[center][b][color-007fff]Abel Fulgurate – Race Grounds[/color[/b][/center]

[quote][i]We're here![/i][/quote]

Abel froze, and the crepe halfway into his mouth slid off the fork to dangle from between his teeth like a huge, sagging dog tongue while he read the words on his scroll once more to confirm them.  He wasted no time slurping it down to make sure he made as little of a fool of himself as possible, then picked himself up from the folding chair where he'd parked himself to depart hastily.  By now, a fair few people had turned up in anticipating of the grand day off's first event.   He'd been looking forward to sampling the free food and seeing what people trickled in with their families.  If any single characteristic united Beacon's freshest crop of hunters-to-be, it was that they were an interesting bunch.  Their mothers, fathers, and other family members could only be more so, but some sadness had needled the guardian as he realized that quite a few of the students might be going around the day alone.  Now, he mused, he'd been looking forward to the whole ordeal a bit too much, and in doing so nearly forgot about an arguably quintessential element of Parents' Day: the parents.

With as much hustle as a big guy could muster, Abel hightailed it out of the racing ground and into the school.  A dozen or more eye-catching sights confronted him along the way, but as Abel saw it, he could wait to join in the general mood of the day once he'd reunited with his mother and father, who judging by Abel's new message had just arrived via the sky.  Remembering the distress that had plagued him the day he arrived at the academy following his first-ever air travel, he wondered how his parents had fared.  The fact that they weren't too airsick or overwhelmed to make use of the modern age's newfangled doodad suggested they were fine, at least.  In only a few minute's time Abel burst from the academy's front doors to jog toward the airdock.

The ship by which Abel's mom and dad came was easy to spot, but they themselves weren't that much harder.  One look at the guardian's parents explained his unusual height and size.  Edom Fulgurate was, to put it simply, a mountain of a man.  A barrel chest, broad shoulders, bulging muscles, and a rather rectangular head all made for a hell of a stature.  By now, at the end of his growing years, Abel stood a remarkably 6'6”, but his father still towered two inches higher than he.  Of course, Abel couldn't discount his mother.  The blonde-haired woman, her smile indicating that she'd spotted Abel as well, stood about as tall as her son.  If Edom were a mountain, Flavia was a tree, her yellow crown hanging down in a curtain around her slender, lithe frame.  Abel's dad tracked her gaze, and developed a craggy grin as well when he laid eyes on him.  “My boy!  C'mere!”  The three collided in an enormous hug that made Abel realize, as unbelievable as it seemed that only two and a half weeks had passed since the semester began, he missed them greatly.  A surge of joy rushed through him to stand with his family once again.  

A moment later, the guardians broke apart to stand in a close ring.  At the same time, Edom and Flavia crossed their arms, and the latter began to speak.  “It's so nice to see you again!” she beamed.  “Wearin' the jacket your old mom got for you, too!”

Edom chimed in too, his deep voice rumbling like a landslide but full of enthusiasm.  “So this is the place, huh?  Real fancy, sittin' up on a cliff.  What're those lights up in the tower?”

Abel released a noise somewhere between an embarrassed grunt and a chuckle.  He didn't know who to respond to, so he went in order.  “Yeah, thanks.  I wear it almost everywhere, actually.  You better not tell anyone that my mom got it for me...and I dunno what the lights are.  There's really cool at night.  Uh, how was the flight?”

A shudder issued from Abel's mom that he felt might have been a bit exaggerated.  “Oh, my goodness.  When we first started risin' up off the ground, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack.”

“Drama queen!” Edom nudged his wife jokingly before turning back to Abel.  “Heh, I was a little rocky myself at first.  Once we got underway, we were fine.  And the view!  Just like lookin' at a map.”  He clapped his hands together.  “So!  We just gonna stand here by the docks like a bunch of bumpkins?  Show us around.  Or, more to the point, show us to the eatery.  Ships stopped servin' peanuts last quarter, apparently.”

Charged with his duty, Abel spun around to lead his folks into Beacon

[center]-=-=-[/center]

A few minutes later, the blue-wearing spearman appeared at the racing grounds, this time with his parents in tow.  No historical buff or trivia enthusiast, he hadn't taken the time to offer tidbits about every little facet of the facility they came across, but the trip took longer than his last one anyway.  By now, quite a few were assembled; Abel got the impression that the event would begin in only a few minutes.  Luckily, that left plenty of time for crepes and Shiny D.  After visiting the food tables, the Fulgurates found a spot at the back of the seating area to situate themselves.