When Abel first awoke -at roughly the same time Tai was finishing with his morning routine- his vision was bleary. He blinked a few times but it didn't help. The easy, soft rays of early sunlight were well upon him, making him too warm to fall asleep again comfortable. A quick look at his feet confirmed why: the lovely, cool sheet had been given to spend the night in lay off the edge of the mattress, kicked there in his sleep. The boy grumbled, wondering exactly why this kept happening. Did he have a terrible, frightening dream during the night? Or perhaps a very good one? Abel certainly didn't remember his dreams, much to his chagrin. All he ever woke up with was the unhappy, confusing feeling that he had forgotten something important. Rolling over, Abel screwed his eyes shut and decided that he would try to go back to sleep.

It was at that moment that he remembered why he was here. The first day of the rest of his life had dawned, and by God he wasn't going to miss it. Galvanized into action by the thought of the trials ahead, he kicked his legs and sat straight up. For a moment his head swam, but as his sight cleared he got a good look around. About half of the other students were awake by now -he noticed the crazy faunus-attacking girl huddled in a corner of the ballroom, for instance- and a few of them seemed freshly showered. Abel raised an eyebrow. He didn't know that this place [i]had[/i] public showers, much less where they were. He settled for wildly brushing at his hair to remove any dust or dander and shaking out his clothes. Once he deemed them sufficiently clean by his admittedly low standards, he pulled on his hoodie and wrap and slipped on his boots.

Leaving the Ampere behind, he left the ballroom to find a drinking fountain. Once there, he took a deep sip, and splashed more onto his face to help wake him up as well. It wasn't coffee, but it would do. When he turned around, he almost bumped into a boy standing right behind him, apparently in line for the fountain. Abel's words momentarily caught in his mouth when he saw that the boy was holding the Ampere. "Hey," he said, indignant, "What are you doing? That's mine!"

Sheepish, the boy held it out, and Abel grabbed it from him. Once Abel held it in hand once more, he looked at the boy more carefully. He wore simple pajamas, a long-sleeved shirt and pants, both deep green and covered in leaf designs. His hair was blonde and his eyes blue, and while he was only a few inches shorter than Abel, his features made him look much younger. "I thought you had forgotten it. It's very nice and I didn't want you to lose it." For some reason, Abel was inclined to believe him. He just seemed so...innocent.

"Ah...thanks, I guess. What's your name, kid?"
"I'm not a kid, I'm sixteen. And my name is Pan." He crossed his arms. "You look tough," he appraised, "But you won't get anywhere on a team if you're rude to people."
"Hey, I'm not rude. People just don't do nice things like that usually."
"Maybe you ought to believe in people more." Pan stepped past Abel to take a drink. He seemed to the Guardian like a smart guy, and his heart was in the right place, but he was naive. Abel left him at the fountain and returned to the ballroom for lack of a better place to go. While somewhat nervous, his excitement was far stronger. He awaited any sort of announcement eagerly.