“Good afternoon everyone,” Malcolm began, seeing the assembly gathered in the danger room. He steps forward as he acknowledges everyone, while Pierce remains behind with arms crossed. The Dean’s tone is relaxed with his hands tucked in the pockets of his sportcoat, though it appears he is wearing gloves. “I apologize for the crude nature of my summons, sometimes, even within our own small community here, there is a need for a gentle subterfuge.” He motions slowly with one hand calmly around the room revealing that he is indeed wearing what appear to be tight-fitting, leather riding gloves. “As you can see, the Danger Room does not need cleaning.” He tucks his hand back in his coat, scanning the faces of those in the large room, not focusing on anyone in particular. “I think some of you know what I brought you here to address, while I also see some new faces, so welcome to you as well, our topic already concerns you more than you have even begun to realize.”

Ashford begins to pace slowly as he speaks, as if giving a lecture, he’s a natural speaker, clearly contemplating the flow of his words, but delivering them with an air confidence that is easy to follow. “Last night, many of you here were involved in an incident outside the school grounds, downtown with an individual and an anomaly that you most likely did not understand at the time, and I assume, for some of you, that you still do not after the amount of copious amount of consumption you were involved with,” He gives a knowing, small smirk. “I want you to know, because of my intimate connections with LAPD, the City Council and others, these events have already been put to rest permanently, however...” He stops in his movement and looks only slightly harder at the students, still not as critically as Pierce, but paternally, as if he’s surprised and disappointed. It’s hard to tell for sure.

“What I want you to take away from this,” He continues. “Is that we are not in a vacuum here.” He continues and begins pacing once more. Pierce is as firm as a statue in the background. “There are forces at work here, even within this city, that are already plotting, seething and redoubling their efforts to put a halt to what we have built- I will not allow that to happen.” He clenches his fist by his side at the proclamation. “However, I need your help in this work,” He again stops in his walk to turn and face the gathering directly, “I don’t feel that I need to shame you for your actions, most of you have already been through quite a lot before you even arrived here.” He glances back over his shoulder, “Though I believe AD Pierce may have had some rather extensive designs for your punishment, I overruled him.”

Pierce snorted and gave a slight smirk of amusement.

“Mutant-kind is still only a small fraction of Earth’s population,” He looks down briefly and touches his chin for a moment in consideration. “A percent of a percent.” He crosses his arms in thought and you can see the room subtly react, like the texture of the floor shifting with his thoughts. “I envy you in some ways. Everything is new to your eyes… If you take nothing else away from this small meeting, I want you to consider WHY are you here?”

He looks at Daniella “Is it for protection?”

“Is it for confirmation of your beliefs?” He looks towards Nik.

“Perhaps self-preservation?” His eyes move towards Aya.

“Or is it something else?” He looks over Cleo, Ronnie and the others.

“I would say that if you are not happy with your own answer,” He continues. “Then you truly need to question whether or not you want to be here and what this opportunity represents as I can assure you that those you encountered last night understand it. The politicians that wish to segregate mutants understand it, the technocrats that see only profit by your enslavement understand it, other mutants seeking their own aggrandizement understand it- that in the history of this planet, there has never been a time like this.”

His casual steps bring him back to the exact place where he started. “Don’t squander your opportunity.”

Ashford calmly looks over his shoulder at Pierce once more, “Is there anything you’d like to add?” A question that only brings forth a shake of the head from the younger professor. The Dean looks back at the group, hands returning to pockets. “Then that is all I have for you.” The precise finality of his tone indicating their will be no questions. “If you will excuse us now, Professor Pierce and I have another matter of business which requires our attention, enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will hopefully see all of you next week.”

And with that Ashford and Pierce leave the Danger Room leaving you and your fellow students to your thoughts.

Though still tired and weary, Aya managed to keep herself upright during their lecture. Her headache had dulled to a soft thumping, almost easy to ignore -- it turned out that her true issue (beyond the trauma of the previous night) had been dehydration. After waking up in her room, Aya had found her half-filled water bottle discarded on her bedside table and hadn't been able to drain it fast enough. Even now, standing in the danger room among her classmates, her throat felt dry.

Or maybe it was just the way Dean Ashford met her gaze, brown eyes pinning her in place as he questioned their -- her -- motives for being at the school, that had her tongue tasting like cotton in her mouth.

...Why had she come to the academy?

To never use her powers again. Something rang hollow. Ashford and Pierce left the room, words still echoing in the air: Don't squander your opportunity.

Aya wasn't sure why she felt guilty. Opportunity? What about the opportunity to have a normal, uncomplicated life? The opportunity to not have to worry about monsters and criminals, to... to simply live? More and more, it felt like she was chasing something that had never been in her reach to begin with.

Images of the night before flashed in her mind again, visceral and frightening. Aya pressed her lips together. Her dream floated through her thoughts, red eyes, teeth, smoke, and a dark smile. Aya hesitated. Then she turned and slipped through the crowd of students and out the door.

She quickened her pace to catch up to the two figures making their way down the hallway.

"Dean Ashford," she called, trying not to sound timid. "I'm -- I'm sorry, but could I please talk to you about something? Privately?"

---

---

---

Drake's eyes followed Ashford as he paced, his stare zeroing in on the headmaster's lips. He heard his voice and knew that words were being formed. What Ashford was saying, though, Drake hadn't a clue. He was on autopilot, just going through the motions. After Ashford gave his speech, he left the room and suddenly there wasn't anyone to focus on, at least not immediately. Instead, Drake stared at the door that had closed behind the two figures of authority. He could feel his eyes start to move inward, becoming slightly crossed. His vision blurred but there was a strange comfort in it. It was like putting the world on mute while he stood there leaning against the far wall looking like he had just crawled out of a dumpster.

Drake's eyes were a nearly luminous crimson, except for a slice of azure, surrounded by dark sockets resembling pits of despair. Inevitably, the little bit of blue that was left in one of his irises would surrender to the red, but the young man was determined to put that off as long as possible. For a while now, Drake had been struggling with an internal battle, silently combating a foreign entity within his own mind. That alien force was at its strongest when Drake was unconscious and therefore the fire welding mutant decided to swear off sleep altogether. The toll it was taking on him was obvious. Nevertheless, he stood resilient. Stupefied, but tenacious.

Amidst the blur of moving bodies, he recognized the shape of Aya come into view for but a moment as she took her exit, seemingly in pursuit of the professors. And then, once more, there was just the door. Drake's jaw became slack and he could feel his eyelids embracing gravity. The darkness was welcoming and it beckoned him forth, tempting him with comfort and refreshment. His neck started to buckle under the weight of his head and his line of sight was beginning to travel south as the floor gradually came into view. Maybe just for a minute, he could safely do it. Maybe just for a minute he could nap and that might give him enough energy to get him through the rest of the day. Just one... quick... minute...

Suddenly, his pupils went wide and his eyebrows sprung up. A grimace appeared on his face as someone in the room let out a scream. His vision quickly refocused and his body sprung into a cautious landing position as if he had just planted himself after jumping off a cliff. Hurriedly, he scanned the faces around him to try and identify the source of the outcry. He played it over in his memory, analyzing the voice he heard. It didn't take long before he concluded who was responsible. The voice was his own.

"Sorry!" he said urgently, as if the apology would erase what had just happened so long as he said it quickly enough. "Sorry. There was a... spider." Drake immediately regretted that. Surely, there was something cooler he could have said. "But it's gone now. I killed it. With fire. I do fire." He bit his own lips shut, refusing to say anything more that would paint him as being simpler than he already appeared. He found himself wishing that someone, anyone would say something to take the spotlight off of him.

---

Kaylee shut the door to Cole's office and raised a brow at his terse command. She smoothed down the sundress and sat across from him. Calmly she waited for the moment to settle. She waited to give him time to gather his thoughts, and she waited to make sure that he knew the gravity of the situation. 

With grace and economy of motion Kaylee placed the coffee she had made for Cole in front of him. "I was wondering if you would be interested in continuing where we left off, before we were so rudely interrupted."

Leaning back Kaylee kept an intense interest trained on Cole. She was going to get some answers to the plethora of questions she had running rampant in her head. Not to mention she wanted to update him on the new students that had popped up in her email. "Or we can talk about the elephant in the room." 

Daniela Steele
Interaction @RedVII

Daniela watched Ashford with a somewhat cautious stare as spoke. The words he had said while looking at her seemed to cut deep to her core. She hadn't intended on joining the Ashford institute, but so far most of the people here had been welcoming...friendly even. So far only one person had given her an odd look and she was sure that was because of her outfit. She still hadn't had a chance to change or shower yet and it was something she was looking forward to.

“Is it for protection?”

Daniela couldn't deny it, that was part of the reason she was considering staying, but since she had arrived, she had felt a slight sense of...comfort for lack of a better word. Aside from her appearance, the people here weren't giving her a second look. Granted they didn't know what she had done but that was something best kept to herself for the moment. Once the overwhelming fear had been replaced by cautious optimism, she had felt a longing for something that she had wanted to find for quite a long time if she was honest with herself.

Acceptance.

Not just acceptance of her mutant abilities, but acceptance of who she was.

Maybe the Ashford institute can be more than a place to hide...maybe it can be the start of something new. She thought with a growing sense of hope.

A moment later a small blast of electricity shot from her hand and dissipated against the ground as she heard a scream come from somewhere in the room that snapped her out of her happy daydream. Truth be told, she was still strung high enough and nervous enough that anything could startle her at this point. She turned to look behind her and saw a man with a beard was the source of the disturbance.

He looked somewhat embarrassed and Daniela sheepishly looked at him with an embarrassed faint smile.

I...I'm electrical." She said weakly and then was immediately quiet as she realized what a stupid thing she had just said. "I...Uh...I'm going to leave now." She muttered awkwardly as she left the room and walked quickly away, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

Is it for confirmation of your beliefs?

Nik had no idea what that had meant. While it was a cool sort of vague and ominous speech that felt like it belonged in some kind of weird superhero thriller, the words felt... discomforting. It felt like Ashford knew something about the teenage mutant that he didn't know about himself. So for the briefest of moments, Nik sat there in the uncomfortable silence as he tried to rack his brain for some sort of truth... asking the question that keeps many people up at night... what do I believe?

Of course, that thought only lingered for a moment. For, as always with this group... something fun was bound to happen. The scream was something that Nik had been roughly familiar with. He had heard it somewhat muffled before as his roommate was startled awake by nightmares. Come to think of it... Drake hadn't really been sleeping lately...

Of course, then there was someone that Nik hadn't seen before. To call her shy would probably be the ultimate understatement. She fired off an electrical discharge as soon as Drake had screamed, and then rushed out of the room. Nik gave a small sigh as she left, his eyes tracing the faces of the others. Before, of course, Nik felt the overwhelming urge to get out of that room. He couldn't stand to be introspective right now. Everything seemed to be collapsing around him as he sprinted towards the door, quickly yanking on the handle to slip out of the room that he usually enjoyed practicing in. Once out, and he saw the rushing figure of Daniela. Nik started to jog after her, calling out, "Hey... uhh... wait! I don't think we've met."

Daniela Steele
Interacting with @webboysurf

"Hey... uhh... wait! I don't think we've met."

Daniela slowed down slightly and took a quick look behind her and saw one of the students jogging after her. She didn't recognize this one but that was to be expected. It was still her first day at the school. She closed her eyes for a moment and did her best to try and force herself to stay still instead of running to a room.

"H-Hi." She said quietly. "Uh...listen, sorry for the electrical blast." She said in the same quiet voice. "I..uh, don't have the best control over my powers yet."

---

Cole accepted the coffee cup and relaxed back, exhaling slightly and getting a scent of the fresh aroma. Kaylee was a stickler for good coffee, same as him. He took a sip and let his annoyance with Pierce subside before he glanced back at her. She wanted answers, he knew it was coming and picking back up where he had intended to give her the truth was as natural a starting point as any. He took another sip. “Let’s do this,” He said finally, putting the cup down. “You’re gonna ask me a question and then I’m gonna ask you one and we’re gonna be completely honest with each other.”

Inwardly Kaylee agrees, outwardly she looks like she is giving it more consideration that she actually did. Her eyes roam over Cole's face as she sucks her teeth and with a small soft click she nods once. "Alright. Did you make it to Nocture before or after the fire?"

"Before." Cole replied nearly as soon as she was finished asking. "How long have you known that Una is not a mutant?" He found himself unexpectedly speaking with a more pointed tone as the words came out and something about it felt oddly familiar, like it wasn't the first time they had the conversation.

Startled Kaylee's eyes widened. She shook her head. "Uná is a mutant. She exhibits all the markers. Her mutant level might be in question but not the fact is that she is just that a mutant. I don't know what else she could be. So, the answer to your question is never. Why would you say she wouldn't be?"

"Call it intuition," Cole replied, unphased. "Is that gonna be your question?"

Kaylee thought about that for a moment. Uná was a small part of the reason she was here. She should be the whole reason Kaylee was here but Kaylee wanted some more personal answers. "I don't like the lack of transparency in that answer so I may come back to it later. If you were there before the fire then you might have seen how it started, can you tell me how it happened?"

"Because I started it."

@Almalthia

---

GM Post

Ashford turns at the exit to the danger room complex as he hears Aya’s call. Pierce is still close by and looks impatient as Malcolm stops. He crosses his arms, ignoring the request for privacy though Ashford waves him off. “Go ahead and let our guests in, I’ll be there shortly.” He says casually before turning his attention back to Aya. “Aya, I’m afraid I’m on a bit of a deadline at the moment,” He says as Pierce leaves, “But tell me what’s on your mind.”

@c3p-0h

---

When Ronnie entered the danger room, it didn't resemble any building she had ever been in. With a name like Danger Room, she should've figured it wouldn't. Yet it still surprised her at first.

Her eyes scanned the hard panels along the circular wall. Together with their near eerie perfection, they reminded her of a padded room tinted blue. All the small lights in the upper corners illuminated better than she imagined it would.

She shifted in place, feeling out of place. In a defensive habit, she crossed her arms over her chest and forced herself to remain still. Her head rotated about until her eyes rested on the adults in the center. Their uniforms indicated they were school staff.

Her eyebrow arched. She glanced around at the misfits when the Dean mentioned the incident and local LAPD. She realized she had gotten mixed up with not just misfits, but trouble makers. Her hand rose to rub her temple with her fingers. When the man's lecture fell onto the subject of why they were here, Ronnie fought not to roll her eyes.

To be cured.

If she had spoken, the words would've rolled off her tongue without a second thought. Ever since her powers manifested, her image and life suffered. She still hated the fact a video of her outburst reigned wild on public media. A perfect example of why mutants were dangerous.

From what little information she managed to access, there appeared to be no cure. Else her mother would've booked an appointment first chance she got. For now, this was the closest thing Ronnie had and she intended to see it through.

Her teeth tightened as she watched an Asian looking girl dart out the door. There was no doubt in Ronnie's mind the student had been chasing after the Dean for some reason.

When the man behind her screamed, her head jerked over her shoulder. Her expression fell into a glare at the wannabe biker's reaction over nothing. A snap, crackle, and pop followed shortly. She caught the small zap of electrical causing Ronnie to step back, staring at the culprit. Apologetic, Zappy girl promptly made her exit and followed by a dark-haired teenager.

Was everyone here crazy, or a ticking time bomb? Ronnie practically screamed in her head.

Not waiting for any more surprises, she spoke. “I don’t know about you all, but that was unsettling. I’m hoping this isn’t normal.”

Aya stopped a step early, nearly faltering at Professor Pierce’s unimpressed gaze and stern aura. She hesitated as her eyes flicked between the two men. She sucked in her bottom lip. Then -

“It’s about last night.” When no one cut her off, she continued, “The monster we fought - it wasn’t one of Uná’s illusions. It was something called a Sluagh.”

Scythes for teeth, bloodshot eyes, claws ripping into her very soul until there was nothing but fire -

“It was real - but it wasn’t from here. This plane, I mean.” She looked between the professors again, fingers nervously twisting in front of her body. It sounded delusional - some fairytale monster emerging from the pages of a book. “It was here for Uná. And she’s-” The memories were clearer now, of Uná, somehow wrong, darker, full of secrets and threats. “I don’t know how to explain it. But on the other side, there’s... I can feel this... buzzing, or building...” Aya’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to find the words. All the while she felt like an idiot, like they were going to brush her off as a traumatized girl still seeing nightmares. And maybe that’s all she was. But who else was she to turn to, other than the head of the school that’d taken them all in?

“Whatever that monster was, or wherever it came from... more are coming.”

Rolling smoke and a man with a wicked smile...

She looked up at Dean Ashford, thoughts swimming with worry for her friend.

“They’re looking for Uná. And... I don’t think she knows it, but part of her wants to find them, too.”

---

---

---

---

---

Heidi had her suspicions. She had counted it as one of the possibilities that they weren't called here to clean. While it did make sense to deal out punishment, there was something about the announcement's mention of a 'new group of X-men' that made Heidi wonder if the punishment was a ruse to get everyone who had been involved in last night's events to the Danger Room. That is the reason why she had decided to insist Cleo and Veronica come here instead of humoring Cleo's plan to skip the punishment. There was a risk they would miss something important.

She watched intently as Ashford gave his address. She didn't need to wonder why she was here. This was, at the end of the day, still a school. Heidi was here to learn. Not just from the classes and the exercises, but from observing the school itself. And from the other students around her. Everything she had seen only bolstered her own beliefs. This was the level of control, comfort and happiness Mutantkind can achieve where there is space to experiment, and teachers to guide them in the use of their powers. They are kept safe from enemies and everyone around them knows what they're going through. Every mutant needed these things for a healthy, happy life, as much as every human needed education and a social circle.

Before she knew it, the address was over and the professors had left them to their own devices. Drake's outburst went entirely unnoticed by her, as she was standing in front of him so didn't hear or see any kind of scream. The first she noticed of her classmates besides Aya going to the professors to talk about something, was Ronnie, who was standing besides her, turning to look back at something. Heidi also turned back in time to see him muttering something about killing a spider with fire. Heidi saw no scorch marks, ash, or other residue at his feet, so he was lying about that. So why had Ronnie turned round? He must have suddenly made a loud noise of some kind, and was trying to play it off.

Heidi turned back to Ronnie when she spoke.

"I'm not even sure what just happened, but I haven't been here very long and nothing's seemed that out of the ordinary today. In fact, we were called here because something very unsettling and unusual did happen last night, and you're lucky you weren't there."

Nik shoved his hands into his pockets as he finally got the student to slow down. He took a moment to catch his breath before removing one hand to smooth back his hair, giving a sort of awkward chuckle. "Hey, don't worry about it. Takes all of us time to learn how to use our powers."

The mutant paused for a moment as he looked back towards the Danger room, a smile creeping on his face as he turned back to face Daniela. "Name's Nik. I'm sort of the Emilio Estevez of our little Breakfast Club here. The redhead back there is kind of the Molly Ringwald, Una. Of Course Jasper and Drake both seem to be going for the Judd Nelson spot, and Heidi is the Anthony Michael Hall..." His voice faded out as he got lost in his train of thought for a moment, before he just shook his head. "Point is, we're all a bunch of misfits in some way or another. But we're all in this together. So why don't we go back and meet the others?" With those encouraging words, Nik stood with an eyebrow raised and a thumb extended back towards the danger room as he waited to see how Daniela reacted.

---

Kaylee blinked. "You started the fire." It was a statement not a question. "For what purpose? To what end? You had to know that there was a child in the building. Did something go wrong or get out of control? I don't see you as someone who would risk a child's life when you were there to extract her. Something doesn't add up Cole. What exactly is going on in that beautiful mind of yours?"

Kaylee smiled knowing that his explanation would be amazing. Sometimes you just knew to trust someone. All of the things Kaylee had seen in her life lead her to believe she could trust Cole. Maybe it was the way he held himself or the way he spoke. Or it was just the fact that she trusted her powers that much.

Cole raised a professorial finger from his coffee mug at the barrage of questions. "Not your turn." He said calmly; a little surprised at her eagerness to trust him. He wondered a bit if her emotions were overcoming her normally sharp discernment. “Have you spoken to Heidi since last night?”

Tilting her head Kaylee took a deep breath. "I had planned on it later today, but no I have not yet. I also planned on seeing Uná as well. How did the fire start and weren't you in danger?"

Cole nodded and glanced away back out the window. “Like I said, I started it. There was no danger.” He started to continue, but stopped, thinking about the words and that he had never actually told or even tried to explain anything about what or how it happened to anyone. Exhaling a small breath, he drummed his fingers once on the desk. Several lines of questioning spread out in his mind like hydra. “It’s hard for me to really describe,” He said looking back at Kaylee. “Who I was when I left you at the club, was not who I was when I got to Nocturne.” It sounded good when it came out and likewise his mind stayed carefully on course with as delicate an explanation as he could compile. “I was still me, but not.” Plenty of times before he had debated with himself the best way to put into words how it happened, but none of those solo rehearsals seemed to come to mind in the least. “I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense and that’s why I asked if you had seen Heidi,” He said with almost a hint of foreboding. “She saw most of what happened and got Una out.”

Raising an eyebrow Kaylee waited for his question. When it wasn’t forthcoming she leaned forward bracing her forearms on the desk. "Actually it makes more sense than you realize. After all you are talking to a mutant school counselor. The only reason it would be hard to describe is if you've never analysed it. That can stem from one of two things. Either a refusal to accept the truth, which I don't believe about you, or a lack of experience. So narrowing it down to lack of experience let me ask you… No I'm sorry it is your turn to ask. Ask please."

Cole could see her trying to pivot back to a rational scientific method, but there was no account in science that would garner a rational conclusion to what happened when those tires caught fire and the hellish chorus of another world called out for blood. Her words were more for herself than for him. He leaned forward on the desk across from her. The moments of the night before flashed behind his eyes: the sound of the bike, the rush of fire, the completeness of vengeance satisfied as he erased a mutant’s soul from existence in a screaming afterburner. “You think it’s ‘lack of experience’?” He said as his gaze set locked into hers. “No. Go ahead and ask it.”

He'd never looked so aggressively intimidating. It sped her heart rate but not out of fear. Kaylee looked down and ran her fingertips around the top of the desk. "Okay no more back and forth hinting at what I really want, no, need to know." She looked up at him. "What have you wanted to tell me for awhile now and haven't had a chance to?"

@Almalthia

---

GM Post

Ashford’s face is stern as she speaks; his lips forming a thin line of concern at Aya’s recounting of the night before. “I understand fully,” He says sternly. His tone is both comforting and securing. “You’ve taken your first glimpse into a much larger world.” His eyes move towards the corridor seeing how far Pierce has walked ahead of him before turning back to Aya. “Right now I am working on a project that will keep those beings out of here forever.” He touches her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid,” He says calmly. “You are one of our best, continue your work here and leave the rest to me.”

-At this time, Ashford has left the Danger Room complex to go to his planned meeting with Pierce-

@c3p-0h

Daniela Steele
Interacting with @webboysurf

"Hey, don't worry about it. Takes all of us time to learn how to use our powers."

Yeah...but you didn't kill four people when your powers manifested. She thought angrily to herself for a moment before she squashed the thought down to the bottom of her mind for the time being.

"Point is, we're all a bunch of misfits in some way or another. But we're all in this together. So why don't we go back and meet the others?"

Daniela carefully looked at Nik and then back at the Danger Room and then back at Nik again. "Listen...I...uh..."

Just go back there already! They're not going to try to kill you or anything! Her inner voice screamed at her in exasperation. Daniela forced herself to stand straight up and forced a small smile onto her face even as another part of her screamed at her to go run away to her room and lock the door.

"S-Sure. Let's go meet the others."

Blanked, wrong place

---

---

---

Cleo has made her wat into the danger room as 'part' of her tour of the school for Ronnie with Heidi in tow, personally she was not looking forward to it and personally hoped she missed everything by doing this tour, but alas that plan was totally screwed. However instead of bouncing all happy at seeing her friends, the blonde teen stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Uná, since last night Cleo had been doing everything she could to avoid the girl, immediately she went deathly quiet, avoiding all eye contact a move away to be the furthest away from Uná on the edge of the group.

Soon enough Ashford was addressing the group, doing one of his grand speeches, Cleo had a sigh of relief though as there was no need to clean the danger room, but a little naughty lie to get them there was smart, of course Cleo took the whole innocent thing when the events of last night were mentioned, her arms behind her back while gently swaying back and forth on her feet like some innocent sweet child. In her mind though it was haunting, the Face of Everose was stuck in her mind, Uná was evil in her eyes.

it was until Ashford was looking at Cleo while going through the Why are you here. Honestly Cleo never really thought about it, I mean it had many perks for her to enjoy around the boring classes, but most of the crap that randomly happened was always cool to her, especially when power randomly go off. But alas she was now stuck back in thought, looking at Ashford and really thinking about his words.... Just why was she here for exactly? what was it she truly wanted? she was just this happy go lucky girl that enjoyed mucking around and having, although Pierce seemed to have figured how to get her to do something and take it seriously enough while training in the danger room.

Cleo did kind of raise her hand to ask Ashford a question but then changed her mind, glancing over at Uná, and again looking at the ground, before being startled by a scream from Drake her own yelp seems to go unnoticed as a flipping spark shot out from her roommate and not from Taser hands, Soon Daniela left followed by Nik. there was a moment of silence "That was so freaking Awesome!" would blast out before going all quiet again to which she would remain in the presence of Uná, quickly thinking the pool sounded exciting, Cleo quickly took off leaving the room.

---

---

Oriana had not long arrived to the school after playing taxi to some other stranger that had to come to the school. But she had time to place her stuff in her assigned room. She would have a roommate but not the one that was in there that she kicked out called Fleur. After an interesting interaction between them, Fleur packed up her belongings and left. Oriana then brought her own belongings in.

There wasn't a stupid amount of belongings Oriana had, but it was enough for what she needed. She was under the impression that the headmaster of this school had to convince her it was worth staying. The newcomer was exploring the place, eye up people who would decide to gawk at her appearance for too long.

Through observation, Oriana noticed quite a few students heading out for another building. There was a call out to go this danger room, something she found out by asking a random student. 'Hmmm, why not' she thought to herself and proceed to make her way there and see what so special about this room.

Upon entering and mixing in with the group somewhat. Oriana remained towards the rear, she took in the sight with a raised eyebrow. It was not what she was expecting, she wondered what this room could do, for now her attention was to the dean addressing them. Her arms crossed almost like she was imitating Pierce, not that she cared if she did or not.

Well his speech was not as long winded as she expected it to be, although he seems to make some interesting points. Although this 'incident' he spoke of interested her, sounded like some within this group went out, got hammered and caused trouble. and that Ashford had some interesting friends in helping covering it up.

This school will be more interesting than was first believed. But once he finished, with no questions asked he left, it appeared none of the other students got punished for whatever it was they did. "Well that was anti-climactic" sounding a bit disappointed. Left to their own devices it seemed that one guy can scream loud, something you would not expect from his appearance.

Then makes a silly excuse only to make look more like the fool. His outburst did set of another student of to spark, but it actually interested Oriana. The girl claimed to be electrical and embarrassed by what happened before leaving, she was soon followed by another young male. So it ended up with students standing around with the odd one leaving. Oriana felt she had better things to do than stand there, uncrossing her arms, the woman without saying a word, made her way towards the exit.

---

---

---

---

---

---

Uná had walked into the room behind Daniela and Aya worried about Aya the whole way to the Danger Room. Ashford was the quintessential Dean figure and slightly mysterious. Looking around Uná spotted the faces of her friends and new people as well. Her gaze was drawn to Nik. Her heart squeezed hard. Oh please let him not be weirded out! Please!

Flinching at the scream that came from Drake, Uná snapped her head in his direction. His mumbled excuse wasn't enough to stop her worry. She saw Cleo head out almost stopping her but Nik's reentry shifted her thoughts back to him.

Looking back toward Nik she saw him talking about one of her favorite movies The Breakfast Club. She wrinkled her nose at the Molly Ringwald label. She hooked up with Judd in the movie. If anything she was much more Ally Sheedy. Actually much more Ally Sheedy. She gets Estevez at the end of the movie. But he's right we're all … interesting. She saw the new people being a bit awkward and decided that it was time to bring them into the fold. She smiled but not with the full confidence that she normally had, though only those that knew her would realize it was dimmer than the sunny smile she normally had.

After Cleo dodged out Uná was determined that they'd get some training done and why not include everyone? Get them all used to each other so they could run like a well oiled machine. Knowing strengths and weaknesses of your partners made it easier to achieve the best outcome. Walking up to the open door, effectively blocking it so that anyone leaving would have to shimmy past her, and clearing her throat she put one hand out to Nik a question in her eyes of Are you strong enough to take my hand?. She'd already decided that if he wasn’t then they could be friends. It would hurt but she could be strong. She'd have to be.

This interaction was pivotal in their relationship. He hadn't gone running or met her this morning. Not that he always has to be in my pocket but I like spending time with him. But can you really blame him? Honestly? I mean who wants to deal with a psycho that can make her dreams and nightmares reality? Yeah great pep talk Uná...truly inspiring. She attempted to keep the smile bright but it was no use. Her feelings started to bubble to the surface as well as her insecurities. Looking around hoping he didn't see how much this was costing her she spotted Cleo.

Cleo was almost around the corner. "Oi Blondie!! Get your invisible butt back here and be social. We all have a lot to talk about and I'm not repeating myself." Uná's voice carried down the empty hallway and her eyes narrowed on the back of Cleo's head then she looked back over at Daniela then Nik. She kept the smile on feeling more like he'd be able to see through it. He'd proved more than a few times over that he knew her inside and out.

---

---

---

Drake looked around the room, trying to stay in the moment. Part of him wanted to just leave, but another part tugged at him to stay, to integrate and be social again like he was before all of the... complications. You have so many relationships in this life. Only one or two will last. He did a mental double-take at those words in his mind. Was that his own thought? The concept proved true in his case. He could be in a room full of 'friends' and really only feel close to one or two of them. His ability to truly connect was rare but when it happened, that connection was indomitable. You go through all the pain and strife, then you turn your back and they're gone so fast. What the hell was happening? It didn't seem like the grizzled influence of The Other, but the words were not being willfully summoned by Drake, himself. Maybe his subconscious was trying to tell him something.

So hold on to the ones who really care. In the end they'll be the only ones there. Drake began silently repeating the words, his lips recreating each one as he stared down at the ground with a stern look of concentration. He knew these words... and yet they were foreign. And when you get old and start losing your hair, tell me who will still care.

"When you get old and start losing your hair?" Drake audibly repeated before cautiously touching his own unkempt mane. Growing hair was not a problem he had now, nor did he anticipate such a problem in the future. "The hell is this- wait..." The tingles of familiarity began to erupt from Drake's stomach like electricity that traveled at breakneck speeds down his legs, through his arms and up his neck. His pupils even dilated for but a moment when the answer finally hit him.

"Mmmbop ba duba dop ba du bop, ba duba dop ba du bop, ba duba dop ba duuuu... yeeaaayyeaahhh." Face face was covered in an enlightened grin and an obvious sense of accomplishment, having solved the mystery. The glee quickly dissolved though and, in his best Eeyore impression, he said, "I hate that song."

Drake quickly brushed it off, trying to force himself back to reality. "Anyway, uh. If any of you ever want to actually spar in this place, hit me up," he offered openly as he patted at his own pockets. Eventually he found the small rectangular box he was looking for; his pack of cigarettes. He meticulously pulled one out and placed it between his lips before returning the pack to his pocket and starting toward the exit. "Til then, I'll be around," he called back as he made he way toward his intended destination of the courtyard to puff on his cancer stick. He would need to go to his dorm room soon after and give himself a makeover that didn't end with him looking like a homeless man that had recently been turned into a zombie.