New Kid in Town

[Lone Star]

April 1st, 2011.

Janis Jacobson clicked the back trunk of her father's sedan open. Inside were all her worldly possessions: her bedsheets, clothes, posters, and computer. She had started packing days before, and today was the big day. Her father came out of the driver's seat, and helped her unload. She looked up at the towering entrance, and took a deep breath. It was her first day at the Claremont Academy, and she smiled with anticipation.

"Well, it looks like it's time for me to head off, Dad. I'll call you later tonight when I get settled in." Janis said, turning back.

Her father embraced her. "I'm proud of you, Janis. Now don't get in any trouble."

Janis grinned widely. "Not any more than you'd expect. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Janis."

She walked to the entrance slowly, as she watched her father pull out of the lot. Her stuff in tow behind her, she walked in through the front entrance and into the main quad. It was a new start for her, but not one that she wasn't looking forward to with great optimism.

[KnightDisciple]

Janis might be surprised to notice a young man sitting on a tree branch, casually writing in a notebook as a textbook floated in the air in front of him. Even more shocking, it almost looked like the book was on fire! But further study revealed the blue flames rolling over its surface didn't so much as darken the pages a bit. It seemed he was studying, just in a rather unique way.

It was only moments after she noticed him that he returned the favor. An expression of curiosity on his face, he tucked the notebook into the backpack beside him while the book flew itself into the same receptacle. He grabbed it and jumped from the branch, floating slowly to the ground. Walking over to her, there was a friendly smile on his face as he extended his right hand.

"Hello. Welcome to Claremont! My name's Corbin; can I help you with anything around here?"

[Lone Star]

Janis grinned as she shook Corbin's hand. She looked him up and down, and whistled. "My name's Janis. And yeah, I actually could use a little help. I need to find somewhere to dump all my crap, and you know...sleep and stuff. Where would I find such a place?" She was absorbing as many of the sights as possible, her neck moving around as she soaked it up.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin blinked, and raised an eyebrow.

"I figure things are a bit unique, since you're joining us mid-semester, but weren't you assigned a dorm room? I know where the buildings themselves are, but I don't have a clue which room would be yours. Come on, I'm sure the front office has that. They might have other paperwork for you, too."

He motions for her to follow, and he walks quickly back in the direction she came. But instead of walking off the school grounds, he guides her towards the front office. Presumably, everything's been arranged for her already.

[Quinn]

When the two began walking towards the office, they walked past a tree. That tree was a very old, and tall tree. That tree also had someone hanging upside down from it. Morgan Crowe hung there, his foot stuck in the joint between two branches, and he looked somewhat pensive. His runecoat, familiar to anyone who knew him, also hung downwards, his arms still in the sleeves and crossed over his chest, but the rest dangling below his head. Surprisingly, he seemed unconcerned about his situation beyond a mild irritation. When the two walked below, he whistled and waved.

"Yo, down there! Uh...heh...little help?"

[Lone Star]

Janis blinked once, and she disappeared, a crackling sound of lightning in her wake. She appeared on the tree, where she promptly lifted Morgan up, dangling him for a moment before flashing back to the ground. She held the boy by his shoe. "How'd you get in that position, anyway?" She carefully let the boy down, and set him on the grass. "You guys are cool. My name's Janis, O weird tree-dweller. This campus is looking like fun already!"

Her heels pivoted, and she turned to Corbin. "Let's get going towards the dorms before we run into anymore interesting people. My back's killing me." She grabbed her suitcase and walked next to Corbin. "Come on, other guy!"

[Azuth65]

Victoria Knight hummed to herself as she headed back for her dorm from the administration office for the school. She needed to fill out some paperwork and meet her new roommate. This last semester she had not been assigned a roommate to share her two-person room and she looked forward to sharing the space again.

When she got towards one of the trees dotting the campus she saw Crowe being held upside under a tree while Corbin watched. With an effort of will she vanished in a bi-colored smoke plume, another surrounding her as she reappeared next to Corbin. She nodded to Corbin, "Hey Corbin. You okay down there Morgan?"

Turning to the new girl, "Hi. I don't think we've met. My name's Vicky."

[Quinn]

Morgan flopped to the ground, a bit surprised that this new girl could lift him so easily. Finally, he sat up and dusted off his coat, rubbing the back of his head.

"Errr...had a little mix-up with a new rune. Probably shouldn't go back to my dorm room for a while, actually..." His eyes were a bit shifty on that one..."Ehe. Name's Morgan, Morgan Crowe. Pleased to meetchaaaaaahey Vicky."

The second Victoria appeared in her usual puff of smoke, he immediately snapped from clambered to his feet, rubbing some of the tree sap off of his boot. He seemed somewhat relaxed for someone who had a few seconds before been hanging upside-down in a tree.

[Lone Star]

Victoria Knight hummed to herself as she headed back for her dorm from the administration office for the school. She needed to fill out some paperwork and meet her new roommate. This last semester she had not been assigned a roommate to share her two-person room and she looked forward to sharing the space again.

When she got towards one of the trees dotting the campus she saw Crowe being held upside under a tree while Corbin watched. With an effort of will she vanished in a bi-colored smoke plume, another surrounding her as she reappeared next to Corbin. She nodded to Corbin, "Hey Corbin. You okay down there Morgan?"

Turning to the new girl, "Hi. I don't think we've met. My name's Vicky."

Janis smiled and shook her hand. "Hi Vicky. Some crazy boys you've got at this school. Oh hey! You can teleport too! Neat-o. I'm just looking for my dorm, but I keep getting distracted. It would have happened anyway, to be fair." She smiled widely. "I like this place. Oh, I also need to meet a Duncan Summers? Who's that?"

[Azuth65]

"Yeah, some of the guys are a little off but," her eyes flicking to Crowe, "that's why we love 'em. So, your dorm. I guess that would make you my new roommate."

Looking at the collection of luggage she asked, "Want a hand with that?" Before she could object, "Trust me, I'm stronger than I look. As for Mr. Summers, he's the headmaster here. Let's get your stuff into the room and then we can head back to administration and bury you a paperwork," she said with a slight smirk.

[Lone Star]

Janis crossed her arms. "Well, if you insist! I would have hoped you would have bought me dinner first before we went to your room." She let her carry her things as they walked towards their room. "I guess the guys'll catch up. What classes do you have, Vicky? I'm kind of looking forward to the power testing classes. I can control lightning!" To demonstrate, she held out her hand, and sparks flew around it, and soon a small stream of lightning was snaking up her arm. "I guess you can teleport too, and you're really strong. I can dig it."

[Azuth65]

"Play your cards right, I just might buy you dinner. Play them well enough and it might be breakfast," Vicky replied with a smirk. As they walked Vicky adjusted the bulk she now hefted. "Well, there's the basic art class I've been enjoying, the combat training and phys. ed. in general are up there as well. Gadgeteering 101 is fun too, becoming the next Daedalus isn't likely to happen from that class but it should at least give me the skills to put together a basic utility belt."

Looking over she gave a shy smile, "My fists don't always react well to everything I beat up and while I may heal fast, I still feel the pain..."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin had the grace to give an embarrassed chuckle as Janis referred to him as "other guy", realizing he hadn't given his name.

"Sorry about that. My name is-"

Then Vicky poofed onto the scene, and called him by name.

"Corbin. Like Vicky said, name's Corbin. And I shudder to think what life will be like with two energetic teleporters living in the same room."

He raised an eyebrow at the byplay between the girls, and rolled his eyes a bit at their "flirting". As they started to walk off, he went over to Morgan and patted him on the shoulder.

"Come on. We should probably make sure they don't blow something up. Maybe give them the 5 dollar tour while we're at it."

He suddenly winked and nudged Morgan in the ribs (gently!) before starting to walk off. His next words carried over his shoulders, the smirk evident in his tone.

"Besides, with two of them there, and me being unavailable, it'll double your chances!"

[Lone Star]

"Play your cards right, I just might buy you dinner. Play them well enough and it might be breakfast," Vicky replied with a smirk. As they walked Vicky adjusted the bulk she now hefted. "Well, there's the basic art class I've been enjoying, the combat training and phys. ed. in general are up there as well. Gadgeteering 101 is fun too, becoming the next Daedalus isn't likely to happen from that class but it should at least give me the skills to put together a basic utility belt."

Looking over she gave a shy smile, "My fists don't always react well to everything I beat up and while I may heal fast, I still feel the pain..."

Janis smiled at her new roommate. "Well, I don't have any regeneration, but I can generate a force field with my lightning, and I can dish out a pretty good amount of damage with it." She deactivated the power, and the lightning stream slowly winked out into a few sparks. Her smiled faded a little. "I really was looking forward to coming here. I think anyone with powers should learn how to use them for the betterment of mankind." She held her hands behind her back, and in a few moments a small smile returned to her face. "You guys seem like you'll make good friends."

[Azuth65]

Vicky nodded, "If not bettering mankind, at least protecting the little guy. At the very least people should use their powers to act like decent people. Protecting those who can't protect themselves."

At Janis' comment on being friends Vicky smiled, "I'd like that. And honestly, we'll kinda need it since we'll be sharing a room for a while."

[Quinn]

Crowe nodded sagely at Vicky and Janis, keeping up with the group after agreeing with Corbin's idea. He winked roguishly at the two of them and patted his coat.

"Tough to get a word in edgewise with this crowd, eh? Heh, Vick, you just said Red Hand's Rule number three word for word. Damn, that's nice to hear."

He trundled along beside them, pondering. Then he grinned as lightning arced up Janis's hands, and he held up both his own. Two runes flared on the cuffs of his coat, and a ball of fire floated above his left hand, a ball of ice above his right.

"Rune magic, gotta love it. Everyone around here's got some tricks up their sleeves, usin' 'em for the right purposes. In my case, quite literally."

[Azuth65]

Inclining her head towards Crowe she noted, "That's also why I'm working on making a belt of many toys. Nobody expects a teleporter previously only seen punching things to whip a flashbang at their face. It doesn't have the wide variety of realty altering that magic provides but you don't always need to make reality cry uncle. And these days, it really is rather amazing what has been built to 'belt pouch size'."

Coming to the door of the dorms, Vicky indicated the armload she had. "Morgan, would you be so kind as to get the door?"

[Quinn]

The fireball and ice ball vanished abruptly, along with Crowe, and when their eyes turned towards the door they saw him standing there, holding it open.

"Of course, milady."

He looked at the new girl and winked, chuckling.

"What? Never said slinging elementals was all I could do."

[Lone Star]

Janis raised an eyebrow, rather unimpressed, but out of the corner of her mouth, a small grin poked out. "Well thank you very much, Morgan. How cute."

She entered the dorm, and sighed happily. This would be where she stayed for the next few years of her life. She already felt very welcomed with her new friends. This would be a good place for her.

"So where's your room, Vicky? I'm really looking forward to checkin' out the pad. Oh, hope you don't mind...I'm a bit unorganized, although I'm fairly certain you knew I wasn't Type A."

[Azuth65]

Vicky headed for the elevator, "We're on the top floor. And while I'm not a neat freak, more than once I've let a mess sprawl out of hand during the week and ended up spending a weekend fixing that. I do however try and avoid leaving an excess of dirty clothes laying around."

Nudging the call button with her elbow she continued, "Mainly, my desk is the epicenter of messes. When I get in the zone on a sketch the rest of my activities get a tad sloppy."

[Lone Star]

Janis' eyebrows raised a little. "You're an artist? That's cool. I've never been much of an artist myself. I could barely draw in the lines back in elementary school. I am pretty big on sports, though. It keeps my hyperactivity from getting out of hand." Janis leaned against one wall of the elevator, looking at her new roommate. She seemed pretty level-headed, which would be good for her. God knows what would happen if there was another girl like her, especially in her dorm room. Nothing would ever get done. "And yeah, I try to avoid creating a stank, but I do tend to be absent-minded. A lot."

[Azuth65]

Vicky kept her foot stuck in the elevator's door so Corbin and Crowe could share the cab up. "I wouldn't call myself an artist, I'm that good, though Grimalkin liked the sketch I did of her last month at this autograph session she was doing at the comic shop I frequent."

"As for absentmindedness, you haven't seen me when I get really focused on something. Ever skip a night's worth of sleep and a day's worth of meals because you had a great story idea and you felt a need to get it set to paper? And hardly notice the time's passed?"

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin rolled his eyes at the antics of the others, especially Morgan. He waited until the girls were inside to walk in himself, like a gentleman. He grinned and threw an arm around Morgan's shoulders as he walked inside, dragging his fellow student along.

"Come on Casanova, they're waiting on us."

He hustled over to the elevator, making sure Vicky didn't hold her foot in the way too long.

"Sorry about that. Anyways. Didn't realize you were into art, Vicky. Guess I haven't seen you in art class."

He shrugged as he tried not to take up half the elevator (no mean feat for someone with his frame).

"Plenty of on-campus sports here, Janis. No stuff with other schools, though. Wouldn't be entirely fair.

As for being absent minded, the occasional room inspections help with that. Maybe set up a calendar, or a rotation, or something?"

He shrugged, idly rolling a disc of blue fire back and forth across the knuckles of his right hand, as if it were a coin.

[Quinn]

Morgan rolled his eyes at Corbin's comment, digging an elbow in with a chuckle as he got out from under the big guy's arm and hustled along beside him. Checking that the girls were out of earshot during the brief interim between the door and the elevator, he made a sly remark, winking.

"Oi, oi, just because you've got a steady girlfriend doesn't mean the rest of us have to give up hopes of romance, yeh? You're a lucky man, Corbin Hughes."

Ensuring to stay ahead (and out of arm's reach), he smoothly stepped into the elevator and leaned on the side wall, avoiding being squashed as Corbin walked in.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Except with me, it's less 'staying up and skipping meals to write', more 'staying up and skipping meals to figure out a new rune'. And the results when something goes wrong due to the aforementioned lack of sleep can be...explosive. Literally."

He winced momentarily, remembering what his roomie had threatened to do after he'd scorched his notes for the umpteenth time.

[Lone Star]

Janis scooted over to allow the two boys entrance. "So, I guess you're accompanying us to our room? How...well, gentleman-like, I guess. I've never had two strong men accompany such a poor fragile soul like myself." she said with a bemused laugh. "Naw, thanks though. You two are alright. So you're a magic-user, Morgan?" Janis turned to Corbin. "And I assume your ring is magical as well?"