall "and when she sais that she means that SHE didn't find it funny." Crona scowled at him from the bed. "I REALLY liked the part where you accidentally punched the paramedic in the face!" Maka threw a book at him but missed, he walked away laughing. "everyone is laughing at me and professor hawking declined on his offer. My dad trusted me and messed up.." Maka sat next to her on the bed. "professor Stien isn't mad at you, he shouldn't be, its not your fault." Crona covered her face. "but why doesn't that make me fee any better?" Maka sighed and leaned on the headboard "well..maybe you should..get him back." Crona looked up at Maka with a look of shock "Maka, d-do you suggest I..take revenge?" Maka shrugged "well..if its not going to hurt anyone I don't seethe problem." she thought of all the shitty things Ox had done in the past few years, the petty antics of a young intelligent man threatened by the intellect of his fellow students and to ignorant to relies that is why he despised them. "yeah, you know what someones needed to teach him a lesson.." Maka didn't feel to clean to admit that she sort of looked forward to helping Crona get him back. "do you really think this is what we should do?" Crona asked unsure of the morality of the endeavor. "if you want to I wont think any less of you." Crona nodded to her. "okay.."
Maka had left get grocery's she left Crona to heal and to think. She returned with an arm full of paper sacks. She sat them aside and opened the door and went inside, she was greeted by Crona who worked on something in the living room floor. Maka set they grocerys down and put them away. She came to the living room Crona was inspecting something round painted olive drab, it was about the size of a small hubcap. She came over and looked over her shoulder. "what have you got Crona?" Crona smiled, its how Im going to get Ox back. Maka looked at the stenciled yellow writing on the side of the object "really? What is it?" she asked curios. "its a land mine. I'm going to bury it in his front yard." Crona said proudly. "what?! Crona where did you get that?!". Crona fidgeted. "i bought it.." "where?!" Crona shrugged "well the land mine factory of cores.." she said as though it were obvious. "Crona put that away, we're not going to kill him." Crona looked surprised. "oh...OH! im s-sorry I totally misread what you were telling me then." Maka snatched the landmine from Crona's hand and walked across the room she opened the window and tossed it out the window like a frisbee, she dusted her hands. "honestly Crona you have the right spirit but lets try something nonlethal." there was an explosion outside as the mine hit the pavement of the parking lot bellow "my bike! Damnit not again the insurance company is never guna cover this!" soul yelled from his room. "now lets think of something that wont kill him." "what about a joy buzzer?" Crona sat and contemplated. "well we can do better than that. Like..doesn't you mom have like a million pet snakes?" "several sure." Crona nodded "and she wouldn't mind that you use them to terrorize people.." "right now wouldn't be a good time to ask her for anything stien's mother is in town and shes not a very h-happy c-camper, I mean shes not even a camper right now, campers make s'mores and hike trails to adventure.." Maka tilted her head "is it really that bad?" Crona shrugged "she tried to strangle Spirit with a boa constrictor last night." Maka rolled her eyes "in her defense he was probably asking for it." Crona shrugged "ill think of something." she assured Maka. "okay..just remember, less than lethal."
(the next day in the eat class.)
After the first bell rang the students of professor Stien filed in for the daily grind, today would be host to the normal advanced drilling possibly a timed dungeon crawl in the lower levels of the school. Crona sat in her usual spot along with Maka and soul. She fidgeted in anticipation of what was to come. It took little to convince Stien the night before to let her barrow his key to the school. Young Ox Ford had many conditions including a surprisingly violent allergy to the color peuse, he also had some sort of spinal alignment problem in which he could not sit in one spot for a long amount of time without some sort of cushion or he would suffer terrible lower back pain, for this he was accommodated with a cushion tied to his chair. Under this cushion Crona placed a pressure sensor she gutted from a stuffed animal she found at a yard sale the sensor connected to a wire discreetly run down the leg of his char to the metal basket under his seat used to store spare school suplys, in the basket she hid an air bag she nicked form spirits car, she covered the air bag with a pare of spare pants Ox had stored under his desk (and why he had an extra pair of pants at his desk I will not explain at risk of sounding like an asshole.) when pressure was detected by the sensor it would deploy the airbag sending Ox on a ten foot journey upward only to come crashing down on his greasy bald head. But as time went on Ox did not show up for class and Crona became worried. Kid entered the room with a special light in his expression as if everything were right in his world for a change, he came up to Crona and Maka with a bounce in his step. "wonderful news!" he said in a way reminiscent of his father. The others looked up at him with curiosity. "our fellow classmate Ox Ford has been transferred to Estonia to help alleviate the abundance of Kishen." the others didn't seem to understand the implications. "wait..so he's not going to be h-hear?" Crona asked. "hmm? Yes, Ox and Havar are gone forever, we'll likely never see them ever again." kid said with a smile ear to ear. Maka certainly didn't like Ox but seemed taken aback by the sudden change. "that's really something kid. But why are you so happy about it." kid seemed to grow with his confidence. "becaaaause.. Ox always had the perfect seat! It is in the very center of the first row! Now that ox is gone I have first dibs on his spot and I will now have the best seat in the house for my learning experience! Oooh I cant wait any longer the excitement is killing me!" he quicly turned and started swiftly to Ox's old desk. "k-kid no wait!" Crona stood "Crona whats wrong?" "its the seat. I-i-i" there was a loud explosion to the front of the class. It happened so fast and no one saw it as it happened on the sealing there was a Kid sized hole, standing under neath one could see through to the floor above and people staring down into the hole next to a battered and severely confused god child. Oxes spare pair of khaki pants fell to the ground below as smoke rose from the destroyed seat. Maka looked over to Crona "your sleeping on the couch tonight." she said with a displeased look on her face. Crona sighed and slammed her head into her desk.
"did you hear what happened to lord deaths kid?" they they heard as they walked down the hall, Crona was full of guilt for what happened, she should have never decided to take revenge and now she payed for it with the well being of her best friend. "yeah..who do you think did that?" their was a long pause in the conversation. Crona merely wanted to hear their speculation. "had to be ox.. you hear what he did to that crazy pink haired girl right?" "yeah..man that guy just doesn't know when to quit picking on people." Crona looked over at the nameless students from the NOT eat class. "that guy was a terd, maybe he'll stay in Estonia." Crona kept walking. She by chance ran into kid, he was fine but he had a nice little bandage on hi head. "kid, I'm sorry." she said lowly. "hmm? what for?" he looked surprised. "the air bag, it was me, I put it their for ox." she seemed deeply anxious about the whole thing "well. I wasn't expecting that." kid said, Maka looked on with just a Little bit of guilt for herself encouraging Crona to take such actions. "even though Maka specifically told me that no harm would come of it I should have let justice take its natural cores." Crona said and let out a deep breath, behind her Maka flushed a bright shade of red. "well Crona all is forgiven." kid assured her. "that guy did have it coming though.." he added somewhat lowly. they started down the hall. "Crona?" Maka said rife with frustration "y-yes?" "your still sleeping on the couch."