ic Star Stone’s Light [OPEN]

[Thevshi]

Claremont Academy, Jasmin Summer Administrative Building

Freedom City, New Jersey

March 1, 2024, 9:30 AM

 

Ever since Miriam Juarez had come into possession of her Star Knight armor and been contacted by members of the Order, there had been some question as to what was next for the young Star Knight in training. From what Miriam understood, over the last nine years (which many of the Star Knights seemed to refer to as cycles for some reason), the Order had increased recruiting of younger squires, taking them to a planet called Citadel (which was apparently the Order's headquarters) for training. There were several Star Knights that saw no reason Miriam should not follow this established procedure and leave Earth to undergo her training on Citadel.

 

However, two Star Knights from Earth, Maria Montoya (a former police officer and member of the Freedom League) and Kyle Steward (who also used the title Cavalier) had supported Miriam being allowed to remain on Earth and attend Claremont Academy. This view was supported by A’lan Koor, whom Miriam had learned was an elder Star Knight (part of something called the Inner Circle) who had been a member of the original version of the Freedom League back in the 1970s. Ultimately, this view was accepted by Mentor, and Miriam was enrolled at Claremont Academy, with the understanding that there would be regular visits by members of the Order to check on her progress and that during her summer breaks, she would travel to Citadel for additional Star Squire training by the Order.

 

So, after a few weeks of uncertainty, Miriam found herself with Sri Montoya at what appeared to be some fancy private prep school, but which she had been told was secretly set up to help young metahuman teens learn to control their powers, but also to help train those interested in learning to be a superhero. They had met with the school’s headmistress, Callie Summers, who quickly made it clear that she was fully aware of Miriam's background, but also clear that the teen was hardly the first to come to the school with a troubled past. Headmistress Summers assured Miriam that she was coming in with a clean slate, with only the headmistress herself knew of the teen’s past.

 

After their meeting in the headmistress’ office, the three made their way to the foyer inside the main entrance to the building, with Sri Montoya turning to face the teen. "Remember Miriam, whenever you put on that armor, your actions reflect on the Order. Down here, that may not be all that important, but when you get up into space, the implications can be far reaching for the Order. So do not develop habits here that will not serve you well in space."

 

She put one hand on Miriam's shoulder giving the teen a supportive smile. "Remember, the armor chose you for a reason. I firmly believe you got this." Removing her hand, he continued, "I am not sure it will be me, but someone will stop by in a few weeks to check in on how you are settling in. Mentor is always there if you need him." She then glanced over to Headmistress Summers. "Good to see you again Callie."

"Always good to see you as well Maria." The headmistress responded with a small smile.

 

Sri Montoya gave Miriam another smile and a nod and then made her way out the main entrance.

 

"Well Ms. Juarez, it appears your guide for your first day here has arrived." Headmistress Summers indicated, looking to her left down a hallway that led to a side entrance to the building. Emerging from that hallway was a tall attractive redhead girl with green eyes who appeared to be about eighteen. She was dressed in a blue and black plaid skirt, a white collared shirt with a red tie, over which she had a blue sweater. But the older girl topped the school uniform look off with a black leather jacket.

 

"Ms. Juarez, this is one of our Seniors, Bernadette O’Connell, and I will leave you in her capable hands." The headmistress said with a nod to Bernadette and a smile to Miriam before she headed back off towards her office.

 

"Your Miriam right?" The redhead said with a smile and a very evident Irish accent. "Welcome ta Claremont. As the headmistress said, I'm Bernadette an' I'm here ta give you a tour o' the camps an' get you settled in."

 

Suddenly an exact duplicate of the Irish teen popped into existence beside her, holding out a hand towards Miriam. "I can help you with yer bags." The duplicate said with a smile.

[EmpressValerian96]

There was a lot going on with Miriam Francesca Luisa Juarez at this present moment. There had been a lot going on over the last few days, really, the events of her life had gotten much more interesting and complicated in even measure. She was a Star-Squire now, which was awesome! Having to spend her summers on an alien planet wasn't really unawesome, but like, it wasn't going to be a holiday, yeah? She was incredibly grateful that Ms Montoya (who she was going to not call anything else, she was cool but scary) had managed to keep her on earth for nine months. After all, she had stuff to do.

 

"Adios, Ms Montoya, I'll do my best to make the Order proud." She said with a nervous smile before her mentor (not Mentor) left

 

She sat as demurely as possible, which wasn't really very demure as possible, fidgeting in her seat as she looked around the office, paying attention but still just incredibly nervous. She was glad she'd managed to shower before this meeting, because jeez she wouldn't wanna stink around these private school kids. She nodded as she listened to the principal, her fingers tapping out the beat to Ain't It Fun, though she'd be loathe to admit she was a Paramore girlie.

 

"My guide? Okay, yeah, gotta understand the lay of the land, that makes sense, it works for me, love that." She said with a nervous grin, before looking up and feeling her stomach drop as she saw an incredibly gorgeous girl standing above her and once again, Miriam Francesca Luisa Juarez bemoaned the fact that she was short.

 

"Hi! I'm, uh, Miri. Miriam. Or Miri, whatever you want to use? Uh, it's good to meet you!"

 

She thrust her hand forward to shake before realising that Bernadette said something about bags

 

"Oh, uh, no, I've really only got the one and it's fine, really." She picked up the bag containing everything she possessed in the world and gave a tight smile. "I appreciate the offer though."

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

The second Bernadette gave a small smile and shook Miri's offered hand. "Well, I was goin' ta drop yer bag off in yer dorm room while you go on the tour." She stated.

"If you want ta carry it around fer a bit, your call." The original said with a small shrug as she began leading Miriam back down the hallway she had come from and out the side door onto the school’s campus. "Anyway, nice ta meet you Miri." The Irish teen added as her duplicate walked alongside the pair.

Claremont's grounds were pretty much what one might expect of an East Coast boarding school or an Ivy League college, spacious green spaces and large, Victorian style brick and stone buildings. "Behind us is obviously the admin buildin'." Bernadette stated as she looked over to Miri with a smile. "Probably won' have too many reasons ta visit. Unless yer one that likes ta get inta trouble."

 

"So, over there is the residential building fer staff that live on campus. Out past it to the north are athletic fields an' a pool." The duplicate Bernadette added, pointing to a building to the north of the path the three were walking along. She then pointed over to the northest where there were two similar buildings next to each other. "Those are the student dorms, we will finish up the tour there later."

[EmpressValerian96]

"Sure, I just prefer to hang onto it. It's no big, if I need to I'll just Get Strong about it. Which I can do. I've got stuff. I mean pretty much everyone here has Stuff, right? Powers, or whatever. I mean, obviously you do, you've got your duplicate. And I've been talking for a while."

 

She ducked her head and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, trying not to blush. She had to not be a total freak day one, she had to figure out the street rules here. She let out a quiet sigh, trying to relax. It sure wasn't easy, especially not in a place where she felt so...well, out of place. She didn't feel like she belonged here, and that was hard to shake.

 

"It's nice to meet you too, Bernadette. Sorry that I'm acting weird, just, you know, a little overwhelmed."

 

She gestured around the campus, an expansive and somehow nervous gesture. "Last week I was bussing tables and couch surfing, you know? But, uh...so the athletic fields! There a basketball court?"

Edited February 15 by EmpressValerian96

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

The two redheads listened as Miri talked at the three walked along the path. The original Bernadette smiled at the younger girl as she seemed embarrassed about talking too much. "Aye, most everyone here has powers, though, there are occasionally students that have no powers, but still want to be heroes. They tend ta be some o’ the hardest workin' an' dedicated students." She said, thinking about Charlie as she talked.

 

"It can be easy ta get overwhelmed, especially here." Her duplicate stated. "Just remember, everyone is still just teens, tryin' ta figure things out, even if some can bench press a semi or control time."

 

The original grinned slightly when Miri mentioned her recent circumstances. "I worked part time at a local coffee shop my first two years here." The Irish teen said. "My parents are two Irish immigrants that worked their butts off ta pay fer me ta go ta Catholic school. Was a huge relief fer them when I was given a scholarship ta attend here after my powers developed."

 

When Miri asked about the athletic field, the redhead nodded. "Yeah, there is an outdoor basketball court, a pool, baseball diamond an’ a pitch fer football (an' I don' mean American Football) an’ the like. Me an' my duplicates often use it ta practice lacrosse."

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

Rosalind was running late and almost skipped past Bernadette giving what looked like the tour, but suddenly The Bracelet began to glow and give a series of what (she assumed) was excited chirps. If the Bracelet was excited about someone they were probably worth checking out.

 

 

“Oh hey Bernadette, and hello new person!” she tried (badly) to act like this was just her naturally just running into them

 

 

“I’m Rosalind… erm... Starshine! A senior here, but don’t hold that against me!” she laughed a little nervously.

 

 

Really you’d think after the last few years here she’d manage to not come off as weird and awkward to new people.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 
 

The twins had just finished class and were heading out, books floating alongside them in faint purple auras. 

 

“Now Daniel, let’s get our homework done first…” Iris started to say before the two noticed that Bernadette was giving another tour. They had the same happen to them just recently too. Daniel, ever the people lover, would nod his head towards his sister because spotting the tour and rushing over. 
 

“Sure! But first I gotta say hello the the new person!” He exclaimed as Iris followed while facepalming. 
 

“At least we aren’t the new blood here.” She muttered as they came to a stop in front of Bernadette, Rosalind and Miriam.

 

”Greetings.” They both said at the same time.  “Welcome to Claremont.”
 

These two were twins, both had short brown hair and blue eyes. The girl had slightly curlier hair then the boy and they were the same height, five foot four.

 

”I’m Daniel and that’s Iris.” The boy spoke while pointing at his sister. “Also known as Celebellum and Cerebral respectively. It’s nice to meet you!” 

Edited February 15 by Dracostern

[EmpressValerian96]

Miriam didn't relax specifically, because she was built in a lab to be more tense than a coiled spring, but she did visibly shift to be more at ease as she heard Multi-Girl's story. It was, well, not quite the same as hers, but immigrant parents, working part time, yada yada, she'd clearly made an effort to meet Miri where she lived and that was only something she could appreciate.

 

"Yeah...I was pretty surprised I qualified, considering...anyway. You play lacrosse? You kinda seem the type, yeah. I was in track for a bit before I got kicked for fighting with the other girls. It was a whole thing, they were talking trash about a friend of mine so I decided to, you know, have a chat about it."

 

She winced as she realised what she was saying. But, hey, it was gonna spread eventually that she was miss delinquent, she might as well be honest about it. However, honesty could wait because she was distracted by the appearance of several people and ingrained reflexes had the young superhero activate the Star-Squire armour, her body suddenly enclosed in her armour before she very abashedly had it retract

 

"Ay, dios mio. I'm sorry, reflex. Still getting used to wearing this, uh, Starshine. I'm Miriam Francesca Luisa Juarez, but, uh, Miri or Star-Squire is fine." She offered a hand to shake before double taking as the twins showed up, speaking in unison. She hadn't seen much freaky stuff so far, beyond the aliens and the weird space armour, but still, twins with brain themed names wasn't super common as experiences went.

 

"Uh, hola. I'm Miriam Francesca Luisa...you probably heard that already! I'm gonna be real with you, guys, those are some cool names. Parts of the brain, right?"

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette chuckled slightly when Miriam mentioned being surprised, she got a scholarship. "They tend ta give out quite a few o’ them each year, more than half the students have at least some assistance." The redhead stated. She then gave a little nod at the other girl’s comment about Bernadette seeming like a lacrosse player. "Yeah, used ta play at my old school in Boston before my powers appeared at the end o' my freshman year. Seein' as I am now stronger an' faster than any normal adult male, can' really play competitively any longer. So, I mostly use it as exercise, an' a way to work on coordinatin' with my duplicates."

 

The Irish teen looked over to give Roslind a nod as the other senior made her way over. "Hey Roslind." The growing group was soon joined by another two of the school's more recent students. "Hey Iris, Daniel, yeah, just another first day tour."

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum 
 

"Haha yes, you got it!" Daniel grinned at Miriam. It was clear that out of the two, he was the more talkative one. His sister stayed a tiny bit behind him in this interaction. The twins did name their hero names after brain parts, this made sense once you realized they were psychic. As he spoke, Iris would move closer to Bernadette. 

 

"Do you always give the tours or-?" 

[Tiffany Korta]

Starshine

“Nice to meet you Miri, and both of you as well” She nodded to the twins, there were so many names to remember she was always worried she’d missed someone's name at a socially crucial moment.

 

 

“A Star-knight huh, that might explain why this has been weird for the last few minutes…” She held up her arm to show the Bracelet, which was glowing and chirping loudly to itself

 

 

“I’ve been told it’s some kind of alien device, really it’s the one with all the powers and I’m just a ride along!” she shrugged before adding

 

 

“But none of that is important right now... because first-day tour!” she clapped and tried to sound all peppy and encouraging, hopefully, it would fool the new kids

 

 

“How are you finding things so far?”