---

---

---

Sabine fought an eye roll at Danny's antics. It was one of the main reasons she liked him so much. The two of them complimented each other well. "The freshie isn't worth your time or thought mon ami. They are but a speck of sand in the desert, blurred into the crowd." Sabine pressed forward. Danny appeared in good spirits so mission accomplished as far as she was concerned. And dunking a teacher? Bonus!

As they made their way to the dunk tank, Danny mentioned Dorian would be joining them. Sabine felt a twinge of uncertainty. It wasn't like she hated Dorian. He was....all right. If he was a flavor he would be vanilla. Good, but there are better options out there. Still, Danny and him were friends so she would have to it her tongue on that. Sabine glanced over at April, who appeared to be battling some inner dialogue of her own. She seemed cool thus far, which is a rare compliment.

"Mai, either one would be lucky to have you. Or neither. Or both! Hell, why not both? The world is much more beautiful when your options are wide open." Sabine winked at Mai. If Tommy and Kate broke up, it's not the end of the world. Relationships came and went so easily, especially at a high school. The rumor about Agatha and Coulson though was not your average, run-of-the-mill rumor. "If she is leaving, I doubt it is for any reason as outlandish as that, Danny, even from your totally super reliable source. Speaking of, since she is leaving soon, may as well pop over by her tent. Rumors on the gossip page suggest she's handing out wicked fortunes. Some kid even cried!"

Soon they were at the tank. Coulson was already wet, which was a bummer. She wanted to be the first to dunk him. No matter, when the attendant asked, she raised her hand. "I would." She was given the balls and faced the target. She mentally chastised herself. She was not the most athletic person and tossing a ball was for brain-dead jocks. Still, she threw the first, but it was too high. She picked up the next ball, pretended to give a fuck about aiming, and threw it. Too low.

She picked up the last ball and made a note that, if she failed, she would wipe everyone's memories within a 10 mile radius. She threw it and....

Just right.

The target rocked and Coulson was dunked! Sabine clapped and jumped up and down. "Oh my god I, like, wasn't even trying! How's that water taste Headmaster?"

---

---

---

Leah didn't catch the weird change to her skin, because she was too busy hauling on the grip of that hammer to pay attention to anything else. Once that didn't work, she gave up and left the snotty little kid to worry about it himself. She then made her way back across the field, passing by everything else and thinking that this year would possibly going fine after all. What was the worst that could happen? Sure, an infinity stone could fall out of the sky and blow the place up, or a fresh-faced villain with a vengeance could roll up and-

Okay, maybe that one was a bit too much for her.

Anyway! Fuck that! Leah elected to go any do something fun, and she rolled up to where a bunch of students in her classes were wearing armor and holding what looked to be foam swords. She caught and overheard the explanation of passive powers, and it caught her interests. "Got room for one more?" She asked, internally stifling an unamused facial expression at the tone that Megan chick took with Mads. Oh, right. Mads... She'd have to talk to her later about the runs Agatha gave her. Honestly, she could tolerate Diana long enough to square up with the green-haired chick, whats-her-face, and that Victoria girl she wasn't entirely familiar with. Still, though, something about that girl with the braids unnerved Leah. And not in a good way... If powers were allowed, she might pull out a sword made of rocks.

The tent flap shut behind Mary Sue as she stumbled inside, giving her privacy from the outside world. The inside of the tent was clearly much bigger than the outside, and far more magical. Candles and tarot cards and runes and crystals floated through the air, all seemingly under the control of the elderly witch seated at a small circular table. A panther rubbed its face up on Mary Sue's legs, before letting out what could only be described as a comforting purr.

"Oh, my dear, you are exactly where you ought to be," Agatha said, her voice gentle and withered. She rose to her feet and removed her purple shawl from her shoulders, and draped them around Mary Sue's. "Sit and tell me all about it. Let me know what Agatha Harkness can do to help, child."

Mary Sue had failed to properly take in her surroundings when she had first entered, and thus was shocked by the TARDIS of a booth. The panther rudding against her htough, gave her pause, and grounded her to where she was. This place was so astronomically different than the outside that she felt herself calming almost instantly, let things had almost reset. As the shawl was draped over her, she found herself drawing deep breaths, and though she was shaky, she was decidely safe.

Her head was throbbing and her eyes were wet, but even then, she kenw who was in front of her, and that was a very old, very badass witch. This was, almost inarguably, one of the safest places she could be right now. Nodding mutely, she found herself sitting across from Agatha. "I just... I feel wrong? I don't know. I want to be here, and I want to leave things better than I left them, but I don't... know how to play the hand I've been dealt." She looked at the woman across from her, who, from everything she knew, had steeped in greatness. "How... can I do that? Every thing I've done today has gone terribly. I ripped my top, I think I put the fear of the gods into a girl, and I... lost my nerve. Everything is too much, Miss Harkness." Her voice clipped a bit at the end, and her eyes averted themselved to the table in front of her, as she realized another mistake she'd made, and quickly muttered out, "My name is Mary Sue Sullivan, by the way, and... thank you for letting me escape to here."

Agatha nodded, as a tea kettle floated on over and poured out two cups of tea - both of them chamomile. "Drink up, child, it'll steady your nerves," Agatha offered. She had found over her long life that there were few problems made worse by tea - and many that could be improved. She paused for a moment, intentionally so. Mary Sue reminded her of a fragile little doe - she wanted to take things slow. "The first day in any new place is always the hardest - particularly for a young girl with the weight of destiny and ancestry on her shoulders, Mary Sue," Agatha then said.

"I see great things in your future - but none of it shines brighter than the girl I see in front of me now. I may not be able to set everything right, but as for the top," Agatha snapped her fingers, and the top began to mend itself, until it was brand new. "I can at least do that much."

Mary Sue gently took the tea in front of her, and sipped away at it, listening as Agatha spoke. Those words, Ancestry and Destiny make her pay attention. "Children of SHIELD Agents can't be rare here." She said carefully, looking down into her cup. It had to be true, she supposed. This was the premier school for heroes, and SHIELD was great and all, her parent saved the planet plenty, but compared to Avengers? They were small potatoes. That could just be her biases though, or her need to look down on herself.

As her top was healed, Mary Sue couldn't help but keep herself from smiling. "You're... very kind, and I appreciate you taking me in here." She said, taking a brief look at the fabric of her clothes. There were sparks of curiousity in her, what was seen of her future, or how much of Miss Harknesses powers were real or just show. "I just... feel weak I guess. What would you do, if you were me? In a new place, with amazing people, and wanting to make a difference? How do I... do that?" she asked, hoping that the witch might have some experience that could be relevant to this situation.

"No, if you were to throw your cup out of the tent, I would guess you would hit at least five agent-lings," Agatha agreed. "But that does not make you any less special or important, Mary Sue." She then paused, listening to Mary Sue's questions. Her intuition was guiding her, and while otherwise she might've just given straight advice, Agatha had a feeling that Mary Sue needed to hear advice from within herself. Tarot cards not only predicted the future, but held up a mirror to oneself, allowing hidden and mysterious things to come to light.

Agatha felt compelled to draw six cards, each card fluttering down in front of her, and resembling a certain concept - concepts that were deeply embedded in Mary Sue's ancestry. Space, reality, power, mind, time, and soul. The Devil Reversed, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged One, Four of Pentacles Reversed, Three of Pentacles, and Two of Wands Reversed. Agatha hesitated, the candlelight in the tent flickering. If she had not felt the weight of destiny on Mary Sue's shoulders before, she did now. "In this reading, each of these cards represents an important concept that makes up our universe," Agatha began softly.

"The space that you inhabit, the reality you experience, the power you wield, your state of mind, the flow of time, and your immortal soul. I see that you are your own greatest obstacle right now, my dear, chaining yourself and preventing yourself from evolving. You are at a new beginning, a bright new turning point, and in it you can find new perspective, should you pause and surrender to this change. In your mind, I sense a great deal of fear and conflict, an urge to protect yourself. You are entering a new phase of your life, one of learning and collaboration - of friendship - but in your soul... You are afraid of the unknown. That is your greatest challenge, your greatest weakness."

"You must learn to let go of that fear, Mary Sue, or it will ruin you," Agatha warned seriously. "Do not deny yourself your power."

Mary Sue's eyes flitted down to the cards before her as they were drawn before her. She could almost hear how her father might of reacted to this in his head, thinking not much of divination or any purported magics. He was the type of dismiss it out of hand, to insist that there was some deeper, scientific method that could be applied to any system to understand it. She wasn't that though, she felt something deep here. One of the oldest witches alive was giving her insight into herself and that mattered, She shuddered at the words she spoke, and closed her eyes, trying to sort through the complicated emotions.

"I-" She started, before stopping herself. She was about to get defensive, to bite back against the words being said to her, but instead, she opened her eyes, nodded and said, "I understand. I will try." That was all she could promise. The unknown shadowed all she did, she found any bit of uncertainty so paralyzing, she knew she couldn't just... stop overthinking things. But she could make incremental progress, maybe. "I... don't know how I'm going to do it, but, you're right. And I promise I'll do something and... " her voice softened, almost to a quiet whisper, "Thank you."

"You have everything you need inside of you," Agatha said softly. She stared at Mary Sue, considering what she could bestow upon her to give her some confidence, something to help her guide herself through the treacherous waters ahead. The idea that came to her was perhaps unusual, something unique, something that she hoped Mary Sue would make the most of. Agatha's hand reached into thin air, as if grabbing something, and a moment later she had what looked like a shiny pink makeup compact, with a moon symbol detailed onto it. Agatha then tapped it once and it floated over to Mary Sue.

"This mirror shows the truth of things - I hope you use it well," Agatha offered. "Every magical girl needs a talisman."

Mary Sue watched as the compact was snatched out of the air, allowing herself to feel thrill at the minor display of magic. She gently took it, and stored it away in her pocket. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She said, her cheeks blushing red at being called a magical girl. With that, she rose to leave, and said, "I'll um. If you're ever back around the academy and want to get tea, I'd love to see you again." It felt a little silly to branch that to the great Agatha Harkness, but she still did, a part of her hoping she'd be interested in such a thing.

---

---

---

---

Madalyne looked over at Zarina for a moment and nodded towards her. "I do have some sword fighting experience, I needed to learn something in case a fight gets up close and personal." She said to Zari, it was something that her mother had told her to pick up, as Madalyne made her way towards the rack of fake foam swords. Her eyes focused on one of them as she picked it up and twirled it around in her hand, when someone else came up and turned to look up at Leah. She didn't know Leah all that well aside from having a few classes here and there last year. "Sure the more the merrier." Madalyne said to Leah as she went to the ring standing across from Megan.

Then something started to come over her, as she started to grip the handle of her sword rather tightly, she was seeing red as she stared at Megan. She was really mad at her for some reason, Madalyne didn't know what though, she gave Megan a nod she was able to use her magic against Megan in the fight in case she needed it. "Good then I won't be holding back." Madalyne said as she studied Megan for a few seconds and then she quickly charged forward as she drew out the fake sword and managed to get a good swing against Megan's side, when she ended up getting hit to and stumbled backwards slightly.

---

---

---

---

"Meeting with Agatha it is then, after that though we are going to do some archery." Diana said, she figured that they could trade off and pick which they could do once they finished each part. She shook her head slightly and smiled towards Percy, she was slightly curious if she would find someone this year, either a boy or girl she liked both really. "Then i'll do the same thing and ask her about your sex life." Diana said jokingly as she heard the door opening, she saw Teddy coming in and waved towards him and smiled. "Hey Teddy, whats up?" Diana asked him.

Then a few seconds later Zelda came into the lobby as well to, seeing her holding a She-Hulk teddy bear in her arms and smiled. "Hey Zelda how are you doing?" Diana asked, she was roommates with Zelda, and she knew her a little bit growing up, due to their parents occasionally meeting back up and catch up alot of the former members Secret Warriors all had kids now at this point. She gave Percy a slight look and shook her head slightly. ]"Percy not cool, be nice to them." Diana told him and sighed slightly as she looked at the two of them. "Sorry for my little brother." Diana told Teddy and Zelda, she then watched as Dorian came out of the elevator and bumping into Teddy, sighing slightly and shaking her head as Dorian headed out of the lobby.

God, some lemonade would be amazing. When was the last time he had even had lemonade? Summertime back home usually only hit about the low 60s on average, which wasn’t exactly prime lemonade weather, but he wasn’t back home right now. He was Outside. And it was hot. Even after five years in sunny LA, it was still hard to get used to it, although admittedly, his condition did make it a bit less tolerable. His bulk and hair in this weather? Miserable. It was one of the biggest downsides to the medicine. He was absolutely drenched and God only knew how bad it had to smell. Off the meds, he didn’t actually sweat. Panting sucked in its own way, but man…at least he didn’t completely reek.

As Teddy entered the lobby of Stark Hall, he spotted both Diana and who he could only imagine was Percy. If it was, he really had to give Diana credit - her descriptions had been spot on. When Diana waved at him and called out, Teddy returned the gesture, approaching the pair, yet keeping a respectful enough distance to not overwhelm them with B.O.

“Oh, hey!” replied, cheerfully. He had practically been vibrating with excitement since leaving the van pit and so desperately wanted to tell somebody about it. Diana and he were tight - if anybody would share his excitement, it’d probably be her but…

“Percy, right? It’s nice to finally meet you. I hope you end up liking it here.” he said. Turning back to Diana, he glanced over as she greeted a girl named Zelda who happened to be walking by. Teddy offered her a smile and a nod before answering Diana. “No, no worrie, he’s fine. I won’t keep you guys. You looked like you were in the middle of something and I desperately need a shower. I just got done with the gym and then the van lift so...”

Teddy heard the ding of the elevator signaling its arrival. Lucky, he wouldn’t have to wait.

“But uh, Percy. We’re roommates this year, so if you need anything just lemme know? Or if I do something that really gets on your nerves, just don’t be afraid to call me out, okay.” he finished, offering the pair a little nod as a goodbye when he felt something impact him.

Did…did somebody throw a doll or…?

Teddy turned to see one Dorian Gray currently flat on his ass and apologizing. Had he…oh fuck, did he just ghostbusted Dorian by accident? “Oh, no, I’m sorry, it’s all good.” Teddy started, instinctively apologizing himself in an attempt to soothe the probably embarrassed and hopefully uninjured Junior. “Are you o-” he started before Dorian interrupted to excuse himself then scurried away. “-kay…?” Teddy finished, watching the Poltergeist flee before turning back to the Novikoffs with a confused expressed, mouthing ‘What was that’ before shrugging. He then raised his eyebrows in the universal sign of ‘Who knows?’ before raising his hand and breaking away from the pair, heading off to the elevators. He usually took the stairs if there was a crowd, but…

It was empty. He stepped inside and pressed the button for his floor.

When he arrived, Teddy went straight to his room, closing the door behind him. He was so happy, he felt weightless. He glanced over the journal sitting on the center of his neatly organized desk and considered going ahead and writing down his thoughts on the events of the day, but ultimately decided against it. He’d get clean and grab a bite first. There’d be plenty of time later for that. And so he gathered a change of clothes, a towel, and his other toiletries before heading off for a shower, where the little relief that he had found from the lift would be quickly replaced by despair when he discovered the results of pushing himself.

---

Mai’s eyes practically glazed over at the superhero babble between her friends. She was all for gossip - practically sustaining herself solely off of tea - but man…she couldn’t give less of a fuck what a bunch of old shits were up to. Maybe her disinterest in super society stemmed from the complete disconnect between her personal life and that world, but man…she couldn’t wait until the dinosaurs were gone.

At April’s encouragement, Mai puffed out her chest but quickly deflated. “Bruh…you right, but like, no self-respecting Sappho comes to a place like this and exclusively goes for dudes. She’s a token straight and I’m not trying to be problematic.” Mai bemoaned. When Sabine chimed in to suggest picking up a two-for-one, she laughed. “Naaah, I’m good. Dudes are crusty.”

Finally, after much searching, there was the prey: all alone aboard a board. He was drenched, which got a laugh from Mai. “Look at this soggy ol’ fuck.” she said in a hushed voice as they drew near. When the attendant went over the terms, Mai began to focus. Years of skipping gym classes had finally lead up to this - it was finally her chance to put what she had avoided like the plague to the test: she would finally throw a ball. It would take everything she ha-

Sabine volunteered first. Mai deflated. She had been bested. She had spent too much time hyping herself up and a vulture swooped in to steal her kill. What the shit, Beani-

She did it. The third ball flew true, sending Coulson to a watery grave. Mai’s excitement burst forth, bludgeoning her envy and bitterness with a ball bat as she practically began hopping, flapping her hands over toward Sabine until she grasped the girl’s shoulder, shaking her in congratulations. “BRUHWHATTHEFUCKTHATWASSOBADASS!” Mai shouted rapidly as a single word. “YOU FUCKING SWAMPED HIS ASS!” she cheered, almost as satisfied with it as if she had done it herself. Sabine was Queen and in that moment Mai was fully prepared to throat punch anyone who would dare disagree.

---

---

From all Ardere had seen and heard at the carnival, the decadent food and the foolhardy schoolmates showing off their powers at the galleries, she wasn't expecting to see Queen Bees. Three upperclassmen, from the way the crowd parted from them like Moses and the Red Sea, walked like royalty on the school grounds. Even the ridiculous face paint they had seemed to belong in the Louvre. Ardere would laugh if she didn't feel a hint of jealousy of their gravitas; how nice it would be to be adored by everyone. Wealth and beauty, the trio seemed to have it all as the redhead stared until they disappeared out of sight. Good riddance, it seems. As bad as it is to be alone here, better than being alone and humiliated.

If the stories her older brother told had any hint of truth to them, Ardere reminded herself to stay clear of cliques. She shook herself out of her deep brooding. Practicing her smile to look less like a stone gargoyle, the freshman soon thought of the fortune teller, wondering if there would be animals present, like a dog or maybe a cat. Perhaps some background music and nice-smelling flowers that distracts the mind but Ardere corrected herself to stop thinking so stereotypically of witches and fortune tellers. However, her train of thought was interrupted by a voice too high-pitched for a teenager.

Ardere's eyes fell upon Dorian like a tsunami crashing upon the beach, regarding him with utmost curious blue eyes as if he was the most unusual sight on campus. An awkward pause existed between the two of them before Ardere finally processed his question.

"Yes." she answered, perhaps too monotonously. "I'm waiting for the fortune teller. I think someone is also inside. This is the line if you're also interested in meeting her.

"Oooooh damn, get your woman, girlie!" Danny cheered Mai's interest in Katie on. Maybe then they can pry for those sweet, sweet details about what broke the two up - it was probably even worse than what the rumors were saying about the two and getting one of the squad in the inside circle would certainly give 'em the inside scoop. "T'at way we can get the sweet, sweet deets on the break up! Gettin' the most reliable deets, so even Sabeanie can't deny my info is good!" He stuck his tongue out playfully at Sabine as they made their way through the Carnival.

"Yo, fuck the x-men, and not in the fun way, but if everyone was a Sinister clone?!" Danny gasped, eyes wide as he looked around. "T'at'd be fucking terrifying and kinda awesome at the same time, right? Like, bad guy, super scare but also like bad guy, kick some ass, am I right?" At the mention of fortune telling, Danny disentangled himself from Sabine and held up a big X with his arms.

"Can't do fortune tellin'! At least, no yet! Dee really wants ta do it with everyone so gotta wait for the birt'day boy." He sang, a little nervously after Sabine mentioned wicked fortunes. "And when you say wicked, do we mean wicked cool or wicked spooky 'cause I don't do spooky very well and I always need someone to 'old my hand 'cause I get spooked by the spooks and if Prof Aggie is doing the spooks, should I get my fortune told?"

It was a serious conundrum. He did not like scary spooky things, he only liked cute and a little creepy spooky things, but Prof Aggie sounded more scary spook than cute spook. He could feel the gears in his head start to overheat as he considered the conundrum, the sound of a body hitting water and Mai's victory shrieking breaking his vicious feedback loop of concern. "Awwwwww yeah! Look at Beanie go! Droppin' Profs and looking bomb!" He couldn't help but also latch onto Sabine, shaking her in tandem with Mai in his excitement for her victory.

---

---

---

---

Rejoining the group at the swords, Andy felt a swell of anger. She was irritated at her mom. This was supposed to be a fun relaxing day, but here she was babysitting her. She was irritated at the looks she was getting. And was her mom seriously whispering virgin at half the student body as Andy crossed their paths? But something about the girl Madalyne was facing just put Andy's teeth on edge. She put the bag with the doll of her mom down so Selene could watch the fights.

There was a really tall girl there too now, that Andy didn't know. Obviously. Since she only really knew Zari in the whole school. And she supposed she could say she knew Mai, but only barely. They had said like three sentences to each other since arriving at school. Mai seemed fine. A lot of personality in a small package. But Andy figured they could get along well enough.

Andy squatted next to the bag, "I've never felt the urge to curse someone before now." She said shaking her head slightly but staring at the dark-haired girl. Zari and Victoria were squaring off and that was what Andy wanted to watch, but she also just really hoped the dark-haired girl would trip. She frowned. Where was this coming from?

"Is this your fault?" She asked the doll. "Did those chips have hate spices on them or something?" She really hoped not. She had shared them with Mai.

---

---

She wasn't expecting to run into too many people in the hall, but she did end up running into a few people on her way back to her dorm room. Zelda recognized two of them, namely Percy and Diana. Though she didn't know them super well (mainly Diana through her sister), she'd met them and did know them a little bit. The other guy though, she had no idea who that was. He definitely seemed like he was probably a Junior or Senior or something like that. That didn't last too long though, as the guy left, but his name was Teddy apparently.

"Oh, uh yeah... It is. I got it for answering all the questions correctly at the trivia booth... Kind of where I first headed..." she responded to Percy's question about the bear, before looking at Diana. "I'm okay, kind of... Aside from the trivia thing I had a bad encounter with another student that didn't go over well... My powers kind of went... Haywire..." she ended up admitting to the pair of them, unsure of what else to really say. Anything they had been talking about wasn't her place, and she wasn't sure what else to say to them.

---

---

Zari didn't really seem to notice the emphasis that Victoria had put on the words only human when she spoke to her. Nope, Zari was way more interested in the fact that she was challenging her to a sword fight! "Oh you are so on!" she said, before racing over to the foam weaponry racks. The key here for her was searching for the weapon that was closest in weight and size to her own, as it would make it easier to fight with. Allowing her to keep her balance and stance throughout the mini duel of sorts. Her hands started pulling a few different options off of the rack to test out, and she did a few test swings with the various blades.

"01011010 01100001 01110010 01101001 00100000 01101000 01110101 01110010 01110010 01111001 00100000 01110101 01110000 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100001 01101100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 01111001 00101110" Mr. Eyeball beeped at her.

"Quiet down, not all swords are created equal, no matter who the blacksmith is. They all will be different weights even if by a fraction, not to mention points of balance can vary depending on it... Wait, what the hell am I doing, I can just pull Glowstick out and compare things," she ended up saying, before detaching the flashlight that was hooked onto her belt, shifting it into its full sized sword self. Now she took another minute picking through the swords, until she eventually found one that was very close to the correct size and all for her. "Cool, alright, let's do this then..." she put her actual sword away, it shifting back into a flashlight, before she went into one of the rings, swinging her foam sword a little bit. "Are you ready? Let's see what you've got," she said to Victoria as she got into a prepared stance, waiting for Victoria to make the first move.

---

---

Initially delighted at the challenge being accepted, and for now without any mention of robots other than a Mk II Eyeball, Victoria's excitement mellowed out as seconds turned to minutes while this girl spent as much time on picking a foam sword as others would spend picking clothes to try on. Victoria eventually moved to the arena, hoping the duel would happen sometime today. The mechashift sword slash flashlight caught her eye though. "So cool..." she whispered under her breath, making a note to ask to get a peak on the internal mechanisms.

Finally, her opponent decided to grace her with her presence. "Yawn. I was ready two minutes ago." She watched as the sword expert of the two of them took a defensive stance. It was something she noticed most of her peers in class did. Why did everyone give up the initiative so readily? She smirked, turning her body sideways, sword in the front hand raised to guard, the back hand prepared to strike. "Are we going to stand around here all day, or are we going to fight?" I would make a kickass Kingsman. I can even dress the part. she thought briefly, trash talking as much to try to throw her opponent off as to delude herself into thinking she had a snowball's chance on the surface of the Sun, before putting all of her focus on the fight ahead.

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, she lunged forth, intending to catch Zari's blade with her forward hand, and make a slash at her stomach with her back hand.

---

---

---

@Ever Faithful@Natsu@TrainerBlue192: The flaps to Agatha's tent billowed open, as Mary Sue exited. Agatha peered out for a moment, taking in Ardere and Dorian. The expression on her face was unclear - surprised, perhaps? Or wary? It was difficult to say. At any rate though, Ardere had gotten there first, so it was her turn to go ahead and talk to Agatha. Dorian would have to wait a little while longer - he'd likely notice the cute little compact in Mary Sue's hands, with its striking resemblance to the compact of Sailor Moon, only with a moon instead of a star. Maybe something worth talking about? (@Ever Faithful go ahead and post the collab we did now!).

@BlueSky44@Forsythe@Nallore@Kirah@Blizz::


In the fight between Vicky and Zari, things were bound to be interesting. The two of them were both tech types, both with Nordic heritage, and somewhat of an obsession when it came to swords and shields. As Zari went into a defensive stance, allowing Vicky to make the first move, Lady Luck was clearly on her side. Vicky lunged forward to catch Zari's blade, attempting to block with one sword and let the other attack. Instead, Zari's defense and parry knocked Vicky's forward sword out of her hand, sending it flying into the seats where it hit some poor sophomore in the face (sorry, Carl!).

In the fight between Mads and Ser Megan, Ser Megan was either excited or annoyed that Mads had managed to land a blow on her, albeit a soft one that she had quickly returned. "It's been a long time since someone managed to do that," she observed dryly. Was it a compliment or a dig? With this girl, it seemed to always be hard to say, something that was no doubt infuriating. Megan advanced forward with a quick sequence of strikes, alternating in heights and targets, all in an attempt to catch Mads off guard, but Mads would manage to - just barely - block them all. They were evenly matched - for now.

"What ho!" the King, aka the president of the Medieval Knights, said as Leah approached. "Yea and verily, we doth have a new contender for the tourney!" They weren't really using the correct terms or whatnot, instead speaking like an actor's rough approximation of what someone from the middle ages might sound like - likely from Monty Python. The King paused for a moment, trying to figure out who to have newcomer Leah spar off against, but then they spotted Andy - talking to her bag? "Fair lady knight, doth thou wish to compete in a contest of arms?" they shouted out to her.

"Why yes, I would LOVE to do that! Before you kids got all into scissors, we had swords," Selene the haunted doll shouted. Then, at a longer volume, she giggled and answered - or at least gave a response to - Andy's questions. "Aww, you're going to make mummy cry with joy - now go and kill this girl in an unrighteous fury, dove."

The King didn't see the doll, so he assumed that weird (British? Greek? it was hard to say) accent that had answered them must've come from Andy. "Excellent! Verily! The two of you shall face off in yonder spot!" they said, pointing at an open mat, and gesturing to the foam swords lying on a tarp. "Pick your weapon! Powers may be used if both parties doth agree. And these fights are to the death, good lady knights!"

---

---

"Likewise," Percy said to Teddy. "I don't think I will have a problem telling you if I'm annoyed," he then said honestly. He tended to speak his mind without restraint.

Percy could not help but have déjà vu, seeing the boy from earlier crash into Teddy and land on his ass this time. He didn't know it, but Percy was staring at him with a clear expression of disgust. Had anyone called him out on it though, he would've claimed that was just his face. He couldn't help that he had a bad case of RBF from time to time. Particularly when assholes like Dorian were around. But the expression of disgust was replaced with one of immense confusion, as Dorian excused himself with the most nonsensical thing Percy had heard in his life.

"... I think he might have a concussion," Percy said, trying to wrap his head around it. He had heard plenty of French, he didn't have a problem translating it thanks to his powers, and he was almost certain the boy had said Would you have before rushing out of Stark Hall. Maybe it was best if he didn't think about him too much. He was only going to annoy and confuse Percy at best. And yet, he was having trouble getting him out of his mind - and clearly, out of his life as well. In a school of almost a hundred students, how come he had run into this guy twice in barely an hour?

He was irritated not just at that boy though, but at his sister. He would have never brought up her sex life as a joke. He was barely fourteen years old. He didn't want to think about anything like that ever, it was gross to him. So naturally, he was angry that she had brought up his - something that he was very much not partaking in. He hadn't even kissed a boy yet.

His roommate, Teddy, seemed fine though. Percy was certain that he would have no trouble calling him out if needed. Zelda was still there though, as Teddy left. And she seemed to be painfully shy. "What kind of encounter?" Percy asked curiously. "The asshole who knocked into our friendly giant? He got his buddy to light me on fire and then he possessed my body," Percy said bitterly. "I'm sure it can't have been worse than that."

He then looked at Diana. He didn't really want to be hanging around solo with his sister. That wasn't the vibe he wanted. "You should come with us. Safety in numbers."

---

---

April pouted slightly at how easily Mai gave up on her Kate Bishop dreams. She didn't necessarily disagree though. There were plenty of rumors going around that Kate might've been bi, but she hadn't dated anyone seriously besides Tommy Maximoff so far at AA. She nodded in agreement though as Mai declared that dudes were crusty - they really were. April didn't like the label, but she was a gold star lesbian, having never even considered the possibility of a special guy in her life. The only special guys she needed were Danny and Dorian.

Which then proceeded to bring back the little bits of dark swirling jealousy in her stomach - especially as after Sabine's killer shot, Mai was cheering for her, and Danny was shaking Sabine in excitement. April's chest began to feel a little bit tight, and she could almost feel the hint of something behind her eyeballs. "OMG you did it!!!" April cheered, putting on her best smile. "That was, like, absolutely killer! You didn't mind wipe us to make us all think you did it right?" April then teased slightly, before instantly regretting it. "Not that I'm accusing you or saying you would, though! You totally did it all by yourself without your powers! It was amazing!"

And then, April felt like that had been all too much. She was never good at doing things in moderation. It was always way too much, way too fast. She wished that Dorian was back. He was supposed to be meeting them there soon, right? She pulled out her phone and shot off a quick text to him. April took another bite into her apple, before realizing her appetite had almost entirely vanished. "I'm gonna go throw this out, be right back besties!" April said, before hurrying off to the nearest trash can.


Poor Headmaster Coulson, meanwhile, was rapidly blinking his eyes, trying to get the water out of them. It took him a minute before he managed to climb back up onto his chair, wet as a dog. "Sparkling, Miss Bassard," Coulson answered Sabine, shaking his head at the crazy kids.

---

---

---

What ho? Really?

"Yeseth. Thouest doth possesseth anotherine combatant...Eth. Just gimme a damn sword already." She didn't let him hand her one though, rather, Leah walked over and picked one out herself. She grabbed what looked to be a foam claymore, and looked over at Andy. "One of my powers are kind of always on, so this'll hurt. If you wanna use yours, go ahead, but I won't go out of my way to make rocks start flying at you." Leah opted to not even look in the direction of that girl with the braids. Hearing her speak was just grating to listen to. Geez, was she always snarky like that? It made her sound like fucking Sabine. God, she hated Sabine. Anyway!

Leah walked over and got into a stance that was used for boxing, but held the foam claymore like she was prepared to impale Andy if she advanced. It was some sort of weird stance combo that anyone who was more accustomed to swords would recognize as the physical equivalent of an educated guess. Logically speaking, her feet needed to be spread apart, and she needed to be prepared for an attack.

"Ready when you are."

---

---

Victoria could not believe her optics. This should have worked, at least badly. Two blades versus one, even if she died on this hill, she should have taken out her opponent with her. That was basic arithmetic! But apparently, today probability said 'hold my beer' and decided to screw her over. She watched in horror and ever increasing shame as not only was her attack deflected, but she lost one of her weapons, with her own follow-up somehow not materializing.

She watched the lost weapon fly off into the crowd and frag a friendly, unable to avert her gaze from the unraveling disaster. The utter mortification resulting from this took so much of Victoria's attention, that she missed the fact that the disarming strike also launched her own arm in an arc towards her face, up until her own fist clobbered her own temple. Her head snapped backwards, now wearing a look of surprise mixed with bewilderment.

She stood there frozen still, quietly reflecting on her life choices. Perhaps she could still be an accountant? That may be more on her level, apparently.

Estimating probability of experienced outcome...
~ 0.25%

After taking a second to let that number sink in, she slowly straightened her head and glared at Zari. "Okay. I know I said I was going to be bad at this, but come on. I cannot be this bad. I refuse to believe it! Not after two years in this place! I know I don't have a super gimmck of my own, but there is a guy with bow and arrow on the Avengers, for zuck's sake! This must have been an extreme bad luck on my part, and a lucky shot on yours. If we do this again, this can't end this badly again... Right?" she frowned, taking a few steps away and readying herself for another round.

"Come on, one more time...?" she half ordered, half pleaded. Now with only one blade, she assumed the same stance as before, only with the freed arm ready to grapple instead.

---

---

---

---

Andy was impressed with Zari's skills. Andy knew she was well-trained so she wasn't surprised, but it was exciting to watch. Too bad the sword hadn't hit the girl with braids. Madalyne was doing good against the dark-haired girl too. But now she was being dragged into a fight with someone she didn't know. Stupid Selene.

"I don't know how to use a sword, that isn't who I wanted to curse, and making you proud really isn't a life goal of mine." Andy hissed under her breath at the possessed doll in her bag. Andy took off her jacket, it was too hot to wear it and fight, and placed it next to the bag. With a heavy sigh, she stood up from the squat she had taken and entered the arena, grabbing a long sword. It was the first one she found.

"Uh, yeah. I have a power I can't turn off too. I won't intentionally shock you. Uh, by the way, I'm Andy." She introduced herself. It seemed weird to get into a fake-sword fight without properly introducing herself, even if the fight was apparently to the death, which Andy was ready to accept if it meant she didn't have to deal with high school again.

As she looked at the girl, Andy picked up on the stance. She tilted her head. She'd much rather box than do sword fighting. The whole reason she had wanted to come here was so Zari could maybe show her some tips.

"Not to distract from the whole sword part of this, but do you box?" There was a bit of hope in her voice. Maybe after they got past this they could spar. Andy missed boxing. Missed that time of her life. Missed how easy it was to be in the ring. How the other's fights had started was not what Andy was used to. Put her in a ring and she'd be a happy camper. She took a prepared stance, that much like her opponent, was from boxing. But closer to an MMA orthodox stance. Her left foot is in front of her right. The sword in her right hand, it looked awkward.

"Oh, suppose I'm ready." Then she was moving. The stance hadn't helped. Andy stumbled a bit, but she swung the sword and was able to tap her opponent. What had been meant as a feint, was almost a trip, but it worked out since she got the hit in.

---

---

---

Of Course the redhead was waiting for Agatha as well. It was as if the world was out to get him today. He'd decided, seventeen was now officially his unlucky number, a cursed number, that was the only explanation for the horrid day he had been having so far. Dorian knew that Captain Nemo the not fish was trying to make it better, and he did, but only for that moment of time that he was within his office. A part of Dorian wondered if maybe he shouldn't have left just yet. After all, had he stayed even a few minutes later, he never would've run into Teddy, and he wouldn't have seen that disgusted look on Diana's brother's face, and perhaps then this redhead wouldn't be in line and would have already finished with her reading. The monotonous tone of the little redhead added to it all. What was with the freshman this year? Was he this bad when he first entered?

All his thoughts were mentally swept under the rug as the tent flaps opened once more. Dorian tried to take a peek inside, seeing only a concerning look upon Agatha's face before the flaps closed behind the gingered student. The student who left however, had a remarkably cute compact within her hands. Perhaps he could try and make some light out of this situation and find someone to talk to to ease his mind while he waited. "I like your compact!" he blurted out without thought. Dorian groaned to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose (a bad habit of both his fathers) before sitting on the bench the previous student had been eating at. There was a long sigh as he looked down at the ground. "Sorry. I've had a very bad day today, so my mind's not all there right now. But that is a cute compact, reminds me of Sailor Moon almost. Very magical girl kawaii." Dorian punctuated the end with a sideways peace sign next to his eye. Although his heart wasn't fully in it.

Dorian's phone buzzed to a soft jingle before he fished it out of his pocket by the charm. He flipped it open, seeing the text message from April. Even before reading the message, just seeing her name on his screen gave him reason to crack a smile.
Attached to the text was the image of the note that Dorian had taken earlier so that the pair of them could see. He flipped his phone closed again before putting it back into his pocket. "Sorry about that. Friends are trying to find me. I kinda…ran off on them."

---

---

---

Sabine took a moment to bask in her peer's adoration at her excellent ball throw. She flexed as Danny and Mai poured more into her already overflowing ego. "Thank you, thank you. I didn't even try that hard, to be honest." Coulson sputtered a bit, the already-soaked headmaster seemed, at the very least, cool with being dunked on. It was all in good fun.

Riding this high, she wanted to move on to the fortune tent, but Danny insisted on waiting for Dorian. Fine, she could wait, and give the others a chance to sink Coulson. April provided her feedback but there was....discord. Her face showed praise but Sabine felt...off. Sabine didn't know the girl well enough to pick up any quirks, but something was up with her. Like there was something below the surface bubbling and until the lid was removed, it lingered. April went to go toss some trash away. "Thanks you two. Why don't one of you get ready to dunk the dude. I will be right back." With that said, she quickly followed April.

It always played in the back of her mind. Her powers were unique. Having the ability to manipulate memories and people's brains was cool, but not everyone thought so. She always worried people would think she was manipulating people to serve her interest. Had she done so before? Of course. Getting out of getting grounded. Getting out of a ticket. Skipping curfew. Extra candy. Harmless stuff. But she had never, NEVEr manipulated people she cared about unless she was given permission or it was a life-and-death scenario. The fact April would seemingly joke about it (and that's what was killing her. WAS it a joke?) irked Sabine in a way she could not describe. She saw herself liking April, but if she was going to go this route, Sabine didn't know if she could trust her.

April shot off a text and Sabine didn't want to bother her midway. After April texted, Sabine went over. "Hey! April you seem cool, but what the hell was that back there? That's not something I appreciate being joked about. I allow Danny and Mai to do so because I am cool with them but I don't know you that well. You don't have to tell me what's eating at you if you want, but I can tell there's something going on. And before you ask, no, I won't snoop in your mind to see your thoughts and find out. I'd rather you tell me, if you wanted."

---

---

---

---

Madalyne took that as a compliment after getting a good hit on Ser Megan. "I'll take that as a compliment then." she said to her, then the girl went on the offensive, she started backing up as best she could blocking each strike barely. With each block Madalyne madem, had made Madalyne even angrier at the girl. She was close to the edge of the arena, she needed to get a little bit of breathing room as she quickly thought of a way to get Megan off guard.

She took one hand off the handle of her sword holding it off, as she built up a little bit of her magic sending a small blast to Megan but the girl managed to do a cool fancy backflip away from it she tried to swing but Megan was out of range. "Had to make things a little bit interesting." She said to Megan as she twirled the sword around in her one hand she slowly started to circle around the arena, luckily abilities were allowed to be used which made things easier and more interesting as well to.

---

---

---

---

Diana gave Teddy a friendly smile as he decided to join them even though it was just for a little bit, she looked between him and her little brother. It seemed like the two of them would be getting along pretty well then, she just hoped that Teddy could handle Percy, he was always a bit abrasive at times. "Looks like you two will get along then." Diana said to the two of them, Dorian had left the group after he bumped into Teddy and gave a slight shrug towards Teddy. "Alright then see you later Teddy." Diana said as she waved goodbye to her friend.

Zelda was her roommate and she was glad that she had someone that she knew somewhat other than a complete stranger, she listened to Zelda after her encounter with another student. Everyone's powers all seemed to be going a little bit haywire today, Dorian possessing Percy and Danny setting him on fire on accident and now whatever happened with Zelda. "It was more of an accident." Diana corrected her brother shaking her head slightly. "But yeah if you want to come with us you are more than welcome to." Diana offered Zelda she figured she'd take the time to get to know Zelda some more if she decided to take them up on the offer.

---

---

"...Some girl after I left the fortune telling booth approached me randomly talking about the trivia thing. Didn't exactly say anything prior and she more or less startled me... Pretty sure my powers decided to go haywire from the panic, not sure what exactly my powers decided to summon for her, but she instantly took off clearly freaked out a bit. I didn't mean to do anything, I just don't like it when people decide to sneak up on me a bit like that... It's not a good thing... I just don't know... Never been super good with people before hand either... Though sounds like your encounter definitely was worse then mine..."

Zelda wasn't entirely sure what to think at this point with regards to the pair, who were inviting her now to go along with them wherever they went. Of course, she knew that Diana was her roommate, and that she's friends with April, other then that she wasn't too sure about her, and Percy she knew only because of their parents, and knew that he was around the same age as she was. When they asked if she wanted to tag along with them, she nodded her head a bit, "Um... Sure, why not? If you two don't mind or anything like that..."

---

---

Well that went a bit easier then she expected, since she wasn't going full strength on the whole parrying the attack, but she was pleasantly surprised as to how easy it had been to knock the extra blade away from Vicky and into the spectator's area. Now towards the other things with regards to what Vicky was saying about the fight itself. "You're acting like I have powers meant for combat. Fun fact I very much don't. The only thing that's fairly useful is the durability thing, I don't have Asgardian strength, which I tend to get reminded about a lot lately. I'm not much more then a more durable human or anything, that's it. All I've got is 6 years of properly learning how to use my weapon of choice and understanding how the weight and balance of the weapon effects combat."

Taking a more active stance, she went forward and swung her foam sword, and manages to land a blow on Vicky, only to be surprised by Vicky deciding to grapple with her main sword hand. Now that was not something she expected. As a lot of one on one sword fights she'd been in for fun followed the rules of fencing for the most part, which meant this was not wrestling or grappling, and basically Victoria more or less just disrespected the rules of the game by doing something like that. This wasn't a game of strength, which is why she loved duels like this, because despite her lack of strength, she could hold her own against those much stronger then her. "What do you think you're doing?" Zari said, sounding a bit annoyed as she broke Victoria's grip and stepped back. "This isn't a competition of strength! Most duels and such like this follow similarly the rules of fencing and you decide that this is now a wrestling match? Unless otherwise stated you almost never do that sort of thing. That's why I love sword fighting because even if I'm against a stronger opponent I can hold my own, so seriously? Sword fighting is meant for sword fighting, not freaking wrestling unless it is stated beforehand. That is basically disrespectful not only to the game, but to your opponent, in this case me, too. Or do you not care? Since you didn't say anything about what rules to mention or add in, like seriously you need to pay more attention to things!"

It wasn't very often that Zari got overly defensive or frustrated about anything, but when you basically (in her eyes anyway) insulted something that she cared deeply about or something, she'd defend it at all costs. She also knew that Victoria wasn't a human at all, and you'd think that she'd know about this sort of thing or maybe make a comment before the actual combat started about what rules to add, this was just stupid.

"01011010 01100001 01110010 01101001 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101110 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101100 01101101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110011 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100111 01110010 01100101 01110100 00101110 00100000 01010010 01100101 01101101 01100101 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01100101 01101110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101100 01100001 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100111 01110101 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100110 01100101 01101110 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00101110 00101110" the robot on the sidelines beeped at her.

"Nei det gjør jeg ikke! Du skjønner det ikke, dette er bokstavelig talt min favorittsport, og du har det helt fint med at hun i utgangspunktet går imot disse reglene uten å si noe om å endre reglene for denne kampen? Jeg har ikke den asgardiske styrken som jeg stadig blir påminnet om. Jeg elsker dette fordi jeg ikke trenger å bekymre meg for at noen er en halv fot høyere enn meg eller sterkere enn meg! Jeg kan kjempe på jevnt fot i denne sporten! Siden det ikke spiller noen rolle hvor sterk du er, bare rene ferdigheter i stedet!" she snapped back at the floating eye, clearly not too thrilled with his comments.

"01001001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100101 01101100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01101110 01101001 01100011 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101000 01110101 01101110 01100100 01110010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100110 01101111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110010 01100001 01100100 01101001 01110101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100001 01111001 01110111 01101001 01110010 01100101 00101110 00100000 01010111 01101000 01101001 01100011 01101000 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100010 01101111 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100001 00100000 01010011 01101111 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101100 01101101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00100001 00100000 01010000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00111111 00100000 01001000 01101111 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101000 01101111 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01100011 01100101 01110010 01101110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101110"

"...Jeg hater det når du har et poeng. Men jeg har mer kontroll enn du tenker på det! Ingen tro på meg i det hele tatt!"

"01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101100 01101101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101001 01100110 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 01101100 01111001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100101 01100001 01110011 01111001 00100000 01100001 01100011 01100011 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101100 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01110100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 00101100 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100110 01100101 01110111 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100101 01110000 00100000 01100010 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 01110011 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101100 01100001 01111000 00101110 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101011 01100001 01111001 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100110 01100001 01110110 01101111 01110010 01101001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101111 01100010 01100010 01111001 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110011 01110000 01101111 01110010 01110100 00101100 00100000 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110010 01110101 01101100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01110010 01101111 01110000 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110100 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 01101100 01100101 01100100 01100111 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110010 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00101110 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101011 01100001 01111001 00101100 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001 00101110"

"...Whatever," she responded to the robot one last time, before twirling her foam sword around and taking once more a defensive stance, though she was still not too thrilled about this entire development that had been taking place with this entire situation and all.

Danni stared after April for a second after she decided to throw away her perfectly good apple. Well, that was a little bit odd, right? Like, she’d been waiting in line and was hungry just like them and then she didn’t even eat any… His eyes widened as Sabine didn’t even bother to make an excuse to saunter after April. The Mermaid Princess with the moves! He didn’t know how Sabine had picked up on it, maybe it was one of those girl only things, but Pops and Papa had given him enough lame excuses so they could go enjoy “Adult Nap time” that he could spot it a mile away. He didn’t know Beanie and Princess were into each other at all but April’s lack of appetite, the nerves, the whole vibe... Someone was getting laid.

Gross.

Danny smacked Mai’s arm repeatedly as he came to the realization, excited for his two besties even if he didn’t get the appeal. “Okay, okay, okay. Beanie and Princess? Damn, t’at’s gonna be a power couple!” Danni squealed, not bothering to elaborate on his line of thought. More like forgetting to, but there were more important things to worry about, like keeping Mai from being mentally scarred. “Okay, okay, okay! Your turn ta dunk Mr. Cole! Definitely not paying attention ta the not-couple!” Danny continued loudly as he pushed Mai towards the dunk tank. He whipped out his phone however as Dee’s ringtone distracted him from his mission.

He dropped his phone as he screamed. The picture of the attached note was terrifying and Danni didn’t do anything scary! He liked cute spooky, not scary spooky damn it! Why would Dee do that? Was he still mad at him for whatever reason? He didn’t really think Danny tried to ruin his birthday right? Danny had made his favorite food for after the carnival, there was a cake, and April and him had presents and everything! Danny didn’t forget something Dee said he wanted right? Ugh, why was everything so complicated today?!

Whelp, either way, Beanie and Princess were going to have to halt their fun ‘cause the birthday boy was calling! Danni reached down to get his phone without looking, locking the screen before he could spook himself again. Birthday boy or not, Dee was not allowed to do it twice. He made a mental note to call Dee a meanie tomorrow and cry a little for good measure. “Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaai, Dee’s ready at Aggie’s tent! Let's go!” He looped his arm into Mai’s and bolted in the direction of April and Sabine before they got too far away. “Princess, Beanie do your tango stuff later! T'e birthday boy 'as summoned us!” Danny shouted at the top of his lungs, continuing to run to Agitha’s tent.

”Yeah, I do. Name’s Leah, by the way.” Andy’s stance was familiar to Leah. It was kind of like what she typically went for in a scrap, only less grounded. Leah wasn't big on swords typically, she often preferred to just beat the shit out of her enemies with her hands.

”Ready when you a-“ Leah was successfully clipped on the arm, but her initial reaction to Andy’s poor footwork was to swing on her. Leah whirled the large sword over her head and brought it back down diagonally over Andy’s left shoulder.

”Nice to meet you. Maybe we can box sometime.” Leah hit Andy in the shoulder. It didn’t hurt, but Andy was a little surprised about being hit. She normally doged things easily. Maybe it was that Zari was currently yelling about the rules of engagement that had distracted her. As much as Andy wanted to pay attention to Zari’s fight, or even go over and punch the dark-haired girl, Andy pulled her attention back to Leah. Andy swung the sword again, she had tried to find an opening, but her sword crossed with Leah’s instead.

With the attack blocked by Leah’s sword, she took a step closer towards Andy and pushed her weapon away with her own. If she could keep Andy on the backpedal, this would be easier. With a quick follow up, she took a second step forward and lunged with a thrusting motion, aimed at Andy’s chest.

Andy took the step back and as the sword came toward her chest she side stepped. She reflexively blocked the attack with her arm. Andy blinked. Good thing these weren’t real swords. Andy shifted her stance, taking back the offensive. As she swings the sword and Leah goes to dodge it Andy’s sword sweeps through Leah’s hair and falls apart. Andy stares at the hilt left in her hand confused.

Leah, on the other hand, looks as if she isn’t surprised. ”Well. I guess I win.” Leah walked over and put her sword away before running her hands through her hair. Chunks of foam fell out like pieces of garbage from a raccoon's hands.

”So… Wanna go and box or something?”

”Guess you do.” Andy looked up at Leah, and a smile spread on her face. ”I’d love to. What type do you know? I lived in a gym for a few years. So I know Boxing, MMA and Kickboxing.” Her voice carries a bit of sadness when mentioning the gym, but otherwise she seems pleased about the idea of getting to box.