ic Four Stories - Què & A

[Tiffany Korta]

Kord Dorms, Floor Four, Claremont Academy

Saturday, September 5^th 2020

 

In the floors common area a young woman waited for some of the newcomers to arrive and help them get settled into there new rooms. Having only recently arrive here herself, forced here from New York after engaging in activity considered, questionable, the Headmistress had insisted she get settled in before the other arrived to avoid to many questions.

 

In these circumstance it was easy to be bitter and refuse to get involved with the school, but she’d decided instead to be as helpful as she could. A little nervous she tucked a strand of white streaked hair behind her ear.

 

“Hello there I’m Maggie Què, welcome to your dorm floor.”

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

Kendra poked her head out from her room, which she was already inside. “Wha?” Why was Kendra in her room already? Because she’d moved in on Wednesday. Being an ageless time travel had benefits. Like knowing which room she would be in ahead of schedule. Allowing her to move in when she felt like it and not whenever she was supposed to. She saw Maggie in the common area. Mr. Pibbles (her stuffed rabbit) and her Chronoscythe (collapsed down) were attached to her sash/belt thing. Information processed. Maybe. Had she forgotten today was move-in day? Yuuuuuup. Being an ageless time traveler had drawbacks, too. Like how itt was fantastically easy to forget what day of the week it was. Was this also why she’d moved it so early? Yuuuuup. “Something going on?”

[Cubismo]

Arrow

 

Olivia looked on coldly as a small army of movers her mother had hired went about placing several thousand dollars worth of furniture and clothing into her packed dorm. The excess of bringing a whole crew with her was one of the many perks of being a Lord. After all, if she was going to be living her here for the next three years she was going to do so in the lifestyle she was accustomed too. Directing the moving crew was hardly one of the great challenges of her life but she found the experience to be trying in just how dull and mundane it was. Even throwing out the occasional "watch it" or "no, not there" to the hired help had lost its luster, petty as it was.

 

She was frankly bored out of her skull, which was the exact opposite feeling she wanted to have when moving into a school for the extraordinary and gifted. 

 

The teen sighed as she finally turned her back to the crew and let them go about their business undirected, her eyes now searching the hall for something worth her time. Her green eyes eventually landed on a girl who was either incredibly brave or astounding stupid enough to strap a stuffed rabbit to her belt for everyone to see. Olivia landed on astounding stupid when the girl started to ask the most oblivious of questions. Olivia couldn't help but poke her for it.

 

"Well, if you bothered to pay attention you would know that we were finally the getting the full Claremont welcome." She says sardonically before turning her gaze to the greeter in question. "So besides making platitudes do you anything actually important to say or is that to much to hope for?"

[Avenger Assembled]

The strange thing was, Room 410 had been occupied even when Chronia had arrived, and she'd heard noises and conversation there even in the dead of night recently. 

 

And now, all of a sudden, the door flew open as the sound of Taylor Swift noisily filled the hallways! Judy Smith strode out into the hall and pulled off her sunglasses, beaming cheerfully at everyone, and if Lulu had seen her looking very differently a few months ago she was all smiles as she beamed at everyone, her red plaid skirt, heels, and white shirt making her look straight from the 1950s - with only the small gold cross around her neck a testimony to the values of a different era. "Howdy, y'all!" she called cheerfully. "Welcome to the fourth floor!" She stepped out and air-kissed "Maggie" with a wink in her direction, then turned to Olivia and Kendra. "Hi there! Ah'm Judy Smith, and this is mah sister Ashley." 

 

"Charmed," drawled Ashley Smith from the doorframe where she stood, her leather jacket (bearing a bright red snarling dog on the back) and jeans vaguely fitting the greaser theme, though the bright pink hair definitely didn't belong. She looked over her sunglasses at the other girls, peering suspiciously. 

 

"We happened to arrange ourselves a little party in our room, if y'all are so inclined!" She pointed to a gaily-decorated room complete with paper streamers, a punchbowl, and a table covered in what might be Chex-Mix. "It's senior year, right? We'd better live it up a little!" 

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne had just walked in, her few boxes piled near the stairs, with the shoe box that had her father's knife and mother's pendant in it. She wore a light grey short sleeved button up shirt and a wine red tiered skirt that reached just below her knees, with a pair of black oxford shoes. She checked her room number for what was probably the hundredth time that day. Room 403, easy enough. She was about to reply to Maggie's greeting when the girl with the stuffed rabbit popped out, and Muirne took the time to wonder when she got here and why she had a rabbit before deciding it probably wasn't the weirdest thing she'd seen at Claremont. That honour went to Eira pretending to be a bear when she visited the first time. She started looking for her room when the blonde with the moving staff started insulting both the bunny girl and Maggie.

Oh dear. I have to share a floor with her? Muirne paused to read her room number to know which one to avoid when she realised. She didn't just share a floor, they were in the same room. "Eaw cwæ na¹." She turned her eyes to the roof wondering what twist of fate had placed her in the same room as that harpy. Just be polite, introduce yourself and then talk to anyone else. Maybe bunny girl is nice.

Muirne's thoughts were interrupted by Judy's introduction and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Before approaching the pair, keeping the box on her since she didn't want to leave it unattended until it was safely stored in her room.

How safe will that be though? She pushed the thought away, approaching Judy with a polite smile. "Hi, my name's Muirne Sceadusangere. It's a pleasure to meet you."

 

¹ Oh please no

[Thevshi]

Synapse

 

The chime for the elevator sounded as the doors slide open. Out of the elevator stepped Dee Farrington, who was moving slower than normal being seven months pregnant. The Englishwoman was in a pair of jeans with an elastic waist, which was covered by red long-sleeve shirt which went down to just below her hips. She had a rolling suitcase which she was pulling behind her as she spotted Murine further down the hall and started over towards her teenage charge.

 

"Bloody brilliant of them to put her on the top floor." She muttered to herself as she took in the scene on the dorm floor. Having been to more than her fair share of English boarding schools growing up, the scene was not exactly new to Dee. Even the teenage girl directing the movers was not unusual, and Dee had certainly spent far more time than she would have liked around other girls that exhibited the same entitled attitude.

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

“Oh.” Olivia’s disdain slide off Kendra like water off a duck’s back. She didn’t even seem to notice it. “Is that it?” Then her eyes lit up with excitement. “Wow you have so much stuff! Cool!” Pale blue clockwork gears formed around her arms, and less than an instant later she was looking at all of the richer girl’s stuff. Very, very speedily. “Oh, I knew the guy who designed this table. He was handsy, but other than that he was cool. He couldn’t see well, so I forgave him.” Before she could do anything else, there was Judy. “Ooh, snacks. Thanks!” Another instant and she was literally inside Ashley and Judy’s room, with a mouth full of Chex Mix. “I’m Kendra. Nice to meet you!” Why hadn’t she gone to meet them yet, despite supposedly living in that room for several days now? Because there’s “moved in” and then there’s “actually living there”. Mom and Aunt Serah still lived in Freedom, and there were beds across all of time. Anyway, Kendra was not really a fan of Taylor Swift, but then again she didn’t know her like she did Fanny Mendelsson. Shame about the stroke, but Kendra could always go visit before then. She swallowed, and it got stuck. Crap. Double crap. Punch. PUNCH! Cup filled, swallowing. Okay. Okay. Good now. She laughed. “Almost got myself there!” She laughed some more. “Nice to meet you, Muirne!” She pronounced it exactly right, which would be unusual for an American…and then put more Chex Mix into her face. “This is really good, Judy.”

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

Callie had spent a while keeping out of the way of everyone getting ready by sitting on the roof. She’d been spending her time scrubbing any geodata from a video she’d taken of her swinging among the rooftops of Freedom City, she always enjoyed her subscribes figuring out where she was but she didn’t want them, or more importantly any villains, to work out where she was right now. It wasn’t easy because all these sites seemed so keen to gather just the kind of information she didn’t want to share. Noticing that people seemed to be arriving she swung down into one of the windows away from the common room, she didn’t want to cause a fuss and settle in quietly.

 

Unfortunately she’d not counted on the other students doing there own thing, including some people she’d met before. She was tempted to just stroll pass to the common, but that would mean dealing with Maggie, who she and Nevermore had tussled with recently and there might still be some bad blood still.

 

“I see you are as welcoming as ever Judy!” she gave a little nod to Ashley as well

[Tiffany Korta]

Maggie Què

Maggie was really trying to be on her best behavior, she didn’t want to screw this good deal as there was no way her mom could afford a place like this. But the other girls on this floor really weren’t making this any easier, she was tempted to relieve them of all the stuff they had but again she was trying to be on her best behaviour. Dee’s arrival gave her something she understood and could help with, without thinking about it she blinked to beside the older woman.

 

“Hello Ma’am do you need any help here?”

[Thevshi]

Synapse

 

If Dee was surprised by the sudden appearance of the teenager beside her she did not show it, instead she turned to regard Maggie with a small smile. Normally the Englishwoman might have rebuffed any offer to help, but at present, she was more than willing to accept.

 

"Well thank you." She replied in her refined English accent. "I probably could have gotten well enough along, but happy to accept some help when offered." Dee held out the handle of the suitcase to Maggie, letting go when then teen had it in hand.

 

"I believe I am looking for room 403."

[Avenger Assembled]

Inside, the Smith girls' room was decorated in cheerful bright colors on one side, adorned with a combination of the sort of Christian pop art you can find at garage sales and what looked distinctly like cut-off Lisa Frank images, and on the other with posters of female-led punk bands, Popular Mechanics covers, and pictures of big, snarling dogs. (The snacks were mostly on the other side.) Judy played the hostess to perfection as new people entered, supplying everyone with paper nametags and Magic Markers, along with what distinctly turned out to be pocket-sized copies of the New Testament. "You don't have to read those right now or anything," she said cheerfully, "but everybody should have at least one book, and why not that one!" 

There was only so much room for a party inside the dorm room but the Smith sisters seemed to have extra room: for one thing there was only one bed, and that on the rough side of the room. There was a PS4 set up along one wall and set to Gang Heroes, a karoke mic in another corner, and personal party kits complete with little noisemakers for everyone. Judy really had outdone herself. With a grin, she pointed at her stereo and it began to play more Taylor Swift. She didn't make a move towards the snacks; neither did Ashley, who looked to be sitting on her bed with a territorial look on her face. "Come on in and have fun, everybody!" 

[Brown Dynamite]

The Spectacle

Tabitha Hannigan's pair of duffel bags made an appearance at the stairwell well before she did.  The steel skinned teen had made a habit of not stepping on an elevator if she could during her time in Claremont.  And she was going to continue to avoid being surrounded by even more metal as she could.  A gray hoodie that definitely did not match the weather outside covered her face as she made her way up the stairs.  The loud thud of her boots echoing with the half step runs she took.  

"I reckon I should be as happy as a dead pig in sunshine that there's only four floors.  Knowin' my luck I'd be on unlucky double thirteen."  The titanium teen stated without an actual measure of anger in her voice.  Apparently cracking a joke for her own amusement but not intending to wait around for the reaction as she reached down to pick up the bags she she threw.

Edited August 29, 2020 by HGM

[Cubismo]

 

Olivia's eyes narrowed as stuffy rabbit girl seemed to barely pay her any mind. In the end, instead of making a big thing about it, the archer just assumed that the girl was a weird space case with a lackluster attention span and an eight-year old’s appreciation for stuffed animals. Or at least she would have if it wasn't for the fact that said space case walked right up to her and started spewing some nonsense about knowing who designed one of her coffee tables. 

 

Now that got her attention. Mostly because the man who made the antique was a French woodworker who had been dead more than sixty years. She could easily blown that off too as nonsense and went back to supervising the movers, but the Olivia’s Veronica Mars wasn’t having any of that when interesting questions could be asked instead. Also, there was the whole teleporting business, but Olivia had seen half-a-dozen of those zapping in Claremont just by walking up to the floor.

 

She abandoned the movers and strode right into Room 410 and braved the god-awful Swift music that was playing. While there were already a small crowd of people in the dorm, Olivia didn’t bother to introduce herself to any of them. Instead, she continued on her way until she found the girl was looking for and properly made an introduction that would hopefully get into her good graces. “Sorry, but the mood malfunction back there. Days been kind of hectic with the move and think I the lack of expresso in my system has got me kind of fired. Tots not a good enough reason to be spazz, but I’m not that judgmental,” she said kindly, the apology only really being less than a quarter sincere, but performed well enough that it would have been hard tell.

 

“By the way, how did you know about the table? Hate to pry, but the carver who made it passed way back and he wasn’t exactly well known outside of certain circles who knew how to appreciate good work. You some kind of necromancer? Because I know a couple photographers I'd love to met if you were,” she joked.

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne arrived, she had the invite and asked ahead of time for clearance. Even if the Head Mistress did not appreciably like (really, honestly could you tell?). She gated into the meditative stone garden, scaring the one kid there, she waved a bit, "Sorry, party!" And then the super-duper tall teen was off in a run out of there, and heading towards the dorm. Now she might have tried to dash up the air to Judy's room, but honestly in doing so she'd piss off the boss, and she didn't want to really cause any more issues.
 

So still wearing her practice attire from tonight's session,  with her duffel bag over one shoulder, wearing her patched to heck and back jean jacket, though sans tutu and toe shoes, because why would she be wearing then. She arrived calamitously into the common room at the fourth floor, "Judy, oh my gawd! Why you gotta be on the top floor! Swear, next time I teleporting!" Then moving to catch sight of the Smiths, she lunged at them, her condor-like wingspan of her arms flung around them both.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Corinne!" Judy squeaked, quite literally lighting up for a moment at the sight of her friend, a rainbow-quicksilver light filling the room for an instant as she wrapped her arms around the very tall dancer. Ashley was a bit less enthusiastic but didn't turn down the embrace either, taking a quick hug before excusing herself with a disgruntled look on her face before she returned to the bed. Judy was quick to make introductions. "Everybody, this is the dancer Corinne Conrad," she said loyally, "she was mah first real friend at this school and she is the best! Are you gonna show the new kids the ropes?" she asked with a playful grim. 

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

Ooh, a pocket New Testament. “Thanks, Judy. Mine’s in all in Greek or something. And the scribe’s handwriting is so bad.” More punch. Punch is good. “I have lots of books. They’re not all here and now, though. Only but so much space in the house. And my room now.” More Chex Mix? Nah, little bored of that. New taste please. Hey, carrots. Perfect.  Kendra started munching on a small handful, completely oblivious that she was now the girl with the stuffed rabbit who was eating carrots. This was who Olivia talked to. The apology apparently sailed over her head, but the follow up did not. “Nooooo.” She said, drawing out the sound. “Chronomancer. Benoit is my friend.” Then she looked a little sad. “Was. Was my friend.” Another downside of being a time traveler. Knowing intimately that everyone you met would die. You could even go to when they were naught more than dust. But it worked both ways. You could go see them while they were alive, too. So she cheered up. “I told him he was a good carver and he should sell them so people could see. Because he couldn’t see too well, so how would he know?” Pale blue clockwork gears appeared around her arms. “Let me go get it.” Then she was no longer there. Fifteen seconds later, she reappeared in the exact same spot. She’d frozen time, gone home, gotten the small carving now in her hands, frozen time again, and come back.  The carving was of Kendra, but noticeably in Benoit’s style. “See, he gave me a gift.”

 

And then Corinne swept into the room. Kendra was suddenly the second tallest person there. This almost never happened. And Judy liked her a lot. So in the blink of an eye, Kendra was close too. “Hi! I’m Kendra. Nice to meet you.” It certainly was a novelty to look up to another woman, and that was the truth. “You’re really tall. It’s cool!” Was Judy a new friend? Kendra was beginning to think so.

[Avenger Assembled]

When the party had a quiet moment, Judy sat on Ashley's bed and smiled at everybody while Ashley glowered beside her. "Hi everybody!" she said cheerfully, "some of us know each other already," she added with a wink to her friends, "but some of us are new faces this year, so Ah thought we could go around the room and say our introductions." She took a small, colorful beach ball out from behind her and said, "Mah name is Judy Smith and Ah'm from somewhere else," she said seriously. Her accent was distinctly Southern as she spoke, not quite thick as molasses but certainly thick enough. "Mah powers involve control over the electromagnetic spectrum," she said in an obviously memorized speech. "Mah codename is Daystar, because the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." 

 

She handed the ball to her sister. "Ashley Smith," said Ashley cooly, "my powers involve getting in a fast car and driving the Hell out of Freedom as soon as my sister and I graduate. On the street, they call me Watchdog." She gave the girls a sneer before wrinkling her nose to lean back to study the party. 

 

"She's not nearly as mean as she sounds!" added Judy cheerfully as Ashley whipped the ball at Callie. 

 

 

 

 

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne spotted Dee as she entered the room and started talking to Maggie and realised that she hadn't responded to the other girl's greeting, too caught up in the sudden activity. She excused herself after her introduction to Judy and headed over to the pair, missing Chronia's obvious display of magic as she arrived. "Hello Maggie, my name is Muirne Sceadusangere. It's nice to meet you." She smiled warmly at Dee, I'm in the room where the movers are, the other girl moving in doesn't sound the nicest. She turned back to Maggie, offering her hand to shake. "Are you going to Claremont too?" She could hear the others introducing themselves in the room, and cringed internally at Judy explaining her hero name and was glad she didn't have to immediately follow that one up. The jump from the bright cheerful Judy to 'My name is Muirne Sceadusangere and I'm from Kent. My powers involve turning into a shadow monster from the depths of your worst nightmares. My codename is Shadowborne because I'm linked to a dimension of cold and darkness that hates the light and warmth of the world and the life in it and is filled with shadowbeasts just like me. Yeah that sounded like it would go well. Maybe she should just move in while her roommate was distracted. Ashley just sounded like Muirne should probably avoid her alongside her roommate. Not as mean as she sounds isn't a high bar to clear.

[TheAbsurdist]

"Alumni, thorn in the sides of Ashley, and the headmistress." The towering blonde curtsied with the sort of easy grace that inspired jealousy, she was not one to really share her powers on the intro, maybe on the outro. Or something else. Like a random attack. But she hadn't seen Judy in forever, though the skillful Social Media type that Corinne was, she was able to keep up with people with the sort of adroitness that was characteristic of Her Brand™.

Something she had earned the ire of fellow students over. it was just so damned easy for her. And she hated her powers. Well what they meant for her life. The small stuff she liked, like how she had a bright green avocado smoothie in her hands between blinks as she smiled in an insouciant manner at Ms. Summers.

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

Without really thinking about it Callie caught the ball, she was trying to keep an eye on Maggie who’d she had a run in a week or so ago. Only when she glance back did she realise what she’d done and looking at the expectant face, one happy beaming face in particular, and worked out what this was about.

 

“Oh I’m Callie Sen from New York, as strange as it might be I don’t have any powers. Just managed to make myself a suit and go out and beat bad guys.”

 

She gave the ball a little toss to towards the other girls not looking to pick out one girls in particular.

[Tiffany Korta]

Maggie Què

Maggie smiled despite lugging the cases around, showing all the natural charm she inherited from her family.

 

“Thats quite a mouthful of a name!” she grinned “And thats not an American accent what so ever. Is that one of those weird Welsh names? Its hard for a simple girl from Queens to tell.” she dropped into one of those traditional New York accents you tended to hear in TV and movies

 

She could almost feel Callie’s eye on her but tried to ignore them, for now she was trying to be on her best behaviour.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Since some of us are seniors this year," said Judy, "Ah was thinking we could answer any questions you new girls might have about the place," said Judy blithely. She winked and added, "Corinne can even tell you the _real_ stuff and not get in trouble for it!" She folded her hands on her lap and looked around, then said, "Ah think what Ah like the most about Claremont is how good everyone is. And Ah don't mean, you know, putting on capes and running off to save the day. Not everyone here does that, anyway. Ah just mean that when Ah first came here, Ah was...afraid, a lot of the time, and being here with good people helped make that better for me. So if you're feeling afraid," she said with a sympathetic look at Miurne in particular "just remember that almost everyone will be your friend. Some people are still so scared of who they are that they might not be nice, bless their hearts - but Ah know everyone here will be good." 

[TheAbsurdist]

"Like, ya get me, or ya get Zenith." The last syllable of what Corinne said twisted and went to something unearthly, and she shrugged, as she sipped at the silky, mossy green smoothie through her straw. Actually she was slurping, noisily. "I'm honest, even if people don't like what I got to say." She shrugged and grinned, before placing her free hand in the, and with a grunt she jumped and hauled herself up into the air like it was a bunk bed, as she leaned against something shimmering in the varigated colors of sunset.

"Like, everyone's got problems here. Even if everything is normal, they're teenagers. They aren't all sorted even if aren't empowered by an analogue to Sauron from Lord of the Rings." She sprawled against the shimmer, turning on her side to keep slurping at her smoothie, and to watch the rest. "Some people will be jerks, some wont. It happens. Just like everyone will think they're right. Thus far it doesn't change in college, or in my case a Conservatory. And if I can get through here, you should be able to do fine." She winked at Miurne, "Cause I was a bitch, well... probably still am."

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne smiled slightly at Maggie's comment, "It is longer than most. Muirne is Irish is I remember correctly and Sceadusangere is Old English." She didn't see past the accent, responding after a moment's hesitation. "I've got a rather mixed accent, but I'm from Kent in England. Queens is in New York right?" She looked uncertain as she looked at the people in the room who were looking at her and saw Corinne's wink and looked back to Maggie and Dee, "Do you mind if I excuse myself, I would like to properly introduce myself to the other people I will be sharing the floor with?"

[EternalPhoenix]

Chronia

 

…honestly, Kendra had zoned out some. There was food, people were talking, a good time was being had. It’s not like she wasn’t listening…but really she could fling her senses back to this moment in her personal timeline later and catch the stuff she missed the first time around. Time mage was so, so useful. But the convo had died down a little, and someone else needed to introduce themselves, so! Kendra sprang upright, and gulped down the carrots she was chewing, and proclaimed her identity. “Hi! I’m Kendra. Kendra Theodora Farron. Nice to meetcha!” The pale blue to aquamarine clockwork effect surrounded her arms. “I’m a chronomancer.” She whispered a word, and her Chronoscythe expanded to full size in an instant. “This is my Chronoscythe. No touchie.” She patted the stuffed rabbit at her waist. “This is Mr. Pibbles. He is my treasure. Also no touchie.” She leaned the weapon against her arm as if she done that exact movement a million times, because she had another proclaimation. “I’m gonna win over all of time!” Her huge grin was infectious. “We’re gonna be friends and go on adventures and it’s gonna be awesome.” She started chuckle-giggling in pure amusement. She knew how to make a lasting impression, and that was a fact.