Alex looked up at the two story Edwardian, the place he had called home for a good 6 years of his life, and thought why the hell would anyone want to come back. He had just finished his apprenticeship in Seattle and was appointed to be the new leader for The Cottage and it's new crop of young Granted. Ms. Moore had left 3 months ago. So with a lack of formal leadership some of the youth were taken out and transferred to other locations.

He opened the door and wandered back through the familiar kitchen, a lot tidier then when he previously resided. The rest of the common area looked much what you expected a college students living area to look like. Furniture from different sets. Two bean bag chair. Looks like they updated the entertainment center. He remembered when a lot of the equipment was unusable because of a water granted who was a bad sport when it came to Smash Bros.

He eyed the familiar staircase that led to the bedrooms before remembering: I work here now.

He pasted the staircase down the hall to a lavish office that looked more like a library, with the most beautiful view of the bay from the bay. He sat down and pulled out the files and started reading up one who he was supposed to be teaching about this wonderful society.

Roberto looked around, It was his first visit to the Cottage, his heritage guaranteed a late start in anything, if he got in at all. He carried a large grey duffel bag slung over one shoulder, and hanging by the first two fingers of his right hand. This place looked pretty nice... figures that the granted would steal it for themselves. I wonder if I'll meet anyone who isn't a snob here. Don't get your hopes up Bob, you know that only makes it hurt more later. Yeah, so what? Not getting my hopes up means they win, and I'm NOT about to let that happen. You can't win a war alone kid. I don't have to, I just have to start it, the Shallows will finish it for me. And you're okay with the complete extinction of the granted? Hell yes! New ones are chosen all the time, it'd be awesome to get rid of this Trash holding the rest of us back. Even if that means you are killed with rest? Even then, the next generation at least won't have to put up with this shit.

With that thought, he turned and walked into the Cottage, calling out as he entered, looking for anyone who could help him find his room. "Hey! Anyone else here or is this place first come first serve?" He wandered down the all to the stairs where he dropped his bags, and called out again, having gotten no response the first time. This place must have great insulation, though I suppose it would need to wouldn't? "Anybody here?"

@Tracyarmav

Alex heard a voice. First one's here. Male voice, was this the Bastard kid everyone warned him about? He had to admit when reading in his file he sounded like trouble, but then he remembered when he was at the Cottage. Why did they give me this job again?

Standing up and wandering back through to the front of the house. "Roberto?" He questioned to the dark haired kid in the doorway. He definitely screamed trouble.

Akia sat in a corner of The Cottage. She had come early, when there were absolutely no sounds. It's been about third minutes since she heard the first footstep. Since then, there have been footsteps everywhere. It seemed like some people have arrived.

Two voices rang across the area, one more mature than the other. She quickly swiped away the tears that seemed to be falling everyday. I need to calm down. This is my first day, and it's important to make a good first impression. There's no need to upset everyone and bring down the mood, because I'm depressed. Akia plastered a friendly smile across her face and started walking towards the direction of the voices.

She noticed a figure standing far away. He was wearing glasses, and seemed to be around his 20's. She guessed that it was his voice that was the mature one.

"Hi, people! How are you?" she said, to the two figures that were standing, two feet from each other.

Shiro arrived after most of the rest, as usual. Perhaps it was when she got lost looking for the boat that would take her over to the island, or maybe it was when she decided to look around the island for a while, might of even been when she chased a squirrel up a tree. Shiro didn't know what exactly lead up to her being late, but she felt she was, or maybe she was early and no one else arrived yet. Either way she opened the door ever so slowly and peeked in. Welp, so much for being early. At-least she didn't have to sit around by herself forever.

She walked, or rather, ran up to the group of people that had gathered in the common area. "Hii!" She shouted, smiling and waving happily as she ran over. "Shiro sorry for being late, she was...uh. Doing things, important things." She told them, a amused yet slightly serious look on her face. @Ally610@gravity22@Tracyarmav

@Shikaru

"I don't mind," Akia replied, looking around the circle that was now formed, "Better late than never, right?" She smiled warmly.

Akia turned to the one wearing glasses, and said, "Are you the leader?"

@Ally610@Shikaru
@Tracyarmav
Other youth had come in shortly after. Not an ounce of downtime, eh?

"Yeah, I'm Alex." He nodded to the young girl, and his eyes did a double take at the missing limb. Thank god, I didn't go for a handshake, I'd feel like douche. Not that he wasn't one. He probably had more in common with the young sulking Roberto than he thought.

"You all can go upstairs. There are 5 bedrooms. One is a single, the other four are doubles so you will eventually have roommates. Have at it. I am not going to coddle you or manage your conflicts. I'm not a babysitter. Go drop your stuff off and meet down here in 15 minutes and I will go over the schedule for the summer, the rules and regulations, and mandatory duties."

"Oh! I'll take a double," Akia said. She had noticed Alex looking towards her missing arm, but she was fine with it. After a long time, you get used to it.

Akia turned to the other girl, "Do you want to share a room with me? We can be best friends! Won't that be so cool? Actually, let's start off by introducing ourselves. I'm Akia. What's yours? I'm sure it's pretty, just like you!" Was I too pushy? I just want to know her... Oh, Akia, why did you do that? Now she will think that you're a creep. You just ruined the chances of getting a friend!

"Come on! We'll talk on the way up. After all, I wouldn't want to break the rules, just because I didn't know them!" Akia reached for the girl's arm, hesitating a little. What if she doesn't want other people touching her? I definitely wouldn't want invading someone's personal bubble. Oh no, here I go again, ruining even more chances.

@gravity22 @Shikaru @Tracyarmav

Roberto was visibly shocked the man knew his real name, only his mother called him that... ever. The shock was rapidly replaced by suspicion before he finally got his expression under control again, and smiled halfheartedly at the two excessively cheery girls as they came up. He probably did that just to throw me off balance... Well, it worked didn't it? This time sure, but he won't find it so easy next time. Gee, I've never heard that before. Shut up. Dumb ass, this all in your head, no one's saying anything. Smart ass. *chuckling* As the two girls introduced themselves I nodded to each, but don't bother to introduce myself. I've never had a chance to do it growing up and now I've gotten quite used to everyone already knowing exactly who I am, at least as far as they are concerned. I decide to take a room as far from the chatter boxes as possible, it would, hopefully, b quieter that way.

He listened to the brief exchange, content to let the others handle the details, and then started up the stairs ahead of the two girls as Akia introduced herself to Shiro. He called over his shoulder as he reached the top, not bothering to look back or wait for a response as he continued on his way. "Akia, you do come with an off switch right?" He took the last room on the left. Bob tossed his duffel bag onto the bed farthest from the door, kicking the door shut behind him before flopping down onto the bed; where he lay on his back using the bag as a pillow while waiting for time to pass, and gaging the effectiveness, or lack there of, of the building's insulation.

@Ally610@gravity22@Shikaru

@Ally610@gravity22

"Okay." Shiro replied to Alex. She was just about to run up the stairs when Akia started talking to her. She tilted her head slightly and listened to her curiously. "Oooh. Sound like fun!" She told her happily, grabbing her arm. Whereas Akia didn't want to invade personal space, Shiro had no concept of such a thing. "Shiro is Shiro." She told her happily as they walked up the stairs. She hadn't expected to make a friend so soon, she was fairly sure everyone thought she was a weirdo. What with the way she looked, talked, and dressed.

@Shikaru@Tracyarmav@Ally610

This was definitely starting off an odd bunch. He wasn't even sure if there were more coming today but he didn't see anyone else outside of the door. He grabbed the his training guide from his office and he was walking back into the kitchen he decided to check something.

Is it still there? He thought this on a loop while rummaging through the office. And sure enough he found the letter that Ms. Moore, the leader in his time, had took from him. The letter that got Chloe's memories erased and nearly killed. He grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket violently before leaving the office, locking it and sitting on the couch waiting for the poor brats upstairs to finish their crap.

I hope they get close to each other, because the Syndicate will have their head and mine if they get dangerously close to any shallows. They sure picked a way to punish me, didn't they?

@gravity22@Shikaru@Tracyarmav
Akia ignored Roberto's comment and turned to Shiro.

"That's a really awesome name! Nice to meet you Shiro," She stuck out her left hand, "I love your eyes! Red is my favorite color. It suits you well!"

Even though Akia noticed how Shiro said 'Shiro', instead of 'I', she didn't exactly care. There must be some kind of reason. Who am I to ask personal questions? She dropped her hand and walked into a room on their right.

"Oh, look! We get a view! Isn't it beautiful?" Akia exclaimed, and continued without waiting for an answer, "Oh, and look at that bed. I would love to squeeze in a nap, but alas, we have to get back out." She tossed her bag into the corner, "I'm ready! I'm so excited! I don't think I'm calm enough to unpack. What about you? Do you want some time? If not, let's just get going!"

In her hurry, she didn't notice a nail sticking out from the doorway. When she turned, the nail scratched her deeply on her right arm.

"Ouch!" Stupid me, why didn't I notice? What an idiotic mistake to make! Who cares if you made a friend? You have to lose this clumsiness!

@Ally610

"Thank you!" She told her excitedly, smiling happily. Most people thought her eyes were weird, then again, most people thought everything about her was weird so she supposed that point was moot. Shiro followed her into the room and walked over to the window Akia mentioned had a nice view, "Oooh. Pretty." She commented. She looked at the bed and shrugged. Bed was a bed, hell, even the floor was a bed if you added a pillow and a blanket to Shiro.

Tossing her bag that had a few extra outfits and such in it onto the bed, Shiro more or less agreed with Akia. Packing later, school thing now. "Shiro wants to go now too!" She shouted happily, following her soon after looking out the window one more time. She stopped once Akia shouted in pain and stopped herself. "Shiro can help!" She exclaimed, running up to her and removing her glove..mitt..thing placing her hand on the cut on Akia's arm. A green glow ensued and soon after the cut was healed. Placing the glove back on her hand after wiping the blood off on the nearest fabric that wasn't either of their clothes with a satisfied expression on her face she spoke, "All better."

Akia looked up at Shiro. "Oh, so that's your ability? That's pretty cool. It must be really useful," she said, half talking to herself, "All I can do is talk to marine animals. What fun is that? It's not like I can talk to goats..."

She quickly put on a smile and continued, "Well, thanks! We're going to be the best roommates ever! Let's go! The fifteen minutes is almost up!" She hurried down the stairs, checking to see that Shiro was following her. Once she skipped the last few steps and landed with a soft thud, she saw that Roberto was all ready there.

"Hey! I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?" Stupid me. "My name's Akia Thakrar. Yours is Roberto, right? That's what Alex called you."

@Ally610@Tracyarmav@gravity22

Shiro nodded, "Yup!" She replied. Akia didn't even know the half of it, Shiro was pretty sure without her healing she'd be confined to a bed unable to move or dead by now. Hell, she hurt herself simply by walking on a constant basis. "Awesome! Okay!" She replied excitedly, running down the stairs after her. Her foot kinda slipped on the third to last step causing her to faceplant on the floor with a loud 'whump'. "Oww.." she whined, leaning up. Of course her nose also happened to be bleeding too, though it hurt, she knew it'd heal eventually so she simply wiped the blood off on her glove and continued on. "Shiro's fine." She confirmed, mostly for everyone else who wasn't used to her being well..her. Walking over to a chair she watched the three intently, waiting on Alex to go over the rules and stuff. Though, if someone talked to her, it'd most likely distract her and turn her attention to them.

@Ally610@gravity22@Shikaru

Bob had been somewhat surprised to learn that the rooms were pretty well insulated for a boarding house. Growing bored after a few moments, he slipped by the girl's room, shuddering slightly at the sheer volume of chatter emanating from their room as he passed them quietly and quickly. He moved down the stairs, taking time to note which ones squeaked and how loudly they did so, the number was surprisingly few, He'd have no trouble moving up and down the stairs silently in the future. He nodded to Alex as he took a seat, but otherwise ignored the man. As the two girls came down the stairs... with a clatter, was perhaps the polite way to say it. He sighed quietly to himself, and then stared at Akia as she blabbered about having forgotten to introduce herself, before putting his face in his hands and mumbling through them.

"If you'd forgotten to introduce yourself, how did I call you out by name as we went to our rooms, I wonder?" --I sit back and stare at the floor in the center of the chairs, at least she wasn't mocking me, I suppose that was a plus-- "Yes, Alex called me Roberto and that is the name my mother gave me, though you'd only be the third to use it, if you choose to do so. Can we get this over with already?"

@Tracyarmav@Shikaru@Ally610

He just stared back at the dynamic taking everything in. Making notes in his head as needed.

"Now that everyone has been introduced here is the sitch. You're here because The Council think you need a little guidance to find your role in our Society. Now I'm not going to feed you the bullshit you're used to about us being better than the shallows and protecting them and blah blah blah. I'm pretty sure you know as well as I do..." He eyed Bob. "That it ain't all it's cracked up to be."

He half glanced at the other too, who seemed to be getting along rather well. He'd have to keep an eye on that.

Akia glanced back at Shiro, worried, but when Shiro said that she easy fine, she relaxed. Akia didn't want anyone to be hurt. After all, the only reason she, herself, was hurt was because she was clumsy.

Oh, I guess Roberto over heard me and Shiro. Stupid. I should have remembered him calling me.

Although Akia didn't approve of Alex swearing, she kept quiet. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. Plus, she agreed with him.

She nudged Shiro's arm, and whispered, "I'm glad he's skipping that part. I try to be all enthusiastic about it, but it really bores me."

Akia sat quietly, and waited for Alex to continue.

@gravity22@Shikaru@Ally610

Bob chuckled mirthlessly at Alex's choice of words, it was cracked up all right, and probably on crack to boot. Bob wondered if most societies were like they were because the Society was so cracked up... He wouldn't be surprised if that were so, but he also didn't have a clue as to how one might go about proving that, so he tossed the thought aside and shrugged it off. Right now he wanted ... Well, to be honest he didn't really know what he wanted, but he was pretty sure it wasn't what ever the Society had planned for him. He continued to stare at the floor in the middle of the arrayed chairs, vaguely watching the others with his peripheral vision.

Sena's heart thudded against her chest as she dashed her way around the street, her sketchbook clutched against her chest. Sena was at first hesitant to even set foot at The Cottage, but her mother figured that it would be best for her to go.
"At least make a few new friends that you can relate to your new... predicament," her mother had told her years ago when she had discovered her new abilities. They had come to her as a surprise; an unsuspecting cooking accident that set the kitchen on fire. Sena had mainly gone to the Cottege to train and control herself. Though her overactive imagination told her that she wasn't welcome -- hence the reason why she fled after the first few days of training. So even thinking about going back was a bit of an accomplishment. As the Cottage came into view, her little heart started pounding again. Sena flew through the door panting. Taking a deep breath she softly called out, "Sorry I'm late!"