[h3][center]Liam Pyne[/center][/h3]

Liam stood at the front of the ECAY. The Summer Break had really not been long enough; although it was not like his family had been thrilled to see him. Most of his time had been spent roaming as freely as he could given the ECAY handler who had been sent with him. Officially he had been given a pass to use his powers in a limited fashion under observation. No vesseling, no exorcisms, just talking to spirits and trying to figure out what they wanted without letting them inside. It had been a drag to say the least. The only upside was that he could finally shed the stupid anklet they’d put on him to alert his handler if he used his other abilities. It was ridiculous really. 

Walking past the front gates he headed straight for the front doors. As much as Liam would have liked to go for a walk around the grounds it was hot enough to drive him inside and the anklet really needed to come off. There were lots of new faces in the lobby. Check in was a bitch when the new school year started. At Least that was his understanding; when he’d finally made it here it had been after the winter break. From what he understood the academy was getting ready to make a switch to a different semester system since the students breaks were never more than a few weeks. It would be more [i]Efficient[/i] government was such a bitch and now that he was part of the system it was a real drag.

The vets were already moving through their check in stations. It was certainly better than the new students check in. It was question after question, physical exam, follow up psych evaluation, and then on to being assigned rooms for the semester, picking out schedules, and general orientation. Walking up to one of the check in personnel for the returning students Liam but his foot up on the table and the staff member removed the anklet for him. Moving to the next station he dropped his backpack on the table. Since the students didn’t move out until after they were twenty-one they basically lived in their dorms. There was really very little that was banned in the dorms and they rarely did searches but in the chaos of the start of a new semester they figured it was best to search what the students were bringing back, just in case. 

Standing patiently Liam watched as the ECAY Taskforce member checked his bag: Clothes (Hardly suspicious), Laptop (Maybe it was a bomb? Doubtful.), Notebook (A.K.A Liam’s diary of crazy occult crap), assorted school supplies (hardly dangerous), assorted non perishables (delicious but nothing to be worried about). The man passed the backpack across the table to Liam and he scooped it up. The next segment was just a physical and scheduling a session with his “Councilor” basically just a glorified government shrink who he was required to meet with twice a month to make sure that he wasn’t exhibiting any symptoms from prior to his enrollment. So of the students had to see them, some didn't, some chose to, some were forced to. It was just a fact of living at the academy. 

Slinging the backpack over his shoulder again he looked down at his schedule. Nothing of particular note this semester. Some of the classes on the list fell into a category known as metahuman studies and they were by far the most interesting but at the end of the day it was just more homework. 

Digging in his pocket Liam found his keys and flipped open his note book. Climbing the stairs past the girls dorms he hopped the last two steps and started down the hall. There were a few empty rooms around him so no doubt he would have some new neighbors with the new group of students. Officially they were required to attend the evening's “Social” for the students. Luckily the student populace was not [i]Massive[/i] so the gym was never crowded but it was one more social event that he didn’t really feel like attending.

[color=Silver]I think you need more friends Liam.[/color] 

“Sup Arty.” Liam tossed his bag on the bed and turned to face the door with a roll of his jaw and a tweak in the way he viewed the world he focused his ghost sight. Arthur was standing in the doorway. Arthur was a math nerd from the 90’s who a bunch of jocks had beat the shit out of and stuffed into a crawl space above a janitor's closet that was rarely used. It was the end of the school year and no one ever found Arty. The poor kid had died of a brain hemorrhage a few hours after he’d been shoved up there. He’d decomposed over the course of Bloomsburg high’s summer and no one ever found him. That was until Arty showed up three weeks into the start of the new semester and started annoying the shit out of Liam. It ended up that Arty actually managed to help Liam pass his midterm in his stats class; after that it had been a matter of taking a weekend to break into Bloomsburg high and finding the body. Arty had hung around after his burial apparently dead set on knowing who had done it to him. After more than a few angry arguments Liam had finally made it clear to Arthur that if he wanted to know who had done it, it could take years.

The cliche nerd pushed his glasses up his forehead. After they had buried Arty all of his death wounds had disappeared which seemed to indicated Arty could pass on at any time but the guy stuck around. Perhaps it was out of pity for Liam given that he’d cost Liam one of the few dates he’d had. Ever. 

[color=silver]The usual, I’m rather discouraged with progress on the three remaining “perps”[/color]

Arty actually used the air quotes. 

“I know we haven’t made progress but you know I had to go home for a few weeks and the others have needed attention too. Noah stopped pushing people into Hendrick’s pond right? I told him I just needed a little more time and we’d know which of his brothers drugged him and drowned him.”

Arty nodded at the question. That was a good sign; Noah hadn’t actually killed anyone yet as far as Liam could tell but it he’d been coming closer and closer with each person he’d dragged into the pond. “Okay. Do me a favor? Set up the cork board again. I’ll leave the map and the yearbook and we’ll go over the possibilities again when I get back from the social?” Arty nodded again before sniffing and pushing his glasses up his nose. 
[color=Silver]You should find some friends. They might be able to help[/color] 

Liam chuckled as he walked out of his room and headed down stairs towards the gym. Arty was a good spirit which was rather unusual since most of the spirits were quite angry by the time Liam found them. Opening his note book again he continued down the stairs towards the gym. It was an hour and change before the official start but people should start filtering in pretty quick. Perhaps he could find a good table to camp out in and keep working. There were only three opportunities to run field trips this semester and he had to make them count so the research started now.