[indent][indent][color=silver]Paige had barely any idea on how the hell she had somehow made a ... well she wouldn't call him a friend. An acquaintance maybe? Either way, she had probably not talked this much to someone else in months. Correction, she hadn't talked to someone this much without either of them pissing each other off.

This meant that when some random blonde turned up and asked if she and her white-haired friend could sit next to them, Paige looked at them as if she had just asked her if she had ever been part of the circus.

Looking over the first woman, she took in the messy hazardly cut hair and the scars that decorated her face. It seemed like Paige and Marko hadn't been the only ones who had had a hard time with their awakenings.

Her gaze then turned to the unusually white hair coloured woman, who seemed much too put together for a school assembly. That was when Paige spotted the silent raised eyebrow as she was supposedly being studied as well.

[i][COLOR=bc8dbf]Oh, too good for us are you now? [/color][/i]

A derisive hmph came from Paige as she crossed her legs as if to make herself more comfortable.  [COLOR=bc8dbf]"I don't know, we might not be considered 'acceptable' companions for the princess here."[/color]

Marko cleared his throat awkwardly. This Paige girl was feisty. [color=#B0171F]"You can sit with us here,"[/color] He said quietly. [color=#B0171F]"That's fine by me."[/color] He glanced at Paige, somewhat guiltily, but turned his attention quickly to the girl with the scars. He didn't need a reputation for being surly by association, so hopefully nobody would be offended if he just stayed more or less neutral. [color=#B0171F]"I'm Marko."[/color] He flicked his gaze between both of the newcomers. [color=#B0171F]"Nice to meet you both."[/color]

[color=gold]"Sarah,"[/color] Sarah replied with a smile. She chose to make no comment in regards to the girl's quip as she sat beside the two, desiring to avoid adding to the already tense atmosphere. [color=gold]"It's nice to meet you, Marko."[/color]

She then glanced towards Elena, motioning for her roommate to come sit with them. 

In turn, the white haired girl would seem to not respond for a moment, before looking at her roommate and giving a light nod of assent and sitting down alongside her. Or, well, sitting next to Sarah and thus placing herself away from Paige in the direct sense at least. 

[color=silver]"I'm Elena. It is pleasure to meet you Marko."[/color]

She had decided to address the more polite of the two first, frankly, in lieu of trying to mildly bite her own tongue with regards to the other girl. Well...she was trying to at least. Hostile first impression, followed with a shallow jab of 'princess' to try get her to bite back or something maybe? Sheesh. Insecure much? That being said....she would back a little bit at Paige once more in the end. 

[color=silver]"You assume much about me, by the way. Someone can be curious about someone they've just met without being judgemental or assuming about it all."[/color]

Her words ended with a light click of the tongue, mild a reaction as that was, and then Elena looked back forward and away from the other girl once more. If a picture said a thousand words, then actions spoke louder than words. And, well, maybe the hunger of needing breakfast would speak louder depending on how long this assembly took to get started. Ugh. 

There was a rumbling sigh of fatigue from Marko as the new reality of this assembly began to sink in. Should he say something? [i]Before[/i] Paige did first? His food court destroying new friend was currently in his blindspot, so he couldn't get a very good view of her expression. On the other hand, he had a perfectly clear angle on the two young women sitting to the right of him. The more posh of the two, Elena, seemed at the very least mildly annoyed.

At least Sarah was smiling. Smiles were nice, and generally indicated a lack of cattiness. There was a small, unconscious shrug of his shoulders then. Well, Paige [i]did[/i] start it.

Marko flashed Sarah a small smile in response, the corners of his eyes creasing tiredly as he asked, [color=#B0171F]"Should we share our elements? Is that a thing we're supposed to do?"[/color] There. A nice, non-contentious question. [b]Please[/b], let it be non-contentious.

Paige scoffed as she repositoned herself by changing her lounging legs so that she was now not facing towards the newcomers. Though that did not stop her from giving Marko a meaningful glare when he glanced back at her. Had he not see the reaction that white haired girl had to them?!

Instead she focused on ignoring the whole exchange, it was all ridiculously annoying. She had tried to protect herself and ... well she had tried to take protect herself and this was this the thanks that she got?

Though hearing the so called Elena call out Paige was suddenly trying to look over Marko's form, which to others would just look this lavender purple was peeping over the darker mountain. "You should teach yourself that lesson, I saw that bitchy eyebrow rise of yours."

As they argued, Sarah couldn't help but feel stuck. The situation continued to exacerbate, and it reminded her of her own parents. She felt a fleeting call to make an escape, as she had done many times prior when her father had been hotheaded. It was better to take cover, Sarah believed, rather than submit to the crossfire.

Nevertheless, this time, there was nowhere for Sarah to go. The auditorium had continue to fill, growing fuller by the second. Finding another place to sit—one where she wasn't sandwiched in between bickering—would be a difficult task, if not impossible. She would have to face the music, whether Sarah liked it or not.

[color=gold]"Look,"[/color] Sarah began in attempt to mediate between Paige and her roommate. [color=gold]"I think we got off on the wrong foot. Why don't we try again? Marko mentioned something about our elements; we could start there."[/color]

[color=#B0171F]"Fire."[/color] Marko said quickly and quietly, trying and failing to make his hulking form shrink into the bleachers as the temperature around him continued to rise. Mainly metaphorically at that, but there was a certain simmering tension that was beginning to build at the base of his skull. He was growing to be grateful for Sarah's presence.

Electing to ignore the words of a certain someone, and in trying to keep herself restrained from further comments, the white haired girl listened to Sarah as she proposed something else beyond petty bickering. Good. Not that she had set expectations for her roommate, but rather she appreciated the gesture well enough in her own mind at least. She hadn't intended to start something, but at this venture she'd do her best to keep from continuing it. All she'd done was look with a raised eyebrow for but a moment, for heaven's sake! Curiosity was no crime, nor was it an unpardonable offense. But, really, she would end it here on her part if naught else. Such was Elena's mindset on this particular matter....but as for the question Sarah had posed-

[color=silver]"Indeed, perhaps we have gotten off on the wrong foot. My apologies, then, for coming off initially as I did. I was simply curious if anyone else's awakening had come with other 'changes' in the process as well.

As for my element, well, it's...a tad peculiar really. It's 'Fungi'."[/color]

Hidden as best as she could from the sight of, thank goodness, Paige at least, Elena's right foot twisted slightly back and forth in a mild rythmn of uncomfortability at the mention of her own element. It still felt surreal and strange to admit, but she wanted to simply move away from what seemed to be the overt hostility of a certain other girl if possible and onto other things. Even if that meant mentioning something she was still trying to acclimate to (even if she'd been reading up to try to better understand it), admitting to her own thoughts not long ago, and pushing out an apology both still genuine yet also fueled in part by a desire to just move beyond the hostility. 

As Elena spoke, Marko pressed his palms against his eyes and breathed deeply before sighing, his hands dropping into his lap. He listened to the rest of Elena's statement with a weary smile before gently nudging Paige. He didn't mean to tell anyone what to do or how to feel, but maybe that small of a gesture would encourage the girl to his right to give Elena a chance. She seemed... nice enough. Extremely aureate way of speaking, though. Marko loved reading. He appreciated someone with a rich vocabulary, but still. It was a bit much. 

She wanted to bury the proverbial hatchet though, which was good. The buzzing in his brain settled into a nervous simmer as he quietly hoped for Paige to play ball. He did not need or want any drama, especially over anything petty.

Paige did not appreciate the nudge from Marko but she nevertheless relented when she heard the apology and crossed her arms, turning her gaze back to the front as she mumbled something that sounded like, "Well that's all you had to say."

Though hearing this upright girl's ability had to do with mushrooms suddenly brought her attention instantly back as she snort laughed. She looked back at the white haired woman and in her own almost apologetic way, tried to not push it further as she looked at her with a lopsided smile and jokingly asked, "So I guess your hair wasn't originally this colour either?"

Elena's foot apruptly stopped in a somewhat jarring manner at the snort laugh. It....was still a sore point for her, enough so at least by this point since it was all still rather new to her. Could still remember the bathroom that day and....everything from that day pretty well actually. It wasn't pleasant. At the same time, Elena kept casual and looked back at the other girl again before pointing a finger to her own golden eyes. This, at least, as she tried to restrain herself from asking any other unpleasant, much less visible, reactions to the reminder about her peculiar 'element'. 

[color=silver]"Oddly enough, it was just my eyes that changed to this pure gold color of all things. Didn't learn about it until a few days later, maybe people assuming I was wearing some kind of contacts perhaps, when I finally saw myself in a mirror."[/color]

Not that looking in the mirror was her first go-to, or anyone's in the aftermath of her 'awakening'. She'd still reacted rather...vehemently in the aftermath though. Initially that is.

[color=silver]"But if I may ask, was it just hair color in your case, or did your eyes change as well?"[/color]

A scoffing laugh came from Paige, [COLOR=bc8dbf]"No, my hair and eyes decided they both needed to get in on the action. Just [b]had[/b] to let the world know."[/COLOR]

When the colour change originally happened she hated all of it. Hated the way it loudly announced that there was something wrong with her, that she was a primalist. Though after a couple of months she became to deal in her own way and now loudly showed off the same purple colour she had once been so bitter about. If she was going to be a freak, she might as well live with it with pride instead of cowering at everyone's glances.

A soft smile crested across Sarah's face. Pleased that Paige and Elena seemed to be getting along now, she chose to speak up. 

[color=gold]"Well, I think it looks great on you,"[/color] She replied, looking in Paige's direction. Pointing a finger to her face, in particular the fern-like figure that ran down her face and further down her body, Sarah continued. [color=gold]"My ability left me with this scarring. A Lichtenberg figure, I read online. Most Lichtenbergs are said to disappear in a few days, though mine seems to be... more [i]permanent[/i]. I think I've come to terms with it, though. It's a part of me now, after all—ugly or not, the scar is now something that makes me, well, [i]me[/i]. It's not something I can simply change."[/color]

The lights in the auditorium began to dim, bringing attention to the stage in front of all the students. A large man with graying hair walked onto the stage from beyond the curtains, and took a stand at the central podium.

[color=gold]"It appears that they're finally ready to begin,"[/color] Sarah said, shifting in her seat to watch up front. [color=gold]"Shall we?"[/color][/color][/indent][/indent][hr][center][img]https://img.japankuru.com/prg_img/thumbnail1/img2023101511043121890300.jpg[/img][/center][indent][sub][COLOR=2E2C2C]why are you looking here[/COLOR][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=white][b]Location:[/b][/COLOR] [I][color=silver]Wolkwitz Auditorium, Merryweather Institute[/color][/I][/right][/sup][/indent][hr][indent][color=silver]It was time for the introductory speech to commence. Adjusting his shirt collar, the headmaster stepped out from beyond the curtain, and approached the podium that had been carefully positioned at the center of the stage.

[color=teal][i]"Ahem,"[/i][/color] The headmaster cleared his throat, and began to speak with a booming voice that commanded the auditorium to his presence. [color=teal]"My name is James Buchanan, although most of you might better know me as the headmaster of this fine school. Please allow me to be the first to welcome each and all of you to the halls of the Institute."[/color]

Looking around the auditorium, James took a glimpse at this year's students. Some seemed bored, others nervous or even somewhat annoyed—something he had expected from a bunch of fresh primalists.

[color=teal]"I will not sugarcoat it for you. It is a turbulent time for primalists."[/color] James spoke, refusing to mince his address to the students, [color=teal]"Some of you may have heard of the Hialeah riots, wherein the primalist Emmanuel Sanz had been murdered. You may have witnessed the anti-primalist protests in many major cities across the country—something those in power, such as Senator Parker and Michael Atkins, the Republican nominee for the presidential race, push in their call for anti-primalist legislature to be made into law."[/color]

James held a brief pause before he continued to speak.

[color=teal]"These reasons are why this school exists. They are why you're here. Lucius Merryweather gifted these very halls so that we may convince the world that we are not something to be eradicated out of fear and distrust. We must be the spark to extinguish the flame, as did those of old who joined forces to stop Thälmann in his destruction of Europe."[/color]

Behind James, a group walked out from the curtain wall and stood next to him. James briefly turned to his colleagues, motioning with his hand the assembly's attention in their direction. [color=teal]"In order to properly teach each and everyone of you, we have established a system. The men and women that stand beside me will be in charge of ensuring your success at Merryweather. Each of my colleagues has a list of students that are to gather at a destination of their choosing after this meeting commences. If your name is called, you may leave the auditorium for your counselor's requested location."[/color]

[color=teal]"With that, I leave the floor to them."[/color] James finished, stepping back from the podium to allow the first of many to move forward.

Once James was out of the way, a series of men and women stepped forth. A woman of Asian descent wearing large, hooped earrings. An elderly man with a horseshoe hairline. More and more went by when finally a glasses-wearing burnette approached the podium to announce those who would be under her wing for their time at Merryweather.

[color=orange]"My name is Natascha Petrovna,"[/color] She announced to the crowd that still remained. Reading off a paper, she began to announce a series of names that included, but were not limited to: [color=orange]"Paige Henderson, Elena Jäger, Robin Lee, Vinegar Lilianne, Emiliano Palminteri, Sarah Parker, Johnathan Quinn, Austen Reece, Samuel Tavares, Marko Valdi, and finally Conner Waters. If I have called your name, please gather at the [i]arena[/i] near the auditorium. I will be awaiting your presence there."[/color]

Dismissing the students she had called, Natasha took her leave for the arena as the next in-line began to read out their own list of names.[/color][/indent]