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[indent][indent]High above the campus of Olympus Academy, the early-afternoon rays began to pour its brilliance on the concrete that made up most of the buildings. And crowding it was the hundreds of young demigods and demi-goddesses who were coming from wherever they spent their summer vacations. Most of them were well off enough to where they could handle most threats that came for them, so as long as they didn’t bring any attention to themselves, they were safe during the summer. And the stories they had to tell of the wild adventures they had, the trouble they and their friends, and the memories made. As much as the lot of them didn’t want to, they had to return to the place where they had a second home at.

While some weren’t happy to be back, there was a particular blonde Daughter of Apollo who couldn’t be happier. Vivian Lucasta was one of few who seemed to be happy all the time of every hour of every minute she spent alive. Though this girl wasn’t devoid of sadness, any moment in her life that seemed to be heading downhill, she always found some way to look at the positives. 

This couldn’t be any truer for her when she had been walking with her bags in hand. Every person she saw either had a gloomy disposition or simply wasn’t ready for the summer to be over. Vivian, however, was ready to see all of her friends and everyone she had said goodbye to. She even missed her annoying older brother, Dallas. He got on her nerves more than anyone else did at Olympus Academy, yet she still missed that idiot. She [i]wanted[/i] to get caught up with him and all of her friends, but before she could, there came the surprise of an announcement in the form of the Headmistress’ image popping up in the sky. 

“Attention students of Olympus Academy! Report to the Ares Colosseum for a mandatory assembly at once!”

The message repeated itself as Vivian, as well as the others she could see, were walking away from the Hestia Housing Buildings (or at least the area near it) and had been making their way to the giant arena in the distance. Vivian wasn’t sure exactly was in store for her. She knew that the Headmistress was the sort of women who was usually serious, but the abrupt change of plans did have Vivian worrying just a little, but it could at least be interesting. She put on her best smile and went forward with a positive outlook.

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Damien was never one for punctuality, but he was already near the Ares Coliseum moments before the grand projection of the Headmistress appeared in the sky and at the moment she told the students to get to the arena, the only thing he could think about was how there was going to be a delay in him being able to see his sister. It didn’t take a lot to get on his nerves, but this was one of the few things that did. And quite a lot. But, at the end of the day, Damien shrugged it off. If he wasn’t going to be able to see her before he settled into his apartment even though he didn’t know which one he was going to be placed in. He remembered something about an experiment or something like it happening.

As he made his way from the grass he had been laying on in the quad, he soon noticed grass had become stuck to his black shirt. Shaking it off, he followed the herd of students that were converging to the arena. And all of them were carrying their luggage. The only thing that came to Damien’s mind was how they were foolish enough to not expect something like this. Damien didn’t bother getting his own bags from his truck. He was too focused on enjoying the day. 

Soon he took a seat up in the higher rows, away from most of everyone. As he did, the remaining seats started to fill up. It wasn’t any more than ten minutes that it took for every remaining seat was filled. And considering there was roughly around three-thousand students that attended Olympus Academy, that was saying something. And yet, surprisingly to Damien, they stayed far away from him. Apparently being the Son of Nyx granted him a certain fear. Or maybe it was how last year he nearly lost his shit because someone offended him by not complimenting Emma’s dress during the End of the Year ball.

As he looked ahead, doing the same thing everyone had been doing for five, long minutes, out came the entire staff of Olympus Academy. They each lined up next to each other and then the Power Couple of Hector Luis Guerrero and Helena Alexandra Hassan-Guerrero came out. As he remembered them to be, Helena was elegant in her choice of a silver dress and Hector was all smiles in his partial suit, yet Damien couldn’t help but notice something was up. No way the entire staff was out here to greet the demis. Why would they force a mandatory assembly before they even had a chance to settle in?

[color=6c697e]“Oh, this is going to be good,”[/color] Damien mused to himself, looking on with curious eyes like a lot of his fellow students were (or so he would think).

Stepping forward was the Headmaster. His smile greeted the curious, young eyes of the students. “Hello, hello, hello!” Hector’s rich Mexican-styled accent was noticeable, yet it didn’t hinder anyone from understanding him. “Welcome back, students of Olympus! And to those of you who are first years, I trust you’ll find this school is a fine place to live while you grow used to your new abilities. It is my hope you also start to understand who you really are. We, the Staff of Olympus Academy, will do our best to help make the transition easier for those of you still in the process of understanding what has happened.”

As Hector took a step back, his wife, Helena, took his place. “And to continue what my beloved has said, as well as to answer some unspoken questions, allow me to explain the best that I can. You see, the school you remember has changed. It is our hope that this is received well. The curriculum has been altered to challenge you, the students. To the older students, the expectations for you to thrive is even greater now than it has ever been. In addition, your living situation may be different than what you remember. As part of an experiment, we will be picking thirty-two students at random to partake in what we hope is the first of many living arrangements to come. For now, if I call your name, please  step forward and join us down here.”

And before long, the names of the students were called. And soon it became clear that the names were people Damien and Vivian knew. Hell, their names were even called. At the end of it, the thirty-two who had been called were standing in front of the staff. Some probably confused and others just wanting to get it over with, but at the end of it, they were simply to wait until some further explanation was given.

“This concludes the assembly. If your name wasn’t called, please leave the arena. For those who did have their names called, stay here,” Helena said.

Those who didn’t hear their name being called did as they were told. Some of them seemed too eager to leave the surprisingly short assembly, but the same could not be said for the thirty still left with their bags next to them while the staff stayed. Akani Kahale, one of the Physical Training Instructors, stepped forward. He was a tall, muscular man with a shaven head and pecs for days. 

“Don’t worry, you’re going to love this. Thanks to the Mystical Oracle, all of you have been selected to live on the second floor of the first housing building. And on these sheets of paper right here are the living arrangements. It’s going to be lit!” Akani said, hoping speaking the millennials’ lingo made him relatable. To his surprise and the unsurprised expressions of the other members of the OA staff, he got nothing, though Vivian Lucasta chuckled. 

Akani handed the stack of papers to Hector, who then handed it every single one of them. On the paper, it had the following names paired up together:

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Apartment 2A | Dallas Relo and Jonas Highwind
Apartment 2B | Rebekah Cross and Dana Harada
Apartment 2C | Aiden Weinmann and Emma Laurant
Apartment 2D | Damien Black and Persephone Neotera
Apartment 2E | Marcella Bonaparte and Rhea Psomas
Apartment 2F | Ian Rivers and Lyra Woods
Apartment 2G | Caleb Sharp and Derrick Bisset
Apartment 2H | Leo Sullivan and Vivian Lucasta
Apartment 2I | Dustyn Flint and Cicily Delamar
Apartment 2J | Wynter Smith and Taylor McLaughlin
Apartment 2K | Asher Alcott and Ariana Mossos
Apartment 2L | Avem Vogel and Kelsey Marston
Apartment 2M | Jaime Callahan and Riley Bowen [/indent]

And it was at that moment the faces became more than bored, especially for Damien. 

[color=6c697e]“Persephone?”[/color] He looked around and saw who. [color=6c697e]“Oh, [i]her[/i]..”[/color]

Meanwhile, Vivian knew who she was paired up with and she was all smiles. [color=daa520]“This is going to be fun!”[/color]

As they were left by themselves, the Gods only could speculate what was about to happen next. 

“Oh, and one last thing,” Hector said, turning to face the thirty-two students. “Welcome back!”
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