Noah ate his carrot and listened as Percival stated that his luck's where the reason for his silence. Noah managed to squeeze out a chuckle and decided to play along with that comment. He remained on the listening side of the conversation with Percival until he mentioned the family names of the two students who were fighting from before.

Noah thought it was just a "in the moment" type of spat but now he understands why things got so intense between them. He was gonna say something but before he could even get a word out the lights went out. Noah sat there and waited for light to present in the room again.

"Well I due hope their family disputes don't cause any trouble for the school. They're gonna have to get you use to seeing each other for the rest of the year anyways." Noah stated once Percival returned.

@EchoicChamber

Over in her dark corner of the room, Professor Kovalenko was disinterestedly ticking off names on the roster.

Ahktar-Sterling
Avalon
Botrelle
Ciervo
Crowley..

She was prepared to step in to bring any altercations to a halt, but it appeared that Montana had it all in hand for the moment.
She had her own things to take care of.

...Kingsley
Leon
Luxlane
Memoli..

There was already enough to be concerned about without the students causing trouble.
If she had to lay down the law, she was going to make certain that whatever she did was going to stick.

..Schippers
Sterling..

Oren stopped, her gaze passing over the darkened room and setting on Maeve Byrne. The cryomancer's expression darkened.
She was about to move forward when the other professor abruptly rushed from the room. Oren watched like a hunting owl before disappearing into the shadows of the corner.

---

"You did just start threatening some dude for asking you a pretty innocuous question." Dinah responded to the girl, whilst simultaneously giving Canvas an expression that said 'Really?' after he made his little quip.
"Calm it down less you want the special ops professors on your ass."
And indeed if you didn't want to piss off everyone else in the room, but she couldn't help but feel like that probably wouldn't factor into the student's decision either way.

She felt moderately accomplished to discover that her estimation that the guy was a Sterling (or at least the result of a Sterling) were confirmed when she caught sight of the heir himself, fresh from his close encounter with a bowl of yogurt, strolling over.

Of course they hadn't met before, being a Fox didn't ten to net you invites to Council parties, but you could hardly turn round without seeing evidence of the ubiquitous eight families. An elite class she might have ended up a part of in another life.
Regardless, she extended a hand.
"Dinah Fox. Everyone gets a freebie at this point to back up awkwardly and find someone else to chat with."

She'd been watching the approach and subsequent 'intervention' of the young man she came to understand to be Jason Avalon..and was mostly quite unsurprised that the trickery heir hadn't made much attempt to greet her.
"You did get further than Avalon so I appreciate the level of effort."

---

Helena looked a little surprised at the apparent revelation.
"Um no...not as far as I know." she responded to Marcus' question, cracking a bit of a smile before going to take a look for herself and confirm.

"Maybe my dorm partner didn't show up?" she suggested, offering a non-committal shrug to indicate that she had no more idea why she'd be separated off from the others than Esper or Marcus did.
"Or they wanna keep a space free? Weird."

Either way it didn't appear to massively shock or worry her. Possibly due to the prospect of having twice (or in some cases three times) the space of anyone else. If anything, it did sort of work out in her favour.

----

Despite her set to with Sterling, the discovery of who her roommate was had put Kora in a much better mood. She hooked up her bag, sword, and skull before making her way over to Tessa, who seemed equally pleased with the arrangement.

"I can grab your bag if you're in a hurry to go find the other person. Not really a problem here." she offered. Being six foot six and trained to break stuff in half did give you a distinct edge with that kind of thing. Hilda had refrained from imposing that kind of thing on Tessa. The girl's mother had already been a bit dubious about some of the things the Norrevinters had sent her back with in the past. Kora herself didn't see what was wrong with whole reindeer skins, but it was how it was.

"Yeah, suggesting that I fuck my family is a really innocuous question," Yoko hissed at Dinah... unaware what innocuous even means. Going off of what she said, she can assume she was just defending this upstart. "In that case; I might as well make it an open invitation for you to fuck off, too."

Fortunately, Yoko got just what she wanted when everyone left, and she quickly ate the food she was so desperate to eat. She was in heaven! Well, that was one upside to living here; the food was delicious. Part of Yoko wanted to get some more, but she didn't want to get fattened up by this food. Yoko just left the plates there... the Americans had janitors for that.

Time to go get her room! Yoko ran over to the stands with the names, and whatnot on them. Her roommates (Because she was special enough to have three) were... Huh? Kora Nørrevinter, and Tessa Sigrid Botrelle? Huh? Weird names. Probably more upstarts from Europe, but hey, long as they weren't like that jackass at the table, everything was going to be peachy. She headed over towards the dorm rooms.

Then, she heard a discussion from two girls about a missing third room mate. Well, given how there was literally no one else with three roommates, it had to be good ol' Yoko. One of the girls was enormous, with red hair, and another was short and blonde-haired. Yup. European upstarts. Well, hopefully Yoko can make a better first impression on them, than those other idiots.

She cleared her throat, and walked over to them.

"Kora Nørrevinter, and Tessa Botrelle?" Yoko said, trying to get their attention. "I overheard your conversation, and I believe I am the third room mate, no?"

Yoko bowed, before she introduced herself.

"Hatanaka Yoko," She said, heavily accented. "At your service."



Well, Britney had to say the campus was amazing! It wasn't some cheap college, but one of the most well furnished places out there.

With all the best families putting their progenitors in this school, there was no choice for it to be nothing less than excellent.

She made it to her room, and unlocked it with the key, and seemed that her roommate was nowhere in sight. Ugh. The tardiness of some people. But, that gave Britney plenty of time to get accustomed to the room. It was a pretty basic setup... two fancy beds, one window in between them, with nightstands, desks, drawers. Everything Britney had at home.

But no bathrooms...

... Yaaaaaaay.

That was a pretty retarded design choice not to have a small closet with a toilet, but she assumed there was one big public bathroom, or something. Britney shrugged yet again. First thing's first, her luggage bag was here, and she quickly grabbed it, and filled her drawers with all of the best outfits money can buy! It didn't take long... since Britney didn't have too much time to empty her entire wardrobe back home. So, her outfits were pretty bare. She would have to be careful.

Next course of action... open these damn windows and get some air in this musky ass room. Britney walked over to the widow, and tried to open it... sealed. Why? Oh wait, they were probably worried some morons would try something stupid. After all, they're so worried about having sex that they're willing to go to random searches. They probably want to make sure that nobody can sneak out.

All at the cost of the students who, you know, want some fresh air.

Ugh. Well, Britney might as well go take a shower. She snuck out in the middle of the night, and didn't have the opportunity to take one. She went into her drawers, pulled out a different outfit, a scrub, towel, washcloth, and everything else she needed, and found her way into the showers.

Britney didn't like the idea of a public shower, but she was going to make the best of it. She dropped her outfit, rested her clothes on the bench, and found herself a stall.

Ahhhh... the hot water against her bare skin was so refreshing.

Kora was getting ready to move the things over to the room, when Tessa and her were approached by a girl whom she quickly understood to be the third roommate. Japanese, she was going to guess, though she didn't regard herself by any means and expert. Even within Europe she hadn't been all that many places. Regardless that was no reason not to be nice, right?

"Pleased to meet you. Kora Mari Norrevinter, Jarlinna of Vollr, well, effectively." she responded.
"Me and Tessa aren't really related but...my aunt is her godmother because she helped her mom give birth during a firefight. That's pretty metal."

Kora had to admit she was a little bit envious over not having been born during an actual battle, but you couldn't have everything.

She indicated the skull.

"And this is Bjorn Bjornson, my cave bear skull. He's probably a gift from the vanir, but more than anything he looks pretty badass."

Bones, furs, statuettes of ancient gods were all very much integral parts of the Norrevinter aesthetic. Other people's past was very much their present, and they'd fiercely kept hold of the old traditions.

Kora was no different, and was already more concerned with where her altar might go than most other things.

"Come on, let's move. Still got to check this in with the professors." she indicated the scabbard on her back.
She wasn't sure why she needed to, as such a thing was fairly hard to miss, but she didn't like the idea of potentially losing it completely. What was a warrior without their sword?

Esperanza’s head cocked slightly, like a bird catching sight of something gleaming in the earth. “That is very strange, yes,” she said, frowning slightly. “Do you think that we should go ask the professors? I do not want you to be left out of having a new friend sharing a room with you.” To her, having a roommate was an integral part of the high school experience- just like the occasional student brawl, and prom, and parties that were forbidden, but happened anyway because the popular kids didn’t care what anyone thought. The idea that having a room wholly to yourself would be a good thing didn’t cross Esperanza’s mind whatsoever.

@VitoftheVoid@LokiLeo789

---

The key ring travelled in lazy circles around Percival’s finger, the metal clicking together on each slow rotation. It was an unpleasant sound, but the Pelacour didn’t seem to particularly mind the sound as he reclined in his chair. “Well, they won’t be all buddy-buddy anytime soon, that’s for sure. Can’t remember the last time they were in a room together and didn’t wind up trying to throttle each other. Good times.” He sighed almost wistfully, cracked his neck, and brushed some of his bangs out of his face- only for most of the mop to fall back into place not a second later.

“Anyway. Noah. What classes are you taking, anyway? You look kind of like a Runes guy to me. Just have that sort of look in your eye for it. I’m Defense, myself.” Percival seemed content to chatter away, talking like if he was on a timer instead of making idle chit-chat. It was a far cry from the soft, gentle pace the rest of his kin possessed, but it suited him well enough. Even if it made him somewhat difficult to understand at times.

Just another case of gaining some, losing some, really. In this case, comprehension for speed. A fair trade.

@Slendy

Ray's initial response into making necromancy appealing to a wider crowd was interesting enough to draw an eyebrow raise out of the older male. Jest or not, Montana was interested in how he planned to do that. From what he had experienced, the nuances of necromancy had always held a polarizing place in the general mage consciousness.

Just like pyromancy or terramancy, there were different disciplines within the primary that made each interpretation quite different from one another. Necromancy was the same, only the other branches of magic didn't exclusively deal in something quite like the immortal soul. The way necromantic practices varied from family to family could be disturbing for some. Raymond certainly had his work cut out for him.

He heard a voice, one that spoke his first name with a kind familiarity that was reserved for very, very few people on this earth.

This was an unexpected development. He had heard of a last minute replacement for one of their teachers, but he hadn't had the time to pry into exactly who that replacement was.

Something very slight, changed in his eyes. Like his deductive scrutiny had taken a brief backseat to something a bit more innocuous.

"Marianna." He returned her embrace, and held her for a second or two longer than what was professionally necessary. "Mr.Matheos was being polite when he told me peace time was kind to me, I assume. It has certainly been kind to you Ms.Guerra." The years has been kind to her. Motherhood still lent it's radiance to her steps and age had simply refined what he had always enjoyed about her.

He lent an inquisitive, but humored look in Raymond's direction.

"I trust you'll reserve a spot for me when the time comes."

He turned back to Mariana, and allowed his hand, which had lingered on her arm for a time, to turn to his side.

"As our colleague asked, how is your family?

Azaziel strode towards the very strangely decorated weapon check in desk, and promptly introduced himself to the teacher sitting down. In front of him was an assortment of weapons, some rather expensive looking too. The prices of firearms was thing Azaziel had well acquainted himself with, as most things he acquired were fresh off the black market.

"How do you do Mr.." He searched for a name plate of sorts. There it was, right behind the..mace? "Professor Avalon, yes. Here are my weapons." Azaziel opened up his coat, and produced a retro 38.Special, a switchblade, a butterfly knife, and a small box of ammunition. Out of habit, he had wiped the handles of each before placing them on the table.

"I have a box-cutter for my Blood Magic, I don't imagine you'll need that professor. Box cutters were much a much easier means of acquiring blood than biting oneself.

Great, great, great! It was about time to get to the good part of this whole first day meet-and-greet fiasco: the isolation and sweet recluse of one's dorm. Herman finished off his pancakes, syrup trailed down the side of his mouth. In a hurry, he grabbed his luggage and hustled for his dorm, bypassing body after body; Herman did his best to avoid conversation with everyone who breathed. After all, it'd be weird if he stopped and held a conversation with a dead person. The Runic language imprinted on the suitcase glowed a little after Herman recited an incantation, and he was able to lift the suitcase without struggle.

Once he made it to his dorm, he tossed his things on the floor and hopped up on the bed to catch some sleep before it was time to eat again.

Okay, maybe Kora wasn't the biggest upstart in the world.

She was a bit odd for Yoko's standards - you know, with the skulls, and the long, weird-ass, name - but a lot of this shit was odd. Yoko was a fish out of fucking water. So, she was gonna have to adapt, or fall behind. She sighed for a moment, before she smiled.

The last thing Yoko Hatanaka was going to do was fall behind anyone.

"Cooooool!" Yoko said about the skull, even though she had no idea what "Vanir" even is! But, she was a little worried about the sword. She raised an eyebrow at Kora. "... You know we're in a school, right?" She said, before she chuckled.

Well, Yoko was confident enough that, if it came down to it, she could stop this giant girl swinging a sword around. She probably had nothing backing her up other than brute strength. Strength that Yoko could use against her. But, she was worried about the other girl. She hadn't said anything yet, and that worried Yoko.

"And you?" Yoko nodded at the girl.



"Dawn, Dawn, Dawn..." A very accented voice came from behind Dawn, "I was looking for you the whole time."

As she turned around to see who it was, she barely had a moment to react as someone flew past her, riding on a sheet of ice. He made a complete circle around Dawn, before stopping a few feet away. The boy was tall, and very well dressed, with a scarf wrapped around his neck several times. He laughed as he created a snowball, and turned around to face her.

She would recognize the boy as Malik Jakane.

"How have you been?" Malik played around with the snowball with a smile on his face. "I saw you talking to that girl, but didn't want to interrupt ya'."

He then leaned in close, and jabbed her in the ribs with his elbow, teasing her with,

"... I'd hate to get in between such a beautiful romance! Hahahaha!"

Erica wasn’t alone in her desire to catch up. The two had gone over half a decade without so much of a glimpse of each other, and it was hardly any day Dawn encountered someone from her childhood so suddenly. Nevertheless, orientation marched on, and she turned her attention from her fellow Trickster to listen in on what their professor had to say. The rules seemed fairly standard for most school systems- no sex, no drugs, no harassment- although the comment regarding weaponry caught Dawn’s attention specifically. The Memoli patriarch had pushed her into bringing a handgun to go along with her school luggage, “just in case”. Given the...nature of their family, it hadn’t been too surprising of a request, but it was very relieving to know that she wouldn’t be having to hold onto the thing illegally. She made a mental note to head up to check in before grabbing her keys, and, as the room resumed its earlier brightness, Dawn turned back to Erica with a smile.

“We really should.” She returned the kisses with her own, then gave a little wave. “I’ll, uh, catch you later, then. Good luck getting settled and, um, everything.” She doubted Erica would have much of a problem establishing herself at Marchand. The girl had always had a knack for people, after all. She’d do fine. Watching her off for a moment, Dawn glanced up at the board, scanning through until she caught sight of her name and room number.

She’d be rooming with one Dinah Fox. Dawn supposed that she should have been somewhat alarmed or bothered, but given the fact that her own family was nearly synonymous for “major crime lords”, it wasn’t really in her place to judge. Rolling her shoulders, Dawn grabbed her keys, and had just stepped in line for the luggage count when another, thickly accented voice piped up from behind her. Turning, Dawn immediately caught sight of a figure looping around her on what looked to be an ice surfboard. She got a better look at both board and rider as they halted in front of her, and she quickly perked up.

“Oh, Malik! It’s good to see you. You’re, um, going here, too?” It was a bit of a stupid question, in hindsight. After all, she doubted that he’d be hanging about inside a school for the atmosphere. But it came out nonetheless. Dawn’s nose wrinkled slightly as Malik brought up the idea of romance, and she returned his jab with one of her own.

“You, uh, might want to hold off on any ideas, there. Erica’s family.” She couldn’t blame him for not catching the link right off the bat. They were hardly twins, but the blood was there, nonetheless.

“But, um, anyway. How are you? It’s, uh, it’s been a while.”

@Dodi do 900@Mr Allen J

---

---

@EchoicChamber@VitoftheVoid

Marcus nodded in consensus with Esperanza’s words. "Speaking to one of the professor's about it sounds like a good idea." he said.

Inwardly, he realized he didn't quite agree with Esperanza's reasoning on the matter. The prospect of having a room to himself was a tantalizing one. In his eyes, Helena was fortunate. And it wasn't as if new friends couldn't be made outside the dormitory. Maybe Esperanza was attracted to the prospect of living with other students, and thus likely felt it odd that Helena be out of place by being alone.

Marcus glanced at Esperanza and for the first time really scrutinized her appearance unabashed. Bandages, weird." he mused as he noticed the streams of gauze running up, down and around her exposed appendages. Who or what in the hell is hurting her like that? he was led to question. Maybe her environment was one of isolation and abuse. Yet she seemed comfortable with her herself, this shown by her dress. Yet her social skills attested to the latter.

Marcus cocked his head inquisitively. Could this be her own doing? It wasn't uncommon for those who experienced depression on a critical level to injure themselves, although this wasn't common back home in Lagos. Unfortunately, it was difficult to determine whether or not one was suffering from depression, but from what he could see the in the girl, she was quite the opposite in most cases.

So there could be only one plausible possibility. "You wouldn't happen too be a Blood Mage would you?" Marcus inquired, leaning forward in the seat he took during the orientation.

Larke's mouth quirked into a sideways smile at Dinah's quick response. It was rehearsed, almost; like she was used to people actually taking her up on that offer. The thought of being ostricized for the wrongs of your parents was something that had never occurred to him, and it stuck in his gut for a moment longer than he would have liked.

It was too early in the morning to think of unhappy things.

"Well, I've just been dunked in milk-products and sentenced to cleanup on my first day, so you also get a pass if you want to find someone else to chat with," he replied with a shrug, running his left hand over the dampness sticking his shirt collar to the back of his neck. His right hand reached out to take hers, and he shook it firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dinah Fox. And don't take Avalon personally. He think's he's better than the Queen, too. But I've, uh- I gotta go clean up the breakfast mess. It doesn't look like Norrevinter's gonna pull her weight on this one."

He moved to turn away, and the same uncomfortable pang from a moment ago hit him. Larke pivoted on his heel with an almost-embarrassed laugh.

"Not that I want to clean up, or that I'm using my 'freebie,' you know. I just- I don't think there's anyone here who's bad side I want to get on. And it isn't going to clean itself up. But I'm not- Um."

Was it guilt? Did he feel guilty that his name was like a VIP pass, while hers was a scarlet letter? Maybe. It didn't matter.

"Do you want to go look around, after I'm done? At the school, I mean."

@VitoftheVoid

Tatia didn't know what she'd expected, but somehow it hadn't involved bumpy bus rides and run of the mill projector presentations. Indeed, other than a few weird bits, like where not to bring your extradimensional monster pets, it didn't sound much different than what she imagined she'd hear at the average spendy boarding school.

...granted, those weird bits did make for a certain amount of culture shock.

She redirected her mind from the stress of not knowing what the hell she was getting into. She assumed there were other, you know, muggle-borns around. Surely she wasn't the only one.

The young woman quickly snagged her key and distractedly began to fish through her bag for her stun gun (the one she'd never used, figured she'd never actually need to use, but which she held on to because her father was paranoid). As she headed toward the weapons check, nose in her satchel, her feet landed one after the other on a patch of thin ice. Her entirely treadless ankle-strap ballet flats betrayed her. The end result found Tatia fully horizontal on the floor in a tangle of her long limbs; unhurt, peeved, and rather glad she went with the leggings and tunic today instead of the sun dress. Her momentary confusion was soon replaced with disdain as she found the culprit fairy-skating around some girl.

Tatia sighed and scooped up her stun gun, which had tumbled out of her bag, along with a curling wand and a blush brush. "Would you watch it, Frozone?" she said in a dry, cool voice that somehow didn't seem to fit with the daintily feminine appearance she obviously made some effort to fabricate. "I know I heard something in the rules about improper use of magic or some shit."

Another two (rather grumpy) steps and she stood in line behind an interesting haircut attached to an even more interesting human being who proceeded to unload a large collection of sharp objects and a revolver of some kind. Emo-punk-band-hair kid was certainly well prepared. It did not escape her notice that he smudged away at the handles of the weapons like he was cleaning up a crime scene.

Maybe she was glad to have a taser after all.
Then again, probably better to make friends with the scary ones.

"Is that a popular brand of magic?" Tatia asked him in response to his comment about the box cutter, trying dearly not to imagine a box cutter slicing into human flesh, which of course went about as well as 'don't think about elephants.'

@Magister @Mr Allen J

Mariana was not phased in the least by Mr. Matheos’s dark comment, rolling her eyes as her weight shifted to rest on one hip more than the other. ”He’ll be kicking on with nobody left to kick.” She nudged Roderic with her elbow, a playful light shining through in the look she shot toward Ray. ”I don’t know who he thinks is gonna put up with him, if all of us are gone. And, you? You think I’m about to let you be buried near me, Mr. Montana, with whatever riddle you ask to have put on your headstone?”

She pursed her lips in mock disappointment, but the energy of being around old companions forced its way onto her face. Then Roderic complimented her for aging, and she was back to laughing.

It was strange, how being around people she had met in the worst days of her life was making her heart feel easy.

Perhaps it was the weight of pretense falling off of her shoulders.

Mariana sighed, waving off the fit of girlish levity that had taken her over. ”The boys are good,” she replied after a pause. She reached into her pocket to pull out her cellphone, and held it out for the others to take. The background photo was of her and three young men, two towering over her, and one very nearly her size.

”You know Ricky,” she said proudly, tapping toward the oldest of the three: A strapping young man with thick black hair.”He’s in his second year of college. Taking a gap year to go into the Peace Corps, now. And then- Oh! Ray, did you ever meet Elliot? He’s my second with- Well, you know.” She pointed toward a teen in a blue cap and gown, with a fairer complexion and a boyish face. ”He just graduated high school this past year, and he’s going into the Coast Guard. We’re very proud. And this- I know neither of you have met him, but Rodric has seen pictures- This is Santiago. My little Jimmi.”

The smallest boy in the picture stood the closest to Mariana, boasting a head of long, pitch-colored hair and excitable eyes as dark as coal. ”He starts high school next year, so he’ll be with us, then. The only one in the family with magic- A Defender, obviously,” she said, and took her phone back to check that she had not missed any calls.

”So, that’s how the Guerra household is doing. And what about your lives? What have you been getting up to? I haven’t seen you,” she said to Ray, ”In what? Five years? More? What’re you doing to kill the time?”

"Wow, they really have grown up, haven't they?" Ray said with sincerity. It was nice to see someone like Mariana with such a successful family, especially considering the other half other elder two boys parentage and the painful circumstances of her life with him.
"I look forward to seeing him here next year," Ray smiled.
If things had been different, maybe Ray would have had some kids by now. Sure, and a white picket fence and a tacky sun lounge. Somehow he felt like there was no version of him where that was ever a possibility.

”So, that’s how the Guerra household is doing. And what about your lives? What have you been getting up to? I haven’t seen you,” she said to Ray, ”In what? Five years? More? What’re you doing to kill the time?”

Hmmm...drinking, shooting up, going to council appointed rehab and just generally hating every square inch of myself! Hahahah, you know how it is, right? Of course you don't...
"Oh you know, just keeping myself busy mostly. Doing odd jobs here and there when the council needs me and just generally trying to find a place in the world." The pleasant smile he put on his face was more than likely not terribly convincing, but it was better than the ugly truth hiding in his shoulders and behind his eyes.
Somehow though, it didn't feel so disingenuous as he was talking to her. There was an almost palpable matronly aura about Mariana and it generally made people around her feel at ease. She somehow managed to have an effect on Roderic, which in itself was incredible. It made him seem like a totally different person and not...not The Devil Himself.
He suddenly became even more grateful that she was here.

Azaziel was, admittedly, confused. So confused, that he didn't bother to take the confusion off of his face when he turned to reply to the feminine voice that asked him that question. This question, spoken with a sincerity that a liar would be hard pressed to mimic, came from a fairly normal looking female. As normal females went, hair, face, legs.

She was clean, and she dressed like those mannequins he'd see inside store windows. She looked like she could walk among the the masses without a second thought yet, out of that normal mouth came an abnormal ass question.

He put his palms on the table behind him, and leaned backward slightly. "It's popular enough to be a generational secondary. Necessary enough that someone you know will probably ask you to ward something for them." She was about to receive the entire rundown asking a question like that.

"Is it treated with some prejudice because it involves smearing your vital fluids on walls, objects, and yourself? Yah yah, sure, but it is necessary, therefor popular by demand."

"That's not a normal or expected question from a Mage." It was rather ineloquently put, but it wasn't sand in a standoffish manner. It was said with interest. "But you aren't a non-magical human. What's your story?

Now it was her turn to answer his question. He wouldn't accept any vague, bullshit, oh let me keep my cards close to my chest, answer either. Nor did he expect it. Not from someone who took the time to approach his person, when he made his person hard to approach in the first place.

@LorelleQuips

Mariana's observation spoke on how well she understood the air of uncertainty he naturally cultivated around himself and the moves he made. Death would earn it's final victory eventually, but it wouldn't be acknowledged by his name resting above the epitaph. "One that no one will ever be sure they've solved, as the answer will be coming with me." A droll thought emerged in his mind, of a graveyard visitor seeking him out to find the answer to that question in the afterlife.


"They look well. Healthy, both in very admirable careers." While he had no hand in raising the two children beyond his sparse, but at times lengthy, interactions with them, he had met the brothers during a very crucial times in their lives. While did not have a vested interest of their mother, their well being was important to him nonetheless. Their mothers war had influenced them for the better. Good.

The third child, James had grown quite a lot since the last picture Montana had seen. The baby fat had been burned away, and his features had sharpened into those of a budding young man. It caused his eyes to linger for far longer on his face than the other two. The eyes looking up at him were unmistakable, dark oculi that could swallow all secrets but one. The gravity of his realization weighed on him far beyond his mask.

"James has grown into a fine boy."

Montana waited until Ray was finished talking. Some of his discomfort had alleviated from what he could tell, but that something remained. It was that something that gave Ray his remorse, his humanity. Perhaps that is what truly separated the two of them, something Montana had long noticed in most people he met. Montana was sure the life, and lives Ray took weighed on him, it weighed on many of the teachers, in small, and large ways. Some had gone from wide eyed, hopeful young folk into the hard as granite veterans. Others had redefined themselves, coming out of the war who they wanted to be.

When he dreamed of the peopled he killed, he critiqued how long it had taken him to end their lives. When he saw the faces of his victims, he was only reminded of how he had judged them in their final moments. When he saw the battlefields Alpha-Omega had laid to waste, adrenaline coursed through his veins.

It had always been about the satisfaction of ending the life of a powerful, or deserving enemy, rather than just taking life for, and in the name of the cause he fought for. No, he had taken those lives for himself as well.

When he looked into the faces of the Fox siblings, and other children left behind by slain parents, he felt no remorse. He felt nothing but a duty to ensure that their education served to keep them safe in the future.

That was what set him apart, a lack self-reproach for the breath he stole, and for the humanity that existed in Ray, but not him.

That is not to say he did not feel the shadow of condolence when he thought of the survivors, and the orphaned children. It simply meant that he viewed lives taken during the war as an unavoidable truth. His penchant for violent confrontation was separate, in his mind.

"I, much like Mr.Matheos, have been keeping busy with odd jobs. I had been doing some work for the council, when I was asked to be an instructor of Defense and tracking."

"I am fortunate to be teaching your son soon. Meeting him has been something long overdue, Mariana.

He gave Tatia such a puzzled look that her neck warmed with embarrassment. She'd clearly asked a pretty dumb question, even though it seemed a pretty innocent one under her circumstances. She got more than she bargained for in his answer, leaving her plenty of time to wonder why she hadn't chosen something more cheerful to comment on.

"Yeah. I just wondered because of that. The whole...uh...macabre element of it," she said, coughing because she'd learned that was a trick to get the color back into your face - she may or may not have paled a little somewhere around the smearing vital fluids bit.

He was a weird dude, but at least he was direct. And at least she had a better read on the temperature of the commonality of non-magical upbringings.

"Parents didn't have any powers," Tatia said with a matter-of-fact shrug. "Used to figure I'd been dropped in a vat of radioactive waste as a kid or something. You know. And now I get to go to Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. And look, I've already met Cyclops. Nice shades, Mr...uh... Avalon, yeah?" she finished with a dry smile at the man at the weapons check as she pushed her taser forward on the table, having no idea of the infamy of the man at whom she was poking fun. Reasonably good-natured fun, yes, but not exactly respectful.

@shadowhope@Magister

Mariana checked her phone one final time for a reply before tucking it into the pocket of her sweater.

”It's good to know you've both kept busy,” she said, quite aware of the lack of specificity either of them had offered in the subject. ”Though I'm guessing it would be a stretch to say that ‘keeping busy’ and ‘keeping out of trouble’ overlap much.” There was a fondness in her voice as she said this; not a sense of victory that her life had been more smooth, but rather some assurance in the sense that she still knew something about them.

Some things were simply how they were.

And Montana, for all of his quizzical posturing, had always been one of those things to her. Easy to read. Easy to predict.

He was likely doing whatever thing one would least guess him to be.

”It's all quite the coincidence, though, isn't it? No matter what we've all gotten up to, we're all here now. Teachers.” She looked at both of them with a raised eyebrow for a moment, her train of thought derailed by Montana's final comment.

”Maybe a bit overdue,” she said, and was very glad that Ray was there to prevent anything further on the subject. ”Almost as overdue as my arrival here, really. I haven't the foggiest idea where anything is.”

"Clearly you don;t know much about mage families huh." Dinah responded to Yoko's remark, rolling her eyes.
There was no telling some people, and she lacked the patience or the interest to attempt to explain it.

She then turned her attentions to Larke. He was, at least, relatively sociable, which made things easier...even if their conversation hadn't even really gotten past the pleasantries when he found he had something else to do.
"It's cool, Sterling. You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to." Dinah responded, sinking her hands into her pockets.
"Wouldn't have bothered even showing up if I had a thin skin about it."

Or, possibly in some way she did, as she was taking the fairly sincere attempt on his part as the young Sterling's way of trying to back away from the bloodline dumpster fire that was the Fox daughter without potentially offending her.

"I gotta go drop my bags anyway. If you do actually mean it about looking round, I'll probably be hanging round here in a bit, if not, nice taking to ya, no hard feelings."

She made her way out toward her room, shrugged her backpack off onto the bed, and closed the door.
She did, with any luck, have a little while before whoever her roommate was showed up, so she had a bit of a grace period to hide everything that was contraband before she was found.

Ventilation grille would work pretty well.