ic Bolt from the Blue [OPEN]

[Thevshi]

Claremont Academy

Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey

Wednesday January 3, 2024, 8:10 AM

 

With the start of the second half of the school year, Headmistress Summers had called an assembly for the student body to start the first day back in classes. Once all the students had gathered in the auditorium, the headmistress made her way out onto the stage. She was accompanied by a most unusual individual, a short figure, under four feet tall, with aquamarine blue skin and a long prehensile tail. The figure appeared to be female, and was wearing some sort of breathing mask and dressed in punk style clothing and combat boots.

 

Directing the figure to a spot close to the podium, the Headmistress stepped up behind the podium and began to speak. "Good morning everyone, welcome back. I trust everyone had an enjoyable and safe holidays and New Year's. Before we start classes this morning, I wanted to make a short announcement to introduce everyone to a recent addition to our student body."

 

The Headmistress indicated the small figure that was standing nearby. "Vueriz is a recent arrival, not only to our city, but our planet and galaxy. Many of you likely heard on the news about a recent crash landing near Freedom City, that was Vueriz's arrival. After some debriefing by the Freedom League and AEGIS, she has been remitted to the school's custody. I trust each and every one of you will do all you can to make her feel welcome and help her adjust to her new surroundings and learn about not only our city, but our world."

 

"Now, classes begin in half an hour, so you have some free time until the, but I expect everyone to be on time. Will the members of the sophomore class I spoke with early this morning please gather in the antechamber to meet with Vueriz and help ensure she makes it to her first class. For the rest of you, there will be ample opportunity throughout the day to introduce yourselves."

"Dismissed."

[Poncho]

On the first day back from New Year's break, Michael had already started working on activties for clubs, exrra credit, and general school benfits. So he had been tapped by Headmistress Summers to at least introduce himself to the new student. Not alone, of course, he was still too new regarding the greater non-human community to be trusted with such things himself. 

 

Standing at his full height, he was a full two feet higher than the diminutive alien, and while she was dressed like a punk, he was dressed like the most straitlaced highschool student that ever existed between his buttoned up cardigan and pressed pants. His greeting was as polite as he could be for an Earth boy, extending his hand politely to offer a handshake.

 

"Veuriz, I'm Michael Adon. It's a pleasure to meet you." He did not say how cool it was that he was getting to meet an alien- that would be rude-, but he was thinking it. "I'm one of the kids helping you out on your first day." And he flashed a cheery smile to complete the image.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

An alien? 

 

Parker looks up, having been lost in thoughts for the standard assembly, before Veuriz is introduced. He had been asked to go meet the new student alongside some of the others, but no one had told him that she was an alien. She looks small, dressed like a punk, on top of equipment that seems to help her breathe. She looks weird, to be honest, but then again, so does a lot of them... and it's not like his powers aren't weird.

 

Dressed in a white winter jacket with fur trim and jeans, Parker follows Michael over to Veuriz, where he holds a hand up in a greeting. "Hi, I'm Parker. How are you?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence had sat quietly during the assembly, not showing any real surprise or reaction to the Headmistress announcing Veuriz was from another galaxy (which has created some murmurs thought the gathered students. Unlike most the blond teen had been in space before and met aliens from a number of different worlds. That experience has been part of the reason he had been paired to room with Baz. But to be fair, to hear the new student was from a completely different galaxy did a lot to push her up on the "out of the ordinary" scale for him.

 

After the brief assembly, Lawrence gathered with the other students asked by the Headmistress to help welcome Veuriz. The sixteen year old was dresses in jeans and a brown sweater over which he had a jacket. "Cheers. I'm Lawrence, very nice to meet you Veuriz." He said with a charming smile.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"And I'm Gamma Buzz, baby!" chirped in Baltazar. "Also, my proper name is Baltazar Botez. Everyone calls me Baz, so you can too :)"

 

He was happy as can be. Aliens would be quite used to radioactive half-cockroach kids. Or at least, they would be used to not being used to things. 

 

"Different galaxy? Wow. Thats really far. I mean thats like, what, a hundred light years or something?"

 

He eyeballed Lawrence, hoping that he had somehow got astrophysics right. Baz wasn't an idiot, by any means, but he wasn't a genius either. He knew his way around a circuit board and a keyboard, but astrophysics wasn't really on his radar. He did, however, know that galazies were pretty far apart. At least a hundred light years. Maybe two hundred. That sounded about right. 

 

For Baltazar Botez, a good guess was just as good as an accurate knowledge. Maybe better. 

Edited January 8 by Supercape

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt

 

Vueriz was wearing a grey tank top and ripped black jeans. It was an odd contrast to the warmly dressed people around her. She craned her neck to meet their eyes, slightly intimidated at being so thoroughly dwarfed by what were supposed to people about her age (Not that she would admit that of course). Aliens didn't visit Zirtimzar frequently, so while she had seen people even larger than these humans, they weren't common like how everyone here was over half again her height.

 

She took a breath to settle herself as her boots clomping as she stepped closer to reach up to shake the preppy boy's hand, before taking a couple of steps back so she didn't have to strain to meet their eyes. "I am Vueriz, from planet Zirtimzar, as Headmistress Summers said." She regarded Baltazar with interest, and some confusion at his statement of distance. She would have thought another alien (she assumed anyway, she hadn't seen anyone else like him) would understand the incredible distance she had covered, although she supposed that intergalactic travel might be beyond the scales he was used to considering. There was one thing she definitely needed to correct however, "I am not a baby, based on the orbital period of the planet I am roughly sixteen years old by Earth's reckoning." Her eyes flicked over Baz for a few moments, the glow of radiation from him making him glow and sparkle slightly to her eyes.

 

After a moment of silence, Vueriz began frantically thinking of what else she could du that wouldn't be awkward or make the silence drag out uncomfortably. "I have been informed that many of my peers will have extraordinary powers, do you four have such abilities?" Nailed it. 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawerence gave a small smile as Baz discussed how far Vueriz might have come from and gave a distance that, while vast, was rather insignificant in relation to the distance between galaxies. "You are just a bit off on the distance there Baz. I expect Vueriz is from much, much further away." The blond teen said with a small grin to his friend.

 

At Vueriz's question to the group, Lawrence focused back on her and gave a small nod. "Yeah, all of us here do. I can control time and am able to move through it differently than most."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Lawrence drives clockmakers crazy!" said Baz. 

 

"And I'm radioactive!" he added, glowing slightly. "Completely harmless lethal radiation! Green radiation, too! If you ever want to cook your chicken really fast, you know where to come! Cooked in a flash, a gamma flash. Only slightly glowing green afterwards!"

 

He hopped from foot to foot excitedly, fighting the urge to carve "GBB" into the nearest wall with his laser vision. 

 

"And I stick to walls, too!" he added, as a bonus. 

[Poncho]

"Yup. There are some kids who come to Claremont without abilities, but I don't think we have any at this moment from when I went through the most recent yearbook." His cheery smile never changed. "How much someone wants to use their powers might change depending on the individual, but if they're here, they've got some sort of connection to beings with powers or heroes, social or otherwise." He explained, trying to phrase his wording correctly. "But it's also just a highly acclaimed academy in general, so having it on your transcript is useful when you're on Earth and looking for a job or something."

 

"For me, well, I can fly, I have super strength, and I think last I checked small caliber handguns don't work on me...oh and I can make it so I don't need to breathe." He ticked his powers off on his fingers.

 

"So do you have powers beyond what your race can do? Like..." he thinks about examples. "Like there are aliens who have powers above their race's, and the those who are just exemplars of them, if that makes sense?"

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz nodded along with the explanations as they were made, mind whirling with questions and ideas at the explanations. Although it was pretty obvious her Universal Translator was acting up a bit, 'completely harmless lethal radiation' indeed. But onto Michael's question. "I do not possess any abilities beyond the standard of my species, although I am very smart. I underwent some tests prior to placement at Claremont which showed I do have some abilities which are not common among humans. I can see shorter wavelengths of light than humans and I'm much tougher than average." She paused, thinking for a moment. "Also apparently my native galaxy has much more advanced technology than is standard here, so it qualifies as 'Super'." She looks back at Baz, eyes flicking over him again, "If you do not mind me asking, none of the people who processed my case mentioned your species. Are you native to this planet or from space too?" 

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

The question pricked Baz. His antenna trembled and he sucked his teeth. For all the brash exterior, inside was a raw nerve; he was repulsive. The normal teenagers who fretted about spots on their face had nothing on Baltazar Botez. 

 

"No..." he said, voice slow and soft, quite uncharacteristic. "I'm... unique..." he said, trying to find the best way to frame the question that would preserve something to hold on to. "I was born human but I had... some funny type of luck."

 

Bad luck. With a little dash of good luck. It could, he realised, have been a lot worse. As it was, at least he could climb walls and shoot out laser vision. It could have been a lot, lot worse. 

 

He ground out a smile and a flush of positivity. It did not come easy, but it was there. "I'm one of a kind. Gamma Buzz, baby!"

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker might not always be the best on picking up on when Baz is genuinely joking or playing the sad clown, but here? It is only too clear, even if Vueriz obviously didn't mean to offend.

 

"There's lots of very different people in this world with powers," he tries. "I don't really know how it works, but some people end up looking different, even if they're still wonderful people." 

 

He looks at Baz at the last line, before turning back to Vueriz.

 

"I can control space."

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence shifted slightly at Vueriz's question, glancing over at Baz quickly. Over the past few months, the blond teen had learned how Baz did his best to hide some of his feelings about his transformation behind his carefree façade. The changes to his appearance was certainly at the top of the list. For his part, Lawrence did his best to treat Baz no different than anyone else. Of course, he could understand how Vueriz might be confused by Baz’s appearance and make the assumption she had.

 

"Well, the technology standard here on Earth is very different than that in other parts of this galaxy. Much of what exists in the Lor Republic and other nearby portions of this sector certainly would be considered 'super' here on Earth as well." He stated, looking to shift the subject some. "Where you able to bring much of your technology with you?"

[Poncho]

Michael cut his eyes at Baz when Vueriz asked her question, then back at Vueriz when she responded. Well that was...an unfortunate accident. But he'd been pretty bad about dealing with Baz at first as well, so he attempted to smooth things over. Not to baby Baz or Vueriz, but just to point out Baz's good points and make sure to get the conversation to something else; the same way Lawrence was doing.

 

"Baz is the coolest kid in school, too. One of a Kind and the best in the world." He said casually.

 

"But yeah! Alien technology is crazy. Like the Star Knight armor, that's alien technology. We used to have a Star Knight on the Freedom League, but I don't think we do anymore. There are individual people here who can build some crazy impressive stuff, but as a general rule we don't have anything like flying cars or laser guns or battle suits or something."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Coolest Cockroach Kid in town!" smiled Baz. He felt his eyes water - with slightly glowing radioactive tears. 

 

Dang! Crying was NOT cool! Why do I have to be cursed with clearly visible tears that glow - alongside everything else.

 

"Excuse me, I got some dust in my eyes..." he said, pressing two insectoid fingers into his eyes and wiping. 

 

"But thank you partner!" he said, giving Golden Star a pat on the back. "You are pretty cool too. And one of a kind. Not a lot of Golden Star's in the world, are there? And Gold is almost as cool as Green!" he winked. A single globule of glowing green tear briefly formed in his winking eye and started to fall, before Baz quickly wiped it away and gave a cheesy grin as camouflage. 

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt

 

Vueriz would sometimes admit that she wasn't the best at people (sometimes, and only in the privacy of her own mind) but it didn't exactly take an empathy superpower to read that she'd touched on a rather painful subject, especially as the others jumped in to reassure Baz. Internally she berated herself as she tried to think of something to say that would help make the boy feel better, mind running at full speed as she contemplated what she could say to make things better. Think think think!

 

"I- uh, I like your bioluminescence. It's really cool." She thought better of commenting on his glowing tears, very grateful for the others for jumping in before she dug that hole further. What else was she supposed to do? Hug him?

 

It was with guilty relief that she jumped on the tech questions to avoid the continued suffering of stumbling through social situations that she had no clue about. "My only surviving pieces are my board and mask, which is good otherwise I would have died." Which was the limit of how much she was thinking into that little fact. She definitely hadn't been kept awake, listening to her mask straining her ears on case there's was even the slightest issue. "My board was pretty damaged in the crash though, but I've been working on building some things. I've been having some trouble with material quality though. It's tough to keep things going with the wires overheating and catching fire."

[Huckleberry]

Rot

A green-haired girl dressed in black jeans and a ratty old jacket hovers out of the girls' restroom off the foyer to the gymnasium. For those that know Consuelo, they can't remember her being at the assembly.

"Hey, uh, is the assembly over already?" She asks with a faint feigned tone of ignorance in her voice. "Missed it again? Dang, I love those things. Oh well." Consuelo shrugs and flies toward the group of students welcoming Vueriz.

Something seems a little different about Consuelo these days. You don't get that creepy feeling just standing next to her anymore. Well, not usually. Sometimes you can still feel it when she's using her powers or if she gets upset. Also, she looks just a little bit older.

"So, uh, did I hear you say you're new here?" She asks the blue alien. "And that you're really smart? You should, like, totally be my roommate! It would be perfect! You could help me with homework in, uh, like, um, all the subjects . . . and I could help you with, uh, um, uh . . . like, stuff that someone from Planet Earth would know!"

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker nods as a greeting to Rot, before turning back to Vueriz.

 

"What kind of materials do you need for your board?" he asks. 

 

It's not something he likes to flaunt or has really mentioned, but his family is wealthy, and they own a large international company with all kinds of sub companies and materials. He has access to materials that could be difficult to get hold of, even by the staff at Claremont.

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt

 

Vueriz looked up at Consuelo as she made her entry to the conversation. Her eyes roamed over her, taking in the offer of rooming together. She had never roomed with anyone except her brother. Maybe it would be nice to share a room with another girl- and someone who wasn't an absolute square, like Zurangar- besides, having an extra helper with her gadgets couldn't hurt, and having sharing a room with one of the 'Super' humans would be an excellent opportunity to learn of their culture and abilities. These thoughts flickered through in under a second before Vueriz said "That sounds great!" (Her decision wasn't assisted by the other girls punk aesthetic, she swears)

 

Turning back to Parker she considers his question, "Well my board is functioning,  but at significantly reduced capacity, it's making new things that is really not going well, none of the superconductors here work at high enough temperatures, you don't have access to sufficient quantities of some elements to make alloys I'm used to, and the amount of power that the sockets her provide is so low you'd think that your species is burning things to generate power instead of using solar arrays or fusion like normal people!"

[Poncho]

"Actually most of our power comes from boiling water to produce steam. We have a variety of ways to boul water, including burning trees, burning the bones of extinct megafauna, and limited nuclear fusion and fission. Sometimes we also use the flowing of water to push giant wheels to produce electricity. We do have some Solar energy but not a lot. I'm not exactly well versed in the particulars of how certain types of energy generation work, but those are the sorts of power plants we have here. We actually have a big hydroelectric dam called the Hoover Dam, but it's all the way across the country from where we are." He explained like he was rattling off what he'd learned in school over the last few months.

 

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"Yeah that is... exactly what's being done in most places."

 

But not at Powers Holdings, who have in fact been experimenting with other sources of energy... including super conductors. Parker hasn't told anyone here just who his parents are, or about the company. Not aside from an off hand mention here and there, nothing that has made anyone show any particular interest. Lawrence probably knows, from some of the wealthier circles they have been in together, past parties and all that, and others might have guessed or looked him up.

 

"No promises, but I might be able to help with that. I'm sure my parents won't mind."

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"Yeah, that would be great! Uh, what's your name by the way? Yeah, so crash landed from space, huh? Were you like, trying to get to this planet, or did you like, run out of, uh, space gas and just have to stop here?" Consuelo keeps furtively looking at the doors, as if she's worried who might come through them. "Hey, uh, if you're really good with, like, alien technology, do you think you could make our dorm room, like, time-machine proof? There's this weird robot girl that like popped up from the past there before . . . It just seems like it could be awkward if that happened again.. . . ."

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz stared for a long second at Michael and Parker as they confirmed that most power generation was done by burning hydrocarbons, mind ticking through the implications of the Earth's technology. She was snapped out of it by Parker's statement of material assistance, which she now desperately hoped came to fruition, else she would need to build the tools to build the tools to make the materials that she'd need for her designs.

 

"I would appreciate any assistance that you can offer." Internally she found herself wondering if Parker's parents perhaps had powers that let them generate materials or the conditions necessary for materials to form. Perhaps his own powers were an evolution upon that?

 

She turned back to Consuelo as she spoke, also looking at the doors as Consuelo does. "My name is Blue Bolt-" She makes a frustrated noise and smacks her mask, which buzzes like a cicada is trying to escape it in response. "My name is Vueriz, I'm from planet Zirtimzar. My arrival was... unintentional. I was, er, testing an experimental piece of equipment and it launched me into this galaxy. Consuelo's question about blocking time travel causes her to pause, and while she thinks that the Universal Translator got what her new roommate said right, she also thinks that's the most blatant lie she's ever heard as her eyes track over to Lawrence. "I can't make any exact statements, but depending on the method of time travel used and the materials I can get I could probably set something up. Or at least set up a security system to target temporal intruders."

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"You could just ask Lawrence about that?" Parker offers Consuelo. This is the first time he has heard anything about that, but anything dealing with time? Lawrence is the person that he would go to before anyone else.

 

"So you're from another galaxy, not just another world?" he asks. "I can see why you would have trouble getting the technology you need. How different are things from here? I mean, you like vaguely like us, but everything else around us might be very different for you?"

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Consuelo slaps her head and looks towards the ceiling. "Oh yeah - you are a time travel guy,  aren't you,  Lawrence? I keep forgetting that and just think of you as this fast-running, teleporting, freezing-people-in-place guy with weird enemies and a funny accent. Wait, are you like, from the past? Did everybody used to talk like you? . . . Whoa!"

 

Consuelo contemplates the mystery of it all for a moment, but then snaps back to the present. "Yeah, so anyway, is that possible? Blocking time travellers from popping up in the dorm room would really bring some piece of mind . . . ."