ic Assemble!

[Zeitgeist Blue]

"Right..." Nicole said through gritted teeth. A few months of summer break had dulled her sense of just how much like grinding rocks together talking to Zenith was. It was almost enough to get her to leave for another person she knew, but the sleep deprivation must have thrown her game off and she found herself watching Zenith move a hand.

 

Bright light suddenly flashed around the hand and Nicole's head snapped away, her eyes shutting against the light. "Hey, ouch." She brought her fingers up and rubbed the white spots away, still listening to whatever dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest view Zenith was spouting.

 

"Why don't you poof yourself a tinfoil hat and color it rainbow?" Nicole asked, opening an eyelid to glance at Zenith playing with a coin. All that for a coin. It was enough to make her crave another shot and she popped open her thermos and did just that. She brought her thermos down and looked around the assembly before returning her attention to Zenith.

 

"I'd rather test people in a controlled environment or have them answer a questionnaire, but that's just me." And everyone else thinking normally she didn't say but so dearly wanted to.

 

"... And everyone who isn't you," she mumbled loud enough for Zenith to catch.

Edited September 15, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Thevshi]

Veronica

 

The young Danger smiled slightly as Janus commented on how different the school was so far her experiences at home.  She had heard a number of stories about Janus' mother holding court and the formalities of it over the years.  And like Janus, Veronica expected Kam could understand that sort of environment.

 

When Janus turned to the question about Claremont and whether the school would be able to keep them too busy to get into any trouble, Veronica looked back toward her cousin.  "Well, so far they are not doing all that good of a job."  She replied.  "But, it is just the beginning of the first day, so, perhaps the pace for a normal day will be quicker?"

Veronica could understand her cousin's restlessness.  While not used to quite the structure that Janus was, Veronica was used to having days that were filled will activity.  Even on the DI humanitarian missions she had gone on with her parents, there was always plenty of things to be done, and by this time in the morning she would have already been on her feet for a couple hours.

[Electra]

"Not too often," Danica assured Tom, "the headmistress doesn't like getting up on stage much, and the students and faculty are usually too busy. There's always one at the start and end of the year, then one before everybody goes on Thanksgiving break and after they come back from spring break. Plus, you know, if anything really big and crazy happens and they have to sit us all down and dispell the rumors and stuff. But that's pretty rare. Mostly they use this place for the school play and the talent show and stuff like that." She smiled over at the shy looking kid watching her nearby, but it looked like things were about to start happening onstage. 

[Heritage]

The young Southerner's eyes went wide as she put her hand to her mouth in shock. 

 

"No way! He actually turned into a girl?  With like, all the...parts and everything?" 

 

She laughed and shook her head incredulosly as she smoothed out her jeans and primly crossed her legs. 

 

"Well, well, well...looks like we're in for a fun year after all!"

 

In a way, Lulu found all this oddly comforting; it would be nice not to be the only weirdo in school!

[RocketLord]

Ashley did not like talking about their home. Noted. Pan's eyes turned serious for a moment as he looked at her, giving her a slight nod, before he turned back to Judy, Lulu and Selena with a wide grin on his lips. "I'm afraid I don't know what ninjas are. We had pixies, sea monsters, giant birds. I fought a giant squid at one point. That was fun." He liked what he heard about Alabama and Puerto Rico, though, even if he couldn't place how the historical details fit. "That I would have liked to see!" he responded to the story about the magician that turned himself into a girl. He had joined Claremont both to have a place to be and get some direction in this world, but so far, all the stories he had heard here made it out to be a wonderful place. "Do you have any other stories like that? I would love to hear some more."

[olopi]

As it had turned out, arriving late and sitting in the last row didn’t quite work out as Monica had hoped, she couldn’t get around avoiding people from the looks of it. She adjusted her position to actually sit in her chair instead of lie in it, and looked over at the new arrivals.

 

“Yo. Monica.”

 

Then she looked forward, at the ever increasing unrest that was building on the bleachers, and still no staff in sight. Great, maybe this’d turn into some sort of weird aptitude test already? Place everybody in one room and see how they deal with it?

 

“Looks like Claremont subscribes to the “tell them we start 10 minutes before we do so the ones that wanna be late are still on time” mentality then. Good to know, means we don’t have to hurry next time. “

 

Seeing as how nothing was gonna happen, she pulled out her phone, idly clicking through her internet browser without any real goal.

[Gizmo]

While combined conversations among the seated students reached a pervasive rumble echoing through auditorium the school faculty had begun taking their own seats in a long row on stage. The last to appear left her chair empty however and strode directly to the lectern. In an impeccably tailored, black business suit with a high necked ochre blouse, raven hair pulled up into an elegant bun away from her sharp features, Callie Summers was the very picture of stern composure. The athleticism of her frame was evident from the straight-backed set of her shoulders and the way she placed her hands on the edges of the lectern.

 

She said nothing, made no attention-grabbing movements, only looked out over the student body with her brows subtly raised in expectation. Such was Headmistress Summers presence that the gathered teenagers immediately began to fall silent, hurriedly whispering final thoughts to each other before turning their attention to the stage.

[angrydurf]

"You make a valid point."  Kam conceded.  The Dakanan clearly recalled similar events from his youth though he offered a small shrug, "Well there was usually music at least."  he pointed out grinning.  "I for one have faith that if there is troubled a Danger will be among the first to find it certainly."  he teased lightly though at this school there seemed to be no small number of students that might be equally likely.

 

As the staff filed in and the Headmistress silently called the student body to order he nodded to Victoria, "Well it seems we're about to find out then."  he'd note before focusing his attention on the woman at the front of the assemblage once more.

[Avenger Assembled]

Judy laughed nervously at Selena's story, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she flushed slightly at the cheeks. "S-say what?" 

 

Luckily, the headmistress arrived at that moment; so though she obviously wanted to hear more of whatever was going on, Judy turned and focused on the action happening on the stage. For her part Ashley had done the same for a moment that felt entirely too long - and entirely too familiar. She slipped on her crowd-watching sunglasses and pointed her head at the stage, anyway, her face blank as she got ready for this year's show. 

"

[KnightDisciple]

Micah gave Danica a nod and a soft smile, since she seemed to at least slightly understand what was going on inside his head. She definitely had some experience with Claremont craziness, that was for sure! It was good to know the frequency of these big meetings, though; he wasn't sure he could have handled it if they were monthly or, ugh, weekly!

 

But then the Headmistress walked on stage, and it was...she had a presence. He didn't quiet feel fear, but it was close. There was just an instant sort of respect there. Something about Miss Summers demanded their attention. So, Micah sat back quietly and waited to hear what she had to say.

 

His gaze did catch sight of his rather...energetic...roommate up front. He and Pan had exchanged some basic pleasantries, but the other, eccentric young man had seemed determined to keep exploring campus, while Micah had just been tired. Which was fine with the young Oklahoman; it meant he could put on his nighttime power suppression equipment without awkward questions he didn't have answers for. Yet. 

[Azuth65]

"We laugh about it now but, well, at the time there was so much panicking...," Selena explained.  "And yeah, while I didn't go checking for myself, he says it was a full turn over.  Now we just call it his 'vacation from himself'."

 

As the school's headmistress took the stage, the young magnetokinetic quietly added to Pan, "I'll see what I can come up with at lunch."  With that she tapped her flipped the page on her notebook and tapped her pen on the blank page, waiting for the main event of this assembly to begin.

[Heritage]

As soon as the headmistress entered the room, Lulu was all business. Her schooling back in Columbia had been pretty hit or miss, especially after her parents pulled her out to 'homeschool' her, but the young redhead wanted to make a good impression in her new school. She had five ballpoint pens in an array of colors, a brand-new three subject spiral notebook with flowers on the cover, and a solar powered calculator.

 

Lulu turned to the first page, carefully wrote her name and date on the top of the page, and then patiently waited for Ms. Summers to begin.

Edited September 16, 2018 by Heritage

[Thevshi]

Veronica

 

When the school headmistress arrived on stage, Veronica looked up from a small, worn book on Sanskrit that she had begun to study to try to help pass the time.  Closing the book, she quickly returned it to her pack and the focused back up on the stage as she gave Kam a small nod in agreement to his final statement.

 

As she watched the headmistress, Veronica was struck by the similarities with her Great-Aunt Rachel.  Headmistress Summers was younger than the Danger matriarch, to be sure.  But she certainly was possessed of a similar force of personality and bearing.  Well, seems they were going to find out more of the headmistress in short order.

[RocketLord]

The headmistress stepped up on the stage, and Pan could almost feel the atmosphere change in the assembly room. It wasn't all at once, it was gradual, but still, it was there. He grinned back at Selena. Oh, he would look forward to hearing what she could come up with, even if he had to focus for now. "I'll hold you to that." He gave a quick wink to Judy and Lulu before turning to face the stage. He had noticed the others getting out notebooks and things to write with. He hadn't thought about actually having to write down notes for the assembly. He wondered if he would get behind from that, but otherwise he'd just wing it. That had worked out so far, at least.

[SpicyWaffle]

Black Rabbit

 

"No kidding," he replied to Monica before she went back to playing on her phone, chuckling sardonically at the school's clever dictum for punctuality before turning his attention back to Danica. "But it's good to know they're not that often," hummed Tom, assuaged that at least these little get-togethers were at least somewhat predictable.

 

A let a moment slip by. Then another. It was all about pacing in every day conversation, a trait he'd learned during his stint in training back home; less strict and observed, and more open and genuine - but also more prone to letting important tidbits slip. Timing, as they say, is everything, and the last thing the newfound superhero-in-training wanted to do was seem like he was jabbering on.

 

"So, you've been here a while. Can't speak for Monica, but I'm pretty new to Freedom," Tom began, the double entendre completely unintentional as he tried his best not to sound too excited or pushy, "but maybe this weekend you can give me a tour. Show me all the cool spots around the city."

 

No sooner than the words escaped his lips did the headmistress walk in and assume her rightful position on the stage. No words were needed; the sheer intensity of her look quelled the growing noise in the auditorium almost instantly. It looked like the time for chit-chat was over.

 

"Just think about it," he added in a whisper, then slumped back into his seat -- or as close to slumping as he could get while still looking like he was at full-on attention.

[Jack]

Jack yawned silently and settled into his seat, trying to keep his nerves in check by periodically looking around for the window. The headmistress had finally arrived and so Jack fell back into silence. He was sad his conversation hadn't had much of a chance to flourish. Perhaps after the speeches he would get another chance.

[Cubismo]

Ms Thursday

 

Astrid couldn't help but laugh too. "See! You're a honest con artist. A dishonest one wouldn't have told me that," she said sarcastically with a grin on her face. Maybe she should be a bit more suspicious? Elizabeth was turning out to be pretty charming and wasn't as if she never been conned by people like that before. Errant memories of great-uncle Loki cheating her at a game of hnefatafl immediately coming to mind. Still, Astrid had a good feeling about her and figured that asking her a few more questions wouldn't hurt. "So, besides card tricks and stacking the deck what else can you do? Powers-wise, I mean."

[Tiffany Korta]

 

White Lioness

"You should not give up so easily young man!" said a rich bemused voice by his ear. Àjàṣorò had slinked to beside the larger teen and managed to find a seat next to him, for some reason many were giving him a wide berth.

 

"I am Àjàṣoro, pleased to meet you!" she whispered to the boy, she'd heard enough speeches in her time to know that the start of the speech would be all platitudes, they'd have a few minutes before the real important stuff would be mentioned.

 

He'd reminded her a little of her half-brother Baako, though nowhere near as brutish or stupid, and she'd never been afraid of him and had even tried to be civil at times. Though it had never worked, though here it should go much better!

[Jack]

"Young man...?" Jack barked with a laugh. His smile had been growing since the melodic sound of her voice first touched his ears. There was something in her manner and tone that awoke his more primal nature, and Jack enjoyed that.

 

"Da, you be correct though...One should not give up easily." He looked at her with a smile and a wink. "A predetor never give up easily...though some how I think you knew dis." He bowed his head to her and gently took her hand in his giant hand and greeted her with a soft peck upon the knuckles, his typical greeting. He never knew how well the old tradition would be received, but it was his custom. He found most Americans did not like the traditional European greeting of pecks on the cheek, so he settled for the more archaic greeting. "My name be Vanya, but most call me Jack. Tis a pleasure to meet you, melady."

[Fox]

"I can do...I mean, a little bit. A little bit of a few things? I'm still figuring a lot of that out, I guess," Elizabeth admitted, frowning at herself. She'd meant to practice more things more, but the ones that were the most entertaining were always the easiest to work with. "That's one of the things I hope to do while I'm here, is figure out exactly how my--"

 

The headmistress had taken the stage, and Elizabeth's eyes turned that way, as most all students' had; she wasn't so enraptured or intimidated as to not notice that bit. If she could figure out how that worked, she'd make a killing on a stage one day - for now, she'd watch, and she'd learn. As the whispers died down, she had just enough time to tilt her head an inch in Astrid's direction. "Maybe later. Showtime!"

[April]

As a returning student Abigail Storm knew it wasn't worth the time or energy speculating about Headmistress Summers actions or intentions.  They would be revealed at the moment of the Headmistresses choosing and not a moment before.  Instead she focused on the book in her lap and was subsequently ignored by the other students in turn.

 

She tucked a bookmark to hold her spot when Summers took the stage.  She took a brief moment to glance around the room, noticing it was filled up a bit more than one of last year's assemblies, before turning her attention up front.

[TheAbsurdist]

Slowly, ever so slowly, Zenith turned her head towards Nicole.  She smiled, though it was more a grimace, as she regarded the other student.  "Free advice," she said, through gritted teeth as her voice dipped lower, just enough for them, in between moments her hair erupted around her almost surrounding Nicole and her in a tumultuous tangle of tress set to sapphire and citrine for a moment, "You are a nicer when you can admit that you might be, maybe, possibly wrong. Well, at least less a holier-than-thou b****."  Her voice was sweetness and light, and her hair receded in between another blink.

"It isn't one sided, Nicole, and if you don't want me to be catty stop flexing your claws at me."  And she turned from her, letting her eyes glide back over others, lingering on some people she hadn't seen, until she was looking back at Mrs. Summers, likely to be under the judgemental and withering glare of Callie.  Or anyone else who thought ill of a superpowered individual who didn't want to be a hero.  Letting out a soft sigh, she had places to be, not here being chief among them.

[Gizmo]

“Welcome everyone,” Summers began crisply, “to a new year at  Claremont Academy. Those of you joining us again know that I like to keep these things brief and to-the-point. Those of you who are new should know that I’m also more than happy to make you sit on those benches indefinitely if I don’t think I have your full attention.” The Headmistress paused and there were a few scattered, awkward laughs from the crowd as students tried to guess whether that had been a joke or an ultimatum.

 

“Here are Claremont we pride ourselves in giving exceptional individuals the opportunity to grow into exceptional leaders. In many cases - and I don’t use this word lightly - exceptional heroes.” There was a subtle note of warm approval as she looked out over the assembled students. Her voice hardened as she continued, “In the wake of an invasion which claimed so many lives however we felt it necessary to remind you that you are also all of you still children. Our priority, as always, is your safety. In keeping with that there will be some changes this year.”

[Avenger Assembled]

Well this is new, thought Ashley, who appreciated any opportunity to feel like she wasn't sixteen again. It had been the headmaster's father in her time, but she'd spent plenty of time with the real Callie that she'd been vividly remembering the past for most of the headmaster's speech. She knew some of what she was about to hear, but the Raven ever played her cards close to the vest, even when dealing with an ally. Behind her glasses, she slumped, the perfect image of an inattentive teen. 

 

For her part, Judy was noticeably paying attention; sitting with her back straight and hands folded neatly in her lap, a faint but distant smile on her face, she looked very much the well-brought-up young lady despite her humble clothing - quite the contrast from the casually studied slacking of her sister. 

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole let out a yelp heard with those neabry as Zenith's hair erupted around them, her hands clapping over her mouth a moment later. Then it was over and they were back in the auditorium, everything normal.

 

Her body shook but soon she realized what had happened and the shock gave way to indignation, shaking in anger and her face reddening as she stared daggers at Zenith. Corrine's alter-ego was looking around, tall and imperious even while sitting down, and Nicole so very much wanted to put her down. A retort formed on her lips but when Zenith returned her gaze to Mrs. Summers, barely acknowledging her, the words faltered and so did her anger. She slumped in her seat.

 

Unfair. So damn unfair.

 

She could take and trade words with the best of them but powers, abilities beyond the mundane, were just beyond anything she could have and Zenith had rubbed that all over the wound. Zenith was wrong. It was hella one sided and she felt like kicking something. But even that was beyond her.

 

She slumped further in her wheelchair and half-listened to Mrs. Summers speech, not bothering Zenith any longer.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Zeitgeist Blue