ic Assemble!

[angrydurf]

Kam remained almost too still in the face of the sudden noise, long training not to let such things show overcompensating for even a normal start at a loud noise.  But for the scant glance at the door one might think he'd somehow not heard it at all.  He smiled lightly at Janus response, "I think it would take a very foolish individual to think such action was prudent." he agreed with a laugh, "If anything I have learned in my studies fo your families histories it would be that you are at you're most dangerous when captured."  he teased lightly referring to the now archaic serials of their famed families exploits.

 

"I do wonder what they feel the need to cover here and now that couldn't be included in the literature." he mused quietly as if it did not occur to him that some might not have commited the materials to memory.  He focused on the front of the room awaiting what might be revealed.

[SpicyWaffle]

Black Rabbit

 

"It's the new student smell, right? Totally gave me away," replied Tom with a wry smile and halfhearted sarcasm, still hiding behind the cheap facade of an angst-ridden American teen from television. He'd watched off-and-on as Danica made her way to the back row of the seats he and Monica had taken up residence, but hadn't actually realized she was heading their way given her own pokey momentum. But that was neither here nor there; now Tom had two new people to talk to! Growing dread aside for the pending assembly, today was shaping up to be a pretty awesome first day of school, and was going much, much better than he'd anticipated.

 

Now he just had to not screw it up.

 

"I'm Tom," said the newfound Claremont attendee as he greeted Danica with a practiced but nonetheless charmingly lazy wave, trying his best to keep his raw excitement bottled up at the prospect of a potential new friend. "Nice to meetcha, Danica. How about you? First day at Claremont, too?"

[Electra]

"No, I've been here two years, but they were both freshman years so I'm a sophomore now," Danica explained cheerfully, settling down into her seat as though it didn't quite sit right against her back. "Before that I was at Nicholson for awhile too. "I'm so excited that I can maybe do driver's ed this year if I can talk my parents into it! I've wanted to learn to drive for ages, but they keep saying I have to wait till I'm older. Where are you from?" she asked, switching tracks without so much as a pause for breath. 

[SpicyWaffle]

Black Rabbit

 

"I'm from a small little town in Iowa. You've probably never heard of it," Tom said, every bit the pretender as he recited the lies AEGIS had instructed him on with a sort of practiced nuance, though he had to admit he hadn't seen Danica's question coming given the rest of her ramblings. He needed to change gears, but that was hardly going to deter him from his chance at finally being social!

 

"Guess we're in the same year. That's cool," he added, giving a casual nod to the still-anonymous-Monica beside him. "And so's she, I think. We were just talking about the assembly. They have these things often?"

[Heritage]

A pretty young redhead nervously entered the assembly hall; Lulu Beaumont wore a lot of denim, most of it either pink or black, and she clutched a small denim purse and a bookbag like her life depended on them. There we so many different kinds of people in here, like turning a corner to find out you were in Disneyworld! For a few seconds, her senses were overwhelmed as she picked up all matter of thoughts and conversations in different languages, forcing Lulu to close her eyes and push them all out.

 

But then she picked up a thread of conversation in a more familiar tone of voice, and she followed it to pair of young women in grey hoodies, sitting next to a very cute boy who looked interesting.

 

"Ah'm sorry, is this seat taken," she asked as she approached Judy from the other side. She waved a hand absent-mindedly by her ear. "Ah just, happened to hear a little Dixie, and thought ah'd introduce myself! Lulu Beaumont, from Alabama." The girl offered a gracious handshake, and appeared relieved to have something in common with someone. "Pleasure to meet you!" 

[Azuth65]

Selena yawned as she trudged towards the auditorium for the begining of year assembly.  'Note to self,' she mentaly chidded herself, 'Shut the tablet off at midnight.'

 

Finally reaching the doors, just as a redhead slipped inside she mentally reach out and held the door open just long enough to slip in behind the girl.  Scanning the crowd she saw the seats were starting to get a little full.  Taking the easiest option she adjusted her messenger bag and grabbed the seat next to the girl she had followed in, catching her introding herself.  "Hey, sorry to bother but you guys mind if grab this seat?  The hall's getting kinda full," she asked, a little nervous as she indicated the last chair next to Lulu.

[RocketLord]

Forever Boy

 

"No, no, its not rude at all. I've gotten quite a bit of different reactions to it. And apparently there's several stories in this world that seems to be based on Neverworld." Pan shrugged at the last bit. He honestly didn't know how he felt about that quite yet. He had only learned about it the day before, after all. "I don't know if I would call Neverworld "nice" exactly, but every day was an adventure, at least. We had flying ships, pixies and mermaids. Cyborgs and pirates, or even pirate cyborgs. I'd love to tell you more and hear about your world, but perhaps after the assembly?" Pan motioned to Lulu and the other girl that joined them, settling in the seats next to Judy. Pan smiled at them, doing a quick wave. So many new faces, so many new friends-to-be. "Hello, I'm Pan. Nice to meet you both. Are you new as well?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Ashley did some calculations in her head as Lulu took the seat on the other side of Pan, flush against the side of the gym wall herself. Dammit - I knew I should have made Jaycee sit on this side. But she begged to be near the other kids! 

 

"Hi Lulu, Ah'm Judy, this is mah sister Ashley," said Judy with a beauty queen smile sent Lulu's way. She did indeed have a Southern accent, though not one from Lulu's immediate neck of the woods. Ashley didn't smile, though - Ashley glared at Lulu like she'd sat on her dog. "Pan was just telling us about the other world he's from - that sounds so cool!" she enthused. "Mah home world isn't nearly that cool," she said, smiling brightly. "So you're from Alabama? What part?" 

[alderwitch]

Janus' smile was sudden but brilliant; their laugh quick and easy and rising above the ambient chatter for a moment. "Well, that part remains true, absolutely. Nothing quite like a Danger's collateral damage on their way out." Janus chuckled again, giving Veronica a sideways smile to include her in the discussion of their family. Relaxing back onto their slightly uncomfortable seat on the bleachers, Janus crossed one booted leg over the other, nudging the small satchel off to one side as they turned their attention to Kam's question, "Oh, any number of things plus they might want to see the entire student body in one place to get a read on what interactions are forming up. Plus, when its a person making an announcement, they can add a force of personality to it. I imagine there's going to be some reinforcement of the rules for the campus."

 

Janus tipped their head to one side, pink hair shifting with the gesture to brush the hem of their bejeweled jacket as they considered the possibilities with shrewd intelligence. "At home, they'd gather all the new squires and pages into groups and have them do some camaraderie building exercises to prepare for future battles but Aunt Rachel tells me that its not entirely that sort of school."

 

The taller Danger absolutely sounded disappointed about that.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole pushed her way past the double doors and into the auditorium holding in one hand a newly filled thermos of caffeine goodness. There was sleeping at a sane hour, there was sleeping at a late hour, and there was not sleeping at all. She hadn't meant to, not a darned way, but nobody with ears could sleep to viking metal playing on the bed a few feet away. That's what she told herself anyway but her textbook was engrossing by itself and she had lost track of time.

 

Her head throbbed as the auditorium lights flashed bright, unwelcome in its stark whiteness and conversation thrummed through the student body around her. Her fingers found her temples and slowly rubbed circles along them as she looked around her. Faces and names popped out at her and she saw a few of the new students - those on the fourth floor with her, mainly -- who she had gotten to know. Then she saw Zenith at the back and groaned.

 

Smart move. Great place. Horribly strung up person.

 

Corrine was fine. Zenith... would probably start coloring like abstract art was going out of style at the drop of a hat. But what the hell.

 

She tipped her thermos straight up for liquid energy. Then she drove to Zenith's side. "Hi Zenith," she said carefully. "So, new year? Pretty exciting isn't it?"

 

Before Zenith could (or even would) respond, Nicole brought her thermos to her lips.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Thevshi]

Veronica

 

Veronica smiled broadly as well at Kam's playful teasing and nodded in agreement with Janus' response.  As the conversation turned to what could be covered during the assembly, Veronica nodded in agreement with several of the possibilities listed by her cousin.  

 

"There is also the possibility that there have been some sort of recent changes that were not able to be included in the printed materials soon enough."  She added.  "And of course, it is also very likely that any sort of welcome speech, or speeches, could be more for motivational purposes, rather than just providing or reinforcing information.  I sort of expect it will be something of a combination of the two."

[Heritage]

"Hi, y'all!" Lulu grinned and waved at everyone as she took a seat, before turning her attention back to Judy. "Well, ah'm from a small town in southeastern Alabama called Columbia? It's on the Chattahoochee River, right by the border of Georgia and Florida." She shrugged. "It's sort of a 'blink-and-miss-it' river town, but it's home." The redheaded squinted as she tried place the other girl's dialect. "Ah want to say...Texas? Or Oklahoma? Ah'm usually pretty good, with accents."

 

Lulu casually pulled out her phone and began to check her social media.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Heritage

[Azuth65]

Selena took her seat and rummaged around in her bag for a few seconds to pull out a notebook and a pen.  "Is it bad that I'm somewhat glad that at this school 'I'm from Puerto Rico' doesn't always automatically mean I'm the furthest from home?" she asked the interdimensional students she was seated by as she flipped through page after page of scribbled notes, none of which, from what anyone looking could tell, had anything to do with school work.

 

"Crap, sorry, I'm bad about introductions," she apologized to her neighbors with an embarrassed look, "My name's Selena Kwon."

[RocketLord]

Alabama and Puerto Rico? Pan had never heard of these places, but it sounded like they were far away from here. The names were so different from a name like Freedom City, and with far less telling names. He wondered if the names meant anything, in the same way as Freedom City obviously did. 

 

Pan waved off Selena's apology. It really wasn't needed, as far as he was concerned. He was much more interested in hearing more about Alabama, Puerto Rica and the world that Judy and Ashley were from. "So, what about your world, Judy? And Alabama and Puerto Rico? I haven't heard anything about these places. What are they like?" His curiosity was getting the better of him, but he didn't really think much about it. He had all but forgotten the reason that he was even at this assembly.

[Azuth65]

"Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean Sea, a US territory that should have been made a state by now but that's besides the point.  Lots of sun, some gorgeous architecture leaning heavily towards the Spanish styles, not a surprise given it used to be a Spanish colony, and good surfing if you know the right spots," the young woman answered.

 

"So, cyborg pirates?  Sounds like your world would make for one heck of a setting for a sci-fi series.  Did you have robot ninjas?  Please tell me there were robot ninjas," she added with a smile.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Things aren't like they are here," growled Ashley. "Wouldn't like it." 

 

"Yes, um, Ah don't really like to talk about it," said Judy, reaching up to run her fingers through her long hair. "Ah've been to Alabama, though, it's nice," she said, pronouncing nice as 'nahce.' "That was the first place I ever had soul food, that was so good! And you, Selena, I bet you miss Puerto Rico when it's winter up here. I heard it gets real cold!" 

[Tiffany Korta]

White Lioness

Looking around it appeared that there was an order and a place that people wanted to sit, it was something that she'd need to note for next time. In her defence, she had spent more time the other side of the whole crowd/speaker dynamic.

 

Not that she was really upset by the whole thing, to her this was still very exciting even if it was probably fairly mundane to many of those here. Still, she wasn't one that was used to waiting for any length of time.

"I wonder how long before we start?" she mused out loud.

[Cubismo]

Ms Thursday

 

Astrid couldn't help herself. "Pfff. I don't know the kind of people you've meet but not trusting someone because they know card tricks sounds just as reasonable as thinking someone's a witch because they know how to use herbs." She didn't mean to be harsh about it, but that kind of illogic had gotten her and her friends in trouble more times than she'd care to remember just because they enjoyed heavy metal music. It was ridiculous and it always made Astrid a little peeved. She signed and tried to relax again, staring off for a bit at nothing in particular. "Alright, that might have been a bit much but I hope you get my point." Thinking that this one of those moments where you had to look someone in eyes to make sure they knew you were being serious Astrid did just that. "I know I literally just meet you but I got a feeling that you're pretty trustworthy."  

Edited September 14, 2018 by Cubismo

[TheAbsurdist]

She turned her head towards the big opening of Astrid, her body shaking with a snort, or a short laugh, or something.  There was no sound, and she remained with her legs cross, and her hands folded in her lap.  Of course, Nicole got Zenith's eyes on her, well less eyes and the apertures pouring out light that functioned as eyes for the multi-hued teen.  Slowly she tilted her head, a brow arching artfully as she regarded her semi nemesis.

"Hello Nicole."  It was no surprise her voice was as unsubtle as her.  A crashing, semi-cacophonous chorus that coalesced into crystalline clarity, Zenith spoke imperiously from her iron rod backed posture, despite her seating position.  If there was animosity it wasn't showing, though as if to prove Salvo's silent point, Zenith moved a hand from her lap, and started to play through the air, her fingers sinking into reality itself as if it was fluid, and she pulled something out to toy with.  A coruscating white light, looking similar to digital artifacting, surrounded her hand before she was holding a piece of stone in the rough shape of a coin in it, which she started to fiddle with, rolling it about.

 

"Or they make us wait as a stress test, they love their tests.  Especially ones you don't know fully grasp the consequences."   She did not want to be here, likely this specific location.  Her display was ostentatious, Nicole had seen a bored Zenith do so much more, though the contact had her sweeping her gaze over the people in turn.  Her scrutiny was easily remarked, like she was trying to work out people, and their mechanisms, even as she responded to the princess.  Not that she knew who she was.

[angrydurf]

Nodding thoughtfully Kam considered the replies.  "I had been under the impression the Headmistress was rather more circumspect in her efforts,"  he suggested with a shrug, "But point taken there are certainly benefits to a more personal approach than a pamphlet."  the hidden prince agreed.  "I think perhaps there are more similarities than your aunt may give credit for if not so much on the surface."  

 

He glanced back over his shoulder at the restless crowd of students and the murmurs with a hint of a smile, "It seems some are impatient to find out more however."  he noted at his sisters musings and faced forward once more, "Perhaps that too is intentional."  he agreed with some of the rumblings of discontent form further afield.

 

 

[KnightDisciple]

Micah's seat wasn't right next to Tom, but at this point it was close enough that with all the people there, he was kind of noticeable too. He had to work to not look too much at the one-woman-rave a few feet over; the colors and light hurt his eyes a bit and felt like they'd give him a headache. The kind that led to things getting blown around and soaked, in the worst way possible. But it would be impolite to move, so he just didn't stare too long.

 

And then Danica came up, and while he'd opened his mouth to try and actually start a conversation, he closed it, unsure exactly how to jump in. It felt rude just to jump in! 

[alderwitch]

"We have benches to sit on, and no one has demanded silence or parade posture. I can happily sit and chit-chat all day," Janus offered, amusement deepening the accent that curled around their words. They weren't having to stand in parade formation, or wait on an endless stream of dignitaries. Americans, Janus thought not for the first time, were a rather impatient lot. Relaxing their posture to wait comfortably for however long it might take, Janus nudged Kam a bit with their shoulder as the gems adorning their jacket caught and refracted the light Zenith threw off in an array of second-hand sparkles. "My mother's court can last all afternoon and well into the evening when there's enough business at hand and punishment for chatting or dropping posture is much worse than a few laps around a track."

 

Janus' wink made it clear that they assumed that Kam could understand that sort of situation before nodding towards Veronica, "Though, you may be right, Kam. It might just be Aunt Rachel's wistful thinking that we'll be less trouble in Claremont than outside of it. Do you think so, Veronica? I could use the distraction, personally."

 

Veronica had likely noticed the restless energy that Janus had trouble dispelling without the routines they were used to, or even a trainer that could provide a suitable challenge for the swordsman. 

[Fox]

"That's...a lot of pressure!" Elizabeth laughed, flicking the clearly-stacked hand of cards back face-down into the deck. The deck went into its little box, the box went into her pocket, and that left her hands clasped together as she leaned with her elbows on her knees. "I solemnly swear that if we ever play cards I will only stack the deck sometimes, and only when it's really important, or when it's really funny." She was smiling, a twinkle in her eye that spelled only mischief. "Or when there's a lot of money on the table," she added. "I really make no promises about stacking the deck when the pot's really good, you know?"

[Jack]

Jack stretched and Fidgeted in place. He was beginning to feel more and more trapped the longer he had to be inside. Fortunately someone voiced what he was thinking. "Not long, I hope..." He responded to the lovely black girl (White Lioness) sitting not overly far away. He offered a polite wave to the unfamiliar girl, but he didn't slide closer right away, fearing that might seem imposing. He knew he was a big guy and some people were uncomfortable around him because of that. Knowing what he knew about his powers, he couldn't blame them. He was a predetor, and as such he gave off that kind of aura. Even normal people seemed affected by it. "Are you new here...?" Jack asked, hoping the girl was in a conversative mood, as he needed a distraction from the need to not be inside.

[Azuth65]

"You have no idea," Selena replied to Judy with a laugh, "First day it dropped into the low sixties outside I ended up buying so many hoodies, jeans, boots and even couple heavy coats.  Never mind when the snow hits.  I almost got one of the magically inclined boys from last year to enchant the brown coat, like the ones from Firefly, I bought with a 'climate control' spell so it'd be comfortable year round but he messed it up, accidentally turned himself into a girl for almost two weeks the first time he tested it.  We abandoned the project after that."