Villain Protagonist: From Ashes [IC]

[Forest State]

Rolan "Apex" Alekseev

“Patience is a virtue, Rick. I said that I wanted to see a show of hands before I continued with my current line of conversation, not that I wasn’t going to continue. The fact of the matter is that being late after being warned about this very matter is unacceptable, nor are excuses about operating on a different time zone. All of you have been here for three months, you know the rules and you know the punishment for breaking those rules,” said Apex, looking to Rick before moving to Simone’s desk and standing over the seated student. “Not only are you late, but you’re half sleeping. You weren’t called to class to sleep.”

Apex grabbed her by one of the horns and took advantage of his increased strength to fling her backwards. If she collided with another student that was closer to the back… Oh well. It would be a chance to test the awareness of everyone else, to see if they could get out of the way in time or if they would fall victim to their flying classmate. That test was one that would require quick reaction times, but no matter what, it would likely be painful for Simone. After all, Apex had quite the arm when it came to throwing someone that was lighter than him. Someone that was less than 150 pounds? That was nothing.

“Now, back to the subject at hand,” Apex said, taking a moment to glare at Rick before returning to the front of the room and speaking again. “Because of class being interrupted by various forms of drama, I’m going to cut things short and get right to the point. You were told that there would be an announcement at the end. Well, that announcement is that our great leader has received a request directly from Alpha-1 to begin field operations starting in less than a month. In other words, the higher ups are tired of paying for you to sit around in a classroom and want you to get off of your asses and actually do something against the hero threat. There is a rather large operation coming up, one that I do not have all the details about yet. I do know, however, from my talks with Miss Page, that we will be one cog in a larger offensive by Rage against some of the main heroes of Global Shield. While the main focus of these heroes will be on Rage, do not think this will be a walk in the park or a training exercise. The danger will be very real and the heroes will attempt to kill you.”

“This field operation is in less than a month,” Apex continued. “As the head field instructor, it’s my job to make sure that you all don’t get yourselves killed in it. As such, I’ve attempted to see which of you are ready for combat, or at least, which of you believe that you are ready for combat. Those of you who lacked enough confidence in yourselves to even proclaim yourselves combat ready have all been enrolled in an intensive course to prepare you for what you will face in the field. Of course, this will likely be very painful. However, it’s better to experience pain right now than it is to die in the field because you only wanted to do the easy training back here. And yes, before some smartass tells me that we haven’t had enough preparation time, I’m already well aware of that. If you have an issue with this, head to the Administrator’s office and tell Selina Page yourself. I have no say in this, and I won’t listen to your bitching about it.”

“With that, class is dismissed.”

[Okayanos]

Simone Walsh

Satyr

'Painful' is not the word that Simone would choose to describe her punishment. As she's hurled backwards, she barrels through every single obstacle in her way, and smashes a sizable dent into the back wall of the room. Seconds pass, and with almost perfectly comedic timing, Satyr peels herself out from the wall, with not even a fleck of dust on her fur. She walks back over her trail of destruction to her desk, returning it to the right way up and sitting herself down.

If she had to choose a word to describe her punishment, she would choose 'rousing'. "Au revoir." The goat says once class is officially dismissed, stepping out in slightly less of a daze than she'd been in when she'd entered.

Alvagoth Akafiloga

Sanguine Morningstar

"That was a fun class. I'll see the rest of you in hell after you're all massacred by heroes." The demon vanishes again, reappearing in a puff of smoke in the doorway of the class- soon following Simone out, quite thrilled that he'll get to watch others embarrass themselves in the additional training class- which he'll obviously pass, or simply get out of.

[Skaldia]

Kestos Illrion

While he had been preparing for Apex to do something to Simone, he simply wasn't prepared for him to pick her up and hurl her right in his direction.

He had barely cleared his desk when a goat woman came barreling towards him. He moved quick enough to move most of his mass out of the way, a horn of all fucking things clipped the side of his neck and ripping through the soft flesh there. The carotid artery was split in it's passing, blood rushing out.

He was almost dead before reaching Rykanos, his blood fanning out to drench anyone close.

Rykanos Au'valo

Rykanos had slightly longer time to react to Simone's untimely launch. Rising his arms over his head in a guard stance, a sack of meat slapped in to him and Rykanos reacted quickly, striking out.

Kestos Illrion

Unconscious and dying quickly, impacting a sold figure like Rykanos, combined with a being capable of six tons of force, resulted in Kestos' neck and back snapping and slingshotting him into the opposite wall, where he smacked wetly against the wall and slid to the ground.

Dead

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

She didn't react at all as Apex made the announcement, simply registering it in her mind for later use. An actual field mission would be valuable simply because it allowed her to evaluate everyone else, who was the biggest threat to her, who could be disregarded to a degree, and those in the middle. Priorities of who to avoid and anyone who might be beneath even her. She had no illusions that she was low on the hierarchy of power in here, but such had always been the way of things. She'd have been more surprised if she was near the top.

She left the classroom at a brisk walk. The day was still early, and wasted time was lost forever so she wasn't about to go and do something like sleep. No, she had to go and get breakfast first, so she made her way to the Academy's canteen. She disliked eating there, disliked eating food she hadn't prepared herself, but she didn't have any other options. So she grabbed herself a loose assortment of food, some bacon, sausages, a pain au chocolat, a yogurt and a glass of apple juice, moving to sit down at one of the tables. The place was practically barren, as expected from being this early in the day, and that suited her fine.

---

Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer

She left the room shortly after Aella did, taking a slightly more meandering route towards the cafeteria, not really bothered about food and mentally kicking herself for not raising her hand. She'd thought it was like a challenge or something but no, it was being tricked into volunteering for an 'intensive training' course by not volunteering for something being 'combat ready'. She should've been more confident and just raised her hand godfuckingdammit.

Eventually she made it to the cafeteria, and assembled herself a breakfast of juice and cereal, sitting down alone at another of the tables to eat.

[Auphelia]

Kestos Illrion

Unconscious and dying quickly, impacting a sold figure like Rykanos, combined with a being capable of six tons of force, resulted in Kestos' neck and back snapping and slingshotting him into the opposite wall, where he smacked wetly against the wall and slid to the ground.

Dead

Katherine Day
Iron Maiden

Could this class get any more boring? They had to get to class, listen to a lecture, answer questions, see patronising card tricks, watch a tactical squad invade the class and maim/kidnap one of their number, learn about a new mission, watch another student die a violent death, and find out they would be participating in some sort of

This is why she was glad theory class never lasted long.

Once they were dismissed from class, she melted away her miniature forest, turning it into a slowly spiralling column of . . . eh . . . metal birds? Sure, why not. She shaped the lump of metal into the shape of ten small birds and floated them in circular loops around her, rotating the wings and bodies for the illusion of flight. Was it necessary? No. Did she want to? Obviously. Standing up and stretching her poor legs, she realised just how sparse this lesson had been. It had literally been a twenty second talk on anarchy, maybe two minutes of conversation, another twenty second speech, a series of punishments, and then a quick poll and dismissal. These were all things a quick memo and google form could have easily completed! Without the distractions, this had been a four minute class. For a powerful villain syndicate school, these lessons were not well thought out. She had expected more, but should have expected less. Perhaps it was her fault.

No. It was someone else's fault.

Stepping to the front of the class, her metallic dress slowly undulating in a hypnotic power below her and the metal birds making lazy orbits around her, she addressed the instructor. She was careful though. She had already seen him try to possibly kill two students today, and she did not want to be the third, not that her body could take it anyway.

"Excuse me, pardon the interruption. Do you happen to know when the intensive training will begin?" She hoped it was a perfect blend of respectful and to the point. Thinking better of the birds in the presence of an extremely irritable man, she moved them up to roost on her held and reshape into spikes on her crown of thorns. There. What could he possibly find fault with now?

[Union Princes]

Maria Ludwig

Maria sighed heavily when Apex announced what is to come next month and that she, including others who didn't raise their hand, are going to be pt under intense physical training to be whipped into shape. But after seeing Simone walk past her, Maria remembered the crash and looked behind her.

She gasped in surprise at the damage done on Kestos's body and she quickly ran from her desk to check on him. He was dead, obviously dead by his lack of chest movement and distorted neck. Sheepishly putting her fingers to feel his skin, Maria was shocked and secretly desiring the cut open the body. Kestos don't need his physical form anymore and she was intent to secure whatever is left and usable of his body.

"Oh, Pechschwarz (Pitch Black), how could this have happen?" Maria whispered under her breath, not wanting to risk Apex's ire as she dragged the body to the medical bay. She would need her tools and jars to finish the deed but first Maria is hungry for some food. After dumping the body with a written sign that says "Will return, do not disturb", Maria ran back to the cafeteria to get her breakfast.

Grabbing whatever sausages, biscuits, and gravy she can hold on her plate, Maria quickly scouted out a table and made her way to Aella. After sitting down across from her, Maria dig into her meal enjoying it as much as one can get.

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

She said nothing as Maria sat down, her eyes tracking her every move like a predator watching its prey as she set the plate down. She stopped eating, instead glaring across the table at her as if to try and wish her out of existence or at least off of her table. Why did she have to sit as her table? There were plenty of other tables to sit on so why hers? Everything was done for a reason, and if she wasn't going to talk then she'd talk first.

"What do you want?" She asked bluntly in between mouthfuls of bacon, stabbing her fork in and slicing off pieces with her knife. "If you don't want anything go sit somewhere else. You're annoying me."

[Forest State]

Rolan "Apex" Alekseev

“Everyone who was assigned to intensive training will receive their new schedules within the week,” Apex said to Katherine. “The schedule is… Still under construction. I have to consult with the other instructors such as Miss Page and Ortega, so yes, I can’t give you a definite answer yet. I can, however, warn you to keep yourself in shape. Coming into these exercises out of shape won’t end well for you at all.”

Vail "Nighthunter" Parsons

When class was dismissed, Vail left chuckling. He had raised his hand, but some of the others didn’t, and it turned out that those ones would have the worst fate. It had been a bit of a trick question, and it made him snicker. The ones who hadn’t raised their hands probably assumed they would be taking the easy route, and in reality, they had just made things harder on themselves in a way that had a bit of karma to it. He was glad that he wasn’t one of the ones that had so little confidence that he wouldn’t even publicly consider himself to be combat ready. Not the best one here at combat, maybe, but he was definitely combat ready, at least in his own head.

You know, I have an idea. Something that would help you… Profit off of this and win some favor with the unlucky sons of bitches that are getting stuck in intensive class.

Your ideas tend to be dangerous.

That they are, but I’ve also never failed you. Well, not often, anyway. But you’re going to need to talk to Mari for this. We could use her speed.

Could we, or are you just trying to get me to talk to her again?

Why don’t you head over to her and see?

So after entering the cafeteria, where they were finally getting breakfast after having class in the relatively early morning, Vail approached Mari. Didn’t sit down, didn’t get his own food yet. He just stood across the table from her, offering his hand. “So,” he started, simply, testing the waters. “You’re getting stuck in intensive class, eh?”

[The Cyberiad Council]

Leopold Meckler- The Lepidopterist

"No German?" L scoffed internally, not yet wanting to invite Apex's wrath directly. He slowly slid into his seat and raised his hand when the question was asked if he was ready for combat. All of this posturing was ridiculous. So much testosterone pumping though the man's poor little head, cooking it from the inside out. He probably didn't have anything but his powers and his creed. Sad. Almost. A thin smile crept back onto the blond man's face, but with his pulse calming, it only began to grow as he saw what was about to unfold. Their first death. All perfect circumstances that lead to Simone's horn neatly cutting Kestos. "Armer Scheißkerl," L thought sarcastically.

The excitement quickly died down, and the students began to trickle out the door. "Now those are some abilities that might come in handy," He thought, watching Simone walk out the door. Leopold slid out his own seat and walked after her, putting a slight effort in his steps to catch up to her without making it seem like it was his primary goal. "Apple?" He offered, presenting another replica of the red fruit as he came abreast with the satyr.

---

---

Dixon & Harrell- Anarchy

Combat? What kind of Combat? Harrell questioned internally as he lowered his hand. He was completely deadpanned as he saw the goat fly through the air, almost as if it were a regular occurrence. "Just another day in this Orwellian wonderland," he said under his breath. Then he stopped. Since when did he know what animal farm was? Must be something of Dixon's bleeding through he muttered. That seemed to trigger a thought as he fished around in his pockets for a sharpie. He rolled up his sleeves as he walked out the door, starting to stagger in his step ever so slightly. Quickly, he scribbled something on his arm before keeling over to the ground.

Just before he made impact, Harrell's eyes turned to brown and he shrunk an inch in the blink of an eye. "Fucking great," Dixon groaned from the floor. He shakily climbed back to his feet. Harrell had taken over for most of the class, leaving him in the dark. Or so he thought. Catching a glimpse of his arm, Dixon read the message. "What do you mean combat?" Dixon asked the silent partner locked away in his mind. Knowing no answer would come, he made a beeline for the cafeteria and food. He piled his tray as high as he could, way more than a normal person needed to eat, and he slunk off to the nearest abandoned corners of the room, hoping to be left alone.

[Talchyon]

After class
Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

The spiky, half-bleached-haired emo with the black eyeliner gathered his things in his shoulder bag. Man, but leaning over hurt like a mother. His back still throbbed from the beating Prof. Alekseev had given him at the start. Rick's head also pounded, and the flashbangs in class hadn't helped. The class ended with another bang, as the messed up professor had thrown Simone the goat-girl across the room - and had actually killed Kestos! Not that Rick had known Kestos well - or, that he had known anyone well in the three months since they had been here. It's just that Rick had been proven right in his mind, that Apex was an a-hole - a bully just like those who had pushed Rick around in his younger, more terrified years.

Rick wasn't a big guy, especially not compared to some of the guys in his class. Kane, for example. Or Rykanos. Rick's powers weren't physically intimidating. But he could mess with minds. And most people didn't have the kind of mental shielding he had to block his abilities. When he had come to the Phoenix Academy, their resident staff telepath had been frustrated because she couldn't dig anything out of Rick's mind. The only way she could vet Rick was the old-fashioned way, of actually talking to people from Rick's past. Not that she had found many. Everyone in the orphanage had gone their separate ways when they had turned 18. As for the foster parents, they were often unreliable or flat out liars. And the orphanage directors were all politicals, minding their HYPAA laws and not revealing anything to anyone they didn't have to.

Rick's throat and head was bothering him, and he remembered what Maria had said at the beginning of class. Being a healer, Rick thought it would be great to make her acquaintance and ask if she could get him feeling better. Having the class healer on your side was never a bad thing, even if Rick often felt like he was all at it alone. He had seen her going down the cafeteria with everyone else, and so he quickly got some chocolate-coated cereal and milk, along with a spoon, and found where Maria as at. Sitting at a table with Aella. Great. She didn't like many people, and Rick didn't think much of her, either. But that's where Maria was, so that's where Rick went, to.

Sitting down next to Maria, Rick said, "Sup, guys. Hey, Maria, you were saying before in class about being able to heal people? Yeah, so, my throat is still hurting from being choked before class? And my head and back from where our psycho prof went all out on me? Um, don't suppose you'd be able to help?" He took a bite, and then winced. Eating was not a good option when his trachea was still wounded.

---

Malaka Auva'a (aka "Phenom")

Three months here, and she still couldn't tell where Prof. Alekseev was going. Sometimes, he threatened students to do what they should. Other times, he tricked them into doing what they weren't thinking. Sometimes, he got them thinking - well, at least he got her thinking. But still, the Pacific Islander with her darker skin, dark curly hair, and analytical mind hadn't figured out the way he thought. That meant that she, sensing a trap, didn't raise her hand when he had asked who was ready to fight. And guess what? The trap was sprung on all who didn't raise their hands. More training, and intense training. Malaka sighed. But it was probably for the best. She wasn't the best fighter by far in this group. A little sweat in the training room would probably help her bleed less in combat.

As she made her way to breakfast, Malaka got some pancakes with butter and syrup. It was so different than what she had grown up with, but so good. Sweet, and sticky, and a different kind of sweet than normal sugar. These pancakes were to die for.

Scanning the room, Malaka saw the girl she had been meaning to talk to and hadn't yet. Ashura. The girl with the weird red eyes, the gigantic spider on her lap, and the girl with SIX arms! That alone drew Malaka to Ashura's table. The arms! Malaka had a curiosity about arms. She had to. That was primarily what her ability was about. So it was only natural for Malaka to want to get to know Ashura even better.

Coming to her table, trying not to frighten the spider, Malaka said, "Hello, Ashura. Mind if I join you?" She had a hopeful and fun smile on her face, too.

[Skaldia]

Rykanos Au'valo
Fury

Rykanos inwardly shrugged when finding out he had inadvertently killed a student. Dumb prick should have moved quicker out of the way if he wanted to survive. Rising happily from his seat, he filed out along with the rest of the class. As he did, he gave a wink to Katherine and Maria before exiting the class. Maria seemed to have a thing for corpses because she began to drag Kestos' limp meat suit out of the door behind Rykanos. He figured he could have helped but he thought he had already helped as much as he was going to with Kestos. Instead, he scanned the crowds of students until he had spotted Kane.

"Oi? You. How about we get a fuckin' drink and blow this joint. These people all have sticks up their asses." As he talked he pulled out his pack of smokes and lit another one while waiting for Kane to be nice and polite and accept Rykanos' offer of mutual drunkeness. He seemed to be the only one around here who knew that they were alive and thus entitled to a good time.

Gavin Lee
Shift

He was glad to be out of the class. After working out and the excitement of what had happened in class, he needed some refreshments and something to keep his mind off of things. He walked briskly in to the cafeteria and procured an orange, some toast, and a little jam for the toast as well. When he was satisfied, he also grabbed a glass of milk to go with his food. Once having acquired his food, he scanned the crowds of students until he made his choice and started walking. He approached one of the students he knew as Caroline or Carolina. He wasn't entirely sure which. She was what he would call a fairly pretty girl that hadn't really said much in all the time he had seen her around and was something of a mystery to him. He would consider her beautiful if it was not for the frostiness that seemed to radiate off of her in waves. Sitting his tray down in front of her, he slid on to the seat across from her and gave her a perfunctory nod before applying a healthy dollop of jam to a piece of toast.

He didn't speak until he had taken a couple of bites of toast and took a sip of milk. Setting the glass down carefully in just a manner to be exactly ninety degrees of his tray, he looked up at her with gray eyes, and spoke,"Gavin Lee." He said in a very light American accent as a way of greeting."Pretty crazy stuff huh?" He said, referring to the events of what had just transpired. As he waited patiently for her to acknowledge his presence he bit in to the toast and chewed slowly, being sure to avoid eye contact. Last thing he needed was to piss off the wrong students, especially if they were going to go in to a hostile zone pretty soon. If she did try anything, well, he knew how to deal with that if it came up.

She also had an inordinate amount of food on her plate. He didn't know what that was about, but he was for damn sure not about to ask.

[Durmatagno]

Canteen
Sage Kearney/Carolina Steiner/Ashura Mburu

Sage grabbed a plate, piling it high with food, about twice as much as what everyone else was getting. She paired it all with a glass of apple juice, and after emptying another cup, filled it partially with sugar to mix in at her pleasure, generated by herself. It wasn't permanent, it'd fade juts fine after an hour, even digested, but it helped satisfy her sweet tooth, and made a great bargaining chip. Sage looked around the room, looking for a spot to sit. Normally she sat alone, but today she felt like trying something new.

If you're going to oggle that Aella girl all the time, just sit with her.
She's even more of a loner than any of us, and she's more paranoid than the three of us, maybe even combined.
Everyone can be talked to Sage, if you want to talk to her, just go to her and talk to her. You have fought armed guards, our siblings, survived a desert, and the streets. You can talk to a girl.
That's easy for you to say, you've never had any problems talking to people.
It is just talking, it is no big deal. Just sit down, and talk to her. Let us just hope her other visitors do not complicate things for you.

Sage frowned for a moment, before taking a deep breath. They were right, she had dealt with far worse than just talking to someone. Sage crossed the room, and sat down at the same table as Rick, Maria, and Aella. She waited to see what was going on before saying anything, so she started mixing extra sugar into her drink, being sure to leave some she could use to bargain with. Who knows, maybe Aella would like a little sugar herself.
_____

Ashura meanwhile was sitting alone like normal, Mdogo now sitting squarely in her lap as she was outside of class. Some of her hands pet the spider, who chittered happily, almost like purring, in her lap. Her plate had significant more meat, and less sweets or fruit than Sage, with a bag of fried ants sitting to one side of it. She held a book in her hand, something about spiders of Central Africa, reading as she ate and pet her 'little' pet. Every now and then, one of her eyes glances over to the table Sage is sitting at, looking at Maria, instead of her sister. That was until another person approached Ashura, a girl that Ashura thought was named Malaka, Malacca or something along those lines. After putting her bookmark back into place, and setting it down, she tilted her head and responded.

"I do not own the rights to the table, of course you may sit."

Ashura had a thick Kenyan accent as she spoke. Her hands that had been holding the book folded so she could rest her chin on them, while the others continued moving food to her mouth, and petting Mdogo.

___

Carolina meanwhile, was also alone, in a different corner of the room. She ate quietly, and quickly, eyes moving around the room, silently judging everyone, trying to figure out who could be an ally and who was a threat. She already had several people flagged as threats, even if indirectly. At the same time, she occasionally glanced over to Sage, and frowned, keeping her pang of anger and jealousy, as well as a little envy, from her network she kept up with her sisters. Her thoughts about Sage were kept carefully hidden from everyone, especially Sage, but even Carolina could only do so much. She was also quietly angry at Ashura, who's self doubt would put her through rigorous extra training, when Carolina knew for a fact that Ashura was a better fighter than she would ever be.

Carolina of course, would be angered by the interruption. She liked her alone time, physically anyway, she was rarely truly alone with the network. Shifting her focus to this Gavin Lee, she studied him for a moment, her red eyes meeting his until he himself looked away. She took a drink of her water, swallowing her food with it, before finally speaking. Her voice was soft, and quiet, as if she rarely used it, but it still held authority, something she had learned to balance long ago. She had a slight Mexican accent, but it was mild, and at times seemed not to exit.

"Nothing crazier than normal, what is it that you want Gavin?"

[Skaldia]

Gavin Lee
Shift

A small smirk. What did he want? He didn't answer immediately. He could tell she was annoyed with him so he would have to tread carefully in what he chose to say next. While his face was guarded, he attempted to keep his mind completely devoid of thought as well, a meditation skill that he had learned when he had first started practicing martial arts, before he even had discovered what he could do. He wasn't a master at it but for the most part he was pretty well mentally tight lipped. And, if Gavin had anything in abundance, was an excess of discipline. In this life where there were metahumans that could melt you with a look and some that could do it with their minds, you either learned to hide where you were weakest, or end up dead. He'd learned that with Team Next, and they were good guys.. Here, people would leave you drooling and insane if you pissed them off.

He wasn't sure if Carolina was one of those who possessed mental powers but, with careful observation over a course of a few weeks, had allowed him to glean that that her powers weren't entirely obvious so that leaned towards the unseen. No one here had felt the need to hide their powers, if people like Simone and Alvagoth were any testament of that fact, unless they were like Gavin who had made it a point to keep what he could do hidden. Not that what he could do lend itself to be apparent, even when he was Shifting as he tended to call it; those moments when he fell in to that instinctive combat style and movement that he had yet to find a match to against an opponent. While not possessing magic, control of the elements, or even physically enhanced, his powers combined with an immense discipline, tactical discretion, and a penchant for vicious, sudden, and brutal attacks had kept him alive.

So far.

However, that did not discount the fact that if he was going to survive in this world he had landed in to, he would need allies, particularly those who were just as much of a wild card as Gavin liked to hope he was. He saw an opportunity when he saw Carolina sitting alone,"I appreciate the bluntness." He finished his glass of milk and produced a pocket knife that he used to begin methodically removing the rind of the orange in neat little slices. As he peeled, he spoke."It's simple really. I need someone that can watch my back. And, if I'm not wrong, you do too." He had decided to be blunt with her since she had done the courtesy of being so with him. Having peeled the slices, he placed them in a small pile in the corner of his tray. He then began to cut up the orange." You seemed to be a bit hesitant about whether you were ready for combat operations." Having carved up the orange into little cubes he popped one in to his mouth, chewed and swallowed.

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

And of course more people appeared, because one person just wasn't enough was it? No, life just had to throw even more people at her didn't it? She couldn't just be left alone to eat her food in safe, blissful solitude. She glared up at Rick as he sat down next to Maria. Better he was on that side of the table and not her side.

Well, at least he was speaking to Maria, not her, so he was probably here for Maria and her healing as he claimed. Unless that was a cover or something. You could never be too careful with people. Not here. Not anywhere. Some would call it paranoia, she called it being careful.

And then someone else, namely Sage showed up, because two people wasn't enough either it seemed. She didn't even sit down, so she just turned and glared up at her in silence, as if daring her to sit down at her table before she did sit down on her side, a short ways down the table before her attention was instead drawn down to where Sage was mixing sugar into her drink. She liked sugar, mostly since sweet things of any kind had always been an extremely rare and valued thing on the streets of Tunis.

After focusing for what might have been a little too long, she turned back to her own food. She didn't ask for things. If she couldn't get it herself, she wouldn't ask, since that left the matter of naming the price in the hands of the other person. It was all about control, indicating interest but not naming a price, forcing them to ask if you wanted it, knowing you could refuse and that they believed their bargaining chip was less valuable to you than it really was and thus enabling you to get a better trade for it.

---

Mariam 'Mari' Margaryan a.k.a the hero formerly known as Trailblazer

"Unfortunately, yeah." Mari rolled her eyes in response, putting her spoon down in her bowl of cereal as she finished her mouthful and shaking his hand. "Guess it's what I get for not considering myself for being combat ready without both weapons and breakfast. Any reason you ask me in particular, since there's quite a few of us poor bastards?'

[Union Princes]

Maria Ludwig

Sitting across from Aella was like entering a lion's den or a lion entering a sheep pen as Maria occasionally glance up to look at her irritated face. She was displeased of her presence but Maria was expectant of that kind of expression. Aella didn't hesitant to ask her to leave but before Maria could respond, Rick showed up requesting some attention from the German.

"Ah yes!" Maria exclaimed, swallowing a bite of sausage, "I'll treat you....I recommend eating as much soft food as possible....You'll need to lie down and nap after the healing....I'll go get my syringe."

With that, Maria ate as much food as possible before leaving her spot to get the tool she needed to heal Rick's injuries. She ran from the eating area to race back to her room.

[Durmatagno]

Canteen
Sage Kearney/Carolina Steiner/Ashura Mburu

Oh great, someone else that thinks weak little me needs someone like him watching my back. He's pissing me off.
Do not make a scene Carolina, we do not know what he can do, and we do not need any enemies just yet. Especially with some sort of big mission coming up."
Ashura is right, just stay calm, you can handle this just fine. We survived Morocco, we can survive this.

Carolina looked Gavin up and down, taking a bite of sausage as she did so. She chewed it slowly, thinking over what she was going to say. Swallowing her food, she took a breath, and spoke, voice more emotionless than before, not giving away how she truly felt.

"I already have plenty watching my back. What makes you think I need you to add into the balancing act? Furthermore, I'm confident I'm more than ready for combat, but I had to stop to assess myself before I could answer."

Carolina took another sip of her water as she finished talking, never taking her eyes off of Gavin.

___

Sage finished stirring her sugar into her drink, refilling it as she did so as currently only she could see directly inside. After she was done, she looked over at Aella, and without saying a word, pushes the sugar over to sit next to Aella's arm. With that she turned back to her own food, and took her first bite, wrapping a piece of sausage in a pancake. Sage never took her time when she ate, but she was always careful not to make a mess. After swallowing her bite, she took a breath to steady herself, before finally saying what was probably her first words to Aella that hadn't been required by class or training.

"I've seen that glare before, you don't like people much do you?"

Sage's voice was surprisingly moderate given what she looked like, somewhat androgynous actually. She had a slight Irish accent, but otherwise kept her voice low, somewhat quiet for a place like this, but Aella should still have little trouble hearing her. While she waited for an answer, she began peeling the orange in front of her, not bothering to even use a knife, just her fingers.

[Talchyon]

Cafeteria
Malaka Auva'a (aka "Phenom")

Canteen
Ashura Mburu

Ashura meanwhile was sitting alone like normal, Mdogo now sitting squarely in her lap as she was outside of class. Some of her hands pet the spider, who chittered happily, almost like purring, in her lap. Her plate had significant more meat, and less sweets or fruit than Sage, with a bag of fried ants sitting to one side of it. She held a book in her hand, something about spiders of Central Africa, reading as she ate and pet her 'little' pet. Every now and then, one of her eyes glances over to the table Sage is sitting at, looking at Maria, instead of her sister. That was until another person approached Ashura, a girl that Ashura thought was named Malaka, Malacca or something along those lines. After putting her bookmark back into place, and setting it down, she tilted her head and responded.

"I do not own the rights to the table, of course you may sit."

Ashura had a thick Kenyan accent as she spoke. Her hands that had been holding the book folded so she could rest her chin on them, while the others continued moving food to her mouth, and petting Mdogo.

Malaka put her tray with her pancakes down on the table. While her mind was curious at the African accent, her face was a mixture of admiration and curiosity as she saw how each of Ashura's six arms worked together and accomplished so much. "I hope you don't mind my reaction. I'm just fascinated how you can multi-task. All of your arms work together very smoothly. It's... fascinating." Malaka tried, but that was the best she could come up with. "I've been very interested in getting to talk to you for the past several months. But you know how they've kept all of us doing our individual testing and drills."

The Polynesian young woman took a bite of the pancakes, and momentarily lost herself in the sweet taste of maple and melted butter. After savoring the bite, she came to her mind again, and said, "I'm Malaka. Malaka Auva'a." After another moment, she asked, "Can I ask how you got six arms? I've seen people with four arms before" (not mentioning that she had seen lots of people with four arms, after she used her ability on them). "But never six."

---

Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

With Maria leaving the table, Rick looked down at his chocolate cereal. By the time she was back, it would be pretty soggy. He guessed that counted as "soft food," which was what Maria said she needed to do her work. And it wasn't like his throat felt like swallowing anything at the moment. Maybe it would go down better when it was all mushy anyway. So with nothing to eat right now, Rick glanced at the other people at the table.

Two girls. One, a long-haired raven haired girl who was sitting at the table when he came to see Maria. She had glared at him before. The other, a crazy-white haired girl with pale skin and red eyes, who had sat down and was busy putting sugar in her drink. And the brunette (Aella? Was that her name?) had glared at her, too.

So not having anything better to do, Rick just glared back at the brunette back, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

[Skaldia]

Gavin Lee
Shift

He didn't bother with the rest of the orange. This girl's sour disposition was beginning to grate on his nerves but he kept the irritation from fluttering across his face. He leaned back and gave her a more thorough study before he replied to her."It would be better," he said slowly,"to have me as an ally." He took a napkin and cleaned the pocket knife, placing it back in his pocket. His food was forgotten."What do I have to do to change your mind?" A smile graced his features, his eyes glittering with anger and malice, but he was doing his best to be diplomatic with her. After three months, he had made no overtures, no friends, no connections with anyone. He'd be damned if he was pushed away with a little bit of a cold shoulder,"A little game of show-and-tell maybe?"

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

She returned Rick's glare, hardening her own. She wasn't intimidated, this was her table, and based solely on what she'd seen so far, she could probably take Rick in a fight unarmed under these circumstances.

"Of course I don't like people. They're annoying, ignorant, trample all over each other to get ahead and end up fucking themselves over in the process." Aella glared at the sugar suspiciously, as if daring it to move away or for Sage to grab it and take it back or anything, anything at all. Nothing happened, and her arm lashed out, snatching up the sugar and licking her finger before dipping it in and pulling it back, licking the sugar off her finger. Yes, definitely sugar from the taste, probably not poisoned given Sage had poured it into her own drink. Unless she'd taken the antidote of course, but then just leaving it out and hoping for her to take it was a terrible method of poison delivery so that was unlikely too.

Satisfied that the sugar was indeed sugar and not poisoned or something else, she poured all of it into her half-full glass of juice before pushing the empty pot back towards Sage. "What do you want for that?" She asked.

[Durmatagno]

Canteen
Sage Kearney/Carolina Steiner/Ashura Mburu

Ashura chews her food slowly as she tries to think of how to respond. Finally swallowing, she uses a napkin to wipe her face while she begins cutting up the sausages into bite sized pieces.

"I was born with them, I have had them my whole life. When you have something your own life, you tend to know how to use them. Moving them all in tandem is as natural for me as it is anyone that has just two."

Ashura wasn't technically lying, as she was a new person since the experiment, she had had them her whole life. It wasn't a very long life, but she had learned her arms quickly, it came in handy not to constantly be messing up the extra sets.

"And I am Ashura Mburu. This little one in my lap is Mdogo."

She says as she pats the large spider, who turns his large eyes to look at Malaka.

___

"Then tell me why I should want you as an ally, each new ally I have creates exponentially more problems managing them. With the ones I already have, I need to be careful."

Carolina's tone didn't change, she simply talked between taking bites of her food. She was cold to everyone, especially in public settings like this. Her true thoughts and emotions kept carefully hidden, especially from people she didn't know. After finishing her water, she speaks again.

"I will give you three questions, all that is barred is my allies. I will ask three questions in turn, if I like your answers, I will need a few days to make up my mind about what do do with you."

Carolina never rushed anything if she could help it, slow, steady, and thought out was how she handled every problem before her.

____

Sage finished her latest bite of food before taking a drink of her excessively sugared drink. Setting down the cup, she looked at Aella with a small smile, and a chuckles.

"I'm looking for a friend for the next...however long it takes me to finish my food. Fair enough trade, a little conversation for something sweet. Besides, you already obviously know how most people work, so I'm hoping for a good ten fifteen minutes of conversation. That's all."

Sage wasn't entirely truthful, she wanted a friend for more than fifteen minutes, but in the end, this was her first attempt trying to talk to Aella, so as far a she was concerned, it was a fair trade. She could only hope she made a good enough impression that more bribes down the line would bring her more conversation.

[Skaldia]

Gavin Lee
Shift

"Then tell me why I should want you as an ally, each new ally I have creates exponentially more problems managing them. With the ones I already have, I need to be careful." Gavin smirked and his fingers began tapping slowly on the table between them."I am not to be managed. I could only increase your effectiveness, not hinder it." He said confidently.

"I will give you three questions, all that is barred is my allies. I will ask three questions in turn, if I like your answers, I will need a few days to make up my mind about what do do with you." That sounded like a set up and Gavin didn't like to play games. He leaned forward and kept eye contact with her while he gave it some thought. The stakes, in his case, were high, but he wasn't sure what to ask first. If he was too broad in the questions, the answers would be too vague. However, if he went the other way, he risked not getting pertinent information that could literally mean life or death in any other situation.

"Okay,"he said after a long moment,"Who do you consider your greatest threat here?" He held up a hand and held up three fingers. One went down as he asked the question and each fell after each question,"What is your assessment of our..peers?" He actually sneered at the last word,"And, what power or powers do you possess?"

[Lunas Legion]

Aella Piennar

She glared suspiciously at Sage. That... Made no sense. Trading tangible, useful goods for something as intangible and of such low use as mere conversation was something she would never do unless she had another angle, since she'd lose out in the deal. Which either meant Sage had another angle on this somehow, somewhere, or she was really, really bad at knowing the real value of things.

Either was possible. She'd just have to learn which it was.

"I suppose I can do that." Aella eventually said, reluctance noticeable in her voice. "Once you're done I'm off."

[Talchyon]

Cafeteria
Rick Chevalis (aka "Psycho Storm")

Aella Piennar

She returned Rick's glare, hardening her own. She wasn't intimidated, this was her table, and based solely on what she'd seen so far, she could probably take Rick in a fight unarmed under these circumstances.

"Of course I don't like people. They're annoying, ignorant, trample all over each other to get ahead and end up fucking themselves over in the process." Aella glared at the sugar suspiciously, as if daring it to move away or for Sage to grab it and take it back or anything, anything at all. Nothing happened, and her arm lashed out, snatching up the sugar and licking her finger before dipping it in and pulling it back, licking the sugar off her finger. Yes, definitely sugar from the taste, probably not poisoned given Sage had poured it into her own drink. Unless she'd taken the antidote of course, but then just leaving it out and hoping for her to take it was a terrible method of poison delivery so that was unlikely too.

Satisfied that the sugar was indeed sugar and not poisoned or something else, she poured all of it into her half-full glass of juice before pushing the empty pot back towards Sage. "What do you want for that?" She asked.

It was clear the brunette had a grudge against him, for whatever reason he didn't know. Wasn't a new feeling. Since he had been young, growing up in some of Chicago's seedier orphanages, Rick had been bullied, picked on, beaten up, stolen from, mercilessly teased, and shuffled around from abusive foster home back to the orphanage, and vice versa. And for no other reason than for Rick being himself, smaller than most of the others, and one who lacked the social graces to charm his way out of a confrontation. The administrators ignored his cries for help, other than giving verbal no-no's and an occasional proverbial slap on the wrist to the offender. Rick didn't like the brunette's attitude, but he was on familiar ground.

Her hardened eyes tried to root out his soul, but Rick had been battle scarred from similar incidents to back down. He watched as she strangely poured the whole pot of sugar into her half-empty drink. But instead of thinking of some clever comeback about how her dentist must love her, Rick just felt alone - as usual - and stressed out.

The conversation she had with the blond with the messed up hairstyle and strange red eyes almost seemed to soften her. Almost. There was still a wariness she had. The temperature in the air was warm, but around the brunette, there was a noticeable social chill. Rick was going to mentally nickname her "The Ice Queen" until he knew what to call her.

Interrupting the conversation a bit, Rick spoke in a low volume to the brunette Ice Queen, "What exactly do you have against me? All I did was sit down, and not even to talk to you." His throat was still hurting from this morning, and he was hoping Maria would come back soon. His cold cereal was probably soggy enough by now to start eating, but he didn't want to chance anything just yet on that front.

---

Malaka Auva'a (aka "Phenom")

Canteen
Ashura Mburu

Ashura chews her food slowly as she tries to think of how to respond. Finally swallowing, she uses a napkin to wipe her face while she begins cutting up the sausages into bite sized pieces.

"I was born with them, I have had them my whole life. When you have something your own life, you tend to know how to use them. Moving them all in tandem is as natural for me as it is anyone that has just two."

Ashura wasn't technically lying, as she was a new person since the experiment, she had had them her whole life. It wasn't a very long life, but she had learned her arms quickly, it came in handy not to constantly be messing up the extra sets.

"And I am Ashura Mburu. This little one in my lap is Mdogo."

She says as she pats the large spider, who turns his large eyes to look at Malaka.

She nodded her head, pleased to learn Ashura's name and also thinking the conversation was starting off well. Ashura seemed hesitant, but hopeful. Having several arms probably didn't give her many friends with the normal girls in her home. Somewhere in Africa, Malaka was guessing, with that pronounced accent and the names like Mburu and Mdogo.

Malaka smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ashura. You too, Mdogo." She nodded at the giant spider, thankful it wasn't too hairy. She thought that spiders are misunderstood creatures. But hairy spiders are just gross.

Malaka savored another bite of those delicious Western pancakes with maple syrup and hot butter. So much better than fish and rice for the first meal! Putting her fork down, she saw Ashura's arms move and said, "You are just so graceful in how you move. It's really impressive."

[Durmatagno]

Canteen
Sage Kearney/Carolina Steiner/Ashura Mburu

Got a nosy one over here. Thankfully I limited him to three questions. Thankfully he asked what my powers are, not what all I can do, so I can be as vague as possible.
I have got someone over here that is fascinated by my arms, not put off by them. This is a first for me, I am not sure how to handle it.
Just don't bite her and you'll be fine Ashura. You've always been the best with people. Barring Carolina using her telepathy to know what she needs to say.

Carolina swallowed her latest bite of food and set down her utensils as Gavin finally gave her his three questions. She held up a finger as she wiped her mouth to get rid of the syrup clinging to her face. Setting down the napkin, she smiled.

"Let's start with that last one, my powers."

She held up her hand, and her skin rippled as it changed colors, becoming tan, black, and every other natural human color, flashing between them quickly, before finally returning to the pale color she was currently using.

"Besides which, I'm stronger than I look, though still well within human limits, only need about three or four hours of sleep, and generally don't need a lot of down time. Finally, I'm a telepath. Wait, no, I also don't age unless I want to."

She wasn't going to go into her exact limits, but a snapshot would be enough. After all, he had asked what her powers were, not their limits.

"As for my greatest threat, that depends. The greatest threat to my little group isn't definitive yet, the greatest threat to me would have to be Kane or Leopold. As for our peers."

Carolina's tone hasn't changed throughout the entire conversation. Her face remaining calm, her voice even, and the small smirk at Gavin having fallen well into her little game, remained.

"Some of them I have little patience for, others I quite like, others still I could't care less about. Let's find out where you fall."

Now it was Carolina's turn. Her three questions had been decided long before Gavin had managed his three. Carolina took another bite of some sausage, forcing Gavin to wait on her, her meal was more important than these games after all.

"Why me, why this school, and what do you think of our instructors?"

Carolina's telepathy wasn't psychic, it was magic based, even with this Gavin kid's propensity to empty his mind, emotion was still there, small spikes from her words, and her questions. It wasn't as much information as she was used to working with, but it was still far more than most had access to. Besides, he didn't ask what her powers were from, only what they were, so she didn't have or want to answer magic.

___

"I can not say yet if this meeting is a pleasure to me, I do not mince words or evade the subject. We have only just met, and only time will tell me if this was a good meeting or a bad meeting. I can say though that it has begun better than most."

Ashura was blunt, she was more extroverted than her sisters, and enjoyed people, but she also know precisely what sort of school she was in. Everyone had a motive, and were here for a reason. She was on her guard here, even if she didn't exactly show it. Mdogo chattered happily as it turned in Ashura's lap, it's nearly five foot leg span making it somewhat awkward. It was simply shifting positions though, and it's legs quickly folded back up, or dangling down once more.

___

Sage took another sip of her drink, her green eyes looking at Rick as he spoke. Her red hair was still bound up, she never let it hang loose, could be to much of a liability if she did. She was just going to ignore his questions, though they were aimed at Aella and not herself. It was obvious to Sage at least from what she'd seen and heard so far that Aella simply didn't like anyone, and sitting near her as both herself and Rick had done, was enough to provoke some amount of ire from her. Still, Rick was acting like it was personal. Sage didn't know why Aella didn't like people, aside from what she'd stated, but she had encountered enough people with similar stances to know they weren't always easy to get to know. Still, she was here now, might as well take her shot.

"That is all I asked for, besides, once I'm done I'll also be off. I have other things to do besides talk. Training, exercise, everything the school normally asks of us, and so on. Besides, your assessment of most people isn't wrong, people like to rise to their level of incompetence, and screw everyone they have to walk on to get there."

[Union Princes]

Maria Ludwig

Maria returned to the Cafeteria with her syringe in her pocket. Panting hard from running around, he went back to her table and sat down on her eat with a huff. After a few seconds off calming her heartbeat down, Maria went back to her smiley old self again and pulled out her syringe. Taking off the cap, Maria stuck the needle into her wrist and drew out a few milliliters of her blood.

"Did you eat yet?" She asked, "You'll miss breakfast after I treat you since you'll be in a state of recovery. Want me to guide you back to your room after I'm done administering the blood?"