Jace woke up at the sound of the trumpets, groaning as his ear drums were pierced for probably the four-hundredth time he'd been at Miss. Dawson's Home for the Truly Gifted, and got up.  He looked down at his arm as he stood and shook his head, his skin had taken on a charcoal-colored, scaly texture again.  "Ugh, the snake dream again, great."  He quickly dispelled the mimicry of a snake his body had attempted while he was dreaming, used to the strange transformations by now.

	He started his day like any other, raiding his closet for a presentable suit first and then getting dressed as Gallus awoke on his perch, also known as the bed's headboard.  "'Morning, Jace."  The parrot began.

	Jace acknowledged the bird a moment later as he buttoned up his shirt.  "'Mornin'."  A simple statement, yes, but it got the point across.  A nearly-botched surgery the previous day meant he was working the bar tonight, and left him in no mood for idle chit-chat today.  He thought it pointless, he couldn't legally serve alcohol, so he was restricted to handing out hastily made sandwiches and the rare soft drink in the evening rush.  Worst of all, it was a Friday.  If you messed up in a huge way or put someone's life at risk, there were few punishments more severe than the graveyard shift at the bar on a Friday.

	He made his way down to the mall with Gallus on his shoulder, looking as if he'd just fallen asleep as the trumpets had gone off.
[hr]
	Aaron woke grumpily to the sweet sound of trumpets blaring over a loudspeaker.  "Oh piss off, dammit!"  He rolled onto his side, covering his head with a pillow, and decided around five minutes later he couldn't fall back asleep, despite the comfortable bed and fluffy pillows that surrounded him.  He might have a significantly better life than he had just a few weeks ago, but this place was a cage.  A gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless.  So he got out of bed, a couple sparks of electricity jumping between his fingertips.  Nerves waking back up, he concluded, as he had managed to fall asleep on his hand.

	The made his way to his closet and pulled out a pair of jeans, some socks and a t-shirt, and got dressed as if an unwanted guest was in the room, having just caught him in his underwear.  He'd met most of the other freaks but still hadn't been given a job to do for some reason.  Maybe it was his mischievous nature that had kept any administrator from approaching him with a task, but he didn't care.  The longer he could get away with doing absolutely nothing, the better.

	He headed out of the apartment complex and down to the mall, wondering if he could get away with eating a sausage within striking range of Artemis... not his greatest idea, but he could defend himself if something happened.  Plenty of tigers had been struck by lightning by pure coincidence before, right?  ...Right?