The Butterfly Effect

Karma sat cross-legged on the seat, a silk black blindfold up across her forehead as she ran her fingers over the package Nolan had sent her. Simple instructions were sent along. 'Put This On. Open. Catch. Do Not Kill.'

Standing, she placed the package on the seat and carefully slid it open, stepping back immediately as the contents of the box erupted from the small confines and fluttered about the room. Karma blinked at the brightly colored insects moving about. There had to be at least twenty by her estimation, and they wouldn't stay still long enough for her to count.

Grinning, she slipped the blindfold over her eyes and went completely still. Her ears honed in on the slight movements of the wings, once she filtered through all the approaching footsteps and chatter. Moving fluidly, she reached out a hand and cupped a butterfly in one hand, slipping it back into the box, where it turned to paper.

It took only ten minutes, finding each one, and moving swiftly enough to catch them. Once there were twenty in the box, Karma froze. She could sense that she was missing one, though she couldn't figure out where, exactly it was. She took a deep breath through her nose, trying and failing to find the thing.

Unbeknownst to her, as she'd captured the other butterfly, one had come and landed on her blindfold, directly between her eyes. It opened and closed it's ice blue wings slowly, slow enough that the air was displaced, sounding farther away than it was.

She cocked her head to the side as the compartment door slid open, turning slightly toward the sound, the butterfly's wings opening once more to give the illusion of a mask with wings. Still once more, she waited for the person to identify themselves as she took another breath through her nose, taking in their scent.

Coyota stalked through the halls of the train, a look on her face that made sure everyone around her stayed a good four feet away. Today, she was especially pissed. Her aunts instructions on how to get her were vague at best, and she ended up just barely making it on board. Now, she had to trudge through every car to find an empty compartment. At least her paranoia had subsided for the day.

Finally, she caught sight of a compartment that looked empty, albeit a little odd, as it appeared to have a couple of butterflies inside it. Shooting a glare at a clump of first years, who promptly scuttled out of her way, Coyota managed to navigate her way to the room. Upon entering, she wasn't too surprised to find Karma standing in the center, blindfolded.

She stood at the door watching Karma, looking a little bored. "You have something on your face," She said apathetically, and sat down. After a few moments of looking around, she noticed that Nightmare was gone, "Where did your cat go?"

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" Karma teased lightly, raising a hand to gently stroke the butterfly she now knew was there. It's ice blue wings fluttered as she cupped the delicate insect in her hands, moving and placing it into the box. Tugging the blindfold up to her forehead once more, she waved to the girl, settling into the seat next to the box.

"Most of the time, you won't see Nightmare." Karma said easily, lounging across the seat. "She likes to be a shadow."

Coyota smirked and flopped onto a seat across from Karma, laughing softly, "It's what I'm known for." She brought her legs up underneath her so she was sitting cross-legged, and her smile faded a little as her eyes strayed to the window.

It wasn't the train that bothered her. Coyota liked trains. They were familiar, something she knew. What she was worried about was the school itself. She wasn't looking forward to having to acquaint herself to an entirely new place. With new secrets and new dangers.

The girl raised an eyebrow at the statement, "I'm not sure whether to find that reassuring or terrifying." For one thing, Nightmare had at one point pretty much saved her life, but then she was also an animal, and you can't predict animals.

Karma grinned, reaching for her knapsack and pulling it onto her lap. Slowly, she lowered the box of butterflies inside, unconcerned with the fact that it was too irregularly shaped to fit into the small leather thing. Once it was inside, Karma reached into her pocket, searching for a lollipop.

And coming up empty.

Frowning slightly, she reached into the other one, distressed to find it empty too. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the box, then a suitcase, two katanas, an empty box of chocolates, something that looked suspiciously like C4, a chess board, six gallons of paint from neon green and orange to cyan, four containers with something in them that looked suspiciously like raw meat, and a sniper rifle before she realized that she didn't have anymore candy.

Mouth pulling down into a straight line, Karma glared into her bag, a slight snarl flitting over her features as she waved her wand and all the things flew back into her bag.

Her eyes rose to Coyota, and it was almost like she was a different person entirely; cold, cut off, and angry.

"I'm out of candy." She stood slowly, her eyes lingering on the vein in Yota's throat before she turned from her, slamming the door open. The silence that met her as she stepped outside was only punctuated by the hasty slam of compartment doors as the humans shrank inside.

Smart creatures.

"You go that way. Find. Me. Some." Pointing toward the front of the train, Karma didn't even glance toward Yota again before disappearing in the other direction.

She hoped for the student's sakes that the trolley was on its way.

Coyota frowned as the girl began frantically searching through her things, rather unfazed by the things that were coming out of the bag and more concerned with what she could possibly be looking for.

Her frown only deepened as Karma's demeanor changed. What was going on?

When she heard the words coming out of the other girl's mouth, she didn't trust her ears, "...candy?" She gaped at Karma, far too surprised to actually be scared by her clearly threatening state.

Coyota began cluelessly walking through the hallway, talking to herself as the volume of the students around her turned back to its normal high, "Candy... Westerners are all the same, aren't they. They treat junk food like an addiction." Her short-lived laugh quickly faded away as she looked around her, and she realized she was all alone again in a crowded train.

That's when the panic really set in.