ic Circumference of Hi [OPEN]

[John Doe]

16 February, 2018. Lunchtime. Claremont Academy, Cafeteria.

 

Tony's stuff had already arrived, but he himself had not. He looked up at the Main Entrance, and then down to the map. He had to get to administration to sign in. Carrying a few large rucksacks on his back and and a couple of rolling carryons behind him, he didn't seemed phased at all. He could feel the other students eyes on him as he walked through the Main Quad on the way to the Administration Building. He'd felt it before in normal school. Being the big guy meant you were dumb or a target by smaller people trying to prove themselves. Or both. So he waded through, looking at the map.

 

Though he hadn't eaten lunch yet. He was quite hungry. Maybe the cafeteria had some snacks. He was pretty sure that he couldn't get lunch until he signed on the dotted line. So he went to the cafeteria. Head still down, but the map was gone. He reached inside his pocket to pull out some money. Luckily there was an exchange at the airport. He eyed the egg sandwich and dropped some money in the vending machine.

[BlazingCoconut]

SFX

SFX had just picked up an orange and two pieces of bread.  It was a large lunch for her, but she was hungry today.  She frankly envied all of the other students with their boundless appetites and their furnace metabolisms.  However, in the end, it didn't matter too much, she wasn't here for the food no matter how good it was, but for the learning.  She grazed through the cafeteria trying to figure out if she maybe she wanted something else.  When nothing jumped out, she headed for the seating area.

 

Straightening out her white blouse, she looked across the room to see if anyone she knew was there.

 

Yet before she could get very far, she noticed a student which she hadn't seen before.  He was big and still carrying all of his luggage.as it looked like he was fumbling for money.

 

Walking over to him she flashed a smile, "you don't need that here."  Then looking down to his pocket, "the money.  You don't have to pay.  It's all included."

 

 

Edited February 17, 2018 by BlazingCoconut

[John Doe]

He looked at the girl. She was smaller than usual. He put his wallet back in his coat, thick one with a hood that was pulled back, it matched his brown slacks and loafers. "Uh huh," he said nodding, still looking at the machine. "Thanks," he said punching the numbers. He was not sure if this was OK. He hadn't actually signed in the institution. Picking up the sandwich, he looked around for a place to sit. The girl, who he knew not, would probably know more than him. "I, uh, I'm Tony," he wasn't sure a handshake was proper, but he reached out his hand anyway.

[BlazingCoconut]

Taking his hand, she let him shake hers.  Like many of the people at school, her hand disappeared into his and she had to look up to see his face.  

 

"Nice to meet you Tony, I'm Alexa.  I take it you're new here?  I haven't seen you around before..." she paused, then tapped the side of her head, "...good memory.  So it's pretty much a sure thing."

 

She walked over to a table, knowing the lunch crowd would be coming in soon enough.  Sitting down, she smoothed out her skirt, being as modest as she could.  While lots of her classmates liked pants and leggings, she had been raised to wear skirts in school and it just didn't feel right to do anything else.  Pointing to some of the many food stations in the cafeteria she explained, "so yeah, you can get pretty much anything you want any time you want it.  Omelettes, sandwiches, burgers, pasta, sushi... I mean they really do it all.  It's good too.  I mean not like my mom's Won Ton's good, but close enough.  So where are you from?"

[TheAbsurdist]

And then there was Corinne, who had pulled away a bit, after the incident.  Though she returned to the scene of the crime like it was no big thang, like a chicken wing.

 

Of course, she had to show up, given the sheer amount of food she had to eat.  She also bucked the uniform every chance she got.  Because it was ugly, and it wasn't her colors.  So instead, she had on worn jeans, with holes at the knees, as she wore a big black hoodie with teal and white octopus design, along with stars.  As per usual she had a mound of food on her tray, and she stopped, looking at the mountainous, if nominally human seeming Tony, and also the little milquetoast geek, Zhu?  Alex?  Something.  Her eyes heavy lidded, but still brilliantly blue, her shock of blonde hair slicked back from her recent shower.

"Hm."

[John Doe]

He nodded when Alexa mentioned her not seeing him before. "Yeah, I just arrived today. Some of my stuff was shipped here yesterday. I'm from Toronto." He kept making small talk as they went to the table. He nodded along as she talked about the food. "Well, um, I'm not officially signed in. I was was on my way to the Administration Building when I got a little hungry. I thought there would be vending machines. And there were. So," he opened his egg sandwich. "I hope I don't get in trouble."

 

As Corinne passed by he couldn't help but notice her. She was pretty. And she was acknowledging him, or maybe Alexa. "Oh hi," he said with weak voice and a wave at the passerby. He really hoped that didn't look dumb. That plate looked like what he'd eat though. And judging from her height and him sitting they were almost the same size.

[BlazingCoconut]

"Nah, it's okay.  Look don't worry, there normally aren't.  I'm sure it's just someone's science project," she said with a sly grin that she hoped she hid well.  "I mean, it's probably just the biproducts of something from bio."

 

As she was talking to him, she giggled as he ogled Corrine, "hey Corine.  Care to join us?  I think that Tony would love to say hi."

 

Then quietly to the large man, "you should close your mouth... she is pretty" with humor in her voice.

[John Doe]

Tony blushed, looking down and closing his mouth to chew his sandwich. He looked over to his stuff. His ears had perked at the science project. "I'm a bit of a... science person myself," he couldn't speak right with Corinne there. He probably sounded dumb as he looked right now. Pulling out a small piece of curved metal. He sat it on the table. He fixed his gaze on it. "This is a boomerang," he pulled a cartridge out of the sack and put it in a small hole in the boomerang, "this is an unpatented chemical reaction," the boomerang began to float and spin. "I I made it myself." He did hope Alexa and Corinne were impressed.

[TheAbsurdist]

"Who is not deaf."

She said it softly, looking haughty, her voice aloof as she artfully arched her brow.  Sniffing diffidently, she looked, seeking out the other one?  Rev?  Cyber-b****.  "Hello Tony.  I am Corinne."  And she then slide smoothly into a seat, with a whole crapload of grace.  She set her tray down, filled with a quadruple helping of what the main dish was.  Enchiladas.  She liked enchiladas, she tucking her legs carefully as she started to tear into her food then, pausing to drink whatever it was she had.

Corinne didn't have any makeup or earrings on, and she wasn't trying to vamp the large kid staring at her.  "S'fine.  Apparently they already know.  I mean, wouldn't you?  Considering all the motley miscreants that meander through here?"  She said, before another bite, and a thoughtful chew.

[EternalPhoenix]

As if on cue, a motley miscreant made her abrupt appearance. With a platter so full of food it looked like it outweighed the tiny girl. Yes, this was Mona Simms. Her eyes were glued on the spinning boomerang. “Ooh, cool.” Her tone was carelessly reverent. “It spins.” And her eyes flicked up and down the very large man who’d unleashed it. “You are the tallest person I’ve ever seen.”  Mona could be strikingly blunt. Or tactless. Depended on who was describing her. "Probably the biggest, too." Food vanished from her platter. "I'm Mona. Hi."

[BlazingCoconut]

Alexa often forgot that Rev and Corine didn't get along at all.  Zhu had a hard time realizing that anyone wouldn't love the carefree Rev, but the weeks of relative cold shoulders when Rev was around was certainly enough to let her know that Corine was one of them.  For herself, Zhu did not hold grudges and was more than a little shy of confrontation.  So it was nice that Corine sat down with her and Tony, especially given his obvious interest.

 

"It's good to see you Corine," she said, "...and nice use of alliteration."

 

However, Tony was in the process of showing off one of his toys, which she inspected carefully.  Looking at the mechanism and the reagents with her nanites she nodded at the design.  As she was about to say something another girl stepped up to the table, "have a seat Mona, we just sat down.  Tony is new."

 

Turning to Tony she continued, "we'll probably have some of the same classes I'd think, so I'll probably see a lot of you."

 

 

[John Doe]

Another one. Shorter than Alexa. And about as hungry as him. The school would make for some serious height differences. Not that he wasn't used to it, but it seemed everyone here was short or tall. He nodded when Mona noted it's spin. "To put it simply, it's orbiting itself, it's not perpetual motion, but it can spin for a very long time. I have several experimental boomerangs. Patents are something i would like." He stopped to look around at everyone staring at him ranting while he was staring at the boomerang. "Uh yeah, sorry about that. Hello, Mona." He was silent for a moment, trying to get the right words, "and Corinne." He hung his head again, pulling out the cartridge and putting it and the boomerang away.

 

"That's nice, Alexa," he nodded, pulling out a thick sheath of notes, "I do enjoy building things. Want to see the schematics on what you just saw?"

[TheAbsurdist]

"I slipped an Ambien into her food.  So she'll slow down.  Somewhat."  Corinne's tone was droll, as she was still working on her mound o'enchilada.  Once it was done, however, she turned and rose, going to place her tray away, and she returned with an iced coffee, moving to sit back down in the sea she had said.  Absently, she curled her free hand into a gesture to let her rake her hair back as she looked at her.

"We all have the same classes, this is high school."  The superbrains tended to lord over the dummies of the rest of the school at times with their special classes.  Even if, yanno, they all needed math, and history, and all of that simple stuff to graduate.  She had been there in the meetings with her folks, and Amir. Corinne had not been a fan over this, but she was sort of adapting, and at least she could dance and paint and do other things.

Like now, she was reeling from a post workout sort of high that helped her not bristle over Alexa and Moana.  Though she was generally not one to bite someone being all flirty, or flustered around her.  Not that she was going to be cruel to the guy, but she had her priorities worked out, for her.

[EternalPhoenix]

“Neat.” Mona…didn’t sit down. In fact, outside of class, nobody in school was sure if she ever sat down. Or stood still, for that matter. The girl was in near constant motion, which would conveniently explain why she ate so much. Her overloaded (but rapidly being depleted) platter did suddenly appear on the table, however, and that thick sheaf of notes was just as suddenly in Mona’s hands. The pages blurred, and then they were back in Tony’s hands as if they’d never left. “I don’t understand any of that.” She shrugged. “S’okay. I understand what I need to.” Corinne’s comment left her confused, though. “Why would you do that, Cori? You know I don’t like slowing down.”

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Frostbyte

 

With graduation not far away Cathy thought it worth doing something important, so she volunteered to greet the new student arriving. But she'd been a little distracted with an early morning snuggle with her girlfriend and was running a little late.

 

Having apparently missed the new student at the door, and in a near panic, she tried the first place she'd expected them to go. Luckily they apparently thought first with there stomachs as well.

 

"Hello there I'm Cathy Clouston I'm your student guide." when nervous her accent was thick, her powerless controlled in this situation chilled the air around them

 

"I see you've made some friend already? Pleased to meet all as always."

 

She'd seen the others around but being so focused on the craziness that they seemed to attract she hadn't spent any time getting to know them.

[John Doe]

He nodded when Mona mentioned that the boomerang math was above her level. "It happens," he mumbled. He was used to people taking his things, but he never got them back in one piece at least. The whole 'big guy is a target' thing from normal school.

 

He'd wondered if he was missing something. It did seem off that no one was there to greet him. But he thought maybe they wanted him to find it himself. "Hello, Cathy," he had an accent of a different kind, but maybe not as strong as hers. He stood up some of the bric-a-brac he had taken out of his rucksack falling down to the floor. He cringed as he heard the sound. Looking at the stuff and the people at the table, he wondered if this could get anymore awkward. It probably would. "I, uh, sorry about that." He looked to Cathy again, reaching out a hand, "I'm Anthony Maurice Edwards the third. You can call me Tony."

[Tiffany Korta]

Frostbyte

 

"No worries at all, I was running a little late myself." Cathy smiled at young Tony "Lots of thing to show you here at Claremont, but I guess we've got the time to eat first."

 

Cathy went to grab something for herself as well, running late included not eating as well, but something occurred to her before she went off.

 

"Do you want some time to get to know your new friend? I can always come and get after you've finished eating."

 

Making new friends at a place could be difficult, especially with the equivalent of the management getting in the way.

[BlazingCoconut]

SFX

Zhu waved at Cathy as she sat down.  She had seen the other girl on campus, that was pretty much a given for any students as the school was small.  However, they had yet to meet.  "Hello Cathy, I think we might share an English class, but it's nice to finally talk to you."

 

She slid over a bit to let her do her duties which put her closer to Corinne, "how is your dancing coming along?  I haven't seen a whole lot of you over the past few weeks..."

 

Somehow, Corrine and her had gotten off to a bad start.  She had a feeling it was in a large part due to Rev telling her off on their first day here, but she wasn't totally certain.  In fact, if there was someone who Rev's natural charm and charisma didn't work on, it was definitely Corrine.  Zhu really wanted to get around that, but considering that they didn't see each other often, that was easier said than done.

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne was jaded to some aspects, admittedly, before here she was a cut throat performance arts school, where everyone was 'going to be the next [blank]'.  Bullying happened, because there was competition.  And Corinne was a target, because she was kind of a loner, and she was very good, though sometimes didn't really emotionally connect to the audience.  Even the dance school here comments on it, and she was a bit flustered.  Shaking her head a little bit, she blinked back to now.  

"I was in detention and I am not in the 'brainy classes,' apparently."  Hers were a sharp retort, as Zhu pushed at her buttons without trying, giving her associate who had launched an offensive at her for being... offended at what Bestia said.  Because... she was... a pretty cheerleader type?  Or something?  B### could choke on John Hughes filmography.  It was safe to say that Corinne could grind an axe, even if she spoke in a languorous manner right now.  She looked from Tony to Zhu to Cathy.  Not minding that eyes were taken from her, not that she disliked attention.

She drank her coffee in small sips, as she tried to reign in her flickers of anger and such, given the path they led down.  "I mean, if you need to peel him away, it's okay.  We just met, and I am not exactly someone who can hide."

[John Doe]

It felt like forever. The people around here were so nice. Well, some of them. Corinne sure was pretty. Focus, he thought to himself. "Oh, yeah. I have a sandwich," he looked at the half-eaten thing, sitting back down while Cathy went to get something. "That's, um," he breathed in and spoke quickly, half looking at Corinne, "I can give you tutoring lessons In whatever you need. I'm pretty knowledgeable in what you need to know."

 

When the guide got back he was still at a loss for words. He nodded, "yeah. I can do that."

Edited March 5, 2018 by John Doe

[TheAbsurdist]

Normally Corinne might do something to show off, but then she did just eat a mountain of food.  She arched a brow as she watched his response, and she smiled a little bit, before she laughed at his fumbling as her head tilted a little.  "Hm.  Really?  Well..."  She paused and looked off the tide, amused.  She had gotten some attention this way, but a bit of normal in this place was... nice.  

 

Rolling her eyes, she looked back to him, "I mean, I am not working on differential calculus, or anything special.  I do well in my classes."  She smirked and laughed a little bit, hiding her mouth behind her feet hand, "But, if I need help, you'll be the first person I ask."  

[EternalPhoenix]

Mona has been silent for a while because Mona wasn’t physically there. She had gotten a little bored, and jogged over to Zurich to visit her favorite chocolate shop. They had the best stuff, and she did them a favor by charging up their generator/battery system with kinetic energy every time she stopped by. Hand cranking at Mach 13 will charge it up fast, yes indeed. But now, she was back. With Swiss chocolate. Mmm, chocolate. “School sucks. I have to be in one place for hours. I don’t like it.” Said the girl who’d just gone to Switzerland on a whim. “Classes, homework, tests. I don’t care. I know more about the world from being around it than is in your books, teacher.” Her conscience visibly caught up to her, resulting in a flash of embarrassment. “I mean, it’s okay for everyone else I guess.” She ducked behind her bangs. Her hair…should probably be cut. And yea gods did she ever dress sloppily. She did have quality sneakers, though.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Cathy couldn't help but feel a little awkward around the slightly younger students, she was never the popular kid and had spent her time are Claremont as one of its Misfits. But she'd been asked to do this and was going to do the best job that she could.

 

"If you wanted it shouldn't be hard to find you a room for a little study group if you wanted? The school likes to encourage students to organise and help themselves."

 

It might be a school, but it was also training for supers so helping people with team-ups was part of its job.

[John Doe]

Tony tried not to smile when Corinne 'accepted' his invitation. The smile was a bit weird, like it was unnatural for him to do. He hung his head again. "OK, ok," he sounded embarrassed, "just when you're ready."

 

He wiped the smile off of his face when Mona berated the learning institution. He didn't look at her, but thumbed through some notes. Still. "School works for some people," he said almost mumbled, "I mean who wouldn't want to go to one place where you can learn? It's like," he picked his eyes up to look at Mona and quickly looked at the papers again, "smart people fun?" He cleared his throat. That was supposed to be comedic, he didn't know how well it went.

 

He nodded in agreement with Cathy, "study groups. Those are good too."

Edited March 9, 2018 by John Doe

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne snorted a bit at Mona's antics, "Settle down Sonic," she demurred, and sipped at her coffee.  If arching an eyebrow was an artform, then Corinne was a neo-classical expression done by a master the way she elevated one with a small quirk, and then followed up from there to a full sweep.

 

"Might be easier if you sit, Cathy."  She was trying her best to embarrass her, or Tony, as the awkwardness was present.  Well Tony's was, as he intentionally was not looking at her, or trying to not smile like that, and Corinne could be a flaky seeming Bohemian, or an Imperial ranked b****.