ic Fourth and down

[Tiffany Korta]

Kord Dormitories, Forth Floor

Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey

Saturday, September 4, 2021

 

After a Summer back in her apartment in New York, along with some time at the Summers family home, Callie had already moved back into the dorm. Now she was sat in the common room checking her social feeds, waiting for new and returning students.

 

Apparently older her wanted her to take some more responsibility so had tasked her with being the floor greeter for the new school year. She was giong to do her best, in was in her blood after all, but she wasn’t going to make an effort until absolutely necessary.

[EternalPhoenix]

The one and only Wilona Tabana literally flew onto the fourth floor, with only a tattered hiking backpack for luggage. Literally because she was using her flight spell, Libertas. It worked via a pretty sloppy application of wind. So! Were posters knocked down from the wind? Yes. Was it pretty damn loud in the enclosed space? Yes. Did she actually care about either of those things? Haha, no. She had wired earbuds in, blasting heavy metal from her ancient Ipod. She had a roof that didn’t leak. A bed that wasn’t scavenged. An honest to god hot shower she didn’t have to heat the water for herself. And she generally didn’t care what other people thought anyway. She turned the knob to her room and the winds slammed it open. It was a very good day. She sang along to the music in her ears without a care in the world.

 

Naomi Ellison, by contrast, was literally invisible as she climbed the stairs behind her closest friend. Invisible force carried multiple heavy bags full of art supplies. Okay, and a few changes of clothes. The bags were expensive luggage from a few years ago. Primo stuff, but now battered halfway beyond recognition. Her mind was full of visual ideas. Things to paint. Things to draw. Things to sculpt. Things to sew. Etecetera. Her mind was very much elsewhere, but the winds provided a clue as to where to go, and the door slamming open confirmed it. So after Wilona’s loud flashy entrance, several bags quietly floated into the same room.

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

Callie might be focused on her social media, but her senses still provided her with an awareness of what was going on around her. Enough that she could tell that something had changed, now it was a reach but she was sure someone had just ended up on the floor. There were so many different ways they could do it, it would be interested to find out how and why.

 

“Welcome to Claremont!” she waved an arm lazily in welcome “Feel free to pop in and say hi when you’re settled in, I have snacks!”

 

She didn’t make them but they had been carefully picked out to cover as many different tastes as possible, attention to detail was a Summers tradition.

[EternalPhoenix]

Wilona had heavy metal, roaring wind, and her own singing to overcome to hear Callie speaking. She did not succeed at the Listen or the Spot check to even notice the unpowered young woman was there. Naomi, lost in her own little art world, failed the Spot check, but not the Listen. However, it took several minutes before her current thought process was completed, “clearing the boards” so to speak. During this time, Wilona plugged in her Ipod and continued to rock hard. Though minus the roaring wind of Libertas.

 

Naomi poked her invisible head out from her new doorway (Did she realize her powers were on? Haha, no.), and finally spotted Callie. She timidly went over and grabbed a bag of pretzels to munch on. She liked pretzels. This, of course, was a profoundly odd visual. A mysteriously floating bag, from which the contents were removed, lifted, and disappeared. And of course, the clear and obvious sounds of chewing.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Nya?" inquired something behind and below Naomi, a thing that quickly resolved itself into a sleek, blue-eyed, dark-faced Siamese cat. Brazenly uncollared, it strode past the teen heroes and heroines with an insouciant air, eying them with those big blue eyes. When it spotted the floating bag, it made a quiet hiss and retreated under the table out of immediate reach, watching the scene with suspicion. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

Callie was fairly chill, with things being quieter than the previous year but was still keeping an eye on what was going on around her. Even so it was somewhat of a surprise to see the floating snacks, even in a superhero school.

 

“It’s okay, I remember how scary first day can be. If you like feel free to just help yourself, but I’d also like the company right now!”

 

The sudden cat bought back a memory of her mothers like of breed, with a slightly whistful smile she found something suitable among the snack a gently offered it to the beast.

 

“Well hello kitty! Or are you more a māomī or kiti?” remembering her mom testing her Mandarin and Japanese back in the day.

[EternalPhoenix]

Invisigirl

 

“Eep!” Said the inivisible girl, startling back into visibility. “S-sorry. I forget, sometimes.” Was this a delayed reaction to the cat or a response to Callie? Yes. She was quiet again, and very still. Aside from munching on pretzels. Mmm, pretzels. It wasn’t the salt. It was the shape of them. All twisty. And the little ones (like the one in the bag she had) crunched so satisfyingly. Twisty crunch. Twisty crunch. Something in her brain was well pleased, but she couldn’t and didn’t care to identify it. Oh, right. She crouched down. “Minou? Kätzchen?” The cat’s colors and shapes enraptured the art-holic’s mind, and it wandered away again, leaving her blank eyed and staring at the poor kitty.

 

Effigy

 

Meanwhile, Wilona’s album had at last come to a very satisfying conclusion. Sprawled out on her new bed, she took her earbuds out, and set both them and her Ipod aside. Where had Naomi gone? Looking outside her new door, Wilona found her quite easily. She strolled into the other dorm room like she owned the wholebuilding, and crouched down next to her partner in life. “So…what are we looking at? La gatita? She’s cute, but ohhhh.” Wilona looked at Naomi. “You’re doing your art thing in your head.” She straightened, and at last addressed the person who’s room she was in. “I’m Wilona, she’s Naomi, we’re over there for now.” She jerked a thumb in the direction of their room.

[Avenger Assembled]

The cat seemed to settle down when Naomi became visible, looking at her curiously and sniffing the air in her direction. When a crowd of faces formed, it settled back on its haunches and began grooming its front paws with feline insolence. It shifted around, looking for a space between the people, and then abruptly vanished from view. There was no sound and hardly anything to the transition, save for the faint curl of fishy smoke that arose from where it had been. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Madame Raven

“Huh weird! Guess we’ll add ghost kitties to the list of Claremont things!” with a shrug Callie turned her attention back to the newcomers

 

“Callie Sen’s please to meet you!” she gave a friendly grin “Good to see you’ve already setting in nicely, are you two friends or family?” she asked genuinely interested.

 

She kind of hated, well hate was to strong a word, that older her had give her this responsibility she was more bothered at just how easily she fell into the role. She guested that such things must be in the gene’s considering how both her did so effortlessly, must be from her mom she mused.