"I see." Sumat replied to Trey's explanations of himself, scratching his goatee slightly. It wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for, but it was good enough that he didn't say something cringeworthy like some other people he'd seen.

"Well, as long as you're looking for a balanced experience." He continued, offering his lower right hand for a handshake; a gesture of trust and approval. Once it was received, he found himself looking to the side briefly to check on the other person, if only to make sure he didn't get jealous, which could prove problematic. Luckily, said other person had gone, probably to go off and gawk at the injured fellow. He leaned back and clasped all his hands together again.

"I am here because I wish to learn a skill and make myself into something other than... well, a sideshow attraction. Hopefully I'll encourage others to do the same." He explained. As if on cue, it was at this point that he began to sense a noticeable wave of vibrations coming from the direction of the main entrance; in the opposite direction from the injured person and the congregation around them, no doubt filming the poor fellow's pain on their 'smart'phones.

Looking in the direction of this new vibration, he raised one eyebrow slightly in the hopes of discerning what it could be, but it was too faint to be certain of anything. He could hear some kind of commotion with his normal hearing, but that could be anything, humans being as unpredictable in their strife as they are.

"...Say, I don't suppose you can hear that, can you?" He asked Trey as he squinted in the direction of the commotion; not that it helped his eyesight, it was more of a facial signal. He pulled his chair back and sat up, in case he'd need to go look at it.

Artemis was walking around the building seeing how big it was. She could not believe she was here. She grew up homeless for the most part so seeing something this fancy was a bit of a culture shock for that matter. She let out a sigh as she looked at all the students. She hated that she was so shy she couldn't talk to anyone. She was even too ashamed to ask for directions. She saw people heading for the cafeteria she hoped. She almost ran into Miss Victoria though. "I...I am so sorry." She said bowing her head not wanting to offend her. "I wanted to thank you for letting me into this program ma'am." She said respectfully. She smiled at her hoping it would be a good gesture.

Which form is delta!? He read my mind! He read my mind! Wait, how much did he read? Does he knows about my mom's dishes? David thought, but was brought at ease when Alex said that he wouldn't read his mind without asking. "Haha! Yeah, I totally get that." David said, but with his voice indicating that he totally didn't get it. Man, if i could read minds, I wouldn't stop doing it. Though, it's not really an ethical thing to do, is it? Wait, do we have ethics here? I read that somewhere, i think. David, for a moment, had sunken into his own thoughts. But after shaking his head again he quickly replied: "Oh and about the particles. Well, Alpha form is what you'd call the normal form. Only i can see it." he said. Should I tell him about the purple aurora? Nah, he's a dude. It's not important "Then there's Beta particles. Those are like insanely hot. So they cook the air around them, making plasma." he continued. Should I tell him I almost burned a goal down once? It does sound cool. "I accidentally burned a goal down once." he add, in a matter-of-factly voice. "Delta particles you probably already saw with my bag. They just levitate things." he then finished.

David then noticed the steady flow of freshmen going out of the Auditorium. "I still have to deliver this bag to my dorm room in the other building. My room is 105." he said, raising his bag. Showing it as proof. He then proceeded to walk with the flow outside. The dorm building was on the right side from the entrance. But instead of going there, David glared at the protesters. He remembered the time he feared that his classmates would insult him as monster. He remembered the fear that he would have to register as something special. He hated the Mutant Registration Act.

Alex was intrigued by the whole particle forms with David's powers. They seemed to be a pretty handy power. It was strange how each mutant could be completely different from another. It made you feel even more special than you already were. As much as he wanted to find someone who had similar powers to him so they could train him he really liked feeling special. When David told him he was in Room 105 his eyes widened and a smirk appeared on his face. To think that he was talking to his roommate the whole time. Before he could reveal that they were roommates David was leaving and he was standing there by himself.

He didn't know what else to do so he decided to walk out of the auditorium as well. As he exited he noticed a group of anti-mutant haters who were picketing and vying for the Mutant Registration Act. They were loud enough without the megaphones and now they were really loud. Part of him wanted to knock one of them out and it took a lot to not do so.

Instead he walked up to the one with the megaphone and said, "Look. I get that you don't like us but you don't see us walking on your property yelling 'Down with Inbred Redne---'." Before he could finish his sentence he was hit by a flying plastic bottle. Of course it wouldn't have hurt even if he didn't have his aura around him, but that wasn't the point. "Ah, hell. Who am I kidding?" There weren't any tabloids there, right? His parents couldn't know he did what he was about to do. Alex pulled back his right arm and punched the first protester in front of him.

Luke awoke with a jolt. He looked around not remembering where he was, and as such was in a state of confusion. By Mere reflexes, Luke created a small Vortex of Black Flames that surrounded his body, to protect himself from any outside dangers. This Dark Fire is inextinguishable by normal means and is capable of burning normal water and regular fire as well.

Luke began to grab unto his head. The reason? He was having a flashback, and a bad one.


Luke opened his eyes again remembering where he was. He was at "The Grinder" and he had free fallen from the sky. He laughed, deactivating the Dark Vortex. He stood up with his headphones on his head jumping up and down, and stretching.
Considering I free fell from the sky, I'm in pretty good condition.
He then remembered he was going to be late so he checked his phone, and it was pretty early, he wasn't late. Luke hit his forehead.
"Dammit, I forgot I set the clock an hour ahead, well, I probably knew this would happen."

James sped into The Grinder's parking lot in his old, beat up car. He was thankful that he had dropped his belongings off in advance and didn't have to haul them around with him. 'Real smooth Wolfe, first day and you're already super late. Although it wasn't really my fault that I knocked over my alarm clock in my sleep...' James thought this to himself as he jogged into the school.

To be honest, he wasn't really sure where to go, but he saw a commotion up ahead and went to see if he could find someone to direct him to his dorm. Upon seeing that it was protestors, James sighed.

Even though he was a very positive and calm guy, he really disliked the fact that these people were so rude. Why couldn't they just let him be who he was? Jamie activated his ability and began to push through the crowd. "Out of the way please, if you touch me I'll literally send you flying, so don't." James knew he was being sort of harsh but they deserved it obviously. One of the protestors threw a plastic bottle at him, and his powers kicked in. When the bottom hit him, it was sent flying in the opposite direction, and it nailed the guy who threw it in the head.

James smirked.

Finally making it through the crowd he noticed that most of the students had left to go to their dorms, he had missed the orientation speech, whoops. He was just about to move on when he heard the unmistakeable sound of flesh hitting flesh. He whipped around to see one of the mutants punching a protestor. James covered his mouth to hide the laughter.

"Oh shit," he chuckled, he folded his arms and watched the show, already prepared to jump in if things got out of hand.

Markus tapped his foot on the pavement of the rooftop as he watched from above the riot with the Meta-Humans and Normal Humans slowly building up for a while now. He didn't mind that he practically skipped out on the orientation as it wasn't really a necessary thing to attend in his own opinion. Besides, this was much more interesting as he wondered how this riot will turn into and so far it seemed that it was starting to become violent. From his position, which was on top of one of the school building's rooftop which allowed him to easily assess the situation in front of him.

The only good thing was that so far the only fault that was being made was from one of the mutant punching one of the protesters and knocking them backwards. He sighed at why such violence was necessary and went back to his book, however his eyes occasionally rose above the pages checking on the mass of people in case anything got out of hand. He didn't want the year to start off with a bad start, however he only could see this ending if one way if it continued without any interference, so he was ready in case anyone needed to be stopped. Wondering what would be the appropriate amount force to separate the two group without anything outrageous happening from either side.

So, back to his book Markus went, with his eyes skimming the pages of its story and flipped through the pages quite easily as he read through the text easily. This book was only a distraction for him until something more interesting came up, so while waiting he might as well do something he liked.

David only saw Alex when it was all too late. He was already too far off. Never the less, David ran up to Alex. Why would he go to those protesters!? He's only making it difficult for himself! What is he planning on doing. He kept thinking. Though the bag he was carrying slowed him down. He couldn't reach Alex before Alex reached the protesters. He saw how Alex said something. David couldn't hear what. Maybe he's trying to convince their standpoint? He looks charismatic enough. Oh, who am I fooling? They're rednecks. But then David saw the plastic bottle flying. "Uh-oh..." he said out loud as he stopped.

He saw how Alex pulled his right arm back. No! No! No! No! No! David's mind screamed. Almost in slow motion he saw how the redneck was punched. "Damn it!" he yelled. But of course, the Rednecks got furious. David tried to sprint next to Alex as fast as he good, dropping his backpack and bag so they wouldn't hold him down. A redneck was already rolling up his sleeves. That man could take 2 steps while he pulled his arm back before David stretched his arm out and yelled: "No!" His powers must have seen it as a command. Because a faint black aura formed around the man's boots. Not enough to lift him entirely. Instead it lifted his feet a foot above ground. Making the man lose his balance and fall face first into the dirt. "Why did you do that!?" David yelled as he finally stood next to Alex. Oh this is bad for the school. This is bad for the mutants. This is bad for me! They will expel me! But then a strange courage boiled up from the usual survival cowardness David normally had. No! Mutants have to stand together now. This is a school. We are trying to better ourselves! he thought. His expression went from scared 'lets-get-the-hell-out-of-here' to 'I-will-stand-and-defend-my-fellow-mutants'.

Leopold continued to unsuccessfully berate the toothfairy with his usual mile a minute questioning about every topic under the sun, idly carrying the kid and summarily dropping him off in the nurses office. He wanted to ask more, but saw the next student in line to be seen was a girl so went on his way for student sensitivities based on gender identification and preferences. As he exited the nurse's office, his heightened senses caught the flow of traffic in one direction while his radar dishes caught the chanting.

Heaving a sigh, he took another puff of his aerosol and pulled out his phone. First he called a police officer he had on speed dial while their kid went to the school to call in blue support, next came the call to the schools lawyer to remind him the magic words he needed to say. Getting the magic words, he calmly hung up his phone and broke into an all out run.

His spots started shifting and his bones snapped into new places as he realigned his physiology to that of a cheetah to break into a flying sprint with a hop up and over the fence. But it was too late, blows had been struck and powers were used. Perched upon the top of the brick wall to the gated college, he shifted his DNA again as his hair grew out into a thick silver mane and he took a deep breath. The throat is a muscle, and he worked out.

"That is

ENOUGH!"

A roar to be heard for five miles on the open plains could be muffled of distance by all the buildings, but those same buildings made for strong echoes and reverberations in the reduced radius of the roar. His roar contained not just the hundred and fourteen decibel sound, but it also carries the natural infrasound used to stun prey such as the rednecks and students alike. It would hopefully be enough to put a pause in both sides long enough for him to close the distance.

Hopping down, he smoothed out his clothes and approached the crowd after taking another puff of his inhaler for his mind as well as his sore throat. As he walked each footfall was followed by careful breathing and focus as he started opening portals under students feet and a hundred feet away behind school property lines. Thinking of portal, each step of his left foot opened a blue portal, and each step of his right foot opened an orange portal a little to the side of the last one as he removed students one at a time.

"All have the right to lawful athembly with proper permit, but, the bottles are thimple athault and can be grounds for arrest along with inciting a riot. Police are on the way if you wish to remain and file chargeth, otherwise leave in an orderly fashion. You wont get your blood tonight."

Dear gods it hurt like hell to change that fast in succession. He had to pick each word just so to make sure he didn't sound like Sylvester the cat. An English major with a spech impediment, the powers that be were cruel.

He kept his hands behind his back with a leveled eye on everyone around, the remaining protesters and the last few students he hadn't gotten rid of. He'd have to remember to check hands later of all students to see who threw that punch based on any offensive wounds to the first knuckles. For now, he offered himself as the biggest target for the others to look at while the last escaped: a physical mutant unable to hide in society.

Daisy sighed a bit as the crowds thickened the moment she stepped into them, now forming a much steadier current towards the doorway. She didn’t fight it, and simply shuffled along with her tail curled around her forearm, hoping still that chance would give her an opportunity to talk to someone. Low and behold, that chance was answered when a pair of hands unsteady clung onto her. The younger female quickly whipped around with a slight start. Mindful to take at least one, full breathe beforehand, Daisy quickly answered. “Oh, yes, I’m fine.” She chirped back, simply happy that someone was talking to her. “You’re... The Vise Headmistress. Miss Victoria, correct?” she smiled. She’d never expected to run into her, but now, what do you say to administration? Should she say something about being excited to learn here? I mean, that should already be obvious, maybe. What if she didn’t care to know, though? Thoughts badgered at Daisy mind for all of 2 minutes before loud voices near the front gates drew her ears forward, quite literally, in fact.

“Hm, is there some sort of event happening at the front gates also?” she gave Miss Victoria a questioning look, worried for a moment that maybe she’d missed something in the pamphlet, and then worried more that perhaps it wasn’t a part of orientation day.

~ ~ ~

Julian huffed, and quietly took another bit out of her sandwich. She’d nibbled down at least half of it in the time it took to walk over to the orientation auditorium, and then just like that, people began to leave. She knew she was late, but she didn’t think she was that late, not that it mattered much to question it now. It’s not like orientation ever actually included anything important anyway, she thought briefly, and turned away from the buildings doors just as it began spurting out people. Now was the fun part of the day: socializing. Her eyes glanced over students as they meandered in random directions, some for lunch and others to their dorms, or simply to just explore.

“I could go back and meet my roommates, maybe.” She mumbled through another bite of her sandwich, but her thoughts were momentarily interrupted by shouts at the front gate. Tour groups? Angry parents? The pink haired girl twisted her head in an attempt to see, and actually frowned at the site—protestors. Of course, even this safe haven couldn’t hide from scrutiny that the rest of the world’s mutants received. She could see why such a large collection of non-humans might make others nervous, but she still believed that what they wanted for mutants was wrong.

She hadn’t even realized her feet had carried her a few yards closer to the entrance until one of the professors was there, settling the matter before it could escalate any further. She was almost thankful for it. She didn’t want there to be violence and discrimination here, at least not while she was attending. She’d received plenty of enough of that while living on her own.

As she walked through the school she made it to the front gates seeing a ton of protestors and a few mutants fighting them off. She ran over to help him striking a few people back with her hard bow to push them away from the school. "Leave us alone!" She tried to say getting over towards two other mutants that were students there. She wasn't sure how she could help with out her arrows but maybe she could try at least. She smiled at the two nodding her head. "Names Artemis." She said smiling. "See you two need some help with these people out here? Anything I can do to help?" She asked curiously.

When the big guy offered it, Trey gladly shook his hand. It was nice to think that he had made a friend, despite only being at the Grinder for such a considerably short amount of time. Trey nodded politely as Sumat spoke. It seemed that he was hear for a noble really, with the reptilian mutant wishing to possibly inspire others like him to gain more confidence and accept their differences. He smiled at the thought.

He too noticed the commotion occurring outside. Although now the voices were louder and more aggressive. Puzzled, he stood on his toes to spy over the crowd, although this had little effect. “Yeah I do” He said turning slightly to look back at Sumat. “Let’s go see what all this commotion is about!”

Turning on his heel, Trey set off, navigating his way through the crowd between him and the door, which was conveniently steadily heading in the same direction. Holding his coffee up in order to stop himself from spilling it, he weaved around students and teachers alike before finally arriving outside. He was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be an Anti-Mutant protest. Shaking his head in anger, he watched as a small fight broke out between them and a few young mutant students, which was luckily mostly stopped by the arrival of a walking cat. The feline man barked loudly, and seemed to be repeating what seemed like a list of rights.

What was even stranger was the feline, whom Trey now recognised as one of the Grinder’s professors that the Headmaster had introduced earlier, was now generating what appeared to be portals. Students disappeared from sight only to reappear several yards closer to the auditorium.
Trey had decided to stay put however, when one of the protestors seemed to shout back at the Professor, with the redneck instructing the Professor to leave, calling him an enormous pile of excrement. He, along with several other stereotypically accurate rednecks charged forward, shouting and shrieking as they did so.

Before they could reach the Professor however, Trey had raised his hands and begun to concentrate. A half-second later the swearing and shouting instantly stopped, as well as any over sound coming from the charging southerners. Trey smiled at the bubble he had created, and headed towards the teacher, admiring the frozen faces of the protestors within his creation.

Things had definitely escalated quickly. Alex wasn't even entirely sure why he had punched the guy. He wasn't even "hit" by the bottle. At least not directly. Then again the redneck wasn't hit directly by his fist either so he guessed they were pretty much even. He was ready to take on the lot of them. He wasn't that skilled in fighting, but with his powers he didn't necessarily need to. He got into a defensive position, but dropped it when David appeared to his side and caused a redneck to trip and fall with his delta particle form. Those powers were really useful. Things would only have to get worse from now on and he expected it to. "I honestly don't even know, David. It just happened."

He suddenly heard a roar and stood still. He could feel the hair on his skin to stand. He wasn't scared, but his body was telling him that he was. He turned his head to see one of the professors who had arrived on the scene. When Alex looked around he noticed that a number of protesters and students had disappeared from the area. Was this the professor's doing? He couldn't believe that he was potentially scared of this guy. From the inhaler to the speech impediment he didn't feel like a threat, but that would change if you saw him without the inhaler.

After he had arrived to stop the commotion another student came up and smacked some rednecks with a bow. She didn't seem to care about the command to stop from the professor and because of that she was cool in Alex's book. "The name's Alex and this is David." He was going to answer her question about how she could help, but the protesters that hadn't disappeared had been charging back at them. This was it. It was going to be them versus the rednecks. He liked their odds.

Then they... stopped? They were trying to shout and say something, but he couldn't hear anything coming from them. Hell, they weren't even moving towards them anymore. He took this as his chance to mock them. He turned his side to them and lifted his left hand to his ear and taunted them.

"What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of we mutants beating you. That'll show you to mess with Alex and his crew." He turned to David and Artemis before saying, "We're a crew now. We're also roommates."

"Must we?" Sumat sarcastically lamented as Trey rushed off to greet whatever insanity was lurking around outside. Unfortunately, it seemed like, once again, the human race's love of hysteria had overtaken the place and people were muttering to each other about whatever was going on outside now, followed by masses of people heading to the doors. Sumat finally threw his upper hands to the air and chose to follow suit. Maybe it'd be something worthwhile this time.

The snake-man clambered out of his seat and attempted follow Trey, but unfortunately his size proved to be an impediment and he was held up by crowds that a smaller person could easily squeeze through. By the time he had finally arrived outside, the sight that had greeted him was probably not worthwhile at all, and would serve only to agitate him.

"Shiva... this is exactly what I need on this fine morning." He lamented, this time genuinely, as he finally got to the front of the crowd of people, including a number of riled-up students who looked like they'd just gotten out of a fight, judging by their bloodied faces.

What he saw was a group of hyper-conservatives, a few of them looking like stereotypical hillbillies, carrying around cringe-worthy signs like 'REGISTRATION OR CONCENTRATION', 'GOD HATES MUTIES', 'BULLETS BEAT FANCY-SHMANCY BIOLOGY, LOOK IT UP!', 'GO BACK TO PLANET X!', 'YOU KNOW WHO ELSE LIKED MUTIES? HITLER!' et cetera. The sight made him grumble and slide one hand across his face.

Obviously the traditional protest he'd expect in front of an institution such as this, and not the first he'd seen; he distinctly remembered getting hit in the head with a piece of Fool's Gold while leaving X-Massacre IV in San Jose. That was two years ago, and one of the main reasons why he tried to fit in more with 'normal' society was to put a stop to this sort of crap.

He knew exactly why people would support the Mutant Registration Act; the presence of a, by all accounts, genetically superior subspecies of humanity would put the majority of the population at unease, considering the damage they could do, and have done in the past. There was no denying this. This was a reasonable thing, as much as some mutants denied it. Sumat was one of the few mutants who voted in favour of Mutant ID; after all, the government tended not to be so superstitious as the public, and if one had nothing to hide, they had nothing to fear. Besides, Sumat didn't have anything to lose. He was practically a walking Mutant ID Card anyway. But of course, he still loathed these types of 'protestors', these extremists who suggested mutants should all be sent to Guantanamo Bay. They gave the majority of MutRegAct supporters a bad name.

Eventually, he decided that these imbeciles weren't really worth his time and turned around to go back inside, but was stopped once he noticed both crowds were getting riled up again. Inspecting the scene closer, he noticed one of the staff members, a feline fellow, had essentially sacrificed himself to the horde. A noble thing to do, if somewhat misguided. But it was then that he managed to catch sight of Trey again, and witnessed him doing what could only be described as an extremely slow and thoughtful 'Raise Da Roof' dance. That is, until a giant, glowing bubble appeared over the 'protestors', freezing them all solid and silencing their assorted intelligent remarks. The sight did make him smirk, but it was quickly wiped off his face when he noticed Trey casually walking over to the bubble. Sumat had no idea if he had created it or not, or how long it was going to stick around, so he managed to push his way past the crowd boundary and ran over to him and the cat fellow, stomping along the ground the whole way.

As he was about to get to the bottom of this occurrence, a rather screechy hillbilly woman came running towards him, waving around another cringe-worthy sign, apparently having avoided the mysterious ice bubble. The woman said something about Lizards, how original, and ineptly swung the sign at him, missing him completely by virtue of being about seven feet away.

Sumat responded with one of his trademark moves back in the ring, the 'One-Sided Flip', for lack of a better name. He did this by grabbing the woman by the neck with his upper left hand, and then throwing a Clothesline with his lower left arm towards her legs. When they hit her legs, he let go of her neck at the same time, making her do a backflip and landing face-first in the dirt. Before she could continue screeching, he quickly grabbed at her back with all four hands and flung her into the ice bubble, whereupon she, too, froze in mid air, complete with rabid expression.

"Let it be known..." Sumat said as he turned his attention back to Trey, rolling his shoulders around. "...That I voted in favour of their Mutant Registration Act, and they are still a disgrace. Not that they'd know what 'disgrace' means, the cretins. Oh, and for the record, I'm half-Snake, not Lizard."

The humanoid feline's scream visibly shook David. He wasn't used to such a loud noise. He immediatly turned around and saw how the teacher walked up to the group. Everywhere around them portals formed, transporting people back. Though luckily not David. Oh crap, a teacher. I'm dead. I'm so done. I'm expelled. I might as well pack my bags. David thought, while looking visibly unnerved at the large cat. The humanoid then began to talk some legal language David didn't care for. And he guessed that the mob wouldn't care for it either. But before anything serious could happen, all the rednecks somehow froze. At that moment David noticed Artimes. Now, David has never been very good around the ladies. For a matter of fact, they still scared him like he was some 12 year old. Especially the beautiful ones. So he tried to hide himself behind Alex.

Alex however seemed to think it was a good idea to taunt the rednecks a little more. At the same time, the 4 armed snake man David saw in the Auditorium was somewhere around the bubble, fighting some woman. After the brief and completely onesided struggle, he shouted something about supporting the Mutant Registration Act. "Traitor." David mumbled under his breath, deciding him and the snake guy would become fast friends soon.

Wait, did he say crew? I'm part of his crew! AWESOME! Wait, I have to play this cool. I'm part of the cool guys now. Play it nice and smooth. "Cool" he simply said, trying to make it appear like he was super happy about it. Wait, he added roommates. Wait, we're roommates. This year is not going to be boring with these guys. David thought while glancing over at both Alex and Artemis with the biggest smile plastered over his face.

But he himself wasn't done with the rednecks yet. Though he wouldn't taunt them here. "Pst, Alex, read my mind now." David whispered, hoping the teacher wouldn't hear him. It's kind of rude to come here where we're going to live and protest like that. How about we hit them where they live, tonight? He thought, trying to prove he too could be a bad-ass.

The fact that Luke awoke with a defensive reflex that was a little aggressive startled the nurse. She turned away from the student she was treating and approached Luke. "Are you okay?" Her voice was filled with much concern. When Luke removed his protective barrier of sorts, the nurse placed a hand on his shoulder. "You are okay. You knocked yourself out... Do you remember anything?" She was trying to go her standard procedure with people that normally appear unconscious on campus. Some were just unfortunate about their events of the day and night, but those usually don't appear in the middle of the day in the middle of a busy area such as the entrance. Before she could ask anything else to Luke, her office phone rang. She sighed and answered it. Another sigh passed her lips as she hung up and rubbed her eyes as if she was tired. "Protestors...", she hushed for a moment and sank down in her seat, watching Luke for a moment. "What's your name? You are a student, I assume."

----------

Victoria chuckled at Daisy a moment. "Well, at least one that listened to the speech then. Speech goal reached", she joked and made a clicking sound while making a checkmark with her index finger in mid-air. Another student joined in on the small-talk by telling Victoria how grateful she was to be able to attend this college. "It's alright. All of us deserve a chance to be a part of our society. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." And as if it were on command, the sound of the commotion reached them. With rolling eyes, the Vice Headmistress followed Artemis on the way to the entrance, where she already saw the protest.

----------

The protest evolved into a skirmish the moment the first hits threw. With Alex making the opening punch, the other protestors were getting furious in seconds. If it weren't for Leopold, this would have turned into a massive brawl. The protestors did stop a moment at the intimidating sounds of the roaring beast, but once Leopold approached them and explained the rights, some already threw insults at him. "Look at this. His mother must have f*cked a zoo to get something like this." "God, we allow this to walk the streets?" "This belongs in a cage with the rest of the animals."

Once the situation started to escalate again, Trey's ability froze the protestors easily. Those that weren't affected either stood in place or were in such a rage already that they could not be stopped in their tracks. Fortunately, people like Sumat showed them the way to cool off.

Just when most protestors stopped or were frozen, a voice barked over the area. "What is this ruckus?" The voice of the Headmaster was clear as day, unobstructed by the talking of the students or the mutterings and mumblings of the unfrozen protestors. He causally made his way through the crowd of students that were gathered at the entrance, shortly followed by Victoria and a person that was definitely a lawyer of sorts; expensive suit, even more expensive shoes and accessories and a black leather suitcase.

"Unfreeze these people, for goodness sake. What do you think you are doing?", Nicolaas spoke into the gathered mutants, unable to pinpoint who was in control of the timefreeze. Only when the people were relieved of their inability to move did the Headmaster direct the protestors. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. You call yourself the more social being and then you show up like savages and disrupt this peaceful institution?", he yelled at the protestors, who were more than taken back by the loudness of his voice. The lawyer person adjusted his tie a moment and then whispered something to Mister Maikel, who then shook the man's hand and waved him off.

"Well I hope you are glad to know that this was Chairman Lewis to propose a new Mutant Registration Act. This man is doing the right thing for you people to sleep better at night. He is going the right way for us to work together. Perhaps one day we will agree on one thing, but not this day." These words clung in the air like cobwebs. It stuck to the people and those that care enough for the topic. The Headmaster walked off, to which Victoria only smiled. She turned to the group of protestors and simply said in a commanding tone: "You should go home now. Your family must be worried about you." Her powers were influential enough towards the people that they nodded and walked off. "Thanks for holding the front, Leopold", Victoria added as she passed the feline professor. She pointed at Alex and told him "In my office in ten minutes", the tone of her voice not harsh, but for Alex it felt like disobeying would end up in big trouble. Despite the fact that the student is new here and inexperienced about the layout of the building, a faint gut feeling told him that he should go to the east-side of the main building for the offices.

What was mostly unseen until the engine roared up was a van of a local news team and a rather armored vehicle a little further off to the side. They drove past the dissipating crowd of rednecks. One or two students whispered to those nearby whether the van was one of the Mutant Tranquilizer Squad, one of those notorious mercenary troops that get paid to take down powerful mutants or bring them "safely" into custody. The word safely more in connotation to "safe for those that have to take care of the prisoner mutant". One of the big rumors around the Mutant Registration Act is that these mercenary troops would become a government unit like the police to be able to act against criminal mutants, but of course only when the MutRegAct would go through.

Daisy isn’t exactly sure what she expected while she followed Miss Victoria and the other student, but it most certainly was not this chaos. Angry protestors pit against all too rash students, and an open display of someone’s ability—she isn’t sure who, but she did briefly note that it was a neat power. Then the headmaster stepped in with his booming voice, and then the vice-headmaster, who didn’t speak nearly as loudly, but seemed to affect the crowds just as much. As quickly as the whole squirmish formed, people began to clear out from around the main gates.

“That was.. kinda neat.” She mumbled allowed and released her tail so that it could swing freely behind her knees. She’d seen protestors plenty of times while growing up, most mutants have, but she’d never seen mutants actually fight back, much less other students her age. Again, the feeling of being not-so-alone in the world washed over the white haired mutant, and a new sort of confidence settled in her stomach. She peered around at the remaining students and staff, stopping her gaze on the professor who’d been the first on site, and then the pair of students beside him. They’d both been a part of the fray in some form only seconds earlier, so while the events were still fresh, Daisy quickly scuttled over to them.

“Hey—uh, that was pretty cool. Standing up to protestors, I mean.” She began in a quick but polite tone, noting now that the snake fellow looked a bit more intimidating up close. She’d never met another mutant with physical mutations before, so she was a bit giddy. “I’m Daisy Bartolo.” She stuck her hand out and smiled, hoping that it wasn’t a poorly timed introduction, though, she didn’t really believe there was any poor time to introduce yourself to someone.

~ ~ ~

Still at the sidelines, Julain huffed and choked down the last bit of her sandwich, already feeling the hungry feeling in her gut dissipate, but not because of the food. No, protestors always seemed to leave behind a bitter taste that she’d never much liked. It was something about being so extremely against something that you don’t fully understand that she herself didn’t understand, nor care to try to. At least one good thing came of this whole mess though, she noted with slight delight, and that was finally finding the professor named Leopold. She still had his little ‘paper plane’ from earlier in her hand, folded neatly in half twice so that it fit comfortably in her palm.

It wouldn’t be a poor time to introduce herself, would it? She didn’t see what else she could be doing with her time, and attempting to find the man later, even if he was a walking feline, could prove more difficult than she was willing to handle.

“Excuse me, but you’re professor Oromake, correct?” Julian began after striding up to the other mutant, a very polite smile spread across her face. It’d be better to acquaint herself with a few professors before classes officially began, she thought for motivation, and continued on. “I found one of your class schedules.” She emphasized the word ‘found’ with an entertained smirk, recalling the paper planes decent into the side of her head. “If there are seats left in the course like this sheet says, I’d love to get bumped in.” she chirped enthusiastically.

Trey’s eyes widened as Sumat took on the lone protestor and gave a short laugh as he sent her flying into his bubble of rednecks. His comment about voting for the registration act shocked Sumat for a brief second, before realizing that for him, it didn’t really matter, as it probably beat people assuming that he was some kind of alien monster. He smirked about the snake comment, with Trey noting to himself not to make the same mistake himself again. He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Headmaster.

The man’s voice boomed over the crowd, silencing everyone one. Luckily the teacher wasn’t aware that it was actually him that had frozen the protestors, so at the man’s command, he gave a short wave of his hands behind a fellow student’s back. The bubble vanished instantly, releasing the rioters, who continued to run forwardly slightly as if nothing had happened before stopping at the sound of the Headmaster’s voice. The woman who Sumat had thrown continued to fly forward through the air as if she had just been thrown, colliding with a few people towards the middle of the group.

Trey shifted nervously from foot to foot as the Headmaster spoke, smiling once the man was gone. He was glad to see that he had fortunately not been caught out, with the young mutant who had started the fight being summoned to the office instead. Sighing with relief, he turned his attention to the former protestors, who were glumly heading back into town, dragging their signs along the ground behind them. The appearance of the vans worried him. If things had gotten too out of hand, he, as well as all of those around him, would probably be locked up in the back of it, never to be seen again.

Snapping his attention back to something less depressing, he turned to Sumat. “Thank you for the support there!” He smiled before looking off towards one of the campus dorm buildings. “You staying on campus?”

Alex wasn't as entirely surprised that the reptile man was supporting the Mutant Registration Act. He couldn't hide if he wanted to, but it was different for people who could blend into society. They didn't want to just be seen as that mutant. He was definitely sure that his parents didn't support the act. For the registration act to go through they'd have to expose that one of their kids was a mutant and that could potentially be dangerous for their empire. When David told him to read his mind he did so and a smile crept onto his face. He gave a nod instead of responding to his thoughts. He didn't want to reveal the extent of his powers right off the bat. He'd save that for a bit later.

Things took a turn for the better and worse. It really depended on what side of the finger you were on. The Headmaster and the Vice Headmaster stopped the protest and sent the others home with just words. Their presences were really commanding. He couldn't believe that she knew it was him who started all of this. What was she going to do to him? Did she have the ability to neutralize his powers? Was she going to expel him already? Man, that wasn't the best way to start a school year. Expelled on the first day of school. He sighed and turned to watch the armored vehicle drive past the rednecks. Who would bring an armored vehicle near a sch--. Nope, he answered the question himself. The people in there probably hated mutants and were ready to act in case things got worse than they did. If he survived his first day this would prove to be an interesting school year.

He turned to the others and said, "Well, it looks like I'm about to face the gallows. We should do this again. You know if I don't get expelled or anything." Although he was talking this way he didn't really look concerned. In fact he was even smiling. "I'll see you back at the dorm." He waved goodbye to the others and started walking to to the east with his hands in his pockets. He didn't know where he was going, but something in his gut told him to head this way.

Alex eventually found his way at the right location. He reached the Vice Headmaster's office and knocked on the door. "Uh... Ms. Veltheim? May I come in?"

Artemis waved goodbye to Alex and the other man smiling as she made it back inside. She was still surprised people hated her so much. She didn't ask to be different. She walked back into her room looking over everything. She could not believe how much in life she was missing out on because of her mother. She didn't blame her but she could see why her father was always mad at her. She laid down on her bed looking up at the ceiling and lost track of the time. She was just thinking about almost killing her father right there in front of her mother like it was nothing. She could not believe it.

She stood up and instantly left the room. She saw some people all over the halls. She had no clue what was going on anymore. She found a room with a small box with moving pictures they were calling a TV. She sat down watching it not even sure what was going on either but she knew it was something interesting. She hoped someone would see her here and maybe help her out. Was she supposed to go to class? What was class for that matter? She had no idea at all.