(2016-03-25) Easter Gifts
Easter Gifts
Summary: Several Newbies arrive at the school and have a get together, exchanging information on powers.
Date: 2016-06-25
Related: None
NPCs: None
Scene Runner: NA
Players:
bayley..tabitha..lynzee..stefanie..bev..grayson..harold..

Coral Springs Hub
From here there is a circular stair going up to the administration level, and a couple of halls leading to the classrooms that ring the 'ground' floor of Coral Springs High. Light comes in through the large window over the administration level, once can see the cafeteria made in the old fort lighthouse and crows nest. A few benches are down here for students to occupy between classes on this level. As well, there are a few lockers in the hallways beyond the open courtyard on this level to hold students belongings during the day. There is a set of double doors leading to an elevator that leads down, more modern than the fort itself, added long after the fort was built.


To many of the people that call this particular stretch of Atlantic coast home, seeing sailboats on the water is hardly anything new even at this particular time of the year. The waters between the Isles of Shoals and the New Hampshire coats are certainly no stranger to ocean traffic. But even here a 120-foot sailing cutter at full mast is a site that can draw the eye. And this particular ship has been tacking down the coast against the spring winds, working its way slowly closer to the old fort housing Cedar Springs all morning. Not to the docks at Shady Cove, but straight on to the school itself. It weighs anchor a distance away, being a bit large to tie up at the school's dock. Activity is visible on deck and there is also some activity as a few school staffers start down the stairs to make sure the hull bumbers have been lowered over the side and plenty of line is ready.

Bayley has been sitting and reading near the front, having a free period at the moment. Her dark hair is pulled back into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck. She doesn't even notice the boat until the little bit of commotion erupts, lifting her head up from the pages and placing her bookmark carefully. She stays sitting, trying to be a little bit unobtrusive as she waits to see what's going on, her mind processing the emotions of the various newcomers on it as they shift into her range.

The staffers prepping the dock aren't overly emotional as they go about their tasks. Just a bit of the usual on an unusual day is all. When they're done, two of them head back inside while the third moves to the end of the dock and uses his hands to shade his eyes and look out to the cutter. Out on the water, the cutter's crew is lowering a dinghy down to the water with two people aboard. At first the dinghy is approaching under the power of its outboard motor, but about halfway across it putters out. At this closer distance it's easy to see the passengers are an abnormally large man at the stern attempting to get the motor running again and at the bow is an almost equally small girl huddled in what seems to be two or three layers of winter clothing.

After a few tries the man gives up on the motor and sets out oars to row the rest of the way in. As they approach the dock they can be heard bantering back and forth.

"It is /not/ my fault, I'm too far away! You just can't admit you didn't check the tank," is what comes from the thick bundle of coats and hats (yes, plural on both).
"I checked the tank just fine, Little Tabby. You've been trying to delay the inevitable ever since we got underway." This from the rower that could almost give Paul Bunyan a run for his money if he were just a bit bigger.
"I did /not/ pull the wind from the sails. But if I did, could you blame me? This place is tiny! It's not even a pixel on the sea charts. The big house back home has more room than this place."

And so on right up until the dinghy is pulled up to the dock and lines are secured. The school staffer offers the bundled up girl a hand, but she pauses and seems to be controlling her breath before she accepts the assistance onto the dock. "Thank you." Where the staff's emotions were normal day-to-day, the girl's own are a tight knot of fear of the new, worry for those around her, and a healthy dash of homesickness placed on layaway. The big man isn't too much better. He's a bit in knots at their impending separation but there's also a solid foundation of certainty that this is the best for her.

Bayley understands the worry and such, all too well. While she doesn't want to interfere with other people's feelings too much, she will, if she's able, try to just take the edge off of the nerves Tabitha is feeling, just enough to ease her mind just a little bit. She hopes she won't get in trouble for it, she knows people don't like being played with, but it seems like a good thing?

At any rate, she stands up and looks toards the dock, watching the girl preparing to say goodbye to the big man and definitely not intruding any further. She was glad to be here, personally, but her family wasn't exactly anything to sing about.

Once Tabitha is out of the dinghy, the big man starts to pass the luggage up to the staffer. A few newish looking suitcases, a couple garment bags and the like. Tabitha doesn't help with those, seeing as how she looks like you could fit two of her inside of them. What she does step over to take are three instrument cases and what looks like a bundle of sticks. These get put across her back and under her arms, and having them combined with the effort that Bayley is making work together to ease her into a somewhat less knotty emotional state. Enough that when the man gets out of the dinghy (and shows himself to be an easy eight-foot plus but with a rather lean, almost serpentine build), she's smiling a bit.

The big man picks up the rest of Tabitha's luggage in the way someone else might snag a to-go bag from Arby's and the pair start in towards the stairs. The big guy keeps heading upwards towards the admin level while Tabitha hangs back closer to the main area, looking around to try and get her bearings.

"You stay down here, Little Tabby, and I'll go talk with my friends about things that would bore you to tears."

"Okay, Master Nathan."

Setting her guitar case and the apparent bundle of sticks down on one of the benches, Tabitha looks around a bit more. When she spots Bayley sitting not too far away, she reaches up under her watch cap to pull some hair down over the left side of her face before offering a small smile and a quiet but conversational, "Hello."

Bayley smiles, "Hi," she says gently, watching as the elders retreat a bit to leave the two students to talk. "I'm Bayley," she says, her arms wrapped around a large, oversized book. "Welcome. It's pretty nice here. I'm sorry if you had to leave somewhere you wanted to be. That sucks," she says.

She sees the guitar case and smiles, "Another musician. I play violin myself and there's a boy who plays guitar, too. Oliver. He's a shapeshifter."

Tabitha returns the smile by widening her own small one somewhat. She doesn't seem to be quite as cold as she was out on the water, and the knot of fear and worry is reducing as well now that she's at least on solid land. What little there is of it, anyway. "I'm Tabitha. It's good to meet you, Bayley." She shrugs off the bit about leaving home, "Just the only place I've ever lived, s'far as I know anyway."

She does perk up a good bit further when mention is made of musical matters. "Really? Is there a band here?" She bounces a bit on the balls of her feet and the cases over her shoulder come into view, one obviously a violin case and the other a medium size rectangle that could hold any number of instruments. Then she stops short and gives Bayley a confused look. "Wait, shapeshifter, what?"

Bayley shakes her head, "Not yet, but that might be something we could get into," she says. She doesn't elaborate on her own background - there's not much she can say, really. Or would want to talk about. "Er, he can turn into animals or other people and stuff. He doesn't become, like, squares or triangles," she clarifies. "I mean…you did know you were coming to a school for superhumans, right?"

Tabitha nods, the idea of being able to have a band again lifting her spirits quite a bit. She listens as Bayley explains shapeshifting to her, then nods easily at the question asked after. "Yeah. I mean, kind of. Master Nathan set it up. I've only been, what did he call it… active for a couple weeks now. He said it would be better for me to go to school here. That it was a place I could train without cutting power to the whole island back home." Then she smirks a bit, "Or causing any more five car pileups." She looks around the place again, getting that look on her face like she had when she arrived. "It's just so… cramped. There can't be a lot of people here, can there?"

Bayley shrugs, "More than you'd think. It's all weird to me. My parents kept my isolated, so…I never really had other kids my age to be around before I got here," she says, moving to help lead Tabitha inside. The petite girl doesn't even pretend she can carry any of that stuff - she's not even five feet tall and none of her powers involve lifting heavy things.

"I was born active. Which is probably good. It caused me a lot of problems, but I can't imagine it suddenly just…happening. It must be a lot to adjust to," she says.

"Where does everyone fit?" Tabitha seems genuinely concerned about how much space the school seems to not have. It's possible she might not know that most of it is sub-surface. She doesn't seem to be too burdened as she picks up her guitar case and stick bundle again before moving to follow Bayley. She nods as she listens to Bayley's story as well. "That doesn't sound fun at all. Did they keep you apart because you were born active?" She sounds genuinely curious about this, but her emotions show that she's expecting to be shot down on personal questions. "I'm still getting used to it. I can barely keep it in check, but if I hadn't gone active when I did, I'd be a smear on the street. So that's good."

Bayley considers, "In their rooms?" she says with a little bit of confusion. She grew up in a very urban area and mostly semi-imprisoned for her own good, so she's pretty comfortable in small quarters - it's the having other people around she's having trouble getting used to. "Yeah. I, um, can sense other people's emotions? So it's like this whole other sense and I could feel what everyone was feeling and it took me a long time to learn to control it and, um, use it. I can affect other people's emotions, too, although I don't do it to people, like, willy nilly, it's just…something I can do," she says. She always gets worried cause sometimes people freak out when they learn she can control their emotions.

It was the absolute coolest thing by far that Lynzee had seen in at least three months. Just arriving herself, she wears an awed expression, the sophomore eager to explore. There is a distinct lack of baggage as she does and she's not wearing the school uniform as of yet. A pink shirt, faded jeans with a few hanging threads at the bottom hem and a pair of shoes that have seen better days. She does look interested in the girls as she catches sight of them. "Hi!" A big wave accompanies the greeting as she approaches, her steps a bit bouncy and excited. "I'm Lynzee."

"Well yeah in their rooms, but there can't be too many people here. Either that or the rooms are the size of broom closests, and I absolutely have to have legroom." Funny thing for someone her size to say. She'd have legroom in a laundry basket. Tabitha continues listening to Bayley talk about her abilities, eyes getting a bit wider as the older girl expains her empathic powers. "That's, um… wow." Her sense isn't that she's freaked out by it at all. It's just the third superpower she's ever heard of. First hers, then Bayley's mention of a shapeshifter, then Bayley's own power. Then a new face is bounding over and waving, so Tabitha waves back with her thickly winter-coat-insulated free arm. "Hello. I'm Tabitha. Just got here a few minutes ago."

Bayley smiles shyly and waves to Lynzee, another new face to her. But Bayley was new herself, even if she'd gotten here a few days before these girls. Apparently the place really was livening up, "I don't know about leg room - I usually dont' need much. But there's a lot of space around - a whole bunch of us went camping the other night…well, like, five of us, which is I guess not that big of a bunch," she says.

"Hi, I'm Bayley. nice to meet you," she says to Lynzee.

Once Lynzee had closed the distance, she gives a bright smile, she looks incredibly happy to see friendly faces. "Hi Tabitha, you just got here? Me too! I came from Washington. It took forever and ever to get here." Or so it had seemed. Seeing Bayley's shy smile and wave, she gives a warm smile in return, "Camping? Oh I love camping, I love being outside so much, except it's a little bit cold here." It doesn't seem to bother her too much though and she pokes her hands in her back pockets. "Where are we supposed to go from here?"

Lynzee's energy seems to sap some of the last of Tabitha's anxiety about her arrival, although Bayley would be able to tell that there's still a fair ammount still under the surface. Her face brightens, although she does occasionally check to make sure the hair she pulled down from her hat is still there covering the left side of her face. "I came from up the coast in Maine. Only about a hundred fifty nautical miles, but it still took us a few days. Bad headwinds." Among other reasons, but it's not like she was doing it on purpose. She doesn't comment on camping, but does give Lynzee a look usually reserved for the kind of crazy that deserves an 'I love me' jacket and a trip on the 'Hurry Up Truck'. "A little bit cold? I swear I can hear my hair breaking off." She doesn't respond to Lynzee's last questions, having no idea yet where to go from here, herself.

Bayley smiles, "I'm from Boston myself. Yeah, I wasn't thrilled with the temperatures, either, but they had a cabin for us to sleep in. And some of them were okay with the heat. I dunno where Annaliese stayed, she's a mermaid - yeah, I know, right? - so she could've been in the ocean. She's with Derek, who's like kind of a magick guy, too. And there's Felicia, she can shrink down and get itty bitty, but she's super strong…it's a lot to take in, I know," she laughs.

"I never saw much outside of my parents' house or the hospital until a couple of years ago…"

"I think that's not too far," Lynzee says of the mileage to the place where she had come from to the school. Catching the look though, she grins, "I came from Egypt before, but I've lived in Washington since I came to America." Her eyes widen at the powers of the others, amazed no doubt. "They are other people who live here and go to school?" There's a clapping of her hands together once. "I can't wait to meet everyone! So many new friends." She does bite her lip and nods solemnly at the last part offered by Bayley, "I'm sorry you never saw much. I think there's so, so, so many wonderful things to see."

Tabitha's eyes widen at Bayley's description of the other student's powers. "That's… a lot of people with a whole mess of abilities." She hasn't said anything about what she can do yet. She's not exactly hiding it, there's just been other topics to converse about. She gets a sympathetic look when Bayley talks about not going anywhere outside of home and a hospital. "That sounds a whole lot less than fun. Bar Harbor isn't much more than an island village, but at least we could go out and leave the orphanage whenever we had free time. Until curfew of course."

She's about to return to her line of 'but this place is too small for that many people' when she notices that the door that Bayley had been leading her towards as they talked was in fact an elevator. What this means takes a moment to sink in through her frozen brain, but when it does she just looks at the floor as if she can stare straight through it. "Oh… wow…"

Bayley smiles, "I think there's a Doctor Who joke in there somewhere," she smiles. She feels Lynzee's enthusiasm, finding it a little sharp but at least it's positive. She finds herself grinning helplessly - she often absorbs a bit of the feelings around her. "I'm sure you'll like it. Everyone's been really nice so far. I was afraid of, like, superpowered bullies and stuff but, fingers crossed, so far so good," she smiles.

There's a bit of a confused expression before Lynzee realizes who the other girl is talking about, "The man in the phone booth that isn't Clark Kent," she grins at her own cleverness at deciphering who Doctor Who was. The mention of the bullies brings a bit of a serious look, "I hope there's not a lot of mean people. I've seen some sometimes, but not so many." Looking towards the elevator as well, she gets excited all over again. "This is going to be so fun, are there lots of places to explore in the school?"

"It's… it's under the water. Under the ocean." No, Tabitha does not say 'under the sea' because she does not need the earworm, thankyouverrymuch. She doesn't remark on Doctor Who, guessing it's one of those fantasy movie things the serious nerds back at her last school would talk about all the time. What does get her attention back to the hear and now is mention of bullies, "I've never had too much problem with any bullies back home. They'd try to go after someone, I step in. They hit me, I don't hit back. They get in trouble, I get free caffeteria ice cream. And sometimes detention." It's as close as she's come to talking about what she does.

Bayley smiles, "I was homeschooled, so this is my first real experience with school. I thought it would be a lot worse, based on what I've seen on TV. We do get sorted onto teams, though, kind of like at Hogwarts, only it's not a rivals thing, it's just, like, different approaches and things. Like, people try to help others in different ways and the way that makes the most sense to us…I dunno, but it's not, like, a houses thing. Like, we all hang out together across teams and stuff."

"Oh!" Lynzee peers towards he elevator again, looking at the number to gauge how many floors. "Twenty thousand leagues under the sea." The words are musing and she smiles brightly at Tabitha. "You're a body guard?" Her eyes round a little to imagine the girl protecting the underlings, but she bobs her head up and down as she thinks about it. "You're a hero," she says matter-of-factly. Hearing about the houses, she has to consider that, "Well I hope I'm in your house, or Tabitha's, so I know someone." Being homeschooled, she nods to Bayley, "By your parents?" The three are near the elevator that will lead them down, Tabitha and Lynzee new arrivals.

Tabitha is a tiny wisp of a girl, really not the sort that one would associate with the term 'bodyguard', but she does not at Lynzee's question. "Yeah, I guess so." She doesn't say anything about the 'hero' bit, though. Just shapes her head a little. "And oh, no Bayley. This is /so much/ better than regular school. Even if there are bullies, we'll be down in the ocean. I wonder if they offer SCUBA lessons?" She listens to the bits about the teams and nods. "Sounds interesting. Is there an competition between the teams? I overheard Master Nathan talking about some kind of arena thing when he was on the phone with the Headmistress, but didn't have a chance to ask him about it."

Bayley smiles, "We have a mermaid and a guy who can turn into a dolphin," she smiles, "I'm sure swimming and diving stuff will be available to people who are into it. Personally, I don't think it's for me, but whatever makes you happy!" she says. She wants people to be happy - she had enough depression of her own without letting other people add to it. She tended to be mercurial by nature, her moods rapidly shifting, but, today, at least, she seems to be in a good mood. "I don't know about arena stuff, but I'm not exactly, like, made for combat with my powers. I mean, I can, sort of, but I'm better in, like, subtle things," she says.

Stefanie makes her way off the ferry with a large duffel over her shoulder. She's already dressed in a CS uniform, complete with sweater vest and skirt. She feels out of place in it and continues to tug and pull on it, trying to make it feel more comfortable, to no avail. She makes her way up to the other three and smiles brightly. The lot of them don't look to be much older than her little sister. She doesn't wish to interupt the conversation, so she just smiles brightly and waves when she gets up to them. She looks around. "This has got to be the smallest school that I've ever seen." She does not think of the place like an iceberg. "How it hasn't been blown up by now is beyond me." She looks around to the three and smiles again. She practically glows. "Hey there! I'm Stefanie."

Lynzee is a bit gangly with her limbs and all still filling out. Flat chested, she's a regular looking sophomore age person with a bit of a tomboyish look at times. "SCUBA lessons," she sounds absolutely delighted at the very idea. "I want to swim under the water and see the colors, I've seen them on the television, so many things on the television that I want to see in real life." She knows nothing about the school, so she looks to Bayley for the answer about the teams. At the newest arrival, she lifts a hand and waves, "Hi. I'm Lynzee." It's the same greeting she offered before, a look of anticipation about learning the newest girl's name at least. When it's given, she nods, "It's good to meet you Stefanie, but why would the school be blown up? It's invisible to others, I think?" Or so she had been told.

Tabitha reflexively checks that her hair is still covering the left side of her face when Stefanie comes over and introduces herself. Can't be told if she's in the school uniform herself, since she's bundled up in thick layers with two coats. All the layers make her look like three of herself, plus she's carrying three instrument cases and what looks to be a wrapped bundle of sticks. Honestly, she should be listing to one side from it all but it doesn't seem to be an issue to her. With more people around her and things going well, the low mood she had when she got here is now much brighter. "I'm Tabitha. Seem to be a lot of us arriving here today." She grins at Lynzee's enthusiasm at the idea of learning SCUBA, then shrugs when the other girl wonders about Stef's comment about the school being small and blowing up. "I thought the same when I got here, but apparently there's a lot more to the place under water. As for blowing up, Lynz," she shrugs and sort of pulls her head a bit into her coats like a turtle. "Sometimes accidents happen."

Stefanie nods and smiles. She's tempted to give a demonstration, but she knows she doesn't have quite the control to do it without blasting a hole through someone. "Not everyone here has passive abilities. Some can be rather.. well.. explosive." She grins. "Good to meet you, Lynzee and Tabitha." She looks to Tabitha. "Do you need help with those?" She looks about. "How long does this elevator take?"

Accidents! Lynzee seems to understand that and she gives a hesitant but somewhat sad nod. "I guess so." A scuffing of her toe on the floor for a moment before she brightens, "I can do magic," she tells them both, assuming it was something she could talk about here since the people who had brought her and brought her because of the magic. "What kind of things do you both do? I've only met Id, he could be other things instead of himself." Tilting her head, she smiles, "Well I hope you don't blow up the school. I just got here."

Tabitha shrugs at the question about the elevator, only just realizing that they've been standing here waiting for it and no one had pressed the call button yet. So she does so, "I guess we'll find out now." She shakes her head at Stef's offer to help with her instruments. "Thanks but no. I'm still good for another couple hours probably, all things remaining equal." When the elevator arrives shortly after then she steps in and holds the door open with her free hand. "All aboard the Nautillus Express." She waits until the elevator is on its way down to answer Lynzee's question. "I'm not really sure what to call it since I've only been active a couple weeks now. But I kind of drain things of their juice." She said as they were riding a pressurized tin can under the ocean.

Stefanie nods and listens to each. So she turns to Lynzee. "So.. you met a guy who was someone other than he was? So he was a guy?" She giggles, joking. "I'm kidding. I'm sorry." She looks to Tabitha. "You.. drain things of juice? Like, real juice… or electricity?" She holds her hand up as it glows a little. "I absorb energy from the sun and I can release it back.. in any direction I want." She shrugs as she gets into the elevator.

Waiting with the others, it had never occurred to Lynzee to press the button, but when Tabitha does, she eagerly anticipates seeing the remainder of the school. When it opens, she steps inside with a grateful smile for the door being held. "Drain things or people?" she asks curiously once inside the elevator with the others as they head downwards. Her hands are empty of luggage and she's wearing a shirt and jeans, the bottoms frayed a little. Tilting her head, Lynzee seems to think about what Stefanie tells her, or rather asks. The confusion doesn't lessen any, but she answers quite honestly. "He wasn't a person. He was a fox. I met him when I was ten. He found me." Leaving it at that, as if that was all the explanation it took to fully understand what she meant, she grins at the joking bit, but looks more interested in what sort of answer that Tabitha would give in response.


Ocean Floor Hub
The central hub of the lowest level is utilitarian in nature, simply an open space with white walls. There are serval tunnels leading off from here. One is wide open and the ocean can be glimpsed from this tunnel, it is marked Paragon Island. There are double doors that can seal off this tunnel if needed. Of the other tunnels, the prominent ones hold plaques overhead. Each indicated it belongs to one of the four school teams. There is an occasional soft sofa like bench all the walls for students, along with some plants that do not require much sunlight.


Tabitha doesn't answer right away, but knows she can't put off the response too long since both of the other girls in the elevator with her had asked. Finally, as the elevator starts to slow down before reaching the bottom she shrugs and turtles her head a bit down inside her coats. "Like… anything, everything. From things, people, whatever. It took us three days to sail just a hundred fifty nautical miles to get here because I was scared and kept leaching away all of the cutter's momentum. We were at full sail and barely pushing four knots. Then there was the whole getting thrown into traffic and run over a half dozen times thing. As far as Master Nathan could tell, that's what kickstarted me." She says this very matter of factly as the elevator stops and opens on the dorm hub, but it's not hard to pick out the reluctance.

Down in the dorm hub the elevator dings and opens on three girls that are a minor study in contrast. One is in full school uniform and fidgeting in it a bit occasionally. Another is dressed in ratty-casual shirt and jeans. The third is all bundled up as if she's off on an arctic expedition. She's also carrying a load of instrument cases and other things that seem to weigh more than she does. They've all got the hard to miss look of fresh meat, all shiny new to the school.

Stefanie hmms. "That's interesting. I'd like to try to see if you could absorb off of me… but I'm kinda afraid right now. I don't have a lot of control and I really don't want to hurt anyone." She smiles to Lynzee. "So.. you can do magic? Like, what kind of magic?" She ask as she steps off of the elevator and looks around. She notices the tunnels and the ocean overhead. "Wow… I… did not expect this. I guess if we do blow the place up, it keeps things contained."

Over by the entrance to the Athena Team dormitory, a brunette is flopped lazily into a couch. The light down here is dim enough that it's not always all that comfortable for her, but she seems in good spirits all the same. She's got earbuds plugged in and she's flipping through a magazine as her toe taps against the far arm of the bench. "Bop bop bop, right to the top…" she hums to herself. "Slip and slide and ride that rhythm…"

While she's observant, in general, it takes Bev a few moments to realize that others have entered the area. She looks up from her magazine, beams at the new arrivals as she tugs the buds from her ears. "Heyyyy!" she calls. "Hi! You guys look WAY new. I promise, it's not that cold down here! Welcome! Are any of you in Athena? It's the -best!-" She glances upward. "Yeah, there's always the chance we'll get flooded, but sometimes we get to see sharks and stuff!" As a California girl, Bev is generally wary of sharks. Less so since she discovered that they dislike laser burns.

Ding, the elevator stops and about the time Tabitha answers, the doors open but Lynzee doesn't immediately step out, she's still processing what the other girl had said. Once more she shoves her hands in her back pockets of her jeans and nods a bit before responding. "Please never take mine from me, cause it's all I got." The words are spoken softly, tentatively, and she studies the girl she had spoken to. With the question asked of her from Stefanie, she smiles, "I can turn invisible and I can turn into any kind of cat." She steps out as well, since Stefanie had, "And some other stuff too. You glow?" She had noticed the hand.

It's then that Lynzee hears the humming and she looks over, offering a friendly wave. "We are new, I'm Lynzee, this is Tabitha and Stefanie." Athena? She shakes her head, "Metis, I think?" Trying to get the name right at least.

Tabitha relaxes so her head comes up out of her coats and smiles at Lynzee, "Don't worry, I have at least enough control to stop myself from draining things I don't want to. Elevator didn't stall out after all, right?" She also nods to Stefanie, "We can give it a try, sure. I've been hit by a four ton truck at fifty miles an hour and it just sort of stopped and bounced a bit. That's my current benchmark." Then they're out of the elevator and she's looking around the rather spartan chamber. "Compartmentalized construction. Logical for being this deep. She's doing a full turn-around look at all the exits when Bev speaks up in greetings and says it's not that cold. "Hell, we're on the North Atlantic coast. It's always too cold. But hello." She smiles as Lynzee provides introductions, then nods to Bev's question about being in Athena. "If that's the one with all the red, then yeah I'm there."

Stefanie nods to Lynzee. "Invisible Kitty. Now *that's* cool!" She says, excited. She then turns to Bev and smiles back. "Hey! Yeah, I'm in Athena. I was rather disappointed that a test decided where we went. I was hoping for some kind of tallking hat." She turns to Tabitha and nods. "Well… I blew up a house… so…" She shrugs. "I'm a bit nervous about using my powers near living people." She nods, still looking around. "And I've never been this close to the ocean… Certainly never underneath it." She does look in awe at the underwater life on display. "So.. we… like… sleep down here and everything?"

"Ooh! A sneaker!" she flashes a bright smile at Lynzee. "Nice to meet you, Lynzee. And Tabitha. And Stefanie. I'm Beverly, but you can all call me Bev! Everybody does!" She kicks her feet up, uncrossing them, and then hops up onto her feet. "Or Popstar, if you want, but that's mostly in the gym. And in costume. You know! The Metis dorm is over there!" The girl flits from subject to subject like a hummingbird seeking nectar in a bed of flowers.

"We are the ones all in red," she agrees, waving at the door beside her. "Our dorm's this way. You glow?" she asks Stefanie. "That's awesome! So do I! Glow sisters!" She moves toward the trio and slings an arm around Stefanie. "Can I help any of you with your stuff? Here's the secret, Stef. The test IS the talking hat. And if you ask not to be put in Slytherin, they won't put you there." Her eyes go to Tabitha's instruments and she notes, brightly, "We are SO gonna have to jam!"

Lynzee does look visibly relieved by the reassurances offered from Tabitha, "Thank you," she tells the other girl simply. Her eyes widen about the truck bit though and she looks between Stefani and Tabitha. "I'm glad you're not hurt." Happy that Stefanie likes what she can do, she bobs her head up and down, "I just can't do both at the same time no matter how much I try. Just one or the other." Looking around, she does seem to realize how confined they are as well, and she shifts a little. "They said we can go to the town on the weekends, I guess we could go anytime."

To Bev, she beams a smile in response. "It's nice to meet you too, Bev." She looks curious all over again. "Popstar?" Looking towards the Metis dorm, she nods, "I'm glad we're not so far away. Maybe we could all hang out or something sometime."

Tabitha gives Lynzee a reassuring grin as Bev is gushing over her instruments. "Yeah, that'd be fun. I'm already missing my band from back home." This is after she takes a moment to try and decipher the stream of consciousness chatter that spills from Bev's mouth. Then she looks between Bev and Stefanie and asks in a fully genuine tone, "What talking hat? What's a slytherin? Was there more than just the questionaire we were supposed to fill out? If so, I hope it doesn't change my results. I already got my uniforms." The four girls are all talking in a loose group between the elevator and the Athena dorm entrance. Tabitha is bundled up in multiple coats as if preparing to storm the arctic and carrying several instrument cases.

Stefanie smiles to Bev. "I can glow. I try not to. I give off light and heat after I absorb solar radiation." She grins. "You give off light too!" She's so excited to be here. She's totally forgotten that she was sent to be here by the Courts. "I'm good. I just have my duffle. My instrument is my voice." She smiles and then thinks. "Popstar? I picked Sunshine as my codename." Then she thinks. "Oh goodness.. Our gym outfits aren't… like… spandex and leather?" She asks, uncomfortable with the thought of wearing anything form-fitting. She looks to Tabitha. "We gotta get you to watch a movie or two." She grins, chuckling. She looks to Lynzee. "Well have to put together some kind of mixer for the new students perhaps?"

"Of course! Everybody hangs out with everybody else, really," Bev puts in. "Teams are just for, like, gym class. And sports!" Bev averages about 16.3 exclamation points per second. She hasn't really gotten up to speed yet. She continues on, "Yeah, Popstar! 'Cause I sing and I was on TV and stuff, and also… well, I can't do the POP! part inside, or if it's cloudy outside, but the star part…" She focuses for a second, shines bright like a diamond, and then dials it back to her constant barely visible glow. "See? Popstar!"

The brunette squints at Tabitha curiously. "You've never watched Harry Potter? Or read it? Are… you a time traveler?" That could explain it, of course. "If you're a time traveler we could totally make a TON of money. We'll send you back to your time and you deposit five bucks in the bank and then you come back here and we're millionaires! What kind of band were you in? I'm gonna guess you did madrigals! They're, like, protective stretchy stuff," she continues without pause. Form fitting, yes, but this does not bother Bev much — and she can't rightly see why it would bother somebody else. "A mixer! Yes! And we'll have our band play! The Athenian Deadly Poppies! WOOO!!!" The last is rather loud. Sorry, Stefanie.

Hearing all the chatter between the others, Lynzee gets about three quarters of it, but she continues to listen and learn as they speak about things like absorbing solar… stuff. It was incredibly fun to learn from others in such a manner and she seems to soak in all the information. A smile is given back to Tabitha, "Oh I love music, I would like to hear you play sometime?" A nod is given to Stefanie in response, "We could have a new kid party, maybe in the town, cause they said we could go." By now she has repeated it a couple times, so maybe the confinement down here was making her a bit uneasy. "You were both in a band then?" Looking unsure who all were musicians. "You are all three Athena and I am Metis?"

Walking slowly out of the Ares tunnel is Grayson. He shoves his hands deep into his jeans pockets and looks around the open hub, his thick eyebrows raising slightly as his lips purse a bit as he takes in the room. He has a moleskin notebook with a leather strap around it shoved in his back pocket. He doesn't say anything, kind of just lingering across from them, not sure if he should approach the big scary pack of girls.

Tabitha shrugs at Lynzee's request to hear her play sometime. "Sure. I practice pretty much every day. Hope you like a wide variety. And hitting the town for a get together sounds like fun. How far is it? On one of the Shoal Islands nearby or over on the mainland?" See? She pays attention. Usually. Sometimes. Then Bev and Stef are getting all Glow Sister crazy and then Bev gets all flashy for a bit and it catches her off guard so she ends up soaking down a good portion of the light that spilled out from Bev. It just kinda gets slurped right into her body and the few parts of her skin that are visible start to get a visible gold-amber sheen to them that spreads out from her body a few inches. She lets out a sigh and slumps her shoulders. "Well, damn. Was hoping I could keep that tucked in. And no, I never watched Harry Potter. Never could get into all that sciencey-fantasy stuff." Says the girl currently wrapped up in an glowing event horizon.

Stefanie grins brightly as Bev glows. Feeling a bit more daring, she holds out her hand. It begins to glow brightly, and that heated air effect makes that light flicker as the hot air from her hand rises up. THe other hand is comfortably wrapped around Bev, though she may be holding on a bit tightly. "You were on TV? No way!" She stops… taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry. This place is just all too amazing." She cringes as Bev hollers. She's wondering if the two of them are feeding off of each other's increasing energy. She looks to Lynzee. "Hey.. you'll be fine here. I promise. We're not going to let anything happen to this place, OR each other. I might check out the town tomorrow. I just got here. I think I should find a bunk and stow my gear. I'm not exactly used to the Eastern time zone."

"Was that way too Charlotte? That was way too Charlotte. SORRY!" This is not so loud as the 'WOOOO!' but still high in volume. She spots Grayson pretty much right away, and blinks as he stops at the end of the Ares hallway. "Hey! Grayson! Come meet the new girls!" She introduces each in turn, referring to Stefanie as her Glow Sister — what with the fact that she and Grayson have been around the school all along, he is probably used to Bev's alternating breathless chatter and sleepy curl-up-and-snooze.

"You ever watch 'My Secret Identity'?" she asks Stefanie. "The new one that just ended a couple years ago? I was the little sister to the main kid on the show. My mom was just devastated when I got powers because, boohoo! My career is over! Sob!" She seems significantly less upset about it than her mother, to be fair. "If you need a bunk and you don't mind a night light…"

Lynzee just beams at the idea of listening to her play. "Thank you!" The exclamation of delight is given even as she motions in completely the wrong direction, "The mainland. They got pizza!" Or so she was told! The shared glowing does sort of surprise her and she looks between those that can do it and kinda steps back a tiny bit to get a better look at them all at the same time. Looking at Stefanie, she nods a touch solemnly, "Thanks, I was only a little bit worried, cause I'm so used to being up there." Pointing to the above ground area. As Bev relays who she is, a thoughtful expression crosses her features and she grins as she realizes she had seen her before. "I saw you on television before! I've seen television a lot." But as she draws someone else in, she gives him a happy smile accompanied by a wave, "Hi," she greets. "I'm Lynzee." Forget the fact she'd just been introduced, she does it again anyway. Someone is sure proud of their name!

Grayson slowly smiles widely, his dimples deep on each side of his childish smile that keeps his lips closed together. He answers Bev with a simple, "It's an 'up' day, is it, B?" He sniffs, and then extends his hand to the other two girls. "Grayson," he identifies himself. He rolls his eyes a little, "Don't worry. No one else saw that show either," and he smirks at Bev, teasing. "Welcome to Davy Jones Locker. Hope you like swimming."

First Bev, and now Stefanie. Glow Sisters, indeed, and while all the introductions are being made to Grayson, Tabitha is standing behind the pair of energy sources getting a double dose of fuel. Her breathing rate starts to increase along with her pulse, and the shine of the aura around her moves in time with both. She's trying to smile to Lynzee's enthusiasm about pizza on the mainland, but then she backs up to the wall and sits down hard on one of the bench/couches there. Even as she backs up, she continues to be semi-linked to the Glow Sisters by small streamers of their respective energy emissions. She's not draining her fellow students directly, but they're giving off a lot of power and some of it keeps making its way into Tabitha.

"Woah… that's, ah… wow." She drops her instruments to the floor, along with the bundle of sticks (?) she was also carrying, then starts to strip out of her winter coats (yes, plural). Her aura has continued to grow steadily and is now extended out to nearly four feet around her body. The look on her face gradually shifts from concerned to somewhat giddy.

Stefanie grins to Bev. "I.. didn't get to watch too much TV. I was busy either with scouts, or gymnastics, or cheer, or school." Then she's offered to bunk with bev. "Are you kidding? That would rock!" She says, then blushes, realizing that she might have her arm around the girl a bit too tightly. She blushes and clears her throat nervously. "And i'm a bit of a nightlight, so it doesn't bother me at all." She nods to Lynzee. "I know,, but i think we're perfectly safe here. Either way, we protect our own. All we have is each other right now." She nods and waves to Grayson, who isn't helping Lynzee at all with the comments on swimming and Davy Jones. She then turns to Tabitha, watching her strip down. "WHoa… Are you ok? Do you.. like… need a room or something?"

Bev beams as Lynzee recognizes her for the star she is. Recognition: it is the stuff of life. Also light, but recognition is harder to come by now and then. "Very cool," she informs Lynzee, keeping to herself the fact that watching TV is not nearly so awesome as being on TV (and even then, not nearly so awesome as being Beverly Sunderland on TV).

"'Til about seven," she tells Grayson. "Then I'll get hit by my usual case of evening sleepies. TGIF! I've gotta write that history pa— Tabs, you okay?" There is no perceptible break between topics. Bev just switches sentences in mid-word. "You look a little… um… nearly as excitable as me!" She releases Stefanie and moves to pick up Tabitha's instruments, putting them by the arch that leads to their dormitory for later carting off, though she notes to Stefanie over her shoulder, "It'll be great! We'll be perfect roomies!"

There was a lot going on that Lynzee wasn't privy to just for her inexperience with everything other than what she knew. Her exposure to outside super forces was zero. There was something about Tabitha though as she starts stripping and the aura grows. Stepping back again, she doesn't look exactly uncomfortable so much as she does concerned. As Stefanie continues to reassure her, she smiles a little, "Thank you, I'm glad you're all here and it's not weird in this school or anything. Really glad." Grayson does indeed get a curious look, but she laughs a little uncertainly, hoping he was really teasing her. Another look is given to Bev and she nods, but the concern centered around Tabitha did seem appropriate. Still, she looks towards the Metis dorm. "I am going to go find a room, it was really great meeting you all."

Grayson watches the girl take the instruments and place them by the archway. He takes a few steps that direction, though he's eyeing the guitar case, not the girls. He rubs his chin, thinking a little, and then leans against the nearest wall, watching. "Lot of greenies arriving today," he observes a little flatly. He gives a chin nod wave to Lynzee as she heads off. "Everyone got mutations for Easter this year, it looks." He folds his arms over his chest. "If you're taking it all off, you should let me go get some of the other guys first…" he offers to Tabitha dryly.

Tabitha is trying to get her breathing under control, just like Master Nathan has been trying to teach her the last two weeks. She sits up straight, then leans back against the wall and runs her hands back through her hair. As the hair she's been keeping over the left side of her face is pulled back, her burn scars become visible on her face, neck and can be seen on her left hand as well. They're very old scars that have stretched as she's gotten older. She looks over at the other as they ask her if she's alright. "Not… not sure. First time it's… been like this."

Now even the lights around her in the room are starting to feed into her aura. Then Grayson makes his crack and she shoots him her very best death glare. Or tries to, at least. She grips the bench as she shudders from the energy she's absorbing at faster speeds. The spasm causes her hands to clench and where she's gripping the bench crumples in her hands. "Hoshit! Haha… how?!" Her face can't make up its mind if she's scared or thrilled.

Stefanie looks over to Tabitha, in concern. She turns to Lynzee when she says she's heading into Metis. "Ok, hon. Talk to you later. Perhaps we'll meet up for dinner or something." She turns to Grayson and glares at him. As much of a fan of the female form as she is, she wouldn't have said that. Then… Tabitha's ripping the bench apart. "Ok… Tab… Sweetie… Just take a deep breath and relax." Stefanie knows what kind of damage her power can cause when left unchecked and especially when she absorbs too much. She can only imagine what it would be like compounded with Bev's. "I mean, it's awesome and all, but we *really* need to make sure that you don't break the school, ok?"

Bev has been at the school for over a year and a half now. She's not the smartest girl in school (that'd probably be Kerry, over in Metis), but she's dealt with emergencies before, certainly, and at least has an idea of what to do now. "It was nice meeting you too, Lynzee," she says as she pulls herself back away from Tabitha, grabs Stefanie's hand to pull her back as well, if the other Glow Sister will allow it ("We're giving off too much energy," she whispers. "Come on back so she doesn't have so much to pull in."), and then does the thing that is simply the scariest in the world, as far as she's concerned: she slams the switches on the wall to turn off the lights. Soon there's only the faintest glow she can't stop emitting, and the light filtered down from the surface, darkened by a few hundred feet of water. And she hopes this is enough. She casts a glance at Grayson, points upward — he might want to get ready to run for help if Tabitha can't bring her power under control.

Lynzee catches the upnod and smiles at Grayson, then Stefanie, "Okay, that would be fun." But mostly her attention stays on Tabitha, watching and just… watching! It's about the time the bench crumbles where her hands are that her eyes widen and she gives a wary look before turning and making a mad dash where Bev had told her that her own dorm room was located.

Grayson slowly sighs. New students. Always drama they are. He furrows his brow a bit as the lights go out, and then he shakes his hands a little. Lifting them a bit to his sides, he concentrates and slowly the air around his open hands begins to fluctuate, the molecules breaking and reorganizing, pairing each oxygen with two hydrogen atoms as the moisture draws from the air. The room immediately begins to take on the fresh, relaxing scent of first few minutes of a spring rain storm, when the wet drops collide with the dry earth and release the pleasant smells of nature. In just a few seconds, he has undulating, shiny spheres of water around his hands. As the water moves around his hands, it emits a relaxing sound, almost like a babbling brook. Between the scent and the sound, combined with the soft lighting the room is now bathed in, it would seem this entire space has just taken on the serene, relaxing feel of a spa. Grayson moves a little closer to Tabitha, the sound and smell definitely in her space, and he says calmly, "Relax, Greenie. Focus on what you're doing, feel your powers, and reign it in so's we don't have to fetch a prof. You're okay."

At first it's like Tabitha isn't hearing anyone's voices. And she isn't, really. Even the vibrations that make up sound are getting pulled in by her aura's event horizon. Right after she crushes bits of the bench, however, the aura seems to stablize and instead of an amorphous blob surrounding her it snaps back towards her and takes on a form more akin to a protective field all along her body about a foot out from her skin. This is when things start to get really trippy from her perspective. She starts seeing things, feeling things…. shapes, scents, flavors all blended together.

As Bev and Stef step back away from her she looks up with a pleading look in her eyes, whispering, "Apples and cinnamon…" And then the pair have moved back far enough that their energies are no longer feeding in. This lessens the tension on her mind, and when the lights go out it brings more relief still. So when Grayson comes closer, bringing the calm sounds and scents to where her scrambled senses can make sense of them she manages to meet his gaze long enough to nod. After a few stuttering attempts she manages to draw a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. The light coming in from above is still feeding into her aura but it's now more of a trickle than a torrent. Then after she's managed a long chain of deep, steady breaths she draws her breath in again and starts to softly sing to herself.

"Lavender clouds… nothing matters here… flying above… the ultraviolet sea… And I will not look down…"

She lets go of the bench as she starts to sing, and as she continues her body lifts up off of the bench and starts to float, putting about two feet of empty air between her feet and the floor. She doesn't seem to have noticed and sings to herself a bit more.

"I… I'm falling down a rabbit hole… Come… so come with me… and float into the neverending dream…"

She drifts downwards slowly as her voice trails off, her feet contacting the ground as the last note trails off and her eyes open again. Her aura starts to sink back inward until it's still visible but congruous with her skin, giving her the appearance of an amber statue. She manages a small smile which she directs at the others. "Well that was a thing. Thanks."

((song link for full effect: https://youtu.be/nPctSyi87ms?t=35s)

Stefanie nods to Bev and does her best to power down. She feels the energy in the other girl ebbing. She feels Bev's hand as it's temperature begins to drop. She's fighting all instinct to run up to help Tabitha, which is the exact wrong thing to do right now. She raises as an eyebrow as she can barely see what Grayson is doing, more hearing it than anything else. Her respect for the boy has gone up a couple notches. She watches in awe as Tabitha begins to float. "Whoa… Now that's a whole new meaning to getting high." She looks to Bev and smirks. "Hey.. Are you alright?" She sends a glow to the hand that's still holding Bev's. "Let's try and keep that to a minimum when she's around… for all our sakes." She looks behind them to the Athena arch as she hits the light switch. "I should check out that bunk. I'm pretty sure I can find yours."

"I don't often flash when I don't need to," Bev tells Stefanie. "So don't worry over it too much. Yeah, just look for the curtains — make yourself at home!" Somewhat more subdued, her glow pulled in so tightly that she might just be a slightly brighter shadow, she approaches Grayson and Tabitha. Not running to help, but figuring that Tabitha probably won't start sipping at the faint light she's emitting and overloading like before. "How you doing?" she asks, genuine concern in her nigh invisible expression. To Grayson she adds, "Thanks."

Grayson slowly closes his fists, the water around them dissipating back into the air and the scent in the air begins to fade. He looks at Bev, "None of us want the teachers up in our grills." He sighs, looking back at Tabitha, nods, and then looks once more to Bev. "Careful around the greenie. You clearly set her off, B." He swallows, sighs one more time, and then turns to head back toward the Ares dorms.

After a few more breaths Tabitha seems to be much more herself again. She stands up, looking at her hands to stud the effect her aura is having meshed with her skin. She looks up at Grayson as the moisture and scent start to fade away. "Thank you. Yeah, Master Nathan would not have been happy if he found out I'd almost gone Chernobyl before he'd even made it back to his cutter. There would be Words." She takes a moment to gather up all of her discarded winter stuff and drape it over her arm, then pauses as if something's come to mind.

She chuckles and glances over at Stef and Bev while snapping her fingers in time then starts singing again. This time it's an off the cuff light parody of 'Lady Marmalade'. "Hey sisters, go sisters, soul sisters, glow sisters… Remember that night down at cold Coral Springs… Struttin' their stuff under sea… They said 'Hello, we glow… Wanna give it a go?'." Looks like her sense of humor has survived intact at least. She joins the other two Athenians and nods towards the dorm door. "I think a nap is in order before dinner, please."

A kid who, if unknown, could easily pass as a freshman, comes out of the open doors of the Prometheus tunnel. Whatever level of light or dark it is in the central hub here, he is moving quietly for the moment with his head in a book. Or not quite, he holds an open book, but he's paused at the doors long enough to look around curiously at the immediate area near the Guardian's entrance, then steps out. About to go back to reading, is when he notices the other group. He's not first day know, but a few months tops is all he has under his belt in the school. Those who've paid attention to new kids, may know he's sans one friend he's usually round. Off on his own, whirlwind adventure style. Or more a quiet night out, but the air is charged, even if only emotionally. So Harold comes out a few meters to realize the other group is there, and that smething is going on. "I'm not saying anything," he responds to something one of them said. But that seems random, even to him, so he pushes his glasses up as he chuckles in that confusion and makes a public addendum, "I mean to the teachers." Not that anyone questioned, that was completely voluntary as if someone needed to know somewhere. He folds the book closed so its not a distraction, though his right index finger tucks in to find his place easily enough. Looks like he's up to no good, doing that thing some kids call homework. But good for him, everyone is going back in, he can look for a quiet sofa to sit on at least.

Stefanie nods to Bev. "I just mean the two of us together. We're probably like the biggest dose of E she'd ever seen." She blushes, a bit ashamed that she even knows what that means. She waves to Grayson as he heads to his dorm. She's not leaving Bev alone to clean up their joint mess. That's not what good friends do. She shuts down her power completely and heads over. "Come on. Let's get you to a bunk to sleep the rest of this off." She helps Bev bring Tabitha into the Athena wing. She laughs as Tabitha boogies down. A total change from the shy, hidden girl that was waiting for the elevator. "Wow.. That sounds like a great idea. This was an excellent first day." She looks over to harold and smiles, waving. "Hey there. It's alright. We can tell the teachers what happened. And then we can explain how we calmed down the situation without the need for intervention." She smiles as she walks with the other two heading into Athena.

"I flashed," Bev explains to Grayson. "I didn't know it would set her off. I'm down to the minimum glow I can manage. And Tabs, if you need me to back off, just tell me, okay?" She waves after Grayson, then reaches out to turn on the lights again and waves to Harold. "Thank you," she says. "Sorry we can't stick around just now. I've gotta get these two settled in. See you later!" She moves to pick up some of Tabitha's stuff. "We'll move you in right next to me and Stef, Tabs. Then if you need us, we'll be right there." Pause. "Very cute song."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License