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Outside of her home being burned down accidentally, Ardere has never witnessed a good explosion of bright flame outside of television and movies. Despite all his flaws, she was impressed by the spectacular display of awe, even when she moved behind Teddy like a lost child. "Wow." Ardere breathed, her eyes returning to their normal color. Just like that, the fire bees disappeared like wet fingers smothering candlelight. "Are you alright, Teddy?" the redhead asked once more.

As big as he was, muscles alone don't make anyone fireproof. If her hot fingers didn't wake him up, maybe Danni's fiery explosion will. It would be a matter of time before school security shows up.

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Madalyne turned to Andy as she started to explain some of what Andy had seen in the gym of the school, the only machines that she knew aside from the workout equipment were the machines for the Framework. "Do you mean the Framework machines?" Madalyne asked Andy, as far as she knew the Framework machines were used to simulate various things and to demonstrate abilities without it being lethal or anything really. Mads listened to Zarina as she started to explain her sword and watched as she pulled out what looked like a flashlight and then it turned into an actual sword which was cool. "Glowstick looks pretty cool." She said as she nodded when Zari mentioned a ring that would summon up the armor instead of the weapon. She knew a lot about enchantments through Agatha's classes it was something she also enjoyed during her lessons.

Percy came out a few seconds later seeing him holding something in his hand before putting it into his pocket. "How did your fortune go?" She asked him. "Thats if you want to talk about it anyway." She said, she knew that sometimes people didn't really want to talk about theirs. "But anyway did you all want to go to the gym or whatever?" She asked it seemed thats what Andy and Zari wanted to do now anyway.

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Diana noped right on out of there, bugs she was comfortable with, but fire that was something completely different she never had a horrible experience with fire was just scared of it. In a bright flash of blue light Diana used her power to teleport herself right on out of there, normally she would have focused on a place that she had been before. But Diana didn't really think about it as she reappeared in another room of the ship. Diana turned around to see what looked like various kinds of prison cells, and quickly concluded that she had found herself in the ship's brig.

As Diana explored the room her attention was turned towards a boy who seemed to be lost in thought about something, out of the years she had been attending the school Diana didn't recognize the boy. But the moment he spoke he had an Australian accent, as she gave him a slight wave as Diana approached the guy. "Oh uh, there was just a situation that I wanted to get away from, and found myself here." Diana told him. "So your guess is as good as mine." Diana said as she extended her hand towards the boy. "I'm Diana Novikova by the way." Diana said introducing herself.

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"Yeah." Andy wasn't sure if it was the Framework, but that seemed to match what she was talking about. At least it was in the Gym. From there, they could figure it out. Percy joined them.

"Oh, we actually apparently already did that in the theater groups thing. How did your fight with Victoria go?" She asked Zari and then turned back to Madalyne. "And yours with that girl." Andy didn't know why she wanted to punch that girl so much, but she hoped that Madalyne had given her a bruised rib or something.

That conversation reminded her of Leah. She briefly wondered what Leah was up to and wished she had stuck around. So far, Leah was one of the people that Andy had met who she really liked and wanted to be friends with. She'd give the others another try, but as she had promised in Agatha's tent, she wasn't going to change herself to fit in.

"I wanted to show Zari something I found earlier. Do you want to join us? Or is there something else you want to do first?" Andy asked Percy.

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Dorian watched as a new person joined them into the fray of battle. It was the blonde haired ghost lover from earlier within the ship. He didn’t really know what powers she had, but now was the best time to show them off! Her fellow classmates were in trouble and she could get a warm up before the Contest of Champions auditions later today. His tarpy self watched as she…sat…on…the ground…wHaT?! She was just going to watch this all happen? What did he expect from someone who purposely stood in cold spots and randomly shoved their arms places most likely hoping for an interaction. Why didn’t she just go see the haunted tree if she was so curious? The wrinkles on the tarp shifted slightly as it made an upset face with a mixture of creases and shadows. At least Diana was still here. Sure she was mostly an archer, but maybe she had a bug catching arrow or something. He watched as she teleported away and…never came back. April’s sister (Link i think?) finally got control of her powers as the bees seemingly phased out of existence. If it was that easy why didn’t she just do that from the start?! Before Dorian could even question her, she went running off saying how sorry she was and how she didnt want to ruin anything else. A shot of irritation ran through the ghostly sheet as he thought to himself too late.

His irritation melted away as he saw April's concern for her sister come in. Dorain sloughed off of Teddy like a morning blanket when getting out of bed, pooling around his feet before he finally stood up and brought the two top corners together in his best 👉👈fashion. He looked towards Danni then back towards April and waved at her goodbye as she ran after her sister. He quickly flew up , dropping the tarp down on Danni as he hopped out of the large sheet before phasing back into the material world behind the blonde voyeur. ”So do you just not ‘ave powers or do you enjoy watching people scream and struggle against a tiny flaming foe?” He asked as he peered over her shoulder to try and see what it was that she was looking at exactly. After a few seconds he’d decided it was uncomfortable trying to peer over while standing up, so he stretched up straight looking towards Danni as he called him over towards him. ”’ey Danni get over ‘ere. Since April’s left after Sheik maybe we can still try for ‘ook a Duck, or could just call it a day so you can start making food for later. I still ‘ave to pick out who all is coming and going and finalize a list for my exclusive viewing party soooo tons of t’ings to look forward to.”

With the rush of cool(er) air around him once the fire vanished, Danni frantically patted himself down, checking his clothes, his hair, his skin… he fumbled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the camera so he could see himself the best he could. He could do with a little moisturizer and the excitement of the day had mess his hair but otherwise, he was perfectly fine. "Oh, t'ank God I'm still beautiful. I would 'ave absolutely lost it if t'at fire 'ad left any lingering marks. Definitely need some lotion, t'ough." Danni patted down his pockets and groaned as he realized he left all his pocket product in the dorm. "Ugh, today of all days ta forget t'e necessities of life!"

Something nagged at the back of his head. Yes, the fire was a problem but… he glanced over at the tarp wrapped Teddy. "Bees!" He remembered with a snap of his fingers, a face full of pride at himself for remembering instantly morphing into horror as he did, in fact, remember they were surrounded by bees. He took care of the important stuff (aka making sure he was still flawless) and now he could feel horror at the thought of stinging insects burrowing their stingers into him! "OMG T'E BEE…"

However, his dramatics were far too late and the bees had vanished in the wake of a retreating storm of teenage angst. April, sporting a daring new look (they'd have to talk about that because she definitely couldn't let her wander around with that poor decision tan), beat a hasty path after her sister and Danni blew her a kiss. "I'll keep you updated! Live commentary and all, no worries Princess!" He promised April, shouting as she zipped away. He turned back to Dee the not Tarp and put his hands on his hip. Danni was going to fire off a silly joke about plastic surgery cause tarp and plastic, but he was momentarily distracted by a the buzz of his phone.

He couldn't press delete fast enough. Gross. Why would he want to know they're… Danni shoved the offending device into his pocket and prayed for brain bleach. "Blah, gross. Beanie's bein' gross wit' Leah and… Wait. But Beanie was 'oldin' 'ands and stuff wit' Princess, and t'en Beanie said some vague stuff when I asked about it and now she's doin' t'ings wit'out Princess?" Danni scowled, his foot tapping and hands waving around as he spoke. "So is Beanie leadin' Princess on? Do I 'ave ta fight Beanie? Oh God, Dee, I don't wanna fight Beanie. I mean, I'll fight Beanie cause ride or die for t'e squad, bitches, but ugh, why would she do t'is?!" He wailed, shaking Dee violently by the shoulders like a human shaped magic eight ball.

He could feel the strange not-hollowness in his chest at the situation, anxiety and dread just eating at each other in a vicious cycle, but the birthday boy asked a question and the birthday boy would get his answer. After all, birthdays were important! "Nah, I'm chill, I'm good. I got plenty of time ta make your birt'day dinner!" Danni waved away the option, focusing on making sure his best friend had fun after the rough start to the day.

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And just like that, the magic - and entertainment - were gone. She did manage to record some interesting data about the phenomenon to be analyzed in detail later, perhaps something that could help her refine her vectored field control in the visible spectrum. Also, she recorded enough data on her pathetic her classmates were in dealing with such a minor nuisance. Some of them seemed downright frozen in fright, as far as their body language went, although she did not think to also observe the people in detail to gauge their vitals to confirm her theory. She'd have to note it down for further assessment. If she could neutralize some of them by tossing a beehive on them? That just made her future job easy.

Her musings were interrupted by someone giving her an earful. Vicky had to admit, the boy got a drop on her, her internal reaction to the fact a lot more profane. "Hi, I'm Victoria, nice to meet you." she rolled her eyes on him. Rude. "And, actually, no. I could not do much more than wave my perfectly human arms at those bugs, like the lot of you seemed keen on, rather than doing the sensible thing and backing away slowly. I suppose I could have ran to the armory and put my armor on and then come back to the situation already being resolved, yeah that would have been efficient." she said, her tone dripping sarcasm. "Although if we are to assume every problem has a superpowered solution, well, if only there was someone here with an actually effective superpower, like, say, able to douse the flaming bees in water. Oh, wait, there was! Or perhaps someone able to teleport you all to safety. Hm, right, they Fox-trot Oscar'd leaving you to deal with it. Go team!" she snorted derisively, getting up and staring down Dorian's eyes, her tone growing dark, "Or I suppose I could have walked over and knocked the lights of the culprit causing this out, but then someone would be standing over me, chewing me out for being a bully despite actually pulling your hides out of the fire."

She wanted to just leave after that, not liking where her mind was taking her. It seemed that she was worried about socializing for the wrong reasons. She thought she would shut down and get lost, her voice overpowered by all of the others. Instead, people seemed to drive her mad, and she quickly lost her filter, turning into an ass of a person. Maybe she should retire to the workshop - Machines behaved logically and predictably, unlike people. Still, a small but loud part of her was curious about how the inevitable shitstorm of a reply would be delivered, so she stayed. "So, what would you have me do in this situation?" she shrugged.

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Zelda didn't even really pay attention to April behind, figuring that she was basically just causing issues for her sister at this point. The pairs relationship wasn't exactly super close or anything, and at times Zelda things were difficult for her, since she was literally the exact opposite of her sister in almost every sense of the word. The crowd of people that had shown up had just gotten to be a bit much for her, and she really wanted to disappear and pretend that she wasn't here, that she was anywhere but at the school right now.

There of course was the issue of where would she go, considering the fact that there was this rather large crowd of people completely surrounding the place. One thing was for certain in her mind, and that was that she couldn't be there anymore. She just had to get away someplace else where there likely wouldn't be too many people. Then the thought crossed her mind of where to go, and she instantly raced into the building that housed the dorms, and eventually she found herself sitting against a wall, taking deep breaths still and trying to calm down not wanting to cause any more trouble and just disappearing away from the crowd.

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"I mean a duel to the death in any sort of situation would be fun! Plus honestly that sort of way of dealing with problems would result in there probably being less problems in the world, so don't get why some people frown upon it," Zari said happily to Percy as he had joined them from the tent, and her attention turned towards Madalyne with a shrug, "Yup, magic sword that shifts forms so I can easily carry it around and it goes along unnoticed," she responded as she shifted the sword back into a flashlight and clipped it back to her belt.

Now her attention turned towards Andy when she asked how it went, "Alright, but Victoria didn't know the first thing about how the rules of a friendly spar goooooooo and was so slow in making her moves or actions and even then I was still winning, no winner ended up getting declared because she was taking foreeeeeeeever. Honestly not sure if she'd actually be the best in a sword fight or anything like that if that happened. It was honestly kind of sad really." she responded with a shrug to Andy. The whole Framework thing sounded like it'd be cool whatever that was.

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@Nallore: the New Zealander takes her hand, shaking it firmly. "I'm John," he introduces himself, not giving a surname. He turned his head, as if hearing something that Diana couldn't hear, before returning his attention to her. "It's insane, isn't it? A wrecked Kree ship and they're just letting us comb through it, instead of putting it to good use... Imagine what we could do with all the resources the Avengers just leave as scraps..." His eyes seemed distant for a moment, clearly mulling something over. "Like let's face it, we're killing the planet. And Stark and Richards and all the big names, they don't give a shit. When the Earth goes to hell, they'll save themselves and leave the rest of us to die. Instead of letting ships like this rot, we could be using them to travel to other planets - hell, even Mars - and give the rest of the world a fighting chance. I bet they could reverse climate change in a weekend if they really tried. We could have a living Earth and resurrect those dead planets, if they just gave a shit... Sorry, I'm monologuing," he apologized with a slight laugh.

@PatientBean@Blizz: Leah's phone will show that April read the message, but there's no response. If this post is one that needs to be fade to black for your characters (as I think it will be), you could replace it with a post describing maybe the first time Leah and Sabine met? Or describing a significant event in your characters' pasts. Either way works! (And open to other ideas).

@Ever Faithful@Trainerblue192@Achronum@Forsythe: "Oh, um, I'm great!" Teddy answered, seemingly snapping out of it somewhat. "Like Frosted Flakes." He then paused, realizing that maybe Ardere didn't know what Frosted Flakes were. Did they still make them? Was he old now? He could only be four years older than her - so she had to know about Frosted Flakes. "What about you, Ardere - how are you?" he then asked, as sweat dripped from his face.

He opened his mouth, about to say something at the fight brewing between Vicky and Dorian, before he closed it. He was getting overwhelmed with all of this. And each time he snuck a glance at Danni, his heart short circuited. He wished he really was a bear. Bears didn't have to deal with all of this.

"Happy birthday!" Teddy then blurted. "How old are you?" he asked, before wincing. Gods, why did he have to be cursed to sound like an old man... The more he talked, the more uncomfortable and... well, uncool he felt. And he desperately wanted to be cool in the eyes of Danni.

@BlueSky44: Zelda would hear someone scream FUCK, shortly followed by a BOOM. She will hear what sounds like rushing water, and after a few minutes, water will begin to pool at her feet. It's clearly coming from somewhere, but where? She could always follow the watery trail to find its point of origin... Or she could ignore it, that would work too.

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April heard Danni's promises for live commentary and she shot him a thumbs up, but otherwise hadn't paused in her pursuit of her sister. Well, mostly. She had managed to chase Zelda down to Stark Hall, the sun beating down on her, and April looking forward to a brief respite in the AC. As she pushed open the doors, her hands instinctively reached down into her pocket, pulling out her phone. Her eyes scanned the text rapidly, the words all out of order, before tumbling into a coherent message.

im probably gonna regret sending this. kind of a lot of feelings about you for a while now. im love with two different people. I'm with sabien right now. talk to you later.

There was more, but these were the phrases April's eyes focused on. She momentarily forgot about Zelda and her pain. Her heart stopped. Leah liked her. April didn't even know if she liked Leah. But Leah liked Sabine too. And she had picked Sabine. She hadn't picked April. And it seemed Sabine had picked Leah. April's hopes felt like they were withering away on the vine. Her phone clattered out of her hand, hitting the ground. And the screen shattered into a thousand pieces.

"FUCK!" April screamed, as tears began gushing out of her eyes. She couldn't see. She knew that she ought to pick up her phone, but she didn't care. This was supposed to be the best day of the year, and instead it was a cruel nightmare. April ran in the direction of the nearest room, the nearest place to be alone - the bathroom - and she locked herself inside one of the stalls, sobbing her heart out.

Why had she thought she had a chance with Sabine? And why hadn't she seen what was there with Leah before it was too late? Why was she so stupid? April felt it then, in her bones, that she was going to die alone. No one could ever love her. There was a ringing in her ears, as fuzziness enveloped them. Dorian and Danni were both going to find amazing partners one day and leave her behind. Everyone was going to. Everyone was going to find someone better.

The toilet she was perched on began to shake. As did everything else in the bathroom. She didn't care though. She continued to cry, feeling like she wanted to reach inside of herself and claw her own brain out, removing the offending organ. Everyone'd be better off that way. Dorian probably didn't even want her to be at his birthday soirée. She was spiraling out of control, as all of the toilets burst, water shooting up like gushing geysers.

The water that exploded from beneath April propelled her upwards, slamming her against the ceiling - and then everything went black.

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"No, I don't think I do, no offense," he told Mads, when she inquired about his fortune. He didn't want to think about it himself. He just wanted to think about the watch and its maddeningly unknown inscription. He knew that it was going to consume him, that it would dominate his thoughts, his waking moments, but Percy didn't care. It was probably as good a use of his time as any. His curiosity was temporarily shifted though when Mads suggested that they go to... the gym?

He didn't mind staring at a well toned physique, but the gym was bound to be empty with the carnival still going strong.

"Mm, my condolences to this Victoria. She isn't living up to her name, clearly." He had half a mind to suggest renaming this girl to Perdita, meaning lost. It would be much more fitting, although Percy imagined any of Zari's opponents would inevitably end up bearing the title. She was passionate about everything she did, but swords above all else.

He wasn't sure if what Andy was talking about was the same thing as what Mads had mentioned - was the thing Andy wanted to show Zari in the... gym? It seemed weirdly mundane for the two of them, and Percy had never known Zari to do anything mundane. "Sure, I'll bite. What is it?" Maybe Andy wanted to show Zari a treadmill, in an attempt to find an outlet for her girlfriend's endless supply of energy.

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"Oh...I'm doing great. I guess." Ardere replied hastily, unsure what to think of Teddy's increasingly sweaty face. She was about to say something more when he shouted 'Happy Birthday' to another student. Does he know these people? Teddy looked increasingly uncomfortable after drawing attention to himself.

"Do you want to go...wash your face?" Ardere suggested, trying not to sound too impolite, as she slowly distanced herself from the brawny student.

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"Heh... I figured." Externally, Leah was playing it cool. Internally, she was panicking. Sabine was very clearly attracted to her, but then again... Would Sabine be bothered by the countless scars and old burns that Leah had? Or the sandpaper hair she had? Leah's heart was hammering in her throat, but she didn't seem to care. "So... Now what?"

"Oh I think you know what." Sabine pushed Leah on to the bed. "Hard to believe we got to this point huh? Remember the day we first met?" The memory was not all-together unpleasant, though she was sure Leah had other thoughts. "They put the two least likely people to get along in one room together. Almost like they did so on purpose."

"Yeah..." She sat down and put an arm over Sabine. "That was... A rough day." Sabine likely put it together in her head, after earlier...

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Today marked the first full week Mayra killed her dad. She managed to salvage a few spare dollars from the car outside that wasn't buried, but she didn't know how to drive it, so she had to make the 450 mile trip through the Sonoran Desert on a flying boulder. Mayra was tired, but even this cold classroom was better than the medical bed she had to sleep in after the worse days. All these other kids didn't pay any attention to the small girl in the back. And Mayra didn't pay attention to them. She didn't know how to talk to people, so she just stared out a window, as if he'd come crashing through at any second to take her back home.

Sabine held her phone up trying to get the best angle. She had only just started her account and she needed to get followers quickly. If she was going to run this school from the inside, it was crucial she have presence. Two girls next to her were talking, but Sabine had tuned them out. Their conversations never interested her. Sabine took some photos in rapid succession and was looking to filter and adjust when she noticed an anomaly. Or, rather, a person who may as well be an anomaly. It was that weird girl who never talked. Sabine chuckled and rolled her eyes, "Guess I'll retake that one. Got something unfortunate in frame.' The two girls cackled next to her, unaware of who she was talking to but desperate not to make it seem like they didn't know.

She definitely overheard that though, and proceeded to look at the self-obsessed blondie confusingly. Her face scrunched up in a "the fuck?" expression as she continued to cloud Sabine's selfies in the background. Though not entirely intentional, it did make it seem like Leah was offended by her in some way. "I heard that."

Sabine rolled her eyes and turned to look at the girl. "You were meant to. I wasn't exactly being subtle about it. Why don't you go back to sitting there like a rock." Sabine shook her head. It really was sad when the lessers felt they could speak up to their betters. "Who am I kidding, a rock has more personality and actually does something to improve the environment."

"You wouldn't understand rocks if they hit you in the face," She barked, as a rock did, in fact, fly through the window behind Mayra and clock Sabine right across the face. The "lesser" didn't even move an inch. She did, however, start cackling in response.

Sabine brushed her cheek where the rock hit her. "Oh so your power is moving pebbles? Adorable. I'll keep you in mind when I need to redo my zen garden." She brushed it off before staring back at the girl. Sabine took a picture before starting to write the caption. "Let's see, what to say. Do you know this girl? Terrible attitude and decides to assault someone who pisses her off? #Unfortunate. I don't have a huge following, but I am willing to bet those that do follow me would love to know who to stay away from."

"FUCK YOU! STUPID FUCKING BLONDE ASS BRATTY LITTLE SHIT! THE ONLY REASON THOSE BITCHES LIKE YOU IS BECAUSE THEY THINK HANGING OUT WITH YOU GIVES THEM A FUCKING PERSONALITY!" She howled, and the floor rumbled. Mayra stood up and stormed out of the classroom, unaware that the entire class was gawking at the two. She slammed the door hard enough that the glass and hinges shattered, and ran through the halls at full speed, as if there were something at the end that could make this day somehow better.

She didn't want to be here anymore. She didn't want to keep pretending she actually had a family to go home to when someone asked. Everything about this place just felt wrong, Mayra was acting like someone she wasn't, using a completely different name because she was terrified that one of dad's old mercenary friends might find her. Mayra held back the stupid tears that were trying to stream down her face, and ignored the awful pit in her stomach. He always said that weakness meant surrender.

She hated this place, and she wanted to go home. But she didn't have a home.

Sabine watched as the girl had a meltdown. It was low-key hilarious. As the girl stormed off in a huff, Sabine chuckled, "Can dish it out but can't take it? Not surprised. Come get me when you are ready for the main event."

The two girls next to her started laughing. Sabine stopped short and looked at them. "Shut up. Girl may be unfortunate but she's right. You bitches need to slobber on your own brand and lay off mine." Sabine took a selfie and tagged the two girls in it. "Brianna and Michele are #NotSquadGoals. Wouldn't be surprised if they bought their stuff at a flea market. #SoSad." And with the click of a button, the two girls felt the brunt of social shame.

She would have to thank the girl later. In private.

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A lot was going through Dorian's mind as Vicky began to speak. It started with a smile as he began to extend his hand out towards her as she introduced herself. But then, he caught the eye roll. The introduction clearly wasn't a genuine one, prompting Dorian to pull his hand back, at first slowly but then with a snap. Her tone was coated with sarcasm as she went on to degrade all of his friends and acquaintances for how they handled the situation. It was very the pot calling the kettle black. According to her the sensible option was to back away and do nothing yet she made it seem like Diana’s choice to teleport out wasn’t the same as what she had just suggested. Her speech was hypocritical and at best bitchy. The more she went on the more upset Dorian got. It was a mixture of anger and anxiety, a fine line of wanting to snap back at her and wanting to hide away. She claimed she was only human, but her previous punches in training suggested otherwise. With her strength she could’ve easily lifted a large rock and slammed it on the flaming assholes. As soon as she got up to match his gaze Dorian phased out into the Astral Realm. It gave him just a moment to think and collect himself as he could hear Teddy trying to talk to him about his birthday. Right. How could he forget? Dorian scrubbed his face with his hands in frustration before he allowed himself to be seen, still intangible in his ghostly state so that if Victoria had decided to throw fists it at least wouldn’t be capable of landing.

Dorian gently kicked off of the ground, hovering an inch above the grass before lifting his legs up and crossing them criss-cross as he floated in front of Vicky thinking of what best to say. Peeking over her shoulder he shouted back towards Teddy awkwardly. ”Uh…I’m seventeen now?” He didn’t mean to make the statement into a question but the big gallook was confusing him more than his reading earlier when he was told the short angry imp would be he destined love. Dorian’s attention went back towards Vicky as he crossed his arms and looked her up and down. ”You say you’re only ‘uman, which ok t’at's kinda weird not gonna lie. Most everyone ‘ere is some kinda non-’uman, even t’e ones t’at were ‘ave ‘ad some sort of chemical alteration to give t’em powers. But t’at’s not really ‘ere or t’ere. You’re in a super ’ero school, so act like it. You can’t sit ‘ere and t’ink you’re taking t’e moral ‘igh ground while acting like a coward t’at just doesn’t get involved in ot’ers affairs just because t’ey ’ave powers unlike you. Oh, and t’at suit? Can’t you just, I don't know, call it? If not t’at’s a pretty poor design flaw to ‘ave to go and suit up each time t’ere's trouble. Even Iron Man made portable suits and pieces for on t’e go crime when ‘e couldn’t be bot’ered to call up a full suit.” Dorian squinted as he stared at her closely before shifting his position, legs still criss-cross as he flipped himself upside and examined her. ”No, I t’ink t’ere’s somet’ing more to t’is t’an you're being unprepared for an attack.” He replied, his tone level and full of curiosity as he spoke.

Danni blinked as his magic eight ball poofed into the Ara Ara realm or whatever it was (Dee reminded him everytime but honestly, he didn't care enough to remember). He gestured exasperatedly at the blank space Danni once occupied, but it wasn't empty long. Danni nodded along with Dee, mostly because besties and not that he was particularly engaged in the conversation but when Dee was done, Danni fixed Vicky with a look-what-you've-done look. "It's 'is birt'day and look what you've done, upsetti t'e spaghetti. First, a nasty freshie, t'en bees, and now you." Danni whined at Vicky. "I t'ought you just… vibed, or whatever. Why we gettin' spicy? It was just a question."

Frankly, Danni didn't really know much about Vicky other than tough in a fight. He'd been happy with his friends but she'd always seemed to stay firmly on the sidelines, regardless of how large he grew that group. It was her loss really. Who wouldn't want to be his friend!

As he was talking, Victoria saw Dorian’s power’s antics and cursed in her head. Ghost! In hindsight, that should not surprise her, she had information on how his powers worked. Seeing it from up close was something else though. Also, she realized just how close she came to being revealed. If he decided to poke his head through her and saw a bunch of machinery instead of a beating heart, well… Guy might have questions. She instinctively took half a step away from him.

As that was going on, he yelled something and someone behind her, something Vicky could not be bothered to pay attention to right now. “What do you mean, weird? There are plenty of examples even on the Avengers and elsewhere of unpowered humans having a place here. Stark, Rhodes, Burton, Pym, Williams, and that’s just from the top of my head.” she shrugged, not seeing his point.

The other point he was trying to make though, he was just plain wrong on. “And do what, get stung or set on fire with the rest of you? How will that help. Let me remind you that it’s common practice with any first responders not to go in if it is too dangerous for themselves. Firemen won’t charge into a burning building if the roof might collapse, nor would cops engage a rampaging madman in an uparmored bulldozer with just handguns.” she said, before giving him a withering look, ”And, I never claimed to have moral high ground. I just think a bunch of Supes should be able to handle themselves. I signed up to this place because I want to learn how to protect regular folks from the likes of you, not to save superpowered people from themselves. The first thing is already hard enough.” she shared, since he seemed so keen on picking her brain.

“As far as the suit goes, you say design flaw, I say security measure. How many times was something of Stark’s stolen? No such issue with my stuff. Not that it’s not a moot point, as making even the entire suit, let alone the individual pieces autonomous, would require so many resources… If you know of a couple hundred thousand dollars just lying on the street waiting to be picked up, I’m all ears. I don’t have Stark money to throw at the problem, you know? My first suit was literally built from scrapyard finds, and arc reactors are famously difficult to find there.” she pouted, but tapped her finger on her lips in thought, “You might be onto something with some handbag utilities, though. I’ll have to think on that.”

When Danni joined up, she just shrugged him off: “Hey, your homeboy just started mouthing off at me. I literally sat here and did nothing. He’s only got himself to blame for being upset.”

Dorian felt a prickly sensation as Danni stepped in to help him out in his own way. Nothing he said was wrong by any means, but he wasn't sure how well Victoria would react to those comments. He wasn't the type of person to sit around and collect folios on people's habits, behaviors, and skillets because…really what kind of person does that? Everything was mostly based on vibes, as both he and Danni knew, and you either ran with them or went against them. Vicky, ofcourse, didn't seem too thrilled with anything that came out of his mouth, but he could see the mental gears turning as she switched from chewing them out to actually thinking about what Dorian had suggested.

As much as Appa always tried to instill some sense of monetary relevance in their life, his dad would simply win over by just creating the thing they needed or wanted. Money held little value to Dorian, as it apparently had back in Genosha as well. He didn't subscribe to the idea of capitalism, but then again why would he when his father could simply make something rather than buy it? So the thought of Vicky being strapped for cash on the makings of a suit managed to click a little light bulb inside of Dori's brain. It was clear that attack Vicky was down and chill Vicky was back in action, which…thank gods because Dorian didn't know if he could handle any more drama on this day. "It's fine Danni. I t'ink she's calmed down enough to just talk." He said as he swirled around her before stopping in front of her just inches before her face. "If you need 'elp with 'andbag utilities I know my way around a few electronics. Built ma PC maself after all. T'ough I don't 'ave money jus lying around no more désolé."

Danni thought this was going to be a thing, but apparently it wasn't? This had been an emotional rollercoaster of a day and he wasn't mentally prepared for another situation today. "Oh, t'ank God. I don't t'ink I could 'ave 'andled anot'er 'situation' today." Danni sighed with relief. "It's really just been one t'ing after anot'er today, Vicky. Like, carnival's been fun but also when will it end? 'onestly, I'm surprised I'm not breakin' out."

"And just call like, a sorcerer or somet'ing for all your fancy gizmos. Just draw out want you want and t'ey can just, you know, " Danni wiggled his fingers and snapped in a pathetic attempt to copy Max, "T'ey just make it happen! T'ough, I t'ink a little pom pom would be adorable for a handbag, or maybe cluster circles chains you know? Guess it depends on t'e material, but t'ey even make little daggers you can clip onto one if you're feelin' t'e edge. What kind of 'andbags do you 'ave? Are t'ey brand name or are t'ey knock off? Not t'at knock offs are bad, but t'ey are… you know. I can make some recommendations if you 'ave some pics of t'e collection!"

Yeah, sure, let me just call up one of my plethora of sorcerer friends and ask them for a freebie. Oh, and like I am about to take fashion advice from someone who presently looks like the demon love child of Michael Jackson and a clown- No! No. No. Bad Vicky. They’re just trying to be nice in their own way. Victoria caught herself before she said something else she would regret.

As soon as she took another step away from Dorian while grumbling something about personal space, she tried to rephrase the same without sounding like she wanted to take their happiness and grind it into powder under her heel and feast on their tears. “Well, I have to say I am short on magical friends. Not that I would want to indebt myself to them or that it would not feel bad to rely on the charity of others. Besides, I’m an engineer at heart. Coming up with the thing and building it is my idea of fun past time.” She smiled, “And for a small bit, I think I can use some of the spare parts for the armor without compromising my action readiness. We’ll see.”

She left the note of the day being awful without a note. No need to bother them with the fact that hers was just as bad. Turning to Danni, she fished her phone out of her pocket and quickly found a webstore link, showing the pictures to him. “Aren’t pom poms for like… cheerleaders? I like to dress for business. I’ve got this thing. It’s sturdy, carries a ton of stuff and it's got a shoulder strap for longer trips. As far as daggers go… Considering how badly I got my ass handed to me by my roommate at the sparring thing, I think I’d rather pistol-whip a bitch if it came to close range. Oh, that gives me an idea already.” she grinned.

Dorian grinned as Vicky clearly shifted tones and became friendlier, even so far as to indulge them in their helpful ideas for how she could be better prepared for next time. He gently glided backwards until he was floating by Danni's side, attempting to punch him in the arm but finding that his fist phased through Danni's bicep. "I was worried it'd be anot'er t'ing too but if I've learned anyt'ing it's t'at t'e power of friendship wins every time!" He beamed with delight, the thought of how he hadn't shown that chance to Percy ate away at the corners of his smile. "Besides you don't need to know a sorcerer immediately! We're at AA chère, t'ere's tons of people 'ere who might 'ave magic. I know one actually, 'ere names Mads she's …somewhere around 'ere." He was glad to see even just this conversation was sparking up ideas for her. To him, this was what AA was all about. Comradery and the pooling of minds to help young heros become great ones. Having outside perspective in one's powers or abilities could show them new ways to utilize them that the person may never have thought of.

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Diana gave the boy a smile as he shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you John." Diana said to him as she looked around the large brig once more, still surprised at how big it actually was. When he spoke to her again, it was kind of true that the large groups like the Avenger's always did leave something huge behind after a huge world ending fight or something like that. "I'm pretty sure someone could try and reverse engineer it or something and so that we can go out to other planets and stuff." Diana said as she thought about it for a moment, there were a lot of people in the world that could try and change the world for the better. Either through some impressive tech or someone's powers.

"Kind of surprised that no one with nature powers or anything like that has done to try and save the world, or even a large group of them could do wonders for the Earth, they'd be really useful on like a mission to Mars as well to." Diana pointed out, as she looked down at her phone, she still needed to visit Agatha before she left the school for good. "I do have to go, but if you want to hangout or talk more about this stuff my dorm is on Floor Three Room 310 in Stark Hall. I can give you my SuperLink later as well to if you want it." Diana said, as she started to leave the ship now and over towards Agatha's tent.

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"I totally understand." Madalyne said as she nodded towards Percy, if he didn't want to share it that was completely up to him really she could understand that it might have been personal to, and she had just met him after all as well to. Madalyne put her hands into her pockets, her hand running along the tarot deck that Agatha had gifted her. Luckily the gym wasn't to far as she spotted it, when Andy asked how her fight against Megan was back at the sword fighting area.

"It went alright we ended up in a draw I guess, or something like that." Madalyne answered Andy as she thought about the fight with her, and why she was angry at her for some reason. She was going to join the club anyway and might ask her about it whenever the time did come if Meg wanted to talk about that anyway.

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As Diana entered the tent, she would see the ancient witch herself, Agatha Harkness, sitting in front of a small round table. Her attention was focused on a beautiful little black kitty in her lap, giving Ebony lots of scritches and whatnot behind the ears. The cat was purring noisily - almost sounding like a car engine ready to go at the start of a race. The tent itself was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, filled with magical trinkets and oddities, overflowing with them really. There wasn't enough space in the cabinets and trunks and shelves, so crystals and cards and candles floated through the air somewhat aimlessly.

"Welcome, child. Please, take a seat, and tell me what Agatha Harkness can do for you?"

As Diana entered the tent she was surprised to see how big it was actually on the inside as she watched some of the various trinkets and enchanted objects floated around the room. She could hear Ebony purring rather loudly which reminded her of her pet back in her dorm who was probably pretty bored being alone right now. During her time here at the Academy she never really stopped at Agatha's tent up until now but she figured that since it was Agatha's last day here she might as well get a reading before Agatha left.

"Really cool tent you got here." Daiana said as she made her way forward and sat down at the round table across from Agatha, it was her first time getting a reading to and wasn't sure what to ask really. "I guess what I want to know is what my future is going to be like?" Diana asked.

Agatha seemed surprised for a second, before laughing. "Oh, this isn't a tent at all, my dear. It's a pocket reality I created long ago that I anchored to the grounds of this academy. The tent is merely to visualize an entrance," Agatha explained. She hadn't really thought much about how other students perceived this. The pocket reality had comprised her office during her time here - it had been easy enough to shift it outside. She was leaving it for the school though as she left for New Orleans, as it would be easy enough to construct a new one, and perhaps the staff might find it useful. She intended to leave instructions on its care and maintenance to her top pupil, Madalyne Crane.

"A simple question. Hmm... Oh, I see. I suppose that makes sense. You two are siblings." Her query matched her brother's. Sometimes siblings could be incredibly different, other times rather similar. Agatha supposed that the latter was true here. She snapped her fingers and the cards began to dance, before one by one they fell down in front of Diana. Ordinarily, this would have been a simple past, present, future spread. But Agatha had been inspired by Diana's name. Diana. In some aspects, she was worshipped as the triple goddess - Selene of above, Artemis of the realm, and Hecate of below. Maiden Artemis, Mother Selene, Crone Hecate. She took Diana's future as such.

For the Maiden, she drew Death Reversed. For the Mother, she drew the Four of Wands, and for the Crone, she drew the High Priestess.

"In honor of your name, this reading is based on the triple goddesses of the moon. It cycles through Maiden Artemis, Mother Selene, and Crone Hecate. For the Maiden, you drew Death Reversed. This is a card of the major arcana, indicating major spiritual forces at play in your life. You have yet to come into the queendom of your power, so the Maiden is you. Mark when this card appears for you in future readings. It is your personal card. In its upright position, this is a card of change. Inverted, it indicates fear and hesitation. You are trapped in limbo on uncertain footing."

"When you step into your power, you will become the Mother. A kind and nurturing figure, she blossoms with life and vitality, and bestows it to others. For this, you drew the Four of Wands - often called the honeymoon card. I see a union in your near future - perhaps a marriage - or simply a unification of yourself. There is much joy ahead of you."

"As your power and life begins to wane, you will become the Crone. A wise old mentor - perhaps such as myself. Here, you have the High Priestess. This is another card of spiritual forces. The High Priestess knows the secrets of the universe and draws strength from the divine feminine, but does not needlessly share these with others. Her intuition is power and her knowledge is arcane. Your future maps onto these phases of the Moon rather well, Diana. In giving you that name, whether your mothers intended it or not, they have forged a bond between you and a lunar goddess. Whether it is Artemis, Hecate, or Selene... Time will tell. But one of them has placed a mark on your soul. Perhaps this is the unification spoken of in the phase of the Mother - a union with a goddess."

This child's future was entwined with a goddess - and if Agatha were correct in her suspicions, it would be a marriage that could become impossible to undo.

Diana took another look around the room, still it was really interesting it looked super small on the outside but it was huge on the inside. Her attention quickly turned back to Agatha as she mentioned her brother, she was curious how his had gone and made a note to ask him about it next time she saw him. Diana leaned forward as she watched the cards moved through the air as three of them one by one landed in front of her on the table.

She listened intently as Agatha explained the spread in front of her, she did grow up reading the Percy Jackson series and other Greek and Roman myths, she always did like the goddess Artemis. The spread did fit her in well with the goddess of the moon, she blushed slightly at the mention of a union with a goddess. "I certainly wasn't wasn't expecting to catch the eye of a goddess." Diana said with a slight laugh, she felt uncertain about that.

"The gods will not admit it lightly, but they often must bind themselves to mortal hosts," Agatha explained. "It is a practice most common with what you would call the Egyptian gods. There are a handful of gods from other pantheons who have such arrangements with mortals - such as Athena. It allows them a more direct influence in mortal affairs than they would have otherwise. It is not a union of love, but of souls. A host must be careful so they are not consumed, merging with the deity until they are just a vessel and nothing more."

Diana listened to Agatha as she mentioned that the Egyptian gods did it, she didn't know to much about them aside from a few history class lessons on them. But she nodded she'd have to be careful to not let that happen whenever the goddess did approach her, as she looked up at the teacher. "Any idea who it'll be and when it'll happen?" Diana asked Agatha.

Agatha's eyes twinkled. "I believe you already have an idea as to the answer. Now, did you have another question for me?" she inquired. "If not, then I do have a parting gift for you - something that I hope will come in handy... This is rather old, so do be cautious with it. Or don't, I suppose. But you won't get another." Agatha got up from her seat and opened up a trunk, before pulling out a quiver of arrows that glinted strangely in the moonlight. "Twelve arrows used by the goddess Artemis in the hunt. They will always return to your quiver. They will not, however, repair themselves."

Diana thought for a moment if she had any other questions for the old witch, she smiled slightly when she answered her question getting an idea who it would be. "I don't think I have anything else to ask." Diana said as she was about to stand up, when Agatha opened up a chest and presented her with a quiver with twelve arrows. Diana pulled out one of them, seeing the little glimmer of moonlight before putting it back in. "Thank you so much." Diana said as she strapped the quiver over her shoulder and started to head out.

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"Too bad you didn't like break her nose or something. She had a very punchable face." Andy sighed a little whimsically at the idea. "Anyway, it's this thing apparently called the Framework. You can go into it and like have mock fights at full power without risking actual damage."

Andy explained as they started walking toward the gym. "There was another kid there, a senior, installing Mario Kart. I love Mario Kart. I haven't played it in ages." An understatement. It had been a few years for her, but time was silly. She knew it might not be a good idea to bring up that she played it on the Wii.

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Having the mind only for the gizmo that was slowly taking shape in her imagination, Victoria quickly thanked Danny and Dorian and bid them farewell, shutting herself in her shrine workshop until she had the basics of a workable design ready.

Hours later. Scrap! I hope I didn't miss her! she thought as she quickly made her way to the tent of the old witch. She was in luck - the sun was pretty low, but the tent was still in it's place, hopefully with the witch still present. At least there was no line now, so Victoria ducked inside.

Vicky's sensors would register everything inside of the tent with perfect accuracy as she entered - the floating candles and cards and crystals, some of the stones not native to Earth. She would see the black cat with an eerie green glow surrounding it, indicating that it was not simply a house cat. The armoires and trunks and shelves, all gathered from different eras in human history, containing artifacts of either immense power and sentimental value. And the witch herself, bursting with a similar green glow to the cat's - a glow so bright that it was blinding.

And then Vicky's system would crash. Her system would register strange runic symbols and arcana diagrams and configurations, before going completely offline. To an outsider, it would look like Vicky had just fainted.

Her system would then reboot, finding herself seated on a bench at a crossroads. It was dark - far darker than it had been when her system was last active. The native foliage lining the roads did not match those found in Los Angeles. And if she looked up at the sky, she would be able to see the stars - the air was clearer here, less polluted. She would be able to process this information to figure out her geographic location, but the witch seated on the bench next to her, her cat at her heels, supplied the answer readily.

"We're outside of Salem," Agatha explained. "I figured you would appreciate the privacy. Had I known you were an android, I would have warned you against entering my tent. I am technically not supposed to admit students with pacemakers either."

Self.Start();

Initiating...

Chipset: U-15
Platform: ASTRA Mobile Prototype
Serial number: A-U-0
Operating system: ASTRA 1.2.1.12
Designation: Victoria Åshild Elise van Dyne

Self.Diagnostics();

Power core integrity: 100%
Charge level: 25%
Structural integrity: 100%
Mobility: 100%
Shell integrity: 100%
Chipset integrity: 100%
Memory fragmentation: 0.05%
Personality matrix integrity: 100%
Personality diffraction: 0%

Overall status: Nominal

Self.Personality.Activate();

Victoria's eyes fluttered open and she remained perfectly still as she took in her surroundings. What happened? Where was she? The last thing she remembered was... Entering an impossible space and detecting a slew of signals that her instruments failed to interpret. She looked into her system files and found the recent crash log. Sweet fortune, a power fail! Wait... but I'm still me? How? she wondered briefly, before Agatha's naming of their location reminded Vicky of the existence of the world outside of her nanite shell.

The android brushed a bit of dirt off of her face - Did I faceplant into the ground? Ugh, embarrassing... - And turned her head to address the witch in her company. "Good evening, miss Harkness." She smiled despite everything. She had to admit, the atmosphere of the place was serene and she quite liked the quiet. "My apologies for the dishonesty. I was not at the liberty to tell. I suppose I should take it as a good thing that someone of your calibre remained oblivious for two years. I suppose that means the VEIL protocol is working, if even the Faculty can't tell. I mean, Vision knows, of course, being a shynthezoid and my uncle and all..." She paused suddenly before resuming, "Sorry, rambling. I came to you to say goodbye and offer a hand in packing, but in hindsight, thinking a magician would need help with manual labor was a bit silly." she smiled sheepishly.

Turning back to look at the scenery again, she bent down and ran her fingers through the grass, trying to figure out whether she was moved, of if she was experiencing some kind of illusion. Well, if this is an illusion, I can't tell it apart. Straightening back out, she had a guilty expression on her face: "I'm sorry I did not manage to attend your class before you left."

Agatha waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, almost every student at the academy has a dark and cumbersome secret. If we spent our time looking into each and every one, we'd have no time left to teach. We hardly have the time as it is. Demons don't send out a When2Meet to time a confrontation to not conflict with a course." She wasn't lying though. She knew for a fact that there were probably dozens of students at the Margaret Carter Institute with forged intake forms. Nothing terrible had happened yet, so the faculty just hadn't found the time to really care about it. Maybe if there was an incident things would change. That was how it always went - things were reacted to, never anticipated.

"I appreciate the gesture, nonetheless. But I am not sorry that you did not attend my class," Agatha offered. She flicked her hand and a cigarette appeared in it, already lit. She took a drag and then breathed out, letting the smoke fly up into the night sky. "AI lifeforms are notoriously an absolute pain in the arse to teach." She chuckled, evidently finding her observation very funny. "Now then, shall I peer into your future or would you like to receive the gift I have selected for you first? It is not magical in origin, so there should be no threat to your systems."

"Well, no life is perfect." Victoria shrugged at the jab at her kind. AIs were hard to teach, humans failed at not being jerks, ... Then came the question of her reading, and she vividly recalled the conversation with Zari and Mads earlier in the day. "You're free to look if you are curious, but I'd rather you didn't tell me. I'm not comfortable with the implications of a definite future being available to glimpse, and I think In this case, ignorance is bliss." she smirked. "Aw, shoot, we're doing gifts? Sorry, I didn't think-" she looked towards the ground glumly. Clearly her understanding of social occasions had ways to go still.

Agatha nodded, respecting Vicky's wishes. Rather than having the cards spin and dance around her head as she had for the others, Agatha simply drew two cards from the deck. If Vicky chose to look, she would see Strength and the Nine of Swords. Had she asked, Agatha would have explained she went for a binary reading, inspired by Vicky's nature. One card for all of Vicky's positives, her best traits, the things that would help her along the way, the epitome of her finest moment - and one card for what would be Vicky's undoing, her downfall, her deepest despair. The Cards seemed to want to be rather literal today. Perhaps it was because there was no soul behind those eyes, just ones and zeros. Agatha didn't know. She hadn't looked. She drew one last card, as the theme began to clear before her - the Hierophant. Conformity and tradition. Chains that would both revive her yet restrain her. A masculine face, cloaked in metal.

Agatha did not let a trace of pity show on her face. This child had a long road to walk - one that would change her forever in body, if not in soul.

"The future is not definite," Agatha told Vicky. "We can glimpse at where we are going, yet our will is our own. As our choices change, so does the future. But I will not tell you what I saw unless you should ask me to." She paused, putting the cards away neatly. She then waved her hand and a large circular bag containing something heavy appeared in her lap. Agatha messed with the zipper, revealing an ancient Norse shield. Despite being centuries old, it looked ready to use. "No magic - albeit I did use some in its restoration. What better gift for a shield maiden than a shield of old?"

Pondering the answer, Victoria decided not to look at or ask for a meaning of the cards in the end. "Hmm... Very well, we have free will, but if you do get a glimpse of even one possible future, just knowing may still influence your decisions. I think I'll let the chips fall where they may." Philosophy class will be fun! she thought. Hopefully the classmates won't just be drab wretches who only took the class for credits. "I would like to know how you made it so that I came out fine in the end after my system shut down though. At least I assume you did something, otherwise even the person that built me does not know how I actually work and that is a thought I would rather not entertain, considering what I am based on."

Agatha regarded Vicky knowingly. "Ask me again when you're older. I do not believe you are ready to know how just yet."

When Agatha produced such a piece of history, Victoria's eyes widened in awe. Taking the piece in almost reverence, she unpacked it and held it up in the faint light, marveling at the blue and yellow paint job. Not her colors, and she was not painting her armor in the x-men color scheme, but perhaps without it, she could make it work? What to use for weapon though? Unless... Oh, with a little modification and a lot of training... She looked around, checking for any other people and cameras.

Scanning...
No recording devices present.
All personnel in vicinity aware of unit's nature.
Lifted VEIL condition satisfied.
Activating combat mode...

Smirking, Victoria's irises turned red in color as she held the shield out. Her surface seemed to shiver and weave like it was made out of millions of tiny insects, but instead of reshaping and shifting some of the mass that currently formed her jumpsuit into a protective cover and a sharp edge over the shield, it instead malformed and just turned her surface grotesque looking and it took her some doing to even reshape herself back into the original form.

She frowned. Okay, this is one of my basic functions. This is easily controllable without even having to think about it.

...
...
...

So what the hell?!

Her diagnostic scan earlier was fine, so the control code and the nanite firmware should be in working order. Unless, of course, even the backup was somehow corrupted, resulting in the faulty files returning matching checksum. Which would mean a trip to Pym Tech to restore those libraries from the on-site backup. Not great, not terrible. Only one way to find out. Victoria opened the code files and very quickly read through them, and as she did, she quickly went through all of confusion, denial, anger, bargaining and depression, until she finally reached acceptance after some 138 miliseconds. Okay. bunch of my code is now written in runes. Which I can't even read, much less understand what that code is doing. But there is little I can do right now. Other than perhaps kill a witch, but somehow I don't think that would help... she though, before sighing.

"Well, whatever it was, fifth of my coding is now in runes. I'd ask whether that's permanent, but it's just a matter of going home for a restore, so whatever, I guess?" her shoulders visibly slumped though. "Still, this is a very nice piece. Thank you. If you ever need help with something that requires a touch of the physical rather than magical, call me, I'll be there."

"Give it a few hours, dear, and it'll sort itself out," Agatha said knowingly. "The magic is still settling out of your system, bit by bit... no pun intended." She waved her hands and suddenly, they were back at the Margaret Carter Institute, standing outside of Agatha's tent. "Good night, Victoria van Dyne. Be well."

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She was more focused on her breathing and remaining calm then anything else. Since there weren't too many people in the area, it allowed her a bit of time to center her thoughts and keep her emotions from going haywire. Afterall, that sort of thing would help prevent her powers from going crazy, and her causing issues or more chaos to occur. Zelda figured that would make things better, at least for a little while to say the least in general. Hopefully anyway.

Off in the distance, she heard the sound of someone swearing off in the distance and a loud explosion. That didn't make too much sense, but she was just willing to shrug it off that maybe someone was having a worse day then she was at the moment. Then she noticed the water that seemed to be pooling around the area, and that made it a bit apparent as to who it was that likely had caused it, at least of the people that she knew. Zelda didn't know what might have caused it, but figured it had to do with emotions just like when her own powers went haywire.

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"It was soooooo laaaaaaame!" she complained a bit about it, "I was even offering to more or less let her get a few actual swings in and she still didn't do much. The one instance that she actually did basically went against the rules of the whole thing as a sport for fun. And then I think made fun of me for caring? I don't know, I'm not good at telling that sort of thing so who knows really how it sounded. It still was annoying!"

Her attention turned back towards Andy again as she explained what it was that she seemingly wanted to show her. The name sounded very vaguely familiar, like someone mentioned it once forever ago, but otherwise she had no idea what sort of thing it could be. And that was part of the excitement of going forward to see it. "Sure let's go check it out already then!" she said happily, before she motioned for the others to follow and started marching towards the gym.

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Today was the day.

Today, the students of the Margaret Carter Institute would audition in front of selected faculty members. They could choose to demonstrate any skill, technique, or power - it was completely up to the students. The next day, they would have their results back - the critiques and comments, as well as what Contest of Champions team they would be placed on.

The Judges:

• The Vision - A synthezoid constructs by Dr. Henry Pym with the assistance of Dr. Dominika Novikova, the Vision has served with the Avengers since his creation. His messy divorce from the Scarlet Witch continues to be the topic of gossip magazines, despite both parties insisting that they are happy as friends and coparenting their twin boys, Billy and Tommy Maximoff... both of whom will be auditioning for a spot on the reigning winners, the Young Avengers.
• Nimue, the Lady of the Lake - A newcomer to the Margaret Carter Institute, Nimue dates back to Arthurian legends. Not much is known about her, except that she is replacing Agatha Harkness as the resident sorceress of the Margaret Carter Institute. Her ward, Ser Megan of the House Pendragon, is also auditioning for a spot this year.
• Ser Nemo - The other newcomer to the Margaret Carter Institute, Ser Nemo is taking over time travel studies, after the previous teacher lost their own life in a time paradox. There is similarly not much known about him, although his credentials are from his previous career as an agent of the Time Variance Authority.
• Usagi - A creation of the High Evolutionary, Usagi is a genetically modified cat with the skills of a ninja and the alcohol tolerance of a giant. She teaches classes on combat at the Margaret Carter Institute and has done so since its founding. She is sometimes mistaken for Rocket Raccoon.

Earlier that summer, a webform was sent out to all students. Students could request any number of environments, objects, weapons, scenarios, etc etc for their audition. With the resources of the Avengers, almost anything can be made available if needed. The auditions will occur in the school's gym, in the training room. This gigantic room is roughly the size of a football field and can have its floor easily swapped out for other materials, from sand to vibranium to cotton candy. For students with mental powers, Shiar golems have been generously donated by the Empress. These golems have a variety of 'factory settings' and can have their mind space viewed via a Stark Industries device, allowing the judges to see the effects of the power in real time.

Students audition in alphabetical order. In the morning, seniors audition for Vision and Nimue, and juniors audition for Ser Nemo and Usagi. In the afternoon, sophomores audition for Vision and Usagi, whereas freshmen audition for Ser Nemo and Nimue.

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Okay everyone, OOC chat here - these auditions are somewhat like the ones in the Hunger Games. You go in, show your stuff, and the judges will make decisions about you based on your performance, yay! Obviously I already picked out the teams, so if your character does bad, it won't change their placement... but it might cause IC drama!

You have 14 days to post this round. Everyone's counters are reset.

You MUST ask for rolls for any use of powers, skills, abilities, etc etc in your post. You may NOT control the reaction of the judging panel.

Example audition ideas:

• A luck manipulator ties themselves to a spinning wheel and has a machine throw knives at them.
• A flyer navigates a difficult obstacle course
• A healer heals a fatal wound on one of the Shiar Golems
• A telepath forces a Shiar Golem to tapdance, and then psychic knifes it to the brain
• A werewolf goes into a blind rage, destroying a bunch of training dummies
• A teleporter teleports to various locations around the world and brings back souvenirs

I will post Percy and April's audition at some point ideally in the next week. If you have multiple characters, it is fine to post for one character at a time.

Once you have posted your auditions, feel free to do collabs with people that take place at any point on Mon. Sept 13th (the Carnival) or Tue. Sept 14th (Auditions).

Any questions? Just ask!

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It is your turn to audition. You step into training room A or training room B, depending on your assignment. The two judges are behind a rickety old table, clipboards in front of them and what must easily be a hundred manila folders. The lights shine brightly on you. You can see a bit of blood smeared on the western wall - clearly someone's audition earlier didn't go well.

"You can begin when you're ready," one of the judges says, smiling somewhat wearily at you.

Your heart thuds.

Your audition begins.

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To say that April had had a roller coaster of a first day of school had been an understatement.

She was exhausted, physically if not emotionally, when she got up that morning. She'd always been somewhat of a night owl, cursing the 7:30 AM start times of the classes at the academy, but classes started that early in just about every high school in the country. The Margaret Carter Institute was no exception. Her nerves had woken her up at almost 6:30 that morning, preventing her from receiving anymore nourishing sleep. She only knew what time it was by quickly tapping at her laptop screen. Her phone had been totally destroyed in what had happened yesterday... and she hadn't told her parents yet that she needed a new one.

Her plan had been to wake up when Mads' alarm went off, but her anxiety had demanded something else.

She knew every beat in the routine she had choreographed in the pool that summer. Her annoying little sister - April never did find out if Zelda was alright or not, after everything had happened - had been convinced after much pleading and begging to help April with her costume. She could've bought one online, but she knew that her sister could make things that were higher quality. Zelda even knew what sites to look at for the wig, which April had painstakingly brushed out as soon as she finished her morning skincare routine.

Her skin was peeling from the sunburns Danni had given her yesterday.

April felt so incredibly unattractive. No wonder Leah and Sabine....

She couldn't let those thoughts distract her. She had to focus. Did she remember the words to the song? Yes. The movements? Yes. Was second place the first to lose, the immortal words of the infamous Abby Lee Miller? Yes. Even though they weren't going to be ranked here. They were just going to be sorted onto teams for the Contest of Champions and if April did badly, then she'd be put on a team of people who also did badly, meaning her chances of winning were ruined. She only had two shots left at the crown.

And April could not STAND to lose.

She had to WIN.

But her mind felt more like a tsunami by the time it was her turn in the audition room. April fixed her wig one last time, forcing a smile onto her face as she looked at her friends. Dori and Danni would both have their auditions not too long after hers. "Time to go crush this, be right back besties!"

Then, with some difficulty, April entered the training room.

It was the same set up in general as last year. The two judges sat at a table, tons of paper and clipboards in front of them. Ser Nemo was an elderly man dressed in a sharp suit, looking at April with a curious and knowing twinkle in his eye. Usagi was actually standing on top of the table, finishing scribbling something in shorthand on the clipboard.

"You can begin when you're ready, my dear," Ser Nemo said.

No one mentioned the elephant in the room - AKA the gigantic tank of water, larger than some aquarium exhibits, that was off to the side of the room. April wasn't shocked to see it there. She was relieved. She had requested a swimming pool's worth of water for this. And then the music began to play - a certain Karaoke soundtrack from an old Disney classic.



April reached her hand out, ready to call the water out of the tank and to her, just as it was time for her to sing. She was dressed like a mermaid, but April was doing this to Sebastian's part. And as she began to tug the water towards her, she lost her balance - tripping over the mermaid tail, April moved her arms in wide circles in a frantic attempt to regain her balance... only to fall face first onto the floor.

She didn't need to look at the judges to know that they were probably dying from secondhand embarrassment.

April was about ready to die herself.

But even though her heart was pounding, she took a breath and continued. She called towards the water and this time, it responded. The water poured out of the tank, rushing all around her as she held it together in an artificial bubble with the strength of her mind. She was floating in it now, just her head sticking out of the water, easily ten feet up from the ground. This was the easy part. It was one thing to make a giant water bubble and float in it.

It was another thing to do that while singing and dancing.

Her voice wasn't as steady as it could have been, but April sang. She sang about how things were better under the ocean. She sang about the water and the fish and the music and the bubbles. Her movements weren't perfect, but she was hitting her choreography, plunging down into the water bubble at one point before remerging to begin the next chorus. And the boundaries of it held. She managed to keep it together through the sheer strength of will, knowing that she would never be able to face anyone in the world again if she lost control and drowned Ser Nemo and Usagi.

And then, in perhaps the most graceful movement she had managed that day, April lowered herself gently to the ground through the water bubble, feeling like a cute little mermaid princess. And like it wasn't even hard, she sent the water over the heads of the judges and back into the tank, not losing a single drop.

Ser Nemo clapped politely.

Usagi stared.

"Thank you, Ms. Flynn," Ser Nemo said, clearing his throat after staring at his colleague for a moment. "You can go now. You should receive a copy of our critiques by tomorrow. Oh, but that does remind me," Ser Nemo said, fishing about in his pockets. He produced then an old Nokia flip phone. "A friend of yours mentioned to me that yours was broken. Please, take this one - it can survive the apocalypse."

"...Thanks! Um, thanks, wow, yeah, that's - is that from the 1900s? It looks so... so cool," April coughed, having been about to say old, but it occurred to her that Nemo was probably older than the phone. It took some effort for her to get up off of the ground in her costume, waddle her way on over and take the Nokia, her face burning bright red. Had Danni or Dori told Nemo? Did Nemo think she was neglected now and her parents couldn't get her a phone? Oh gods, what did he think of her now! And had they hated the routine? It wasn't perfect but April had worked really really really hard on it and....

"Well, um, good luck!" April said awkwardly, as if Nemo and Usagi were ALSO auditioning, before waddling out into the hallway, wishing again that the ground might open up and swallow her whole.

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Andy was a bit nervous about this. But when she remembered the test fight with her adoptive father, she knew she could do more than she could in the past. Before Genosha, she could only touch things and shock them. Something had unlocked in the fight, and now she could spread it out more. Recreating that fight would be impossible, but Andy had done the best she could with the form the school had sent out. She had asked for a bunch of metal bits, preferably flat metal disks, and conductive ones. She had also requested a Shiar Golem—one with MMA fighting skills.

If she just pretended it was an underground fight in the Drummonds' gym...well, that wasn't the perfect game of pretend, but at least it was something she could draw from. There hadn't been very many open-to-the-public mutant fights; that is to say, there hadn't been any. But the powered fights had been fun, and she had always 'pulled her punches' in a way. She had never used her electrokinesis; she hadn't had enough control back then. Here though, with this fight, she could unleash.

Entering the gym, Andy looked at the judges. She didn't know the staff here but had been told their names: Ser Nemo and Usagi. Andy had seen enough anime before her time-travel experience to know what Usagi meant. She also had been informed Ser Nemo's field of expertise, and boy, was that a coincidence she didn't want to think about too much. Neither was exactly what she had expected. Especially Usagi. She frowned, looking at the pair now a bit uncertain which was which. Her expectations...Andy shook the thought away as the judges informed her it was time to start.

Andy squared off with the Golem. She wasn't certain what to expect from it. So she went in for a quick move, her fist lighting up with crackling energy. It was going to be a solid hit. But it moved faster than she had ever had an opponent move that wasn't a speedster (she hated speedsters). It was gone just as she was about to connect with the punch.

She recovered quickly. A small smile appeared on her face. This would be fun. The last fight she had had had been with Leah. Technically the last two fights. Maybe it was her thoughts being too distracted, thinking of other fights and not the current one. Or maybe it was that she had recently thought of the Drummonds. Whatever the reason, Andy's form was not as crisp as normal. However, the Golem seemed to have moved too fast and was off balance. She punched up, hoping to knock it the rest of the way off balance, bringing forth a charge of electricity as well. Electricity crackled from her hand, spreading across the chest of the Golem.

It was hard to know how much damage was done. For now, it was still standing. She dropped a couple of the disks from her pocket. Letting them fall to the floor. She moved slightly, only about ten degrees. Leaving those disks on the floor behind her. Hopefully, the Golem didn't notice. There was also no indication from the judges of their opinions, which was fine for Andy. She didn't want to know what they were thinking.

Andy pushed all the other things away. She focused on the Golem. She had chosen MMA because it allowed her to be creative. She kicked the Golem. It caught her foot, but she let lightning go. It sparked up its arms. Her adrenaline spiked. The Golem let go of her foot, and swung at her. She wondered why it didn't use her foot against her. It was as she was dodging that punch and wondering that when Andy realized it was a feint. It was almost too late, but her enhanced reflexes gave her the edge she needed. She slipped under the real attack. As she did she dropped a few of the metal disks.

Coming back up from her dodge she was now a few more degrees around the Golem. She had gotten maybe a quarter around it. The metal coins were like the breadcrumbs of her path. Andy punched at the Golem, arching electricity into the punch. The Golem was starting to look a little worse for wear. It grabbed her arm and threw her.

That was unexpected. Andy hit the floor sliding a bit. The Golem started to move toward her. She couldn't have that. She needed it at least near the metal disks. She got up and rushed it. The Golem swung at her and she half dodged it. There was going to be a nasty bruise there later. That was fine. Bruises were something Andy had lived with.

Andy was able to get in a kick and a punch. The Golem was still close to the metal disks. She needed to end this fight soon. She dropped low, leaving a few of the disks in her wake. The Golem kicked at her. Andy grabbed its leg and flipped it to the ground. She didn't have a lot of experience with grapple-type fighting. Judo had been something she had considered learning but just hadn't had the time.

Because of that, she used the Golem's time to get up to drop a few more disks. She was now more than halfway around it. The Golem also showed no observation of the disks. She was close. It finished standing and she kicked it in the side, electricity sparking down her leg and into the Golem. It pulled her and she lost her balance. But that was fine.

Andy flipped onto her hands, freeing her leg, and then landed crouching with her hands out to either side of her. The metal disks surrounded the Golem. Electricity sparked from her hands and hit the first of the disks on both sides of her. That then jumped to the next and then the next until it had the Golem surrounded completely.

She smiled at it. The Golem only stared at her. It made no move as if it was trying to calculate what Andy was up to. And she increased the electricity. Pushing almost as hard as she had in the mock fight with Magneto. The room smelled of ozone now. The electricity pulsed and jumped from the disks to the Golem. For a moment Andy thought it would have no effect.

Then the Golem seemed to shut down. It dropped to the floor. The electricity still pulsing into it. Some of the lights overhead sparked. Andy stopped.

She exhaled. And looked up to the judges.

Their faces. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking. But both had scribbled some notes and then Ser Nemo (well who Andy thought was Ser Nemo) said, "You can go now. You should receive a copy of our critiques by tomorrow."

"Thank you." She wondered if she could take the disks, she had a few left in her pocket and maybe Zari or someone had more she could get. Actual coins wouldn't be as conducive. Eh, she'd worry about it later. She gave a bit of a bow and left.

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It was exactly 7:00 AM, on the dot, and Leah's phone broke the quiet, sleepy silence.

No, it did more than break the silence, it shattered it. Time to wake up



Her alarm was always the loudest one she ever knew of, and she hoped Sabine wouldn’t bitch about it… Oh, right. Sabine. She very quickly shut that alarm off before it could actually wake her up... But then realized Sabine wasn't actually here. Leah had a feeling it would be an awkward conversation later, but she had shit to do.

Checking her phone, she didn’t see a reply to that disastrous text she sent yesterday. But it did say it was opened. Leah felt her stomach turn over. What if she just burned one of the three bridges she had around her? What if April was weirded out by it and couldn’t look at Leah the same way now? She said she had something to tell Leah, was it that she was also feeling things for Sabine? Fuck, did she just break April’s fucking heart?

No, no, no, no, no-

She nervously ran her hand through her hair and felt it catch something. A knot. Her hair didn’t normally clump up in knots, but that must’ve been because of the Devil’s Tango from yesterday. It had only been three in the damn evening, and she must’ve blacked out for the whole evening… Jeez. Leah wasn’t exactly sure how she was supposed to get knots out of hair like hers, but she’d worry about it later. It was something to fixate on, and it was a small thing, but it grounded her thoughts. She had things to do today. Today was the day.

The gathered up all of the usual things she brought with her. Instead of an oversized coat, she opted for just a tank top and sweatpants today. Something told her she’d be active a lot today.

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When Leah eventually arrived at the gym, the floor had been swapped out for stone. Not concrete, not cement, or brick. Raw stone, like the bedrock beneath soil. She waited her turn and walked out into the middle of the gym. Leah gave everyone a chance to pay attention, because she wouldn't be doing this a second time. There was no hesitation, or flinching in the face of this. Leah had performed this exact same action a hundred times over during the summer, this would be the hundred and first.

She shifted her weight, and swung her left leg up over her shoulder. In that same motion, Leah brought her foot down in an axe kick to slam the floor. The entire gym reverberated as though a bomb had went off, and suddenly the floor came to life. Several rectangular columns wide as a school bus shot up towards the ceiling with a loud thump as the ceiling came downwards in the same way, forming pillars seamlessly. Leah then clenched her fists and raised them over her head, as if she were lifting a barbell. The ground she stood on split away, raising above the floor by a whole foot in a circular pattern, as square steps jutted downwards. The way she moved the material affected by her powers looked as though she was making it reshape itself on an atomic level, rather than simply move in different directions. There were no seams in the pillars or the platform to imply something was broken to allow their movements, only fluid changes to shape, as though the gym had turned into clay.

If anyone looked closely enough, they could actually see the floor warping and bending like it was mud, even though it was solid as a rock. Leah still wasn't done, though. She spread her arms outward into a cross-like pose, and more pillars began to rise around Leah's platform, only instead of rectangles, there were cylindrical, and at the varying heights of most regular human beings. The final act of her demonstration as a single clap of her hands, loud enough to be confused for a gunshot. Following the clap, sand began to fall from every pillar in the gym, and collect into the shape of squares and discs under their respective shapes. In mere seconds, every column stretching to the ceiling was carved into patterns that resembles murals. There were five in total, and each one looked like something straight out of an ancient temple from a thousand years ago. There were humanoid figures wielding weapons in what looked like armies, fighting one another along the three dimensional surfaces.

Meanwhile, the smaller pillars gave way to statues of various heroes. There were 13 of them in a scattered pattern around Leah's platform. Six of them were the original Avengers, the other nine included Storm, Nightcrawler, Vision, Silver Surfer, Colossus, Iron Fist, Iceman, Cyclops and the Phoenix. All of them seemed to be using their powers, or lack of powers, in some way. Leah didn't actually plan that part of the demonstration. In fact, she only had the idea after she walked in, but she had managed to essentially terraform the entire gym, in a very loud way, in less than a full minute.

Leah gave the judges a full two minutes to take it all in, and clapped her hands again. Everything crumbled to sand, and settled into the floor almost like water. There were ripples in the floor that settled into a perfectly smooth, solid flat plane. There was no stray sand or dust... The gym was just as untouched as when she arrived. She walked down the stone steps she made, like she hadn't broken a sweat. The platform she stood on, too, dissolved into the floor, leaving no trace of her terraforming.

"I’ve been waiting all summer to do that."

And then she turned around and walked out of the gym without further elaboration, knowing they’d send their thoughts as paperwork. Now, what the hell was she going to do all day?

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Sabine was ready.

She had prepared herself for this moment. The moment where she would showcase all she could to prove her worth and her abilities. The stage was literally hers to command. She had relayed the things she would need and the school had gladly provided her with a husk for her use. To her specifications, the husk would have memories implanted into it. After all, she wouldn't be able to do much.

She debated adding her newfound sword and force field abilities into the mix. She really wanted to broadcast her memory powers as they were her bread and butter.

She stepped up to the stage. In front of her was a human. Though, it wasn't an actual person. If one didn't know it was a husk, one could not tell the difference. The husk looked male, which Sabine thought fit perfectly. Sabine was in a black dress with a white jacket and black ankle boots. She hoped she looked as powerful as she felt.

Her mind raced back to the night with Leah. To April. To Danni. To Mai. To the people close to her. She was about to give the performance of her life.

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"It was Dr. Suess who said 'Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory'. We don't truly value the memories we make and are often taking them for granted. How sad is it when a loved one has dementia and we can see the memories they have slowly fade? Or how happy are we when we make memories with friends and look back on them fondly as if we are reliving them? Today, I plan to show you how important memories are and how they shape us as people."

Sabine faced the husk. "This husk before me was given memories. I was not made aware of what the memories were, but I believe you know what they are." Sabine lifted her arm, letting her fingers caress the husk's cheek. She closed her eyes as she delved into the husk's mind, seeing the memories before her. She managed to latch on to a few before she pulled out.

"The husk was given the memory of a Christmas morning, opening presents with a mother, a father, and three younger siblings, all nestled by the fireplace. I saw one graduation where the graduate attempted to do a flip after receiving their diploma which did not go well. Another is traveling on an airplane that is hit with violent turbulence. The person does not panic despite those around them looking like a bomb hit. Last, a memory of walking in a forest in autumn, holding the hand of someone, rubbing their thumb over their partner's fingers and a lump in their pocket as they plan on proposing once they reach their destination."

Sabine let it sink in that she just recalled the husk's memories. After a beat, she continued.

"Next, I will show how memories are fragile but vital." She lifted her hand again, this time, going into the memories and erasing them. Once gone, she created a memory of a little girl, dressed in a pink tutu, watching a ballet dancer on screen and trying to mimic her movements. Sabine was not a ballet dancer herself so she could not force the husk to be in the next Swan Lake, but this would serve.

Once it was implanted, she released. The husk soon took its cue and began to attempt to dance ballet across the stage. Despite the fact the husk looked like a young adult man, it behaved as if it were that little girl, gleefully jumping about and spinning, while giggling. Sabine let it go on for a bit. "As you can see, memories can be manipulated. We act based on memories we have. They develop core memories that shape personality."

Sabine reached up as the husk passed by her, touching its cheek again, this time, she erased everything. Soon, the husk stopped. It stood there, breathing, and nothing else. "Without memories, we are basically in survival mode. There is nothing there. We just exist. And even that can be manipulated."

Sabine reached up and touched the husk again. She quickly wiped away the memory of breathing. Soon, the husk reached for its throat, attempting to take a breath it did not remember it could take. Sabine watched as the husk fell to its knees. Sabine, despite this, stared down at it like it was mud on her shoes. She had intended to stop it before the husk died, but as she attempted to cut it off, the husk fell to the ground, lifeless and unmoving.

She could play it off, certainly. But so what? It was some dumb husk. The school could get a new one easily. Instead, she turned to face the judges. She smiled, though it had a wicked tinge to it. Power, she felt. Life in her hands taken.

She unsheathed her sword and slammed it into the ground as the force field lit up around her. "Memory is as vital as air."

She let the force field go and took a bow, signaling the end of her performance.

She heard Nemo let out a small chuckle. She took that as a good sign.

Usagi spoke up. “Mm, thank you very much. That was… breathtaking.”

Nemo rolled his eyes. Despite this, Sabine got the sense they found it amusing nonetheless. She turned and left the stage, feeling she nailed it.