Open Black Moon Academy - School for the Gifted

"Ah! They're so cute!"

Quitterie was surprised to see Kinkiru Shunjou near her elbow; the girl was a telepath and seemed repelled by whatever latent signals Quitterie gave off, though she was too nice to tell Quitterie to go away if she pressed the issue.

"Super-cute," Milk-chan agreed. But rather than talking about Quitterie's hair decs, they were staring at a little furry thing on top of the doorframe... a hamster.

Kinkiru's cry had brought attention, and Jum-P was suddenly the subject of many students' stares - only briefly for most, but there was at least one piercing glare in her direction, a stare that could surely kill, from a girl with a sword.

"Oh?" Quitterie said, making a gesture like she was pushing up her non-existent glasses up. She smirked. "That's right. The first years are here."

Miki gave Quitterie an odd glance, but her thoughts seemed to drift away and she started staring at the ground again. Didn't really matter, Quitterie had set foundations for future bothering about whatever the source of that despair was, so she didn't need Miki around any more.

"It would have been amusing if Katherine was still here, would it not?"

"U-um..." Kinkiru blinked, then distress came over her face. "I'm sure they could get along!"

That girl had had a python, not for any supernatural reason, but just because she wanted to bring her pet.

It would be pretty amusing to push in that direction, buuut... Quitterie smiled and casually roped them into conversation about cute animals (and the cute animals that ate them, come on, she could hardly pass that up completely) while nudging them into walking to the cafeteria. There was probably time before all the first-years arrived, so she had to entertain herself somehow, after all. The new kids largely wouldn't be that interesting, no doubt, but they didn't yet know how the school worked or what they should think of it, and some of them would have some pretty amusing powers. Like being good for killing and not much else. Every year Quitterie had seen had a few of those.

It was a bit weird how Reneé seemed to sort of shut down there for a second like he didn't know what was going on. Whatever, she had grabbed his hand, well for one, because he'd done the same to her earlier, and for two, with how his face looked it might have been the only way to get him to move.

Raisa nodded to Reneé. "Yeah apparently that Moriarty guy, the one that made us all fight? He's telling us all to get to the cafeteria now, something about a field trip, don't ask me." She made another turn, finally reaching the cafeteria. Well, it wasn't empty. A handfull of students were there, a few she recognized from earlier. Nick she guessed his name was. She was never very good with names. She quickly let go of Reneé's hand and made her way to the middle of the room.

~Reneé

"Hmm" Reneé replied, curious as to what the field trip would be. Once they arrived at the cafeteria, Reneé felt Raisa quickly release his hand, and Reneé could help but grinning slightly. Clearly she didn't want anyone assuming the had that kind of relationship. Reneé brushed back his hair from the one eye to get a better look at the cafeteria, not that he was expecting much, but now that he was there he decided there was no harm, after all the majority of the freshman student base didn't seem to be there yet.

The room itself seemed of reasonable size, large enough to seat about a hundred people at any given time, though Reneé doubted that was apt to happen. Tables were lined in a typical fashion, two end-to-end, and a gap between, the tables themselves fold-able, likely for allowing the cafeteria to pose as a multi-purpose room. The cafeteria itself didn't have the whit interior design Reneé had come to expect from the average cafeteria, instead it was the same wooden walls, save for the outer wall, which seemed to be more...casticular. The windows were large and quite pretty, but Reneé found himself disappointed at the lack of stained glass at the top of the tall windows, he figured it would've made for a nice touch.

Reneé's gaze wandered around the room, his hair still being drawn back, resting on his ear. The shade boy, Nick, was here already, as was Serena, who was waiting at the door, though if Reneé were to guess what she was doing, that purpose no longer stood, though Priam was visible just outside the doors, an expression indicating displeasure at the prospect of interacting with Serena plastered on his pasty face. Reneé felt something else watching the room, something that held more presence than what it was giving off, but he wasn't sure what.

"So...where in the numerous underworlds is everyone? Didn't they hear Moriarty? I don't think it'd be wise to cross the guy..." Reneé asked aloud, feeling his impatience swell slightly at the absence action.

Ace sat down hard in a plush chair, exasperated. "How in the name of God am I supposed to find this thrice damned cafeteria?" he asked himself, and sighed.

Someone overheard his complaint, and edged over. It was a tall and skinny woman, with long blond hair and a noticable gap between her front teeth. "Well, where do you think it is?"

Ace groaned. "I don't rightly know, do I? Otherwise, I would be there." The girl chuckled.

"Well, that's why you can't find it," she said with a grin. Ace tried not to stare at her malspaced teeth. "I've been here two years, and I never had any difficulty finding the cafeteria. You know why? Because I thought I knew where it was. People told me where they found it, and it never matched up with where I did. The cafeteria isn't anywhere, I daresay. It's wherever you know it is."

That didn't help matters much. Ace sunk into his chair, slouching as he tried to unravel what she had just said. "How does a room have no exact location? That's hardly possible. I mean... just think about it!"

The girl chuckled again, but Ace didn't see what was funny. "Well, it doesn't seem possible that people can shoot fire from their hands or walk on water, does it? But you're in a whole institute full of people with just such skills. Open up your mind. You might find it is more powerful than you thought." Ace was ready to whip out a hot retort, but the girl had vanished.

Invisibility, he concluded. Well, I hope. He stood up, and pieced together the things he had heard and overheard. "The cafeteria is somewhere on the first floor, surely," he thought aloud. "If I know anything about architecture, I would consider it one of the largest and most integral parts of the building. Therefore, it must be aligned with the entrance, and it is accessible through the lobby. I'm sure of it."

He dashed off to the lobby, still marveling at its magnificence, and saw it. A lofty banner reading, "Cafeteria," hung over a beat-up door, the glass window fogged and decorated with a criss-cross pattern. "That was easier than it should have been," Ace concluded, and walked into the room.

A sudden influx of psyche; nothing corporeal at all, not even in the figurative, approximate mental abstraction of the term. But now there were more minds in the building--or, at least, in the vicinity. A tiny fragment of Katie's mind shuddered at the thought (and, as it was the only tiny fragment that would react as such, it shuddered violently) but she paid it no heed, instead stepping out into the hallway behind Gundam.

The word cafeteria hung like a birthday streamer in the myriad telepathic stigma, and the fact that Katie could hear it with only Gundam nearby (who, let's be honest, wasn't thinking about any one thing all that drastically) meant that a lot of people were thinking about it at the same time. There wasn't much clue to be garnered there, because of course everyone was also looking for the elusive room. She poked around a bit more, trying to discern one mind from the next--but as she knew each student very little, Katie could hardly do any more than blindly stumble around (though the girl with the dirigible stuck out like a sore, ever-questioning thumb) until

Katie threw her hand out to the wall to catch herself instinctively, her mind had touched something and had snapped back--was reeling back--of its own accord. Her head was pounding, her projections altogether retracted into her own psyche as her conscious thought tried to remember what the hell had just happened. But it was gone, all specific minutiae of the even erased from thought entirely, leaving a vague, foreboding skeleton of a memory. Katie thought it best to remain in her own brain for a few minutes at least.

The two remaining hamsters (Katie was surprisingly bad at names) seemed to be perked up; Katie could no longer read their current thought patterns, but they were both looking in the same direction; it could be a coincidence. But it could also suggest that the four Dark Gods shared a hive mind, or--better yet--they were four bodies for a singular mind, after all if Katie was the most powerful being in the universe (purportedly) that's what she would do--split herself into multiple bodies to more efficiently divide her time between her talents.

Actually that's what she did do, essentially, split herself into two parts, except one part was good at everything and the other part was good at...being dead.

Carefully, she stood up. Gingerly, she reached her mind out again. An experience, she concluded, not to be repeated. She hadn't even noticed what Gundam was up to this whole time; turning to find (thankfully) that he was still there, she addressed him.

"So, do you think they've found anything yet?"

"The Four are not under my mental reach, but I do not doubt their skills in hunting. They shall certainly bring back the location of the horrid mess house posthaste. However, I suppose a status report would be useful... I shall call them back." Still mostly in the middle of the hall (he had headed off to investigate, but without being followed, he wandered back to his original location), Gundam turned to look at the halls he had sent the hamsters in. Cham-P and Sun-D were out of sight, but off in the distance of the other hall he could see a crowd of people. There was a good chance that was where Jum-P and Maga-G were searching.

"Hark!" He yelled deeply; the volume he summoned was enough to be heard at a distance by all the dark gods, he knew. Hopefully his distance from the crowd ahead of him - and the various noises he guessed would be coming from it - would prevent him from disrupting any others. "Oh dear, malevolent gods, I must call on you to return to me. Report! Reveal to me the location of the cafeteria!"

---

All the individual conversations going on in and near the cafeteria made the yell less audible to human ears, but Jum-P was a falcon, and Maga-G an elephant. The former had been staring harshly at the group that was admiring his hologram; upon hearing Gundam, he took one last look back at the cafeteria and at Maga-G before flying off into the hall. He made his hologram jump abruptly off the doorframe before running off under the table and after him.

The cafeteria doors were now almost constantly occupied, and Maga-G realized that trying to navigate the hall with his large size now would be almost impossible. He shrank down, becoming a hamster once more, and scurried after Jum-P. He actually did run under the table as he left. It was the least occupied area around him, after all.

---

Sun-D and Cham-P had a less eventful excursion, although it was no less entertaining to them. They had enjoyed their endurance run, and they had peered into room after room with unending curiosity. Sun-D, ever mischievious, had occasionally gone into a room or two. When she did, she would investigate it thoroughly, and leave it in the slightest bit of disarray. Cham-P followed when she did so, but didn't have quite the same inquisitiveness as his partner. He did leave every candle he saw burning, however...

It was when they were in one of those rooms when they called back. Cham-P took the lead then, Sun-D coming along second (after she had spilled a number of quills onto the floor that she was quite interested in).

---

The Four Dark Gods did not all arrive at the same time. Cham-P was the first, beating his tiny dragon wings rapidly as he flew into Gundam's palm. He then switched back into hamster form instantaneously, and a smile brightened on Gundam's face. He stroked Cham-P softly with his other hand, and looked towards the hall he came from. "Black Dragon of Terror, where has your fellow Shadow of Misery gone? Has she found the lost cafeteria of lore?"

Sun-D ran into sight just moments after Jum-P perched himself back on Gundam's shoulder. She shrank as she was running up Gundam's leg, finding a place in his scarf to rest. Jum-P rapped on the side of Gundam's head gently, pointing forward to direct him to Maga-G, who had fallen behind as a hamster. Gundam strode forward and picked him up, also finding him a place in his scarf. Cham-P climbed up his body as well, and Gundam dropped his other hand back down to his side.

"Great beasts... hast thou been successful in thine efforts? Can you lead me to the cafeteria?" Jum-P, understanding, took off and began to fly toward the cafeteria he had just left. Gundam followed, turning back at Katie to explain:

"Hahaha... they have spoken. Jum-P shall lead us to the wicked cafeteria, its invisibility spell broken by his divine will. Come, if you wish."

Gundam walked to the cafeteria in silence, Jum-P flying slightly ahead of him - to other's eyes, Jum-P following next to him.

Aimee sighed. She was more than likely going to be late, so instead of looking around her room more, she set her things down and walked out. The hall was already empty when the first announcement came on.

Our mind is our greatest asset, yes that's been said before, but the second part sparked something in her mind. Staring us right in the face...? It's probably right where we were waiting, because they'd never think of us looking there. Aimee glanced around for a moment, wondering if there were any students still around. One room seemed to have a few umbrellas spilling from it. She'd avoid asking anyone in that one, if they were even in there.

Walking down the stairs slowly, she took a better glance around, observing the building. It seemed fancy, almost comforting if it wasn't for the fact it was a very large building that had its own skeletons in the closet. Heck, there might even be skeletons in their closets for all she knows. She looked up as another announcement came on. Where could those speakers be? This one seemed to be rushing her now, it shouldn't take her ten minutes to find the cafeteria if it's where she thinks it is.

She walked faster, maybe there will be other students around her, hopefully not too many guys. Reaching where they had started out, she heard a flow of voices coming from where the headmaster had came from. She sighed in relief. So she had been right after all. Walking into the room, she spotted the hamsters and most of the other students who she had seen at first. And plenty of others she didn't know. She wasn't good at remembering any of their names, so she put her head down and shuffled towards the group, she thought one of them was called Nick, but stayed at a distance and didn't say anything. This was definitely the best way for her to be a social butterfly and interact.

Serena started at the sight of a certain someone. "WELL, WELL, WELL." She said, practically yelling. "LOOK WHO DECIDED TO SHOW UP. PRIAM." She gave a disapproving shake of her head, wagging a finger in his face. "So what, you just decided that maybe it was kinda' boring all by your lonesome? Did it occur to you that making friends is a wonderful thing? Hmph." She folded her arms and shook her head again. "If I wasn't so nice, I'd smack you. You're going to be a problem child. I'll just have to fix that. Hear me? I swear upon my mother's life, I will bring you into the social world." She poked him in the chest for extra emphasis.

At the voice of the headmistress, Serena straightened up, and her heels came together. She came pretty close to instinctively saluting the headmistress, but was able to control herself (sorta). But the Headmistress didn't seem to say much to her. In fact, aside from the greeting, Serena was ignored. Well, her power wasn't exactly incredible. It wasn't like these other kids, who had creepy shadow-monster-demons and hamsters and biohazard suits and dirigibles. And then Priam had bag lady claws, plus some medicine (she still thought it was booze or something because really who keeps medicine in a flask?)

She gave a half-hearted wave goodbye to the Headmistress, starting to feel a little self-conscious about her lame powers. She didn't even know what half of the other freshmen could do, much less the whole school. Maybe there was a club or something for people like her. With boring powers. That'd be interesting.

On the bright side, there was going to be a field trip. Or not. Or yes. It was hard to tell from the intercom argument.

The expression of displeasure that had formed the moment Priam opened the door remained in place all throughout Serena's rambling. He tried to move past her, but all that wild gesticulating of hers was preventing him from going anywhere forward. When she called him "problem child," Priam had to fight the urge to extend his claws and use them to help him move past her. She doesn't know about... him, he reasoned with himself, and while debating whether or not her knowing about him would change her stance sounds like a wonderful question, that's for another time. "Recalled question about medicine," he said quietly, "went to health office and was directed to here after I-" his response was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Headmistress, who took a moment to address Priam about how ill he looked. Doubt that's going to be the first time somebody brings that up, he thought, finally seeing a chance to move past Serena, frankly surprised that Tarquin guy didn't make a remark about it... though I suppose compared to him, everyone looks like me.

The PA crackled to life yet again, this time with two of the faculty debating on whether or not the reason for the Freshmen going to the Cafeteria was about a field trip. Some kind of initiation that would have happened immediately if not for lockdown, likely, he mused, noticing that other students were starting to file in, perhaps a chance to use our powers lethally? He shook his head. They wouldn't have the students demonstrating lethal force so soon after imploring the importance of not using lethal force, especially after what happened with Vidal.

Speaking of Vidal, Praim noticed that he had yet to arrive at the Cafeteria. Perhaps it was a punishment due to what happened earlier, or maybe he, like Priam, had no desire to go here and was unaware that it was mandatory. Regardless, Priam couldn't help but feel disappointed at his absence. Vidal's powers were closer to his than anyone else in this group, and he had been hoping to observe him more; learn more about him before possibly approaching. Instead, it seemed that the chances for him finding a kindred spirit in that fellow had waned significantly, leaving him back at the same point he was in when arriving at the Academy: being around nobody he would want to associate himself with.

((So if people aren't posting and they come back later, we're just going to assume they were there all along. But for now, we're going to forge ahead without them.))

---

Nick was chewing on the inside of his cheek when he saw Moriarty strutting through the doorway, past Priam and Serena. In tow were two of the “Hunters,” their faces hidden behind distinctive masks. They made no sound as they followed, and seemed to stare straight through everyone around them. Moriarty came to a stop in the center of the Ballroom, shooing away the upper class students trying to say “hi” to him. The Hunters silently stood behind him, their hands folded behind their backs. Professor Pope walked in from the doors opposite the cafeteria; he walked stiffly, his pace quick and his steps heavy. He took a spot standing next to Moriarty, and whispered a few words to him. Moriarty shrugged, and mumbled something in response.

Having said whatever it was that needed saying, Moriarty snapped his fingers at a third year student passing by and told him to fetch a few things. The third year complied, bringing him a megaphone, a stack of small books, a roll of bandages, and a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

His equipment with him, Moriarty raised the megaphone and took a deep breath. The megaphone squealed for a moment, and when it had subsided, Moriarty began. “All freshmeat, come over to me, if you would. Over this way. Beat it, Zlomke, I know what year you are.

“Okay, we’re here now? Good. Now, we’re about to go on a little–” He pointed the megaphone right at Pope’s ear at this point. “–FIELD TRIP–“ He turned back to the students. “–out into the woods in the surrounding area. We’ll be out there for a while, but should be back in time for dinner. Behind me are two Hunters; they’re here for your protection, don’t be scared.” He grinned. “Now, where’s our second year–POPEY.” He screamed at Pope again, who flinched at the megaphone’s subsequent squealing. “WHERE’S MY SECOND YEAR?” Pope snatched the megaphone from Moriarty with a scowl.

“Quitterie, if you’re in this room, report to me immediately.” Pope looked over both the freshman and the returning students navigating around them. “Before I hand this thing back to my colleague, I’d like to let you all know, it is unwise to think of this as something so trivial as a simple field trip. It is only fair to warn you that where we are going, what we are doing, is very dangerous. If you aren’t careful, you might not return.”

Moriarty begrudgingly took back the megaphone. “Spoilsport.” He mumbled. “Now then,” He continued. “When we’re out there, stay with the group. The Hunters and I – and Professor Pope – will move ahead of the group to double check the area. You should have a second year guide, but I haven’t seen her yet. But that’s another thing the Hunters are for. Substituting. Feel free to chat along the whole way, why don’t you. Get to know each other, eh?”

He motioned for them all to follow, and took them back out the front doors. He immediately veered to the right once they were outside, going all the way to a small iron doorway in the side of the school’s walls. The door was far smaller than the main gate, only a bit larger than your typical household door, but the design was just as intricate. Moriarty unlocked it and Pope went through first, followed by Moriarty and one of the Hunters. The other Hunter, a woman wearing a Noh Mask resembling a blue demon, stopped and turned to the students who had followed. “Is Quitterie here? If not, I’ll be leading you all into the woods.” She clicked her tongue loudly a few times as she looked the students over.

~Reneé

Reneé watched as Moriarty made his way to the center of the room and began addressing him and his fellow students. Reneé's lock had fallen back into place as Reneé listened with interest, perhaps the volume was making some sort of effective effort of commanding his attention, regardless it had been made clear, not by Moriarty, but by Pope, that this was not to be regarded as safe, that there was some sort of danger there. Reneé chuckled slightly at the presentation in a whole, Moriarty was certainly unlike Reneé had ever met, and that was discounting whatever super-human ability he possessed, though Pope seemed rather apprehensive of the whole ordeal, and the way Moriarty added Pope to those who'd be leading them through the forest implied that Pope seemed to be reluctant to go.

Reneé found himself trailing the group as they were led out of the Academy and onto the grounds. An immediate right turn was made and Reneé watched as three of the four staff entered the notably smaller door in the side of the Academy. The remaining staff member, a 'Hunter', remained outside, likely to watch over the freshman, though not likely to answer questions. Didn't stop Reneé from opening his mouth though.

"Excuse, miss 'Hunter'? Why are you wearing a Noh mask? I thought those were for a specific, and rather traditional sort of Japanese play." Reneé asked, not thinking as to the repercussions of his inquiry.

((OOC: Mind you, you didn't specify which Noh mask she was wearing...))

Having strode past Serena, ideally preventing her from making another grating remark about him and his (lack of) social preferences, Priam took a moment to look around this Cafeteria. Though he hadn't noticed it when he'd first entered the room, now that he'd been in here for a bit, something about this room felt... off to him. He didn't know what it was or why it was, but he had this uneasy feeling; a feeling that some kind of unseen being was watching him. Looking around the Cafeteria, Priam could see that there were many places for someone to hide; if somebody was watching him, it seemed that there were many places they could do so without ever being noticed.

Then again, could just be me and my street-honed paranoia, Priam attempted to reason, or it's this school's version of a surveillance camera; thought that Tarquin was security simply because he walked around the school in full armor, but the real security could be people that hide in the shadows. He considered asking one of the other students that was already there if they had that same feeling, but decided against it. If they didn't, he'd come across as paranoid and obsessive over the smallest of things - both of which would certainly draw unwanted attention to him later down the line.

As it turned out, he didn't have time to bring up a question, as both Moriarty and Pope arrived, with the former being accompanied by two masked figures. After Moriarty introduced the two masked ones as Hunters, and how they were there for the purpose of protecting, Priam relaxed. They seem to be the type that would hide in the shadows. Likely that there's just one hiding somewhere here to provide further protection. After Moriarty motioned for the students to follow him, Priam did so, falling into step near the back of the group. The man had encouraged some small talk, but small talk was the sort of thing Priam hoped to avoid, especially given these circumstances. Pope mentioned the possibility of us dying out there... maybe where we're going, lethal force will end up being necessary. Hope that it isn't. Would prefer that nobody here learn of what I'm really capable of unless it's absolutely necessary.

"Ah, I'm here. Like I promised, right?" Quitterie said as she walked up to where she was supposed to be. This sort of outdoorsy stuff wasn't her favourite thing ever, but it was the best way to get a chance to play with the first years.

"Yoohoo! My name's Quitterie Kaname." She waved in greeting and accompanied the rest of her speech with exaggerated gestures and expressions. "Nice to meet you all. I'm in charge of you lot for some reason, so it'll look bad on my record if someone dies. Try not to, 'kay?" She grinned and threw up a V-for victory at that. "Well, there's bears out there and stuff" - here her smile was like at a private joke - "but we've got professionals to protect you, so try to have fun as long as you don't do anything outright stupid. Or at least tell me first so I can get a good picture. If it doesn't make it into the yearbook it'll be a great warning for your underclassmen next year."

She winked, and one small, white, fluffy critter for every two first-year students teleported around the group. It was digging more into her reserves than she really should right now, but she could make a few more in a hurry if necessary. Anyway, it would be boring if she had to restrain herself just to avoid a bit of risk to the integrity of her network. She did lose connection to a couple of distant, unimportant nodes as the Qbeys across the network rearranged themselves to the optimal configuration, but, like, whatever. What's the worst that could happen, a handful of people dying?

"Those are my familiars. They're super-cute, right? Well, I guess they're losing to four little guys here, haha." Her eyes were on Gundam's hamsters as she said that. "Anyway, I call 'em Qbeys. Talk at them and I'll hear it. They're a bit expensive to replace, so try not to kill them, but if you want to cuddle one, I totally understand. You don't have to pair up or anything, but stay within talking distance of one." She shrugged. "But it's not my intention to give some huge speech or anything. If you've got questions, I'll answer them along the way."

As the Qbeys arranged themselves to the optimal configuration for communication with all parties - Hunters included, of course, even if their numbers were selected for the students - Quitterie made a show of looking over them. She nodded. Geez, she hadn't put on a performance like this in a while. Not without some help. She might be getting rusty.

"We all here? Then let's go!"

"—MIND IS YOUR GREATEST ASSET. FUN FACT TWO: THE SOLUTION TO ANY PROBLEM CAN BE FOUND BY THINKING CREATIVELY, BUT SOMETIMES THE ANSWER CAN BE STARING YOU IN THE FACE. HAVE A NICE HUNT."

She’d fallen asleep somehow, and nobody had bothered to wake her up? How long had it been? And what was she supposed to be doing anyway?

"Have a nice hunt," the voice—Professor Moriarty’s, hadn’t it been?—had said. Was it morning already, time to search for the cafeteria?

Surely, though, Priscilla thought, she couldn’t do too wrong by looking for a kitchen. There had to be a kitchen somewhere, and if food was going to be prepared, it would have to be in use by now, wouldn’t it?

She didn’t detect any large temperature gradients. There was a cluster in the general direction of the entrance hall, though, so she followed that and failed to detect a staircase and stopped several steps down.

Adding to the resulting mild injury (painful, but seemingly nothing actually damaged; it probably wouldn’t be worth finding the doctor) something of an insult, Professor Moriarty’s voice boomed again—from where, exactly?—"AAAAATTENTION FRESHMEAT! IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR BACKFAT INTO THE CAFETERIA IN TEN MINUTES, YOU DON’T GET TO COME ON OUR AWESOME FIELD TRIIIIIIP. THAT’S ALL FOR NOW."

Followed, momentarily, by a less familiar voice, "IT’S NOT A FIELD TRIP."

And Professor Moriarty again, "SHUT UP, IT’S A FIELD TRIP."

At this point, Priscilla was starting to become moderately annoyed by the announcement system.

Perhaps slightly more than ten minutes later—there had been several walls in the way—Priscilla arrived at the room with the large cluster of people, which may or may not have been the cafeteria, in time to hear an older girl finish telling the group something, ending with "it’ll be a great warning for your underclassmen next year."

Then adorable white fluffy creatures appeared, and she didn’t pay much attention to anything else anyone was saying.

(All told, not necessarily the best way to start a day—was it? She still wasn’t even sure what time it was.)

Raisa glanced at the fuzzy animal, looked sort of like a bunny, but she wasn't sure what it was. Better not bring up my allergies, she thought to herself. Still, it's cute.

That was her first thought. Her second was a chorus of 'NOPE'. More combat training? What part of the fact that she tried to talk her way out of the last one did the staff not get? And this time she didn't see the walking dartho biohazard kid here to get her out of it.

She ran a list of ideas through her head. Combat. Survival. She'd been camping once in her life, and that was in the backyard... of the family mansion... surrounded by armed security. She had no combat skills besides the little that the guards had taught her over the years during the really slow days. Basically she knew enough to get her ass kicked and at least look like she tried to not have her ass kicked.

And then there was Brighton.

Okay, so Brighton wasn't just a trinket. He was designed to be a revolutionary combat drone, or at least that's the program he was started from. Of course she'd done extensive work to make him more civilized, but the combat programing was still there. Sadly the only thing for weaponry he had was basically a taser, aka he could shock people. That was it. And it wasn't anywhere near deadly levels. She'd only found it out when it accidentally activated once.

She moved toward the end of the line, standing near the really tall sick looking boy. What was his name? Prius? Priam? She dipped her head at the guy. "Hey," she muttered as she started digging through her laptop bag, pulling out a small metal ball... Better known as Brighton's actual hardware.

She was about as sure of this about as much as she was sure pigs could fly. The last time she tried to activate his combat programing he'd targeted a roast pig at a dinner party. THe test since then were still VERY sketchy, but at least it hadn't killed anyone.

Raisa clicked the ball and it expanded from the size of a baseball to the size of a softball. Then, she called up her interface. The glowing orange, white and blue programing flashing in front of her eyes only. With her open hand she pressed and activated each individual code sequence needed to transfer Brighton from her laptop to the sphere. She smirked a bit when the classing uploading bar appeared. Within seconds, and with her help, the upload was finished.

Ha, she should only imagine what this looked like to the others.

She lightly tossed the sphere into the air, and it stayed at the top of it's arc, hovering. Soon the holograms activated, and Brighton was floating about in all his blue glowing glory. The actual sphere had a small amount of shielding, and the hologram body was basically just a looks thing. All in all the soccer ball sized VI was hovering around inspecting everything.

She grinned. He was like a little kid, buzzing about her head and 'looking' at everyone. He stopped in front of Raisa and dipped his 'head' a little in greeting. "Miss Winters, did you know there are quite a few people in here. I regret to inform you I have not met them yet, would you like me to introduce myself?" Brighton asked in his classic Wheatly-ish accent.

"Uh, not sure yet. Just hover for a bit. Get confortable, we may activate the 'you-know-what-mode' later."

Brighton actually seemed to bounce a bit in excitement. "Of course Miss Winters."

Aimee listened intently to what Moriarty had to say. So they had a chance of dying, at least she would put up some form of a fight if it came to that. She had her electrical powers of course, but those would only do so much against the dangers that were outside of these walls. THey were in a school for kids with powers so naturally, there were probably going to be a lot of dangerous things.

Sighing, she watched as the guide, Quitterie, gave a short explanation about what her purpose would be. Gasping softly as the small animals appeared, she took one carefully out of the air and held it close, petting it. She did say she'd understand if they were cuddled, so what else should Aimee do?

It helped her feel a bit calmer, her attentions taken away from the surrounding students until a orb floated over to her, the shape of a man, seeming to inspect her. She froze and waited for it to pass by, going to the next student before finally returning to his owner and talking to her for a moment.

The girl was interesting, Aimee was surprised she didn't notice her much before. Her hair was a bright green colour with some black in it. Her own hair was just brown, boring, and frizzy. Not like she cared what others thought of her though. She must have powers involving technology or something, though, since the sphere-man nodded to what she said.

Aimee's powers weren't that great in her mind, she could shock people but not without eventually causing herself to blackout. There was always the chance that she'd get to spark someone's emotions high and possibly cause an entertaining argument. It wouldn't be exactly safe to start a fight here, especially when the students here have already proved fairly... deadly.

She shuddered at the thought of what happened in the ring and pet the small animal more. At least she could hold this thing for a while.

Serena only frowned at Priam when he moved past her. But she didn't make any attempt to stop him. If he wanted to be like that, fine. She'd let it slide. For now.

When she went to Moriarty and his... Scary Hunter people, she stood still her her left fingers clasped in her right hand behind her back. This all sounded like a very bad idea, and she wondered if all this lethality crap was the school "weeding out" the... Weak.

She pulled a pen from one of her pockets and rolled up her coat sleeve. On her arm, she scribbled a reminder to get herself some knives, "knives" here having the meaning "projectile weapons."

When the girl made her speech, Serena promptly decided she liked her. She was upbeat, smiley, and just seemed friendly. Quitterie, huh? Serena wanted to squeal at the sight of the fluffy little familiar. She wondered to what extent she could "cuddle" it. After all, if she cuddled too hard, she could hurt it. She did that once with a pet rabbit at a friend's house.

A boy, Reneé, made a comment to the Hunter (or maybe Huntress? It seemed like they used "Hunter" in a gender-neutral manner) about her mask. "It does seem... Random." Serena added.

"Excuse, miss 'Hunter'? Why are you wearing a Noh mask? I thought those were for a specific, and rather traditional sort of Japanese play."

The Hunter eyed the boy who asked the question. Reneé. “Why do I wear a Noh Mask?” She repeated. “Moriarty should have discussed the matter with you all earlier. I suppose the ‘incident’ happened quicker than I thought it had.” She shook her head. “Very well, then. A Hunter’s mask is of great personal significance. So long as we are Hunters, we must renounce our former identity, only to reclaim it upon our resignation or death. The mask is seen as a way of preserving that identity. I can tell you more about Hunters and their masks, but please, do not ask me about mine, or for that matter, any specific one.” There was a certain coldness to her voice. Evidently Reneé had touched a pretty sensitive nerve.

With Quitterie ready to lead them into the woods, the Hunter nodded to her. "I leave them in your hands, then. Move quickly, and we may get this over with before nightfall. Maybe even before dinner." That having been said, she quickly turned and vanished into the woods, with not a sound.

Nick was wondering about what sort of mask he might have if he was a hunter. Maybe mimic the Shade's face? That could be interesting.

He pulled himself from his thoughts, and spoke to the one nearest him, Reneé. "She was pleasant." He noted. "You don't suppose they're all like that, do you?" While his initial introduction to the Hunters was one that provoked curiosity, he wouldn't want to part of a clan of a bunch of cold-hearted, monotonous stiffs.

~Reneé

Reneé recoiled ever so slightly at the end of the Hunter's response. He had supposed that there was some sort of identity protection reason behind it, but her...unpleasantness in pertinence towards individual mask reasoning took Reneé off-guard. Soon enough the second year, Quiterrie, had introduced herself to the group and presented the Qbeys. He found their presence odd, to say the least. For whatever reason his right eye was acting up ever so slightly, as though there was a soul to be absorbed, but yet it wasn't absorbing it, as though there was something preventing it from happening.

"I dunno? Some maybe more laid back, but perhaps I touched a rather sensitive subject..." Reneé responded with a huff, his right hand clenched, attempting to calm the small flame in his right eye. "Um, Quitterie was it? What exactly are these QBeys? Like, I hate to be an inquisitive pest, especially after that, but it seems to be...my body is reacting rather poorly towards them. And by that I mean my eye..." Reneé asked, ending in a bit of mumble as he felt his fingernails dig indents into his palm. "Seriously? Come on eye, this is just rude!"


((OOC: I'd assume the Despair bit of Quitterie's ability would block Reneé's ability to absorb souls, but Reneé would still have some sort of reaction to them. Perhaps due to the Despair-field (is that a thing?) not being all too intense due to a relative lack of need?))

This was the part that Ace had come to the school for, and it fired him up. The lady up on the stage, Quitterie, seemed interesting enough, but then again, who didn't here? The hunters unnerved him slightly, but he didn't fear them. The masks they bore were solid symbols of the fear they possessed, the fear of their own identities. That much he had been able to assume, though he could be wrong-- in any matter, they couldn't be completely fearless, which meant Ace had the upper hand if they ever tangled.

Dangerous was what Ace lived for-- it pumped adrenaline through his veins, and his heart pounded. He tried to restrain it, but unlike some of the students in the school, he couldn't control his bodily functions. This was more excitement than he was used to, and he wasn't sure he liked the feeling.

While they walked about outside, Ace kept to himself, but also looked around in an attempt to glean what he could about his fellow pupils' powers. He was, incidentally, reminded of a cousin with such powers that he knew as a youngster, but who was quickly forbidden to enter the house again by Ace's parents. It was a good move, to expel him, for his power was a curious one. He had the power to change liquid, any liquid except water, into fire. So, as it happened, he could basically shoot fire-- well, wherever he pointed it.

The chatter of the students lit a spark of envy in Ace-- how he wished to have friends to whom he could relate, and what a better place to do so than this! But he was too introverted to actually make a move on anyone, and thus he remained quiet in his own cloud of fear.

Ace did not like fear himself-- his mind's natural reaction to fear was to attack it, and so when he felt it, more pain accompanied him than most. Nonetheless, it was a better tradeoff than having to interact with people, so he did not complain.

The Qbeys unnerved him more than the Hunters did, as they did not feel fear. They were vessels of Quitterie's power and nothing more, with no thoughts of their own or emotions. This scared him-- if they were to tangle for some unthinkable reason, Ace would be at their mercy.

Ace tried to cut his flow of thought and continued walking among his fellow students, intrigued that for once, he was not alone.