A beautiful day greeted the students returning to campus for the first day before class. Teachers settled into their classrooms and on campus lodging - for those that stayed on campus for only the school year - while students finished settling into their own lodging. The annex buildings were still locked up, and any returning student would be well aware they were all monitored far more heavily than the main building. Tables advertising school clubs were set up along the main walkways leading from the parking lot to the dorms; senior students sat at them offering out fliers and talking with perspective new club members. Another set of tables were stationed near the main office, with 2 staff members - Ms. Reed and Dr. Coleson - sitting at them; the tables had signs indicating they were where new students could show up and collect their enrollment packets as well as find out where they were being housed and get directions.

Students were welcome to explore, and any new students that needed a tour could easily find older students willing to help show them around, or at least direct them to where their dorm may be. Mr. D could be found in the main lobby of the school building, sitting at the security desk that passed as his remote work space on days non-students might be around. Most teachers, by now, were in their classrooms preparing for the first day of class. A few could be seen hanging out in one of the faculty lounges as well. Some of the more perceptive returning students would notice a few new faces among the staff this year; though there wasn't anything off, per say, it was more the fact they seemed a bit on edge watching the various students arriving at the school than other new teachers. One such new face - Mr K - sat next to Mr. D, and appeared to be discussing something on a monitor hidden under the countertop of the desk.

A notable absence was Ms Target, the headmaster. While it wasn't every year since becoming headmaster that the woman was readily found on campus for students to speak with, she at least brought a weight to the main building that many could almost sense she was watching from her office. This year, that sense was gone, and if one were to inquire, they would find rumor had it she was indeed not present. Word of mouth among other students would turn up no solid answers. Rumors ranged from just running a little late to a top secret assignment from the LVA to even one kid hearing she died over the summer. One thing was for sure, if she was showing back up - none of the students knew when it actually was.

But for now, classes wouldn't be starting back up for another day. Time to settle in and get used to a new year at Anepool Academy for the Gifted.

Mikael sat down on the grass with a weary sigh. The day had barely begun and he was already feeling tired, his energy worn down by the seemingly endless sea of legs and feet he had found himself in. Being overwhelmed vertically was nothing new to him, but the sheer amount of people had really thrown the boy for a loop. As soon as he'd picked up his enrollment packet he'd been swept away by the tide. Fortunately, Mikael had managed to find a relatively quite corner of the campus to inspect the what he had received.

He carefully eased open the top of the envelope and extracted the contents. Mikael pulled them out one by one. Some letters, his schedules, and various other knick knacks, he gave them a brief glance before putting them into his backpack. He would look at them in detail later. Soon enough he found what he was looking for - a map. Just the thing for an inquisitive boy's needs.

Mikael got up to look around. It was hard to tell from his low vantage point, but judging by the landmarks he seemed to be in the gardens. Which, he supposed, would explain the grass he was standing on. Logically speaking he should start going towards the classrooms to see where his classes would be, it would save him some trouble tomorrow. But all the other freshmen would probably be doing that, and there ould be probably be many not-so-freshmen as well. He'd already had his fill of people and he was rather hesitant about braving the human tide again.

He paused to think a moment before coming to a decision. He would have to get familiar with the whole school eventually so it didn't really matter if he went to the classrooms now or later. And since he didn't know his way around anyway, from a certain perspective it didn't really matter where he went at all. So Mikael simply went. He picked a direction and started walking. Whether it would be to adventure or misfortune, he could only wait and see.

As cliche as it sounded, Pine was in one of his favorite places in the entire school, the garden. He stood amongst the flowers, absorbing the sunlight. He was a plant human hybrid, he needed all the sunlight he could get. Especially today, it was the first day of classes. That meant dealing with humans both old and new. He sighed just thinking about it.

Speaking of humans, apparently one of them had wandered into his favorite spot. A lost child by the looks of it. He was clearly was new, he seemed way too young to have been going here for a while, and Pine certainly didn’t recognize him. Great, now Pine was going to have to be social, so early in the morning.

Pine carefully approached the new student. Flowers grew behind him as he walked. ”Excuse me… child?” The green skinned young man asked. “Are you lost? The gardens are my favorite spot in this school, not many others causally hang out here… A good thing in my opinion.” He waved his hand and created a throne made of flowers for himself to sit on. “I do hope your not mistreating the flora. They don’t like being mishandled.”

The day began for Sol like any other: up at first light, a shower, followed by brushing his teeth, then he'd spend a few minutes browsing through the news on his phone as he cooked breakfast. All the while, his girlfriend, Luna, would still be sound asleep in their shared bed. Even when they were young, she was never one to wake easily and Sol had quickly learned it was usually better to let her sleep and wake up on her own. Which was usually when she smelled breakfast cooking.

A few moments after he returned to the stove, he heard the soft sound of Luna's bare feet on the floor of their apartment and soon felt her arms wrap around his middle from behind. "Murnin'..." she muttered sleepily as she rested her head on Sol's shoulder.

"Morning to you, too," Sol replied as he rested his head against Luna's. "Got a bit of an earlier start on breakfast than usual. I figured you might have forgotten about sch--"

"Don't say it," Luna grumbled. "You know I'm allergic to that word." She then let out a yawn and let go of her boyfriend. "I'm gonna go clean up and get dressed," Luna said as she trudged back down the hall toward the bathroom. By the time her shower was finished and she had dressed in her clothes for the day, Luna was awake, alert, and, despite how she felt about classes starting back up, she was excited to get the day started. While she knew classes wouldn't start until tomorrow, she was excited to see old friends, make new ones, and improve her abilities.

She and Sol spent the next while eating breakfast while they chatted about this and that until the time came. The couple set their dishes in the sink to be washed later, put their shoes and jackets on, and left their apartment. The drive to school only took ten minutes, so in no time at all, Sol and Luna found themselves back on campus. They left the parking lot and Luna stretched her arms over her head. "So," she said as she dropped her arms and laced her fingers with Sol's, "wanna go check out the clubs? We're here early enough, I bet we could find one we can both join!"

Sol squeezed Luna's hand and gave her a quiet smile. "Sounds like a plan," he replied as they made their way toward one of the main walkways.

Mikael turned and stared at the youth that had called out to him. His first impression - green. Green skin, green glasses, a green jacket too. The youth was a meta-human, then. He had seen many before, but he had never interacted very closely with one. With that in mind, he wondered what this green stranger really wanted with him.

Mikael quietly regarded the flowery chair that had sprung up from the ground with surprise. The other party seemed to be able to command plants... an interesting ability. Was it magic? Or was it the unique physioligy of meta-humans that allowed him to do this? His eyes unfocused slightly as he thought through a response to the green youth's questions.

Was Mikael lost? He supposed he was true to some degree. He had a destination and he didn't know how to get there. But he was perfectly willing to find out how, so he didn't really need directions. The boy mulled it over a moment longer before a promising idea floated to the top of his head. Could the green meta-human in front of him be a groundskeeper?

He refocused and studied the teenager before him once more. The green youth was quite tall (admittedly, compared to Mikael, most people were quite tall) and he looked young, but he was most definitely linked to plants in some way. Maybe plant-based meta-humans aged slower than normal people. The youth could be older than he looked, and he could also have just been hired by the academy to take care of the garden. After all, who better to take care of the garden than someone who could control plants.

Mikael nodded to himself in satisfaction. It explained the teenager's reaction to his presence, as it was entirely possible that he thought the boy had mischief in mind. It had been a reprimand of sorts for him being near the garden bed nearby. All Mikael had to do was assure him that nothing would happen to the flowers. To this end, he hopped off the lawn onto the nearby footpath.
"I'm sorry Mr. Groundskeeper, I'll be more careful next time." Mikael said, breaking his long silence.
He started walking in the same direction he had been travelling towards before he was stopped.

@Crimson Flame

Dandelion stepped out from the dorm building to the walkways hosting the club signups, and immediately took a step back in shock. The didn't get far, immediately bumping into Dr. Greene who was a step behind them. Their chaperone laughed and righted them, patting Dandy on the back. They stared wide-eyed at the massive assembly of people lining the hallway and milling about. They had genuinely never seen so many humans in a single place at once. Besides recordings, they had seen almost nothing on Earth at all.

Both Dandelion and Dr. Greene had moved in weeks before, quietly, and their enrollment had been completed with an equal amount of discretion. Dandelion was still something of a sensitive project the IPL was concerned, and they wanted Dandy's affairs handled quietly. Up until this point, things had been quiet. Dandelion and their chaperone had walked the grounds some before this, in early mornings when the few students that had also moved in were still asleep. Suddenly being in a full room of students... this was a test not only of how successful the IPL had been at acclimating Dandelion, but indeed of how sound an idea this had been in the first place.

Still nervous, Dandelion looked back at their handler with panic written in their mismatched eyes. Dr. Greene's kind eyes met theirs, and they smiled back at them reassuringly. Elizabeth Greene was a tall, attractive woman, possibly in her late thirties. Pale eyes, bright red hair, and milky-white skin combined with her height made her quite eye-catching, possibly moreso than the hybrid she stood behind. She carried a satchel of instruments over a white labcoat. What appeared at first glance to be a high collar rising up from the coat was actually part of a rubbery full-body suit in hospital green. The lip of the "collar" was a mechanism upon which a dome-shaped visor could be locked to hermetically seal the suit. Her glasses were silver-framed and had a camera and small computer attached. She gave Dandy another push toward the crowd, and they took a few steps forward. Hesitating at first, until they heard Dr. Greene's steps behind them, and then they confidently strode forward.

Dandelion stopped at each and every club recruiting station, and listened with rapt attention to all of their information and offerings. This of course was after a thorough introduction/interrogation by Dandelion, but once they felt satisfied by their first battery of questions, they hung on every word the club organizers said. Any brochure, sticker, or badge they were offered they gleefully accepted, and before long Dandy's red jumper was covered in pins and stickers, and they had a sticker for the music appreciation club on their cheek. While most of the representatives had been taken aback by their barrage of questions, so far there had been no negative reactions to Dandelion, and they seemed to be integrating smoothly.

Because of her situation with her enrollment here at Anepool, she had already settled in to a one person dorm at the request of her counselor that's been more or less looking after her since she arrived to the country. She had already been awake, unable to sleep because of her anxiety for today, and attempted to meditate. Though quickly she found that it felt stupid to just sit, her body unable to relax. Instead, she opted into going for a run to clear her head and help wake her up a bit, she found herself taking a path that was empty this early in the morning, much to her enjoyment. She had done a couple laps in silence when others began to show up, making her head back to her dorm room before anyone tried to make small talk.

Going to take a shower, Eri found it weird that she had the freedom to do...pretty much anything within the rules of the school. She did feel this constant unease, like her elders would appear at any time to snap her new found sense of security and self. She often found herself in the past two weeks waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and panic. She had been sleeping with her Tanto under her pillow, sort of a way to ease her nerves a bit, and it had resulted in a need for a new mattress the first couple of days into her stay at the dorms. The shower had been the worse, as she felt the most vulnerable there, and as a result, made her comically fast at showering. Changing into black overalls, a black t-shirt, and a black zip up sweater, she sighed as the sounds of the school came alive outside her door. Grabbing her back pack, she placed her tanto in its pocket, unsure if she could keep it out or not. Part of her was worried about it getting confiscated, but she felt like couldn't go anywhere without it. Leaving her room, she walked passed the waking students all heading to various places. Many seemed to already be ready for the day and heading to the main gate. She sighed internally, thinking she had gotten ahead of the crowd in hopes to get her brochure and look for Sol and Luna. Standing at the doors, she prepared herself as she could already hear the amount of people outside the dorms.

Opening the door, Eri found herself looking into a sea of students, something that she was told about from her counselor, but ultimately unprepared for the sheer volume of people in one space. Her heart seemed be trying to burst out of her chest, and her hands began to tremble a little, before going into her sweater pocket and pulling out her phone with earbuds wrapped around them. This was a coping mechanism she had already adopted while living on the Ikehara compound, she just hadn't been aware she was using music in that way. Pressing play on a playlist she made for moments exactly like this, Eri braved the crowds, being small would normally make someone her size anxious. Her training however made it easy to slip through the crowd like a tiny shadow, narrowly avoiding everyone as to not draw attention to herself.

Quickly getting her enrollment papers she hadn't received yet, she made a B-Line looking for the main gate. Sol and Luna had lived off campus, but Sol had offered to show Eri around today, the main gate being their meeting spot. Passing the many clubs and groups attempting to get members, with her headphones in, she made herself unapproachable to those looking to grab new students. Making it to the front, she stood off to the side looking for Luna since she'd be the most notable one.

---

"Play nice okay hun?"

"Yeah, whatever mom. I still don't get it tho, why should I go to school? I mean i'm doing fine on learning stuff on my own. I doubt I'll learn anything new here." Robert pouted. The young artificer speaks simply not out of arrogance.

He's a bit disappointed on why he has to trouble himself learning the basics again. Seems like a waste of time. Based on the given powers of hyperintellect he possesses and the ability to create advanced tech and such, He feels like he should be at college level at this point and not some kid attending grade school.

"I suppose..but do remember that knowledge isn't everything, son. I choose this school for a reason." Ms. Reese sighed.

"I know you may not like it.. but at least do it for me? ~Pleasee" His mother smiles beamingly at him. so much so that Robert becomes flustered.

"Tch.. fine.." Robert reluctantly said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

He stepped out of the car and went straight at the sea of students and numerous people alike. Robert was surprised the academy is a lot bigger inside. He went to the pavilion to get some idea of what extracurricular activities this school has to offer. But so far non interest him.

The delinquent can feel the glancing looks behind his shoulders, whisper and judging stares of humans and non-human creatures alike. With all of the piercing, tats, and that resting intimidating look Robert has, it's no surprise some people are trying to avoid him. Not that it matters to him. Robert is used to his infamy by now.

Robert continues his solo tour of the academy, finding himself in the halls where out of nowhere a small fire breaks out at the science lab. Smoke raises from the door as people inside started to exit.

Without a second thought, He rushes in and extends his hand. With a flick of his fingers, The artificer bends every technology equipment in the room to his own will, salvaging what needs to be saved and overriding the school's fire sprinkler system, putting it into overdrive, dousing the flames even faster.

Surely, this little display of minor hacking of the school system would get the security's attention.

The smoke clears and fire is put out. The science lab was mostly singed but still intact.

"Yo, What's the deal? you nerds making some indoor explosives?--- sounds fun..." Robert said with a mischievous smile.

"Well not exactly, one of our first years had a little mishap on his tinkering, causing it to malfunction and caught fire." One of the students said with a downcast expression.

"Say, that's a neat trick you got there.. I haven't seen you around these parts, have you ever tried joining a club? We would love if you join ours.. -- or at least help us clean up, if that's too much to ask. Hate to see the science club looking like a mess before the school year starts." Another student steps in and asked.

"Eh, sure.. why not.." Robert simply shrugs. He got nothing better to do on this first day, The young artificer decided might as well hang around here and burn some time.

Sol and Luna had just been about to enter the school when the former stopped and, in turn, brought Luna to a stop next to him. He was embarrassed to admit it, but he had gotten caught up in his girlfriend's excitement and it had slipped his mind that he was going to meet Eri at the front gate to show her around. "Something wrong?" Luna asked.

"No, nothing's wrong," Sol said as he turned to his girlfriend, "but I've got someone I need to meet up with. I promised her I'd show her around, since she's new. If you want, you can go check out the clubs and I'll meet up with you later."

Luna thought for a moment, then gave her boyfriend one of her trademarked grins. "Nah, they're not going anywhere," she said. "Besides, the more's the merrier, right? Maybe all three of us can find a club!" It wasn't that she didn't trust her boyfriend, given that he had mentioned meeting up with another girl. Luna knew she had nothing to worry about in that respect. She simply enjoyed meeting new people and if this girl was able to get her boyfriend, one of the least sociable people she knew, to take the initiative and offer to show her around, then Luna definitely had to meet her.

Sol smiled and squeezed Luna's hand before the couple turned away from the door. They made the trek from the parking lot to the main gate of the school and found Eri standing off to the side, headphones on her head and her back to them. Sol guided Luna around toward the periphery of Eri's vision, not wanting to startle her, and continued to approach her. When he and Luna were within arm's reach, Sol spoke up, "I'm sorry we kept you waiting, Eri. We just got here not too long ago."