ic Three Hour Tour

[EternalPhoenix]

Freedom City. Claremont Academy. 8 AM. August 10, 2020

 

Chronia

 

A certain young (ish) woman was…kind of bored, actually. Who was she? What was she? When was she? Where was she? Why was she there? How did she get here? All very good questions. To answer them, she’d have to get her brain in gear and that sounded like effort. And as the world wasn’t currently interesting…nah.

People were talking. Mom. Aunt Serah. Someone with a weird seasonal name. No more talking, going somewhere. Oh, outside. Some good byes. Perfunctory thing, with no need for actual thought. And then she was alone. But not for long. She had caught a word or two about a guide or something.

[Nerdzul]

“Hey I didn’t know I had to dress in spandex around here to be noticed.” Luke chuckled as he waved at the strange, but definitely hot, blonde with the massive scythe (if she were a boy he would have definitely thought that she was compensating for something), the one whose glance had passed straight through him like he wasn’t there. 

 

‘I must not look like much to you am I right?’ He thought, just a kid from Southside. To be completely honest though, he did feel a bit out of place. Luke Landers at a school that looks like a freaking castle. The kind of place where the staff would be throwing worried glances at him and then count if the silverware was all there when he was gone. Then again, whatever. He was not gonna let himself be intimidated by a freaking school.

 

"You are not from Freedom City aren't you?" Although with superheroes one could never be sure. "I know... I know... I'm very perceptive." He chuckled again. “Name is Luke .” He smirked playfully as he introduced himself.

 

 “God this place has a ‘You are a wizard Harry’ kind of vibe don’t you think?”

Edited August 12, 2020 by Nerdzul

[secondling]

Legatus

 

Felix (he was becoming more comfortable with that name of late), had had a longer morning than usual. He'd woken up at 6 AM, as was normal for him, eaten breakfast, and begun his patrol over Freedom City. However, today of all days he'd come across a minor supervillain trying to break into a bank. It hadn't been much of a fight, but the aftermath had left him picking up the pieces of the ruined bank and talking with police officers and rescue workers. It was satisfying work, but still, not a good thing, given that he'd been tapped for guiding a couple of new students around the campus.

 

Thus, it was about five minutes after eight that he soared into his dorm room's window (careful not to crash through it - once had been enough, thank you very much), gotten changed, and leapt back out the window (shutting it behind him). Within a few moments, he spotted two unfamiliar faces and landed in front of them, offering both a small grin.

 

"Good morning!" He extended a hand first to the boy, then to the girl. "I'm Felix. You must be here for the little guided tour I'm supposed to do today?"

[Nerdzul]

“Woah…” Luke smiled as his eyes followed the newcomer flying around like he was freaking Centurion. That was gonna be his new normal right? Awesome. Of course he had seen people fly already, they were pretty much in the superheroes capital of America after all, but one thing was just seeing one up above in the sky, another was actually having the guy land in front of you, introduce himself and say he was goona give him a tour of the school. 

 

‘Come on Luke quit with the fanboying…’ Maybe it was too late already, but he didn’t want to give too much of a wide eyed fish out of water vibe, not too much at least. He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck, before doing his best to recover his composure.

 

“You are a show-off, you know?” He teased, grinning enthusiastically. “Good.”  He smirked as he saluted Felix with a firm mix between a high-five and a handshake. 

 

“Luke.” 

 

“And must be the guy that they have sent to babysit us? Cool…” He chuckled. “Drew the shortest straw or something?” He teased again.

 

“Come on I’m bullshitting you… I mean, being welcomed by an actual superhero, that’s awesome.”

Edited August 12, 2020 by Nerdzul

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

Hey…there was that guide person…flying? She wouldn’t call it interesting, but boring? Nah. Her brain slipped into first gear…and she immediately  freaked out and moved to the side several steps. Because when the hell did somebody start standing next to her? “Gah! When did you get there?!” Right. She was Kendra. Human chronomancer. This was Claremont Academy. It was 2020. Late Summer. She was a teenager (kind of) with superpowers so she needed to go to super school, apparently. Well, whatever. Also flying guy had introduces himself, maybe? Wait…wait…that guy had been there the entire time, probably. Had he been talking to her too? Probably, but whatever. It’d sort itself out or not. She burst out laughing at herself. “Wow, I really wasn’t paying attention, huh?” She laughed some more. She was suddenly in front of Felix and shaking his hand firmly. “My name’s Kendra. Nice to meetcha!” What their names were would either come up again or it wouldn’t. Ooh, nicknames. Flying man could be Clarkie. Maybe call the other one Scales? Eh, she’d do better in a minute.

[secondling]

Legatus

 

Felix chuckled warmly, shaking his head slightly. "Well, technically one could say that I am. It's important for some heroes to be seen, just as much as it's important for others not to be." He spread his hands in a mock plaintive gesture. "You could understand showing off, therefore, being necessary. It's healthy, even." The note of humor in his voice made it clear that he didn't mean that entirely seriously.

 

"Nice to meet you both." He nodded at Luke and Kendra's introductions. "As for drawing a short straw, well..." XVIII's expression went distant for a moment as he recalled his upbringing, before he smiled a little. "You could say I have some experience babysitting." He winked at Luke before growing serious once more.

 

"So. Welcome to Claremont." Felix gestured at the campus expansively. "Your home - well, my home, at least - and place of learning how to control your powers, such as it is. Some of that may be training to become, as you said," he nodded at Luke, "superheroes. Others are... uh, less fun." He made a face. I still get annoyed during physics. "Anyways. Mind telling me a bit about yourselves? How you ended up coming here?"

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

Kendra abruptly realized she was holding both the Chronoscythe and Mr. Pibbles. She whispered a word and the former shrank down to a tenth of its size. She put it on her belt. The stuffed rabbit, on the other hand, had a ribbon that she was holding. Easy enough to tie to her belt. “I don’t know, Clarkie.” No, bad mouthfeel. Abort, abort. “Adults are weird. I’m not gonna break time with my magic, sheesh.” Her hands free, she let the magic flow freely.  Blue clockwork gears surrounded her hands.  She tilted her head back, as if issuing a profound proclaimation. “I’m gonna win over all of time!” She laughed again. “We’re gonna be friends and go on adventures and it’s gonna be awesome.” She was grinning like a huge idiot. There weren’t literal stars in her eyes, but hell yes she was excited about the prospect.

 

Her proclaimation (metaphorically) echoed in the air for a little while, and she calmed down. In fact, she stamped her foot in annoyance, a totally different emotion. “I am not sixteen! I froze my time and went on a thousand awesome adventures in the past and made ten times that many friends but does anyone believe me? Noooooo.” Probably because her protests made her sound like she was 8 years old instead. She blew out air. “I have so many stories and nobody cares.” Then she shrugged, done with that. “But whatever. The present’s a part of all of time, too.” She grinned again, chuckling lightly. She was a cheerful soul, that much seemed true.

[TheAbsurdist]

It might be considered showing of, Benny's practicing on the grounds, but he needed space, until he wanted to ricochet and careen off walls in the gym or the training room.  However, right now, he was running. Which for a guy in the shape of a refrigerator, the speed was impressive. Not flat out breaking the speed of sound, but moving at a clip that was not matching the frame. Switching it up, as he continued his wind sprints on the quad.

Eventually, once he was at a place where he could take a break, he moved towards the cluster of people, dressed in shorts, a sleeveless t-shirt, and a pair of battered sneakers, his cheeks flushed, and very sweaty. as he waved at the rest of them, working to recover his breath, or at least get his legs under himself.

 

[Nerdzul]

“Yeah it’s definitely our responsibility.” Lucke chuckled at Felix’s words. “People should know that they are safe when we are around right?” Plus recognition always left him with a pleasant feeling, a bit selfish perhaps, but whatever, he never told he was a saint. 

 

“I know the feeling… got a younger bro myself…” He grinned again. 

 

“Less fun? I bet, it’s still school ain’t it?” Another chuckle escaped his lips.

 

He frowned a little when he realized that yeah, Kendra hasn’t been listening to a word he had said, nor actually registered his presence until now… ‘Come on…’ Then again, she seemed a bit, well off… Enthusiastic at least and that was a plus. “Nice to meet you too.” He remarked.

 

He had to contain a ‘whoa’ when she so casually showed some of her magic (he was not gonna give someone who had just ignored him the satisfaction), but he would have to admit that it was impressive.

 

‘Winning over all time…’ Was it even feasible? “Ambitious aren’t we?” Whatever, weird was going to be his new normal. Besides, it was not like his own life was less outlandish. 

 

“Myself, I love stories.” He smiled playfully. 

 

“As for me, well I woke up one day and found out I’m a - ” ‘Language Luke’ “Well Dragon… Which is crazy, if you ask me. I mean my life has been normal until that.” Perhaps not exactly, given the kind of troubles he had gotten himself into, but still… well those were ordinary problems. “I can show you, but we are gonna need some space.” He smirked as he stretched his arms behind his head.

 

“And I don’t want to be some kind of monster or whatever, especially if I can use well this... to, you know… help people out. And in my place a lot of people need my help ok?” He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. ‘I definitely need to work on my sales pitch…’ He mentally chuckled.

 

“Hey whatsup man?” He turned to welcome Benny, waving back at him. This new guy seemed more like one of his people at least. Although he probably was some kind of alien in disguise, who knew right?

[secondling]

Legatus

 

Clarkie? That's a new one on me. Felix tilted his head bemusedly at Kendra's words before he sighed inwardly. Oh, good. Time travel. I'm still not recovered from the last time I went into the past. He absently rubbed his ribs, remembering the unpleasant sensation of feeling them break beneath Übermensch's blows. At least he hasn't tried hunting me down in the present yet. Shaking his head to clear out the memories, he smiled diplomatically at Kendra. "Well, I'm not sure of much about time travel, but, well... Sometimes people - especially adults - aren't willing to be friends with just anyone."

 

As Benny arrived nearby, he grinned at him. "Oh, hey Benny. These are new students. Kendra and Luke." He indicated each as he spoke their names. "Kendra, Luke, this is Benny. He's also a junior here, so he knows a bit about the place."

 

Glancing at Luke again with bright blue eyes, his smile became sincere. "People should feel safe when we're around. Ideally, they should feel safe when we're not around, too, but we can't exactly control that." At the word dragon, his bi-colored brows arched, but he remained quiet for a time, thinking. "Well, I know some heroes are associated with dragons, and indeed, we have a dragon here on campus. I think." He paused, frowning. Huh. Is Dio still around? I know Leroy had that spat with Judy, but... "Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him."

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

Kendra did not acknowledge Benny when he walked up. This wasn’t because she was being rude, but because she was literally looking the wrong way and didn’t see him wave. Instead she grinned at Luke. She had no lack of ambition, that was true. “Maybe I’ll tell you a few. Vikings are fun people once you get to know them.” And the mention of him being a dragon made her eyes light up all over again and completely invade Luke’s personal space. “So cool…can you fly? Do you have scales? Can you breath fire? Do you feel a need to kidnap young maidens? Can you still digest vegetables?” She would have gone on and on, but Felix’s comment that some adults aren’t  willing to friends with just anyone grabbed her attention away. Her grin vanished in an instant. She turned, taking a step toward Felix, and stared at him. She tilted her head. The glow of the clockwork gears around her wrists (she’d momentarily forgotten to turn that off) lent an unnerving air when she spoke again. “It’s what I’ve decided to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s possible or not. I’m gonna do it anyway.” For just a moment it was extremely believable that she was exactly as old as she said she was. The sheer confidence radiating off her was off the charts. No 16 year old was that dead certain about anything…right? Then she grinned again, because she saw Benny when turning arond, and the moment was broken. She waved back at him, and finally noticed the magic was still active. She turned it off with a laugh. “Hi Benny, I’m Kendra. Nice to meet you!”

[Nerdzul]

“That’s why we are here, right?” Luke smiled enthusiastically. 

 

“It’s less associated with and more being one.” Yep, that was definitely something you can discuss as a matter of fact right? “I have, like, just found out though.” Which probably wasn’t that bad, after all if he had grown up knowing, much likely he would not even feel human by now, Matt always told that he turned into an arrogant prick whenever he changed, so yeah, it was better that way probably.

 

“How did you? I mean, how did you end up here yourself man?” He tossed. Yeah, it would be nice hearing it from someone who has actually already been a student for a while.

 

“You have one of us? Like another dragon.” The young man’s eyes widened. “For real? I knew I couldn’t be the only one around. Awesome, you definitely have to introduce us.”

 

He chuckled at Kendra’s enthusiasm. “Hey hey…” He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck and smiled at her, his posture relaxing, after all maybe she wasn’t exactly snubbing him and he had just missed some cue. 

 

“Let’s see…. Yes… Yes, but I hide them well, you see… Yep definitely…” 

 

“Not on the first date. And only if I have to.” He smirked playfully.

 

“Woah, as I said, ambitious. And how are you gonna do it? I mean, you can actually travel in time with your glowy swirly magic stuff?” That did sound impossible, that said, yeah flying, breathing fire… Nothing sounded impossible anymore. “That’s cool, you’re gonna have to show me one day, you know? I mean, I’m not gonna trade home for the middle ages or anything, but you know, just like a visit.” 

 

“Besides, I wanna see how I measure up against a T-rex or something.” He chuckled again. That would be awesome. “That would be like… being in the cover of a freaking metal album.” Yeah.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Nerdzul

[secondling]

Legatus

 

Felix chuckled in a mixture of exasperation and amusement at Kendra's words. "With that amount of determination, you'll fit right in here, no doubt about that." He put his hands behind his head, the gesture reminding him that he'd been thinking of trying to find some quick and easy dyes or something to at least hide the distinctive blond-and-black streaks. Shaking the thought away, he rolled his head on his neck.

 

He turned his startlingly blue eyes back to Luke. "Well, I think we still have a dragon on campus. Other than you, of course. He did mention being... uh, extraterrestrial, maybe? I honestly forget, but he wasn't from around here, at any rate. You might have more in common than you'd think from that description, but..." Felix made a face. "I honestly don't know what's going on with him at the moment."

 

At Luke's enthusiasm, he squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. Opening his eyes, he sighed inwardly. "Be careful with time travel. I've only done it once, and I ended up being beaten up by a Nazi supervillain. And a couple of tanks." He added as an afterthought.  "Anyways. Welcome, both of you. I'm sure we have all manner of staff ready to help you, and even more students eager to meet you."

[TheAbsurdist]

Benny drew in a deep breath as he rocked back a bit on his heels, taking the rest of the teens in. "Shoulda already had a tour before this..." He lifted his brows, his thick New Jersey accent roughing up his words. The big lug of a kid moved his arms back and forth on his shoulders, before he pressed a palm to one and moved it in a slow circle. He was subdued compared to the rest of the kids at this school a lot of the time, but then he was also sorta just trying to work out what they heck they were doing.

They were nuttier these days, it seemed.

"Oh, yeah, well I am sure youse guys can all get along. Like ya met with the teachers and saw the living arrangements, right?" He thought the tour he'd gotten was standard, or standard ish, at least. But then he never really knew with these things. Just all Looney Tunes with how things moved about when you weren't payin' attention, and he felt that this whole thing was a Rickey Rodent operation half the time.

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

“Eh?” Kendra tilted her head, still a little baffled by Felix. She didn’t like Clarkie for him at all. He wasn’t the Centurion. That’s silly. But Connie was a girl’s name. She didn’t know what to call him. How bothersome. And who goes back in time to fight Nazis? “S’cause you did it wrong, duh.” Oh! Of course! “When I do it I do it right, Jonnie.” Perfect. Graceful pirouette to…dragon guy. Oh, not again. No, wait. He was Luke. …that was such a lame name for a dragonman. Drago he would be, then! “You don’t want to meet a T-Rex, Drago. They’re big and mean and want to eat you. Dinosaurs are jerks who want to eat you or jerks who think you want to eat them.” Graceful pirouette to Benny. …actually that seemed to suit him. She grinned again, and man did she do that a lot. “Nope, didn’t see anything!” She hadn’t been paying attention for any of it, because school was school and therefore so. Boring. If there hadn’t been multiple adults present, she would have wandered off to do something more interesting, but alas.

[Nerdzul]

“Extraterrestrial, like an Alien?” Luke frowned looking thoughtful for a moment. “Could be, I mean the myth could have been inspired by aliens right?” Yeah, outlandish perhaps, but then again, he was in no position to call anything outlandish and besides, alien invasions weren’t exactly uncommon in Freedom City.

 

“And that sounds like a story worth telling man.” He chuckled and gave Felix a pat on the back. “I mean freakin’ nazi tanks.” 

 

“ ‘nks man.” 

 

“And yeah, we already got the ‘boring' tour.” Although he had to admit that the school was awesome and the dorm rooms were way more luxurious than his bunk at home. “But I mean, there must be more to it than dorms and classes, we are in a freakin’ superhero school. Can you show us something cool?” 

 

“And who knows, maybe I’m gonna end up being the one doing the eating. Yeah, makin’ T-rex burgers with my fire… I wonder how would that taste… My bet… chicken it is always chicken.” He chuckled. “Drago… Feels like a Pixar bad guy you know?”

[secondling]

Legatus

The Teen of Adamant smiled a little at Benny. "Yeah, I'm not quite sure why they haven't had a tour yet. I just heard the staff needed a guide, and I figured, well, it's not like I have anything else to do." He spread his hands in a gesture of helpless bemusement. "Might as well do the best that I can with what time I have here, after all." Oh, be careful here, XVIII. His stomach still twisted with anxiety when he thought about the future.

 

Kendra's comments brought him out of the pit of fear for the future. "Uh... am I Jonnie?" He tilted his, genuinely confused. I thought I was Clarkie? Well, whatever. If she perceives time oddly, no wonder she's so... odd. 

 

Felix shrugged his answer to Luke's question vis-a-vis the alien dragons. "I think so? I've never gotten the chance to study his biology in detail, but he was... probably different from you." Like that one time he was a whole group of people sitting on a bench. And the bench. Dio was a real fun guy. His attention returned to the present with the mention of tanks again. "Well, not much to tell. Okay, that's not true, there is a lot to tell, but since Superior hasn't come hunting for me, I can only assume that means I'm doing something right in the present." 

 

Shaking himself, he grinned. "Well, there's a fair amount of, uh, unusual places here at Claremont, I guess? I'm probably not the best person to say what those are, because I've never been to a 'normal' school. I still find the dorms a bit too expansive for my comfort. I'd prefer more roommates." The crushing absence of close, trusted family members still kept him up some nights. "Anyways. Where exactly would you like to go? What sort of things have you already seen?"

[TheAbsurdist]

He blinked a bit, "I ain't really ta give youse the real tour, that get's shown wit orientation. Sides they ain't givin' us the keys to everythin' ta me." He laughed a little bit and he shrugged those broad shoulders. He looked like a bully, but his immediate self effacing attitude showed something else. Though there wasn't much in the way of duplicity in the kid, a nose that showed it was broken before, but that was it.

"Anyways, nice to meet youse guys. Can't really speak with confidence 'bout facing off Nazis," he said it as 'nazzys', "But might be fightin' like a cybernetic gorilla Mussolini, or maybe a teerannosorus Hitler bot, or sumthin,'" he continued with a perfectly straight face as if that was completely, and perfect normal. "I dunno if we'll go wanderin' in the desert again and enter a time portal in a gave. Doesn't seem like it's an everyday sorta thing." Benny lacked the earnestness of Felix, it was way more matter of fact, his stunningly stereotypical accent and word parsing from a Jersey kid with an Italian last name gave it weight.

 

[Heritage]

A stranger figure approached the group; it appeared to be a slender...human, in a long sleeved dress shirt, khaki slacks and comfortable black shoes, the kind of look you usually saw in Land's End catalogs. As they drew closer, with graceful, deliberate steps, it became clear that it was not a human, or at least not an ordinary one. The hands bore thin metallic fingers with black rubber tips, and the head was entirely hairless and skinless, a smooth eyeless, featureless dome of glass and metal, with the lower half fashioned of some sort of flexible white vinyl, worked into a pleasant mouth. Which was smiling.

 

"I hope I am not late. Has the tour already begun?" The voice was surprisingly warm and pleasant, perhaps a contralto if they were to sing.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Heritage

[secondling]

Legatus

 

Felix grinned slightly at Bennie. "He's right, you know. All sorts of things can go crazy if you go wandering into desert caves."

 

As the new figure approached, he looked up, his oddly compelling blue eyes widening. "Oh, no, not at all. Welcome to Claremont!"

[Nerdzul]

“Not much to tell mate? You can fighting freakin’ nazzi in the past not much? Crap what kind of stuff happens around here to make that so normal?” Luke grinned enthusiastically. “Who is Superior by the way? Name sounds pretentious if you ask me.”

 

“Dunno man, it’s still your school, something superhero-like? Some cool trainin’ ground maybe?” Yeah, they must have some of those right? Perhaps he could use the occasion to show off a little. That could be fun. “Seen the dorms already, btw, you have it great guys…” Well, whatever, he was gonna be there too in just a few weeks. Truth was though, deep down, he felt a little bad about it, after all he was gonna get all of this awesome stuff, while his friends and family still had to cope with his old life, but then again, he was there to try and make things better for everyone else wasn’t him?

 

“Nice to meet you man.” He nodded at Benny. He was about to add something when a shiny metallic figure joined them. 

 

“Whoa. You are something mate. And sure thing Felix here was about to show us the coolest places on campus.” Luke chuckled, trying to look at the newcomer in the eyes, but finding out that he had none. Weird. And more than a bit awkward to be honest, but whatever.  “Yeah… Anyway.” He shrugged. “Luke here… And you’re?” He offered to shake hands with the new guy.

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

“Yeah. Clarkie was no good. Jonnie’s better.” A beat. “Your name’s probably best of all. Dunno it.” Then Kendra did a thing she did, which was shut completely up and let stuff happen around her. Nazis sucked. They were all “look at your beautiful hair” and “you have such power, if only we could harness it”. Dude, you want to murder everyone who doesn’t look like me. I have lots of friends in that group. Ugh. She was probably going to stay entirely out of 1935-1945 Europe forever. And the robot person drove the concept of Nazis entirely out of her brain. Her eyes lit up again, and she made small excited noises. There was, however, no talking. Kendra had been holding off on going to the future, as there was so much past to explore and make new friends in. So while she was relatively blasé about swords, magic, and stuff, high level tech blew her mind. It was so cool. Was she staring? Oh, you better believe it.

[Heritage]

"You may call me Pol, but my code name is Shift," they said with a smile. "Ah yes, the lack of eyes. I understand it can be disconcerting. I can fix that." There was a soft humming sound, and suddenly the entire surface of the robot rippled as millions of tiny plates in their surface flipped and twisted around to form a new configuration, a handsome blonde boy in a flannel shirt and jeans. "There. I hope that will put you more at ease. Shall we resume the tour?"

Edited September 1, 2020 by Heritage

[TheAbsurdist]

He rolled his shoulders slowly as he lifted his brows at the response to Luke's casual call out. "Well, I mean, yeah?." He frowned and rubbed at his cheek, "This ain't really... We's students so can't really do a proper showin'." He rested his hands slowly on his waist as he looked at them.

Benny did not see to be the kind to really shake some rules, at least. But then they literally didn't have access to everything, so it was more a matter of prudence on his part. "But Felix is showing youse guys around." Not that he knew much more than the other teen, after all.

[Nerdzul]

“Well if it’s not punching Nazzi I guess we can still have some fun times together.” Luke chucked. 

 

“Hey man, no need to change just for me, I’m flattered, but it’s ok, my bet is, around here, we can look whatever you want.” Luke gave Pol a friendly if not perhaps slightly guilty smile. “By the way, you can like, change into whatever you want? That’s awesome.” This time his smile was way more enthusiastic. 

 

“Ok… so you guys can’t show us somewhere cool? Come on we are in freaking Hogwarts of freedom city, there must be some right?” This time he turned back to Benny and Felix.