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Ardere chuckled awkwardly at Teddy's reply, her smile showing too many teeth, as she let her mind imagined the scenario of Kree astronauts making first contact with arcade game designers. Maybe Samus from Metroid was a Kree pilot...Though her thoughts were interrupted when another upperclassman leaned against Teddy. A familiar face, one that she encountered earlier at the school fair.

"Hi...Danni" Ardere greeted meekly though he already moved on to meet Mary Sue. Despite the rapid-fire mouth of the pyro fanatic, the sparks emitting from his hand immediately drew in her gaze. It was almost...magical to see the small flames dancing in the air. "That's really cool."

But just as quickly, the spell was broken when Ardere noticed how Teddy was unusually still. Did he fall asleep standing up? Maybe that's a superpower! Being able to fall asleep on command; her brother would love that! The redhead poked Teddy's massive biceps to check if he really was out for the count. "Are you dead, Teddy?

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Andy nodded. "Yeah, one of them was giving me 'advice.' I guess that's fine, but not in the first 30 seconds of meeting someone." Andy smiled a bit, wanting to tell Percy that she had literally bought all of her clothing in the 2020s. But with Madalyne there, she wasn't comfortable with saying it.

"It went about how expected. Well, a bit better than expected."She said to Madalyn, responding to her question about how the reading had gone. Her hand touched the pocket that held the key. "She gave me some good advice on how to deal with a major stressor in my life. And told me not to lose myself to trying to fit in."

She smiled as Zari joined them. Andy looked at the crown thing in her hand, curious about it. Percy headed into the tent, and she waved as he went in. She figured Zari would want to wait for him to come back out to continue their conversation.

"Oh, Zari. I want to show you what I found earlier with Leah. Or I suppose Leah knew about it, but it is cool. You'll find it neat."

---

”The thing went fine. Andy knocked me out in the first ten seconds. I woke up after… I don’t know- Five minutes? Felt like five.” She shrugged, listening to the nerd with the pigtail-looking hair. ”Sounds good to me. Name’s Leah, by the way. I’ll fill the form thing out later and be there next Thursday. Do-“ Leah was about to ask if they planned on actually flying the ship at some point, when she saw more people shuffling this way. Two of them were her friend Chi Mai, and her “friend” Sabine. And Sabine had a fucking sword? Yeah, okay. That’s weird. ”I guess I’ll meet you both there.” Curiosity pulled her towards Mai and Sabine.

And, by extension… The crowd the just ran away from. Yay.

”Hey. Me again. ‘Bine, why the fuck have you got a sword suddenly? Where the hell’d that come from?” Leah looked over her shoulder briefly. What the hell was Teddy’s deal. Eh. He’ll figure it out. He’ll hibernate or something, she thought… Do werebears hibernate?

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Madalyne looked at Zarina as she started to come out from Agatha's tent seeing her holding a Valkryie headpiece which looked pretty cool. "That looks pretty cool actually." Madalyne said to Zari as she listened to Percy as he mentioned his mother's that were SHIELD agents which was interesting. A few seconds later Percy went into Agatha's tent to go and get his fortune from her, as she looked between Andy and Zari when Andy answered her question and smiled.

She really was going to miss Agatha's classes they were always fun to learn. "Agatha is really good and she gives pretty good advice to. I'm sure she'll do great at the Strange Academy though it's sad to see her go." She said as she rubbed the back of her neck slightly thinking about what to do as she listened to Andy she was curious what Andy meant after the two of them decided to go off and box each other at the gym.

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"I'm sure there will be others out there for you Vis." Diana said to him as she nodded and watched him heading off somewhere else into the ship, she was curious who would actually want to steal Kree tech from the ship. She saw Danni approaching as she rolled her eyes slightly as he started to display his powers again with his hands showing had he not learned not to long ago that she literally set her little brother on fire. "Danni did you not learn from earlier? You kinda set my younger brother on fire right?" Diana asked him teasingly as she noticed Zelda was backing up slightly, the crowd was getting a little bit to big she noticed as she saw Teddy shutting down now to actually.

Diana went over and lightly flicked him on the nose. "You okay there Teddy?" Diana asked him, as she heard a familiar voice as she turned to see Mai and Sabine coming over towards them. Diana smirked as she went over and quickly grabbed Mai putting her into a headlock and started to mess with her hair. She defintely did enjoy messing with Mai to as she quickly let go and smiled. "I missed you how have you been Stinky?!" Diana asked Mai, she decided to give her that nickname since Mai always constantly smelled like weed all the time, her attention turned to Sabine who was carrying a sword which was interesting to see. "Do you know how to use a sword there Beanie?" Diana asked her friend.

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Dorian couldn’t tell exactly what was going on on the other side of where they stood, but even from here he could see the awkward tension bubbling to the surface as each of the students interacted with one another. He began to give each of them their own dialogue, piecing together the scene before him as best he could as his little group stood out in the outskirts. “I can’t believe you’d call me discount emo barbie” Zelda said to Diana as Teddy quickly would attempt to diffuse the situation in the clumsiest way possible. Dorian’s internal voice for him sounded much like Sven’s did from frozen. “I don’t know why you're so mad? She’s only saying the truth, I mean I said it earlier when I first saw you so really she’s just repeating what I'd said so maybe…don't fight?” It was clear the big bear was quickly losing his nerve in this fight though, moving back to his docile self before diverting his attention to the red headed freshmen. Dorian didn’t remember her being so meek, but maybe that's just how people seemed standing next to the statue of a man? Oh! Diana was talking now, but it seemed more noncommittal than anything, maybe a more laid back doubling down before she changed topics to speak to Vision. Dorian was about to write the next line in the script when Danni’s voice cut through his mental play and pulled back to the present.

He never could help but smile when one of his best friends spoke. A soft and gentle smile that he tended to hide behind very obvious eyerolls towards the antics that each of them would say. Though Danni did have a good point, if they did become space warriors the best thing would be to have such a cosmically horrible name it made those they defeated feel ashamed to even state how they were defeated. Maybe that's how you stopped villains? Not by jail time but by putting so much shame in them from a defeat that they wouldn’t dare try it again for fear they’d run into them again. A stupid grin began to form before it broke into a shocked jaw drop. Both Danni and April had left him to go off and ‘run interference’ April by doing her due diligence as an older sister to embarrass the daylights out of Zelda, and Danni by distracting all the others so that Dorian had a chance to sneak aboard the ship and take a first hand look at it. How he wished he could hug both of them, but that would defeat the whole point of what they were doing, and whatever Danni was doing had seemed to freeze up Teddy more than a carbon-freezing chamber from Star Wars. This was as good a time as any to try and sneak aboard the broken down ship before him.

Dorian stood still for a moment, making sure not to draw anymore attention to himself as he concentrated on using his powers. He didn’t need a repeat of last time. One accidental possession was enough for a single day, even more so for the first day of school. Though…if he was to have had it happen with anyone, he was glad it was with someone he was destined to have come across anyways. Maybe one day they could look back at this day and laugh about it, about how stupid both of them acted. That was the hope, the idea he had for the future. He wouldn’t let his life become some Greek Tragedy. Dorian took a quick breath, steeling himself before going ghost as his body shifted into the Astral Realm, just as he was about to, he heard Sabine’s voice once more, catching her gaze as he shifted realms. He caught a glimpse of the sword off her hip, wondering where she’d gotten it, and what's more, if she was just as big of a She-Ra fan as he and Danni were. He never really got the full story on how the pair had met, but perhaps it started over some bonding from She-Ra. That would make sense, Sabine was a total Mermista, and ofcourse Danni was Seahawk. A classic pairing really.

Mai was more than boisterous enough to shake Dorian out of his AA She-Ra casting. Focusing back to the task at hand as he thought on how Dr. Strange had mentioned how there were tons of layers to this realm, but so far Dorian could just access the one that bordered the Material Realm. A ghost of the same location, superimposed with only sparse differences here and there. He didn’t want to see the other layers, he’d seen the doors and chosen not to attempt to head through, not alone. He stood there frozen for a moment as he let the thought sink in before finally taking a step. Dorian kicked himself off the ground with a gentle push, hovering over the other students as he began to make his way above Teddy and the others, watching their faces as Danni and April caused chaos in his stead. When he’d landed down at the edge of the Kree ship, he couldn’t help but notice just how metallic everything was. Sure, it was a military ship…maybe, but it was a spacecraft. There had to be some form of comfort for long rides right? Or is this what Kree’s found comfortable? He took careful steps throughout the wreckage as he explored the insides and began to rethink how he viewed alien space tech. The footage he’d seen of the New York attack looked as if alien tech was all organic in some nature, interfusing with its pilots and hosts. This seemed nothing like that, it was cold and calculated with not a single organic piece in sight. It felt like a warship. He was about to try and phase back in to ask Vision about the Kree and the wreckage when suddenly the synthezoid vanished out of sight. Great.

He turned his attention back towards the central console, catching a glimpse of the wires that seemed to be completely fucked. His best guess would be a rat got into the thing and began tearing it apart but…this was a spaceship, were there rats in space? Was it an alien equivalent to a rat? In any case they seemed about ready to snap and Dorian did the only thing he could think of to do. He stuck his head through the central console to take a peek within and see if he could catch sight of the trouble making space-rat or at the very least get a closer look at the inner workings of the machine.

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"Oh, for sure! I'm sure I could help building some spare parts and stuff, I got tooling for most things electronics and machining manufacturing, and I can maintain hydraulics too." Vicky enthusiastically answered Mel, finding it easy to talk to the other geek. She wondered how was it that she missed this entire social class existed in the school for two whole years? It was obvious by the state of the kree ship that her people needed her!

Leah's answer left her in a bit of a stunned silence though. "Really?" She managed after a second, "Hoookay, making a note - Watch out for the snazzily dressed one." before she managed to even try and engage in further conversation, Leah's attention was directed elsewhere and she wandered off. Shrugging, Vicky turned back to Mel: "Let's meet at the stark hall lobby after the show. Ring me when you're ready to go." she said, following by telling Mel her phone number. "Now if you excuse me, I need to explore!" she said, her hands making a grabby motions towards the ship.

Making her way through what seemed like one of the main corridors, Vicky was noting to herself the extent of the damage, as well as guesses at the purpose of whatever exposed components were visible. It didn't take long before she arrived at what could have been a battle bridge, or maybe an enginerring section? And she was no longer satisfied with just looking. Taking a good look around to make sure noone else was around, she gently touched a busted console in the middle, feeling the surface for any seams that would allow for greater access inside.

Zelda backing away from him didn’t go unnoticed and at first, it kinda hurt his feelings. Like, here he was just introducing himself and she just ignored him and was doing everything just shy of actually running away from him to put distance between them. He was fully prepared to pout his way into a response, when April chimed in with a frustrated groan, and he remembered there other people who like him and his presence, like this new girl here - the feisty one who yelled at them in the line for food. She thought his fire was really cool. Zelds should be more like that!

“Oooooh, I was close! Sue and Susan!” Danni congratulated himself after Teddy introduced the pair, but he gave his attention to Ardere for the time being. “It's so cool! I like ta make t’em into little butterflies and ‘ave t’em fly around, t’ough sometimes t’ey explode and ot’er times t’e fire just dissolves into not’ing! Never really sure w’at t’e world’s goin’ ta give me when I try t’at trick. And duh Diana, of course I learn. I just learn ‘ow not ta get caught when I fuck up!” Danni replied cheerily to Diana’s teasing, the incident no longer taboo now that he wasn’t on the verge of tears. “I can show you some more cool stuff later, Ari!” Danni offered, always down to feed off of positive attention and willing to do silly little tricks (his favorite kind!) for it.

With everyone clamoring over how strange Teddy was acting, Danni couldn’t help but turn to pay attention to the gentle giant turned leaning post. As Diana flicked his nose, Danni reached up and felt his forehead. And if he went on tip toes for dramatic effect, no one could blame him.. “‘eeeeeeeey Teds, you doin’ okay? You wit’ us buddy?” Danni frowned when he didn’t feel anything he thought was unusual, but frankly, he’d have no idea. “You know, t’is is really only ‘elpful if I know t’e bear t’in’ didn’t fuck wit’ your internal temps, and I don’t so let’s call an expert! Maaaaaaaaai, stop doin’ your flirty t’in’y and see if Teds is okay!” Danni shouted and waved, despite her being right there.

Of course, that’s when he saw it. A new shiny accessory sitting there nice and pretty on Beanie’s hip. All thoughts went out the window as he pointed at Beanie’s sword and shouted “What is t’at?!?!” He skipped over to his favorite fashionesta and Leah by default where she was leaning over Beanie’s shoulder, drawn to her sword like a magnet. “OMG, it reminds me of She-ra! Are you a fan too? ‘ow could we not talk about t’is?! T’is is such a cool cosplay accessory! When did you buy it? ‘ow much did it cost? Is t’e person takin’ commissions because I’d love ta get somet’in’ made and put it in my dorm. Do you already have a cosplay? Are we doing a group cosplay? Omg t’at’s so cool, we get to do a group cosplay! Oh gosh, who would everyone be? We should… Dee! Where’d you-”

Danni clapped his hands over his mouth. He was a distraction. He can’t out the secret that the birthday boy was sneaking about cause he didn’t want to talk to a bunch of people. Sometimes Dee just didn’t feel like it and it was his job not to tell people. “Uh, yeah no ‘e’s not ‘ere right now, so ignore that! But seriously, She-ra cosplays? We’re doing it for ‘alloween t’is year! Good idea, Beanie! Now we just gotta figure out who is who.”

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There were waaaaaaaaay too many people over in this little area. It probably didn't overly seem to help that her sister was there and not seemingly being any sort of helpful and actually seemed to be annoyed that she had been backing away. Zelda hated crowds, sure she could go running around conventions in costume, but she did everything that she possibly could to ensure that no one could actually see or recognize her face during that. She never was very confident in herself, her being April's complete opposite was a bit of an understatement.

Her mind was racing as she was trying to remain calm and see about getting away and calming down from the decent sized crowd of people but well... That didn't overly end well, she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remain calm, but what she saw when she opened her eyes again made her really wish that she wasn't there anymore. There was a swarm of bees suddenly appearing out of nowhere as they started zipping around everyone and the swarm was clearly unhappy. That wasn't the worse thing though, no, the worst part was that the bees seemed to be on fire. And not dying from it or anything at all. Her eyes went a bit wide and now she was starting to back up a bit more. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry," she managed to stammer out, unsure of what to do or how to fix the situation.

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"Maybe, I think it will go well with my armor though already so hooray, don't have to worry about it at all," she said cheerfully to Percy with regards to his comment about the helmet. "Have fun with your fortune!" she added, figuring he'd enjoy hearing about the future or something. Though she wasn't entirely sure what sort of question he was going to ask Agatha or anything like that. If he wanted to talk about the fortunes and all later, she happily would, plus she still wanted to tell him the full extent of her adventures and how she met Andy, since he was one of the very few people who probably wouldn't be super weirded out or anything with the whole "time travel" part of the adventure since that was his powers.

Her attention snapped towards Andy again now as she mentioned something that might be interesting to go see later. "Huh? What sort of thing? And let's wait for Percy, I wanna hang around with him for a little while anyway cause it's been a while since I last saw him. But sure, some weird sort of thing sounds cool I'm all for going to go see that thing after this. Haven't gotten around to fully exploring everything around this place or anything like that yet, so I'm kind of curious as to what's there or what you want me to see."

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@Trainerblue192@Forsythe: Indeed, it turned out that these two were messing with the same bits of paneling. It wouldn't take Vicky too long to find a seam that would allow her to open it up and look inside. She'd see some rat droppings on the ground near it - it seemed like a furry little critter might've been making a home inside of it. In fact, there was an entire section that wasn't sealed down well, leaving an opening big enough for the rodent.

But that probably wouldn't be as important as these things: 1) cold spots, the temperature was abnormally low here, and 2) she was picking up what sounded like radio static, something that almost sounded like... a voice. But there was no one in her vicinity.

Of course, ghost!Dorian had his head inside of the console, so he might not be able to see Vicky at first. Inside of the console, he'd see more chewed up wiring, some bags of trash that looked like it had been assembled into a nest, and about FORTY SIX BABY RATS! They were newborns, their eyes not even opened yet, and with no fur. They looked like squishy little wriggling gummy worms. The rat parents didn't seem to be present, but they couldn't be far.

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April was becoming used to going bright pink today, as Sabine Bassard returned with a sword. She swallowed somewhat thickly. She loved a girl with a sword. There was something just incredibly enticing and exciting about it - something that made her stand up a little bit straighter. Swords had an elegance to them that guns didn't have - as well as a sense of honor. "N-nice sword!" April stammered. "Does it have a name? Every good sword has a name. If it doesn't have a name, maybe you could name it after, like, umm, hmm... Oh! I know. You could name it after Atalanta - she's this super cool chick from Greek myths, didn't want to get married and she was super tough and all so she held, like, a marriage contest and beat everyone until like I think Aphrodite or someone decided to meddle in things. But she rocks!" April could feel a bead of sweat roll down the side of her face. "I mean, aside from getting trapped in a marriage with a man, but that isn't really her fault - like, how was she supposed to resist the golden apples or whatever it was the dude was throwing to distract her... Or you could go with the She-Ra route and name the sword the Sword of Protection, that's also cool and totally on brand!"

Thankfully, April managed to stop her blabber mouth. Somehow. Maybe Aphrodite was deciding to take pity on her. She didn't say anything about Dorian vanishing, as he would do this from time to time, and she hadn't seen him run off, so it probably just meant that he had gone ghost and would be back in a bit.

And someone else seemed to also be struggling right now - namely Teddy. April would've had to be blind and dumb to not notice something was going on with the local bear of AA. The horrible freshman from earlier - not the one that Danni had torched, the other one - was even poking him in the biceps, asking if he had died.

"Awww, you guys are soooo cute!!!!" April then squealed, seeing the playfulness between Mai and Diana. "Okay, I ship it, but what's the ship name gonna be? DiMai? Maiana? I kinda like Maina, not gonna lie. Or... Chi Di? DiChi? Ooo yes I like DiChi! It reminds me of that like dollar store, Daiso? Love Daiso. Would love to go to one again soon. Gotta get some hi-chews." She could see it, too. Chi Mai and Diana going to the fall school dance - the Monster Mash as it was officially called, given that it typically came up around Halloween. And then one day they'd get married, both of them in a tux, and they'd live happily ever after and travel the galaxy, fighting monsters and kicking ass and kissing and...

April had to stop the fanfic in her mind from spiraling out of control.

She also didn't like that Diana had brought up Danni roasting Percy - that had happened ages ago and it was totally uncool of her to do so. April didn't want Danni to feel upset. Besides, Percy had totally deserved that anyways. But everyone else had moved on from this it seemed, so April hadn't said anything.

"She-Ra cosplays at the Monster Mash dance!!" April chimed in, her eyes wide. She had a few ideas for who she might want to be in She-Ra - Mermista was an obvious choice, since April's control over water mapped really well with Mermista's powers. But she also had a strong resemblance to Perfuma - a cute blonde who was really to fuck shit up. "Should I be Perfuma? Or Mermista? Wait, who are you all going to be? Sabine is obvi gonna be She-Ra. Because, you know, sword."

But She-Ra cosplays would have to wait.

Because April's little sister was summoning FLAMING BEES.

"Zelda!!!!" Okay, maybe shouting wasn't the best move here. But April was TERRIFIED of bees. Not only was Zelda being totally uncool, but FLAMING BEES were swarming around them. And from experience, April knew that Zelda's creations were tangible. She screamed. April threw her hands out in front of her, reflexively trying to send water flying into the bees, but she couldn't get it together, there weren't enough sources of water to pull from, and all she sent out instead was a pitiful tiny mist. "Stop it with the bees!!!!" April begged, closing her eyes tightly, as if that would somehow keep the bees from stinging her.

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Percy was quietly vibrating with excitement as he entered Agatha's tent. It was filled with a thousand curiosities, and he wished that he had the time to sit down and dissect them all, one by one. He could already invent a myriad of stories in his mind for each and every thing - maybe the tea set carelessly set on top of a trunk had been used in the poisoning of an ancient princess. Maybe the broom leaning up against a cabinet was the inspiration for Disney's Sorcerer Mickey. The jeweled brooch Agatha wore might contain the soul of the god of a long dead religion, fueling her eternal youth.

He was fascinated.

But Percy did not vibrate the way that others his age did - he wasn't shaking or twitching. No, it was more a sort of restless hunger in his eyes, a need to devour all of the mysteries inside Agatha's tent. The fact that it was bigger on the inside than the outside hardly struck him, he was so focused on the wonderment all around him.

"Nice cat. It's on brand for you, Agatha," Percy said casually, offering his hand to the tiny black cat. He didn't make eye contact with the kitty cat, not wanting to come off as a threat. "I'm Percy Novikov, I've heard of you from a family friend." That family friend happened to be one of Agatha's former pupils, as his mothers were both Avengers and had been on a squad with the Scarlet Witch for a bit.

Agatha was somewhat relieved to see just an ordinary mutant boy standing in front of her - no hints of divinity, no omega level potential, nothing special. It still struck her from time to time how intertwined with the fate of the universe the students of the Margaret Carter Institute could be, but this boy, he was no one. It was comforting. "I'm sorry that I can't say the same," Agatha replied. "Take a seat, dear. And let me know what the sorceress Agatha Harkness can divine for you?"

Percy raised an eyebrow. Agatha was one of those types who spoke in the third person, then. He hated it when people did that. It made them all seem like they came out of a comic book, rather than real life. Though, he supposed the lines between those were blurred at this point - the truth was pretty much just as strange as fiction in his experience. And he hadn't even been alive that long - just thirteen years or so.

"Dealer's choice," Percy settled on. "Despite popular belief, I don't actually think I know everything, so I don't know what question to ask. I'd like a birds eye view of my future," he requested. He had been mulling this over in the back of his mind since talking to Diana about it, and this ended up making the most sense. If tarot predicted the story of his life, his story had just begun. He didn't have a good idea for the themes and the motifs yet.

Yes, this boy was ordinary, normal, and safe. Agatha nodded and twitched her fingers. The tarot cards flew up into the air and shuffled themselves, making intricate patterns - including an inverted mobius strip and briefly the spoke of a wheel - as they danced. Agatha gasped suddenly, a burning image appearing in her mind. She saw a floating white tower, gleaming in the sun. And then it was gone. The vision faded.

"Is there a problem?" Percy asked, somewhat concerned she might be about to die on him - she was rather old.

"No, child," Agatha mused, her mind racing. She had recognized the tower. She looked at Percy again and something struck her. She paused for another moment, before three tarot cards settled down in front of him - the first card tried to somehow pop up twice, sitting down and hopping up and then settling again. One by one, they turned over to reveal their contents.

"The past - the beginning of your story - is the Ace of Swords," Agatha narrated. "Swords as a suit in tarot represent our intellect, our mental powers. As this is your story, I believe this is you - your personal card, if you will. A bright young man with a fierce and dedicated mind, facing a treacherous path stretching out ahead of him.

"Now as for the present, you drew a card from the Major Arcana. These cards indicate major spiritual forces at work in your life - the will of the universe. This card is the Lovers. As I am sure you can gather, the Lovers is a card of love - of communication and connection, emotional vulnerability and honesty, a love that is meant to be. You, Percy Novikov, are in love."

Percy scoffed. "I was with you up until then - I'm not in love," he interjected. "Unless we're talking about self-love, then sure. I love myself. But I'm not in love with anyone." His face betrayed him though. As much as he wanted to convey annoyance, a slight reddish tinge rose in his cheeks. He wasn't in love with anyone. But if there was anyone he had been attracted to, even briefly...

"The cards do not lie," Agatha said firmly. "You are in love, Percy Novikov," she continued, somewhat harshly, as her gaze settled on the third card - the card dictating his future. "You drew another card from the Major Arcana, another spiritual force. The Moon. This is a card of wild forces, of intuition and fear and confusion and the unknown made manifest. This is a card of the lone wolf who howls in the darkness, whose goals and actions are ineffable. You will be alone, Percy Novikov - and at the whims of madness."

She flicked her hand and another card shot down - the Eight of Pentacles. "Yes, you are at the mercy of an unknowable mistress, a powerful being who moves under the pale silver light."

His eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't know what to think of any of that. It had seemed plausible at first - that he was starting out his journey with a keen intellect and ready mind, Percy already knew that to be true. But being in love with someone? And then... serving some sort of mad force of the moon? Percy didn't know what to make of that. It sounded ridiculous. The first bit more than the second part. Maybe the Moon actually was referring to his sister, Diana, and that she was going to need his help with something in the future. Agatha didn't know anything about him - how could she begin to interpret these cards?

"If I'm alone, then that's so much for this love," he said somewhat antagonistically. "And got it, I won't sell my soul to any creepy women glowing with moonlight, that sounds easy enough to avoid." As soon as he said it though, he felt fate's threads tighten around him. That was how most Greek tragedies happened - someone trying to avoid something, and instead, it happened.

"Yes, I am sure that is a comfort to you, knowing you will lose your only love," Agatha said dryly. She did not like Percy Novikov. He had gone from being comfortingly ordinary to frustratingly not. And now he was arguing with her about her reading. Agatha hated it when people argued.

"I'm not the romantic type," Percy agreed, standing up from the chair. "But you know that, don't you? You saw everything about me unfold before you in those cards, there's no way that a single detail could've been misinterpreted, but let's see... Who am I in love with, Agatha? Because I sure as hell don't know and your entire thing falls apart right there!"

Agatha saw red. She ordinarily would not have revealed a detail like this about the future. She tried to keep things vague, to keep things open to interpretation. She didn't want to force things like this on a person. But he had challenged her. And Agatha Harkness did not back down from a challenge. Another card hit the table like a bullet - the Wheel of Fortune. Another Major Arcana pull. Another major force. Agatha's eyes let her see what others could not.

"You are in love with Dorian Gray," Agatha said, her words cutting like a knife.

"What?!" Percy shouted, unable to help himself. His heart was pounding a million miles a second. Dorian Gray?! The asshole who had possessed him with the gorgeous eyes?! There was no way in the world that Percy could ever love him - ever love someone like him. "You must be looking into someone else's future - I despise that idiot."

"Love and hate, how easily the brain confuses them," Agatha shot back. She did not mean her own brain.

"This is - this is insane." He barely bit back a comment that Agatha needed to get her eyes checked - or that maybe she was actually being fired because she lacked any magical skill. But logically, he knew neither of those things were true. Agatha Harkness was the greatest witch of countless generations. Her tarot readings were not a parlor trick. If she predicted something would come to pass...

Percy vowed right then and there to avoid Dorian Gray at all costs.

He would not fall in love.

He would not let this prophecy come true - self-fulfilling or otherwise.

"Thanks, I think I've heard enough," Percy said abruptly, getting up from his seat. The chair scraped the ground.

Agatha almost said good. She did not really want to give this boy a trinket. But she really did need to clear out her stuff and make more room for new relics once she had moved to New Orleans. She reached into thin air and pulled out a pocket watch. She had acquired it from a friend of hers who had been interested in whether or not Agatha could translate the transcription - as far as they could tell, the language was nonexistent. It was untranslatable. But the watch itself was nice, correctly telling time no matter when they were.

"Take this, young hero. You'll need it," Agatha said. She tossed the watch to Percy.

Percy caught the watch, and his eyes briefly crossed as he stared at the inscription. He couldn't read it. Percy had never been able to not read something in ages. He couldn't remember a time when all languages just made sense to him. "What's it say?" he asked Agatha.

"I have no idea," she replied. "If you ever figure it out, do be a dear and send a raven my way with the translation. I have a standing bet on it."

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Continuing her smile, Ardere struggles to comprehend Danny's hot mouth; his words flowing out of his mouth faster than a car skidding on ice. Forget belonging in a comedy skit, the upperclassman is an entire Disney sitcom about how close he is to Teddy. The redhead had half a mind to tell Danny to step away from the slumbering giant. Teddy was big as moose, or a bear, and Ardere worried that the skinny, string bean, happy-go-lucky schoolmate would get folded in half.

But Teddy wouldn't do that, right? Then again, bears and mooses are cuddly until you steal their food or disturb their sleep.

Fortunately, Danni skipped over to the next group like a child spotting a toy store in a mall. She-ra? Cosplay? There's a convention going on? Ardere bit her lip as she felt underdressed if there was such an occasion. Yet, Ardere continued to look at Teddy, half-expecting his massive body to tilt over and collapse like a decayed Roman statue.

"Teddy? Teddy...Teddy Roosevelt...Teddy?"The freshman patted his shoulder and poked his bicep. Her fingertips felt like hot coins pressing against his shirt and skin when Ardere used a bit of her power to stir a response."Is everything okay?

Hopefully, he was okay. The same couldn't be said about the rest of the student body. At first impression, Ardere felt as if she heard a fly buzzing into her ear prompting her to burst a heat wave to deter it. But when the buzzing refused to cease, the redhead was about to smash the annoying bugger with her tiny hands when her eyes were on the 2nd most peculiar sight today: flying fireballs.

Well, not precisely fireballs. It was bees, flaming bees, zipping through the air in search of a flowerbed to set on fire. Ardere had half the mind to believe this was another trick from Danni. Then again, he looks far from being an industrious role model. Though she felt confident that these fire insects don't have stingers, her eyes went bright crimson red to prepare to roast them with concentrated heat beams.

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Sabine took a moment to soak in the attention. Granted, it wasn't nearly as much as she hoped for (she came back with a freaking sword people! Like, get it together..) but it was great nonetheless. April made a big show of support highlighting how it made her think of She-Ra and making plans to cosplay. Sabine had seen the show (a show with substantial queer representation? Of COURSE she watched it), so she was on board. "Course we can do that. What a great idea." April even got her thinking of names.

Before she could mull it over, a blur of dark, curly hair got in her face. Leah. Fucking Leah. Sabine hadn't expected the girl to approach her, but here she was. Admittedly, Sabine was happy for that attention also. Leah rightfully asked why she had a sword all of a sudden. Sabine didn't feel comfortable disclosing its origins in public, so she opted for a white lie. "Right? So cool. A gift from my father. Probably to make amends for how this morning ended. You can touch it, I suppose."

"Your- Huh. Didn't think making amends was something he did." Leah did, in fact, reach her hand down and tap the sword once. It was definitely a firm tap, considering Leah was superhumanly strong, not that she was trying to shove Sabine back or damage the sword. "Do you even-" Leah turned her attention to the swarm of burning insects that April's... Friend? Seemed to be causing. Honestly, April probably had that better covered than her, so she turned back to Sabine. She wasn't even going to dignify that with her attention. "I always thought your old man was just some irredeemable asshole, honestly."

Sabine hadn't noticed the burning insects and, noticeably, panicked. It was hard to maintain your cool girl facade and be next to fucking burning bugs. "Look, be super cool about this but can we talk away from the literal fire insects please?" Sabine didn't let Leah decide as she peaced the fuck out, mumbling how stupid it was to be able to do that. What the fuck kind of school was this?

Once they were safely away, Sabine took a few moments to calm down. The bugs were not there. She was fine. "Ok, better. Sorry about that. Back to my father. I mean, I would hardly count this as redeeming himself. Whenever he fucks something up he uses gifts to fix it. Honestly, it's annoying you can't even imagine."

"Yeah- That sounds like a situation." There weren't many people around them that were actively paying attention to them, and Sabine wasn't that bad to talk to, honestly, so Leah continued. "... At least you're not destined by fate to kill him. Agatha told me I'd have to kill mine someday."

Sabine took a moment to make sure she heard that correctly. Leah was destined to kill her father? Sabine could be annoyed by her father, sure, but she would never take his life. Hell, she would never take her stepmother's life either. If she were gone, Sabine wouldn't be able to make her life a living hell. So Leah had this rolling around in her mind. Rough.

"So like....do you want to kill your dad? Is this fortune like....a blessing or curse situation?" Leah had never really talked about her family whenever the two of them did converse. "You've never really brought him up so..not sure what to make of that."

Leah paused mid-conversation and considered her words carefully. More out of self-consciousness than anything else. "Honestly, I'd rather just never see him again. I- I thought I already did kill him once when he- He shot and killed my mother right in front of me about... A week or two before I wound up here. Apparently, he's actually alive according to the wizard woman in the tent." She said, looking at the ground and not at Sabine.

Sabine didn't know what to expect, but she certainly didn't expect that. Leah's father killed her mother right in front of her. And Leah attempted to kill him. Rightly so, in Sabine's opinion. And then Sabine's mind went back to all of the terrible things she said about Leah. And the things she thought.

God she was a real bitch.

"Fuck Leah. I'm so sorry. What an absolute piece of shit." Well, if they were trauma dumping..."Fuck it. I lied. My father didn't send me the sword. Apparently, my deceased mother did. But back to you...do you want to kill your father? If so I'll help hide the body."

Leah blinked and wasn't entirely surprised by the lie. A parent who was supposedly dead was something she could understand, but that still sounded weird. "I- Fuck. Maybe? Here's the thing about him. He's dangerous. You could pit Vision, Firestar, and fucking Thor again him and he'd be bored. That man's dangerous, and you wouldn't know what way he decides to be dangerous in because- Well, he's got this weird mental power that lets him replace 20-something years of study in something with an hour or two. Give him an hour and he could rebuild Ultron from scrap metal, give him another and he'd think faster than a supercomputer. He can do that with fighting too- If he showed up looking for me for something reason he- No one here would be safe from that." Normally, Leah talked in a very serious and profound way- She backed up what she said. But right now, she sounded downright worried. , She wouldn't say it outright, but the thought of Imperator showing up to AA scared her.

Sabine could sense the fear. It was palpable. And that concerned her. Leah did not show fear. So if her father was really like this....Sabine could see why she was so afraid. "Well, I'm not scared of him. Gonna be hard to do all that if I turn his brain to much so badly he needs to eat through tubes in his arms." Sabine hoped her bravado would be of comfort, but it was still hard. Sabine recognized her family was fucked up, but not THIS fucked up. "If he does come here for you, he's got to get through me first. And I'll be damned if I let some geriatric motherfucker take me down."

"Heh. Maybe... After I supposedly buried him under an entire mountain's worth of rock, I rode on a boulder all the way to here. I basically ran away from a pile of rubble by the time the rocks stopped moving. Agatha told me that if I didn't face him eventually, that would happen again- Me destroying everything and moving onto another place, and that it would happen again if I didn't face him then either. It's some sort of cyclical shit and the only way to undo it is to finish him off, I guess."

Bravado was certainly Leah's language. Her spirits were lifted back up by that. "He'd turn this place upside down to get to me if he knew I was here... But he probably wouldn't expect some mindfucking bitch with a sword." She joked.

"That's right. Mindfucking bitch and a literal powerhouse tank. Can't be super smart if you are being punched in the face 500 times. No way he's finding you here. And even then, we'll take him down and ensure he can't mess with anyone ever." Sabine noted this was one of the first conversations with Leah that didn't end in them yelling at each other. It made her see Leah in a new light.

A genuine smile crept up on Leah’s face. Not an overly excited one, but a content one. "Yeah. We’ll fuck him up. Just do me a favor. Don’t tell anyone I’m telling you this, okay? My dad’s an actual villain. The mercenary kind. People around here might be able to trace where he is, and that’s a whole other mess of that happens. I don’t want this to be a whole thing, you know?”

Sabine also smiled. "Girl, please. Everyone knows your thing is being a royal pain in my ass." We couldn't let it get too sappy now. "I won't tell. Promise. Now, what do we hug or...what? Sabine felt a warmth in her chest. It sucked and was wonderful at the same time. She didn't have bonding with Leah on her bingo card, but she wasn't upset.

Leah actually laughed at that. ”Know what? Sure. Just don’t shred your arms.” Leah swing an arm over Sabine’s shoulder. ”You can be pretty non-bitchy when you-

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Sabine broke off the hug. She hadn't intended to see Leah's memories, but she had inadvertently. And what she saw was....horrible. It made her physically sick. What kind of monster does that? But Sabine knew monsters existed and that they weren't the boogie men that lived under your bed. They were the very people in under the same roof.

"I- I am so sorry Leah. I didn't intend to do that, I promise! I didn't mess with it either. God, I am so fucking sorry." Sabine felt herself getting on the verge of tears, both because of the horrendous thing she witnessed, but also because of how terribly she treated Leah in the past (and partially because of those fucking bees).

Leah flinched back as if she had been punched. She felt Sabine trawl through her memories, and considering Leah didn’t have many good memories, it wasn’t hard to imagine what sort of thing she saw. Her knee-jerk reaction spark a snapping noise in the ground. A fissure, no wider than Leah’s forearm splintered outwards away from them both, without Leah even realizing she had done it. ”What the hell? I thought you-“ She stopped midsentence, trying to reel herself back in. Sabine didn’t do that on purpose.

She caught her breath and tried again. ”You didn’t mean to do that. It’s fine. We were just- We were having a moment. Don’t worry about it. I didn’t mean to shout at you.”

Sabine could feel she was moments away from getting obliterated before Leah controlled herself. Sabine could hardly blame her. "I'm usually good at controlling that. I don't know what happened. It won't happen again. I can see why you don't want your dad here. From what I saw though, the next time I see him, it's hands on sight. That fucker doesn't deserve another moment of happiness."

"You- Fuck." It didn't feel good knowing Sabine had just witnessed Leah in one of the most vulnerable points of her life. It was mortifying in some ways and just anxiety-inducing in others. Leah, for a moment, considered just running off and forgetting about this conversation. But Sabine was actually being nice to her. They never had a conversation that went this way. "You're right... He doesn't. Thanks. Now get back over here." She said, spreading her arms out so they could hug for real this time.

Sabine knew Leah was contemplating all sorts of things, and to her credit, she remained. Sabine had seen Leah in multiple new lights. Sabine also remembered Agatha's fortune. Granted, it most likely had to do with her mother (and that was something Sabine wasn't ready to face quite yet) but Sabine also figured she had to change some things presently. Why not have one of those things be her relationship with Leah.

"Baise-le," Sabine said in her native tongue before moving to Leah and, rather than a hug, took Leah in and kissed her gently on the lips. If Sabine were being honest, she had wanted to do that before (Leah was hot after all) but the moment of vulnerability made it seem worth it.

Leah... Wasn't prepared for that. Her mind started racing all over again, but it was in a better way than just a minute ago. Sure, Sabine was a bitch, but she was carrying a sword right now... And Leah secretly had a thing for blondes. She rapidly blinked several times while holding Sabine's gaze.

..."Fuck." She said, after numerous seconds of being speechless, and just went in for another kiss, swinging an arm around Sabine's lower back and holding her there. Her mind simply wasn't in charge anymore.

It tasted so good and, once Leah had accepted it, Sabine went fully in. The two stood there, embraced and in the moment, not caring who saw. Sabine's mind was going 120 MPH and she didn't care. All that mattered right here and now was this kiss.

Once satiated, Sabine tilted her head back to look at Leah. "This is going to make things interesting in the dorm room." Sabine stepped back, adjusting her clothes. "Well, that was....good. Great even. Do you want to head back to the others or...?" Sabine let the question hang there. As far as she was concerned, the day could not get better.

"Not particularly... Flaming bees and too many people. How about we just- I dunno, head back to the dorms for a bit?" She felt like she was on fire after that, but... Damn. Sabine was a good kisser. "Let everyone else worry about the flaming bugs." She hadn't let go of Sabine just yet.

Sabine thought about it and, yeah, she did not want to go back to the flaming bees. Thinking about it sent her to panic mode, so she opted to be horny instead. "You know what, you're right. Let's go." She unfurled herself from Leah, taking the girl by the hand as they made their way to the dorms, not giving a fuck who saw them. After all, Sabine enjoyed being watched.

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Madalyne stood there quietly as she thought about going somewhere else right now, Andy and Zarina seemed like a pretty close couple as she ran a hand through her hair. She wasn't really interested in going to the ship at the moment, there was a lot of people there anyway right now, and she didn't like large groups that much either but she decided to stick around these two for now anyway. She was curious about Zarina's armor that sounded pretty cool. "So is your armor like Thor's or something like does it come on when you summon your weapon or something?" Madalyne asked, Thor's armor did look pretty cool as well in her opinion.

Madalyne started to wonder how Percy's fortune was going, she looked between Andy and Zari. "I'd like to come if you don't mind me tagging along with you guys that is." Madalyne said maybe it was something that she knew as well to or something like that, since she had been at the school longer than the three of them.

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Diana's attention quickly turned towards April her face turning slightly red as she looked at Mai, sure they flirted from time to time, but it was more like playful teasing at least. She shook her head at the ship names that could fit the two of them and lightly nudged Mai and looked at her. "We are just friends who like teasing each other." Diana told her, Teddy seemed to still be in shutdown mode or something by the looks of it, seeing as everyone who had been poking Teddy they didn't get a response. Then she started to feel a stinging pain hitting her, and then another, and another.

She then saw a bunch of flaming bees that were all buzzing around the group, she never really told anyone other than maybe Percy but she was actually scared of was fire. Sure she did spend sometime around Danni who could manipulate fire so long as it wasn't aimed directly at her she'd just try and avoid it at all costs. Diana really wanted to get out of the area as quickly as possible especially with the area that was super confined like this part of the ship.

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"I don't mind waiting. It is these machines. There was some senior fiddling with them. Apparently, you can play video games and stuff in them." That was really what Andy had picked up about the machines. She wanted Zari to check them out because Zari was good with machines. She'd be able to explain them in a way that Andy could understand. Also, she really needed to figure out what that SuperLink thing was. Maybe Percy could explain it. Leah hadn't gotten a chance. She didn't think her roommate could be chill about it if she asked her...Mai was a lot. But so far, Andy liked Mai. Andy didn't know Madalyne well enough to gauge what her reaction might be to the question. Superlink seemed like it was something she should know about. Even being a transfer student.

"If you want. It is in the gym." Andy told Madalyne. She wasn't against her joining. Zari and Percy might be if they wanted to talk about private stuff. If they did, maybe Andy could distract Madalyne or something so the two friends could catch up. Andy had plenty of questions about the school and the other students. It'd be good to ask someone who had been going here.

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As Dorian prodded around inside the center console of the ship, he felt a very odd sensation inside his chest, just above the diaphragm as a slight pressure built up. He’d no idea what he was ‘feeling’ was Vicky's hand phasing through his astral form. The odd feeling gave him a knee jerk reaction, belching extremely loudly towards the tiny little rat-worms that wiggled before him. Merde. Sorry space rats. The more he looked at them the queasier he was feeling, but it wasn’t their fault they were disgusting bundles of hairless goo. He gave them a queasy smile before pulling himself out of that situation, unsure if the parent space rats had developed a way to see into the astral realm and bite through someone's form with their extra-terrestrial teeth. A shiver ran down his spine as he let the thought sink in for a moment, before noting the irony of him getting the shivers. As Dorian finally stood up in his full form, he noticed he was occupying someone else's space, jumping back a few feet with his weightlessness as he shrieked like a girl. His hand quickly went to grip his chest as he tried to take calming breaths while he tried to focus on who was before him. Geeze lady, personal space much? Or do you just like t’e cold? Actually you know what? Don't answer t’at I really don't need to know if you’re one of t’e ones with a monster fetish.

Danni pouted, his questions (ALL OF THEM IMPORTANT) ignored entirely. Except by Princess, but Princess never ignored him and that's why he loved her. "But Beanie would be such a good Mermista! T'at whole I'm too good for friends but I love you still vibe is just so, you know? And Princess, I love you, but you just don't 'ave t'at vibe. Perfuma is def your vibe, ya know? You'll rock her cosplay!" Danni continued excitedly. He wasn't certain who he'd be yet, but he'd figure it out when inspiration came! But something else caught Danni's eye before he continued talking, going on about his different ideas for himself, and it took a moment for it to sink in.

"Bees?! Danni screeched as he realized what he was looking at wasn't a funny little daydream.

April's scream cut through any melodramatic acts that Dorian was about to take part in as he whipped his head around so fast it could’ve doubled as a scene from the 1973 cult classic The Exorcist. Any thoughts of the ship abandoned as he phased through the walls and saw the metric shit ton of flying flaming bees that now orbited around his friends. Her eyes closed tight in fear as Sabine and Leah just removed themselves from the scene. What the actual fuck? Serious demerits in the girlfriend category for Sabine. New sword? Best time to use it is to save your princess, shaking my damn head. Mist started gathering around near April, lucky for him Danni was still there. Despite what people thought, he was the best damn fire manipulator that existed. He remembered spotting some tarps off in a box in the corner, flying past them all as he made his way to Danni. If anyone would understand what was about to happen, it’d be his best friend of all time. He quickly jumped inside of Danni’s body, taking quick control before phasing out as he told him Tag, You’re It and flew straight towards the tarp box. He really hoped it was one massive tarp and not a bunch of smaller ones. As he infused himself with the material, he began to fly out of the box like a heavy pair of haunted sheets. This was a new weight he wasn’t used to moving around, typically he just possessed lockers, dolls, brooms, and other such pranking materials, but a tarp? That was a new one.

Panic welled in Danni, and fought against his fragile control over his abilities, at the sight of so many fucking bees. His first instinct was to burn the shit out of them but even as he recognized the poor decision that it was, his hand was coming up and heat pooled in his palm. He was still going to try to burn the little buggers into ash because what else could he do?!

And then a familiar floaty feeling washed over him. Dee'd taken control and Danni could just sit back and watch the…

And he's gone.

Dorian over shot his target by a mile, not literally, but enough to fuck up. In his mind it would be the perfect display of why D&D were the most dynamic duo and when coupled with April, (DAD if you will) they were unstoppable. Picture this, Dorian would wrap all the pesky firebugs with his tarp, Danni rips the fire off the flaming tarp, and then April extinguishes it. It was the perfect plan until…Dorian collided straight into the tall muscular bear of a man and entwined himself around the senior. It was like watching a bag hit the windshield of a moving car and no matter which way the wipers went, nor what the driver did, it was just there taking up space and obscuring the vision, except his whole body.

Danni had gotten the point, panic giving way to giggles as Dee threw himself around Teddy. "I know it's 'ard ta tell, but Ted's ain't a bumble bee silly!" Danni giggled, making a come hither motion at the fire with his finger. Maybe it was because he was distracted, maybe it was because flaming bees were fucking terrifying but what was supposed to be a gentle orb of fire instead bounced off his outstretched palm and wrapped itself around him like a possessed tarp.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD, WHAT T'E HELL?! MY JACKET! MY 'AIR! MY EVERYT'IN'! Danni screamed, all the good vibes dead, unlike the bees. "I'M TOO BEAUTIFUL TA BE 'ORRIBLY DISFIGURED! GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF! Danni patted at himself aggressively, hoping to put out the fire and a new wave of panic washing over him as it did nothing. He scrabbled at it, hoping something would happen but it. just. wouldn't. respon-

The fire curled around his fingers and elation over took fear, the flames following his fingers and he twirled with fire following like a cape. It flowed back into his hands and he beamed… until a bee flew too close to his face and he screamed, his thin control shattering and the fire exploding outwards, engulfing those near him in a blazing explosion.

If tarps could frown this one would. Dorian knew Teddy wasn't a bumbling bee, but flying this damn sheet was harder than it looked. He thought these things were supposed to be aerodynamic, if not then why did flying carpets exist? He had half a mind to reach one plasticy corner out and smack Danni, but it quickly became obvious that he had his own problems to handle. As the fire flew off the bees, onto Danni, and then ruptured into a massive explosion, Dorian’s astral self mentally curled up in the fetal position as he gripped his stomach and began to cackle wildly at the display. Sure in the end Danni got the results needed, but between April's new tan, and the wild display of fire that could have easily closed the fairgrounds for the rest of the day, Dorain was pretty content with how it had ended. Unfortunately there was still the issue of the bees.

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As Victoria approached the console, she did notice the cold spots on it that did not seem to match with the general shape of the room, any air vents or anything, but she figured this was an alien ship, so who knew? Maybe this was normal? The only way she could tell would be to have a look inside, which was exactly what she intended to do... Right after she dodged the omnipresent minefield of mouse poop.

That was not the only thing wrong with the ship though. For a dead hulk, there was a lot of interference in the radio band. At one point, she could swear she heard a little girl scream. Replaying the feed in her head, she tried to clear and enhance the audio, but it was too garbled to make any sense. Briefly, she thought of sending a message back, before she realized just how silly the idea was. The ship was dead, no power anywhere. What, did she now believe in ghosts? Ridiculus.

Finally finding what she was looking for, she gently pried the console open, and frowned in dismay. "Who in their right mind decided to make an exhibit of this piece of shit? Literally!" she snarled as even the insides of the console were turned into a rat lavatory, not to mention all of the bitten-through wires and general state of the 'exhibit' She originally intended to connect to the hardware and supply some power to see if she could get anything out of it, but forget it! Sending power into these wires would almost certainly cause it to burn down, and frankly the whole thing was so dirty she should not be touching it with a ten foot pole, much less roaming within. I hope the club meeting room is in better order...

With disgust, she plopped the console cover back down and left the way she came, taking care to wipe her boots on the grass as she left. When she raised her eyes, she saw armageddon. Zooming in on one of the living flames terrorizing her classmates, she actually saw a little insect inside. Rather than helping her classmates - They are all superpowered, I need to protect humans from them. They should be able to help themselves. Sink or swim, punks. - she plopped down, opened a file and started cataloguing her observations on the species she decided to call Apis Infernal.

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The bees were still an issue for everyone. Though Zelda sort of took a few steps back away from the explosion that Danni had caused when attempting to at least somewhat extinguish the flames. There were so many bees swarming around the area still though, and they were definitely not something you can easily get rid of. Not unless you had some insecticide or something like that handy. Which most people didn't tend to carry something like that around. April was basically yelling (and begging) at her to get rid of them when she wasn't sure she'd even be able to do that.

Zelda closed her eyes for a moment, sort of imagining that the bees were gone just going poof out of existence. The buzzing for a moment got louder in her ears, before it stopped altogether. Opening her eyes again, and the bees were gone, leaving the entire group there still afterwards. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry... I'll just go now... Don't want to ruin anything else for people by accident o-o-or anything..." she said, before she turned around and took off running away from the group. Right now she was questioning why she even was at the school. She can't even really interact with too many people without her screwing something up.

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"I think you are confusing the two. The armor is basically something that protects you. Actually I have a ring that basically forms it around me. A gift my aunt gave me. I can use that to easily shift into it so it is easier if I get taken by surprise while wandering around wearing normal clothes. As for the weapon, my sword kind of pops back up for me if I do lose it. I don't exactly have to summon it... It is magic though and its name is Glowstick, it can actually hide in plain sight pretty easily, makes it so that I don't have people wondering why I've got a sword randomly."

As if to prove her point, like earlier, she unhooked the flashlight from her belt, held it out, and a few seconds later it shifted into it's full size as a sword. "See? Never really tried to summon it, most people don't think to pay much attention to someone carrying a flashlight or something like that. I've always just held it with me when wandering around. Though the magic stuff I get is interesting. The helmet here that Agatha gave me is a crown for the Valkyrie, the ring that allows my armor to form around me, and then I've got my horn that when I blow on it Mr. Sparkles my Pegasus pops up. Thinks that's all the fancy things I've got when it comes to things..." she added, before lowering her sword a bit as her attention turned towards Andy as she described that machine that she had seen earlier. "Oooooooooh that sounds so cool!"

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@Nallore: Diana managed to teleport herself away from the bees with ease, like a practiced professional. She ended up in what looked to have once been the brig of the ship, meant for confining prisoners temporarily. It was nicer (or at least more sci-fi) than the brig of an Earth ship. But it also had somewhat of a hamster cage like quality to it, the way the prisoners were held behind some sort of clear substance, entirely vulnerable with no obvious means of escape. She wasn't alone there.

No, there was a guy there - probably a senior by the looks of him, maybe a junior but Diana didn't recognize him, so it'd be unlikely. He was Maori, wearing a patterned short sleeve shirt and khaki shorts. He seemed to be lost in thought, he didn't notice Diana there at first. "Oh, hey, sorry - am I not supposed to be here?" he asked her, his Kiwi accent obvious.

@PatientBean@Blizz: Oh boy, watched they were. The school rumor mills were already excited enough with the Tommy-Kate break-up. The Leah-Sabine ship that had just left the harbor? That was like dumping gasoline on a fire. Everyone was going to know that those two were holding hands going off in the direction of the dorms by the end of the day. And given that they were roommates... People were going to expect them to do roommate things. For better or worse, any privacy of secrecy those two would have was gone.

When they arrived back at the dorms, Leah would get a text from April (see below). And Sabine would receive a DM from one of her followers that was just "!!!" with a link to someone's story where they had posted a pic of Leah and Sabine holding hands, circled with a heart, with the caption "AA'S NEW IT COUPLE BITCHES!!!!!"

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April's heart was pounding furiously in her chest, her hands still held reflexively in front of her face. She had been lucky that she'd managed to pull together a water shield in time, sucking some of the humidity out of the air - and her luck had resulted in a new uneven tan. She didn't want to think about how bad and weird these tan lines were going to be. She'd have to fix that stat.

The only person looking more traumatized than Teddy, who seemed to have chosen freeze from the options of fight vs flight of course was her sister. But the bees were gone now. Thankfully. And the fire was out and Danni's hair and clothes were somehow completely fine, as apparently his flames worked Human Torch style - which was great, because April didn't think he could pull off being bald. What was not great was that in the confusion she had lost track of Leah and Sabine, and now her sister looked like her meltdown was shifting into a crying fit as Zelda ran off. She didn't notice the blonde sitting down nonchalantly, as if this entire thing had been a picnic and not highly terrifying.

"Urgh, I thought her control was bad enough at home..." April whined. She did care for her sister, she really did. And she felt bad for her. And this was part of why April had been avoiding Zelda all day, so that way she wouldn't have to stop having fun to go comfort her sister. The empathy and compassion that she had for her friends did not always transfer evenly to Zelda; Zelda was her annoying kid sister after all! "I'm sorry, babes, but I should go after her - she like doesn't know anyone here and irritating as she is she is my sister... I'll catch up with you once she's calmed down, I'll send a text to let you know?"

April pulled her phone out of the pocket at the thought, finally seeing the text from Leah about there being too many people. She didn't notice that the time stamp on Leah's text was from a while ago, from back when they were outside Agatha's, so April assumed it was from the bee thing. She shot back a quick reply -


"Zelds, wait up!!" April then shouted, putting her phone away and running off after her miserable sister. "These boots aren't meant for running in!!"

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Percy was very cross with Agatha Harkness. Ordinarily, he would have dwelled in that anger and rationalized it, coming up with a list of real (or imagined) wrongs that the witch had committed. But there was one thing in the world that he always hyper-fixated on, more than his (un)righteous rage, and that was an unsolvable puzzle.

He hadn't even paid much thought yet to the time keeping properties of the pocket watch. No, he was still staring at the inscription as he left Agatha's tent. The characters - letters? - were none that he had seen before in his life. It wasn't Latin, Greek, or Cyrillic. It wasn't Cuneiform, Aramic, or Hebrew. And it wasn't Armenian or Georgian either. His brain rattled through lists of writing systems, trying to identify the marks, but he kept coming up with blanks.

He scowled, squinting his eyes at the inscription. His power worked better with larger data sets. Give him a sentence from a new language and he might not be able to translate it; give him a paragraph and he'd start to get the gist; give him a novel and he'd be fluent. One word - or one thought - usually wasn't enough to get something right away.

But that was all he had here.

Percy was instantly obsessed.

He glanced up, seeing that Zari had her sword out. "A little early for a duel to the death, isn't it?" Percy quipped, pocketing the watch. The inscription was burned into his brain already though. He knew that if he were to dream tonight, it would be about the watch. And when he closed his eyes, the inscription would be there, floating in the blackness.

Either that or that stupid idiot Dorian Gray.

---

Things were still spinning around in Leah's head like crazy. With Sabine all people... Her? Them? It was hard to imagine to her, but Sabine was... Well, she's Sabine. And they did just kiss like crazy. Leah's skin felt warm, and her heartbeat was considerably higher than normal. Sabine's hand felt even warmer. This didn't feel real, but Leah wasn't complaining. For about as long as Leah and Sabine were friends, they just barely every got along normally. They always bantered back and forth and got on each other's nerves so much, but they first they had a real heart-to-heart, they were heading to the dorms for redacted activities. They were moving fast, but Leah, if she was being honest with herself, didn't mind. She was fine with this. She just felt anxious about it. Was it because she was still reeling from the very personal things Sabine saw in her head? Or the fact that this was happening at all? Who knew? It definitely wasn't her.

Then her phone went off, Leah checked and it was a text from April... Fuck. April.

Now she didn't know what to think. She felt a million different things about April, but she was feeling a million different things right now. Her body now in autopilot, Leah thought about what to send back. Maybe April wouldn't be mad- Why would she? Unless this secret had something to do with her. Too many thoughts were happening, but Leah's heart had been laid bare already... Couldn't hurt to give it a shot. Leah slipped her hand out of Sabine's for a second. "Hang on." And she quickly shot back what was... Certainly one of the texts of all time.



She stared at the wall of text she just typed out and somehow didn't notice the multiple typos. She clicked the "send" button and instantly regretted it, but dropped her phone into a pocket regardless. "I'm- I'm gonna pretend I didn't send that for a while. Let's go." She reached for Sabine's hand and kept walking. Her skin now warmer than before. Something told her she was going to be taking a long nap, a lot of swings on a punching bag, or both by the time she and Sabine were done reading each other's Bibles. As far as she was concerned, the bees just didn't exist anymore. "It's been- Been pretty quiet while you weren't here. I didn't touch any of your stuff." Leah had the dorm to herself the whole summer, since she basically lived here the full-time. Wait- Didn't Sabine drop by the dorm before Leah woke up? If she did, it didn't register in Leah's head.

What a fucking day this had turned out to be.

---

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---

Sabine knew eyes were on them when they made their way back to their dorm. It was hard to get any privacy here and rumors spread like wildfire. It would only be a matter of time until the others heard about her and Leah walking hand-in-hand after making out in public. She decided, after seeing Leah respond to a text, to shoot one off herself.



Once she was done and Leah came back, she grabbed her hand and continued. She forgot Leah stuck around while Sabine went home. But given how Leah's home life was, she was not surprised. "It's all good. Play around with my stuff if you want. Feel what it's like to be me for a bit."

Once safely in their residence, Sabine let go of Leah's hand and faced her. "Get ready, because I am about to show you what true pleasure is like."