Ogo

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

Well Kyle to the rescue, sorta, He is at least drawing the attention away from the poor kid

EDIT 6 hours later:*Chirp Chirp*

@Shifter_Master

:D Good guy Kyle! Graham would probably remember this, but I'd say he's likely to repress the entire day.

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

Oh my. Starchy justice at its finest~
And thanks Mel :D

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

~Graham Turner~

Uhf…

The look in the Russian’s eyes grew harsh. Graham could feel the years of life he had left slipping by, could hear the sound of bagpipes at his horribly early grave. It was as if at first he was lifted by a harmless arm of your standard Chuck E. Cheese's crane game, a little arm that was so weak, if it could hold anything than it was a miracle. But now? Goodbye, crane game, hello crane. An industrial, superpowered crane of doom. Doomcrane. And Doomcrane had but one single purpose in life: the eradication of all tiny gingers.

Then she grinned. And Graham’s blood chilled in his veins.

“I beg your pardon?”

Goodbye everybody - I've got to go. Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth. Mama, ooo - (anyway the wind blows).I don't want to die. I sometimes wish I'd never b- wait, wuh?

Graham found himself rising once more. Which was great, really. He had already accepted death for...well, he had lost count. T’was much more than what should be acceptable in the span of two days, that’s for sure. What was a little aerial death in the grand scheme of things?

Suddenly, what felt like the world’s kindest, most handsome gust of wind sprung forth from the well of Liberty and Justice and delivered a tankload of Freedom upon his neck. No longer did the Red Menace hold him captive. Graham felt his feet touch the floor, good ole’ American soil. He silently thanked the Stars ‘n’ Bars, promising that should he survive this, he would dedicate his life to spreading the beauty of Capitalism and Democracy across the globe, like any true American should.

…

Graham blinked a couple times as the wave of patriotism passed. That was weird. He must have hit his head a few many times during the course of the last couple days...

“Meredith is waiting, the bell will rin-”

And then the bell rang.

…

...did…did he say Meredith? As in, freaky monstrosity in a one creature war against all that is good and right with the world? And...bell...late…

“AH C’MON!”

Graham, not even getting the privilege of resting after staring death in the face, hurried off to undoubtedly do it again. Meredith...the fucking monster. Of course she would be his first class. Of course she would. Why wouldn’t she? The universe was a fucked up child that just loved fucking with him, so why the fuck wouldn’t she be his first teacher? FUCK.

Luckily, Graham DID know where this classroom was. He had heard a couple guys talking about it the previous day, after dinner. They were telling some younger dudes to avoid it or never be late. Because of the monster. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, thinking they were just being jerkish upperclassmen, but if they were talking about Meredith...well…

“I’m-so-sorry-that-was-rude-it’ll-never-happen-again-you’re-beautiful-bye-now!”

Graham had started to dart off towards the direction of Meredith’s classroom, and he could have probably done it relatively easily considering he wouldn’t have to pass Mishka and he could simply sacrifice the tall dude to get away. But he was going to play it safe. So he apologized and threw in a compliment to boot. Why? Well...girls like compliments, right? And Mishka was a girl...probably. So she’d like compliments...probably. Well, he looked at it like this: either she appreciated it, and didn’t kill him down the line, or she took a few moments to parse out what he said, which would give him enough time to get away without her killing him.

We do what we must to survive, yo.

---

~Gracie Turner~

The storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling.

Gracie smirked at the line. The eunuch was a crafty one, she’d give him that.

"Gyah!~"

Gracie, puzzled, looked off toward the sound in time to see her teacher obeying the laws of gravity and promptly finding her place upon the floor. But she didn’t let it keep her down. She let out a groan and quickly returned to her place by her desk.

Something didn’t quite sit well with Gracie with the way the teacher kept giggling and grinning. Even her gaze was rather unsettling...but Gracie didn’t flinch when the blonde’s eyes passed over her and onto the others. Despite what she had initially thought, Gracie found herself rather weary of the so-called monster. Perhaps it was just the rumors. Perhaps she was damning a poor, unsuspecting teacher to an existence of fear and doubt atop nothing more than the lies and broken truths of others. After all, she hadn’t really done anything out of the ordinary. If they had meant it as a slam on her personality, well...she seemed much too bubbly to be a beast.

…

It really was quite frustrating. All she wanted was to grab the book that was Meredith Hillard and turned to the last page, to see how her story ended. But alas, such was beyond her abilities. Besides, it would only serve to ruin the suspense. The waiting, the unknown…

The bell drew Gracie from her own thoughts. She quickly scanned the room before returning her gaze to Ms. Hillard. She frowned ever so softly. She could have sworn that Tabby had mentioned having at least the same first class...almost positive.

…

Is she really going to be late on the first day? What a truly lazy, unreliable little sister.

She smiled despite her thoughts.

She never changes.

This time it was the teacher’s clapping that brought Gracie back. She made a rather...boastful introduction, but got right to business. Mainly it served to sweep away Gracie’s concern about the blond Biology woman. She couldn't be a monster. She seemed too...nice. Gracie actually somewhat admired her at the moment. The confidence was impressive. Perhaps she would make a splendid role model. In any case, Gracie decided that she would judge the woman based on the merit of her teaching, rather than the rumors of her humanity.

Although there would remain a tinge of doubt...

---

~Tabitha Turner~

“Of-course-I-can-play-it!”

Right on! That settled it. Tabitha Turner and Anouk...something or other, would be Herculean Academy’s most righteous rockers, bonded in the most sacred tie that musicians may share.

Destined to be together until they made it as a moderately successful rock group, only to fall apart after one of the members grew weary of the many, MANY nights of drug-fueled drunken debauchery with groupies, sluts, and prostitutes and finally checks into rehab, after which they’ll come out and rejoin the band, but it’ll never be the same dude, and eventually, after a few less than stellar albums, we’ll dissolve the band, citing ‘creative differences’ as the main cause for the break and sure, a few of us might join other bands or even pursue that solo career we’ve always dreamed of, but let’s face it, it’ll never be the same.

Indeed, we’ll be, like, doomed to live a life of obscurity after that, fading out of the limelight, and into the dark, depression that haunts all former rockstars. We’ll search for the one drug that can maybe help to recapture the magic of that time, but it’ll never work. And well probably go broke doing so, until ultimately, we end up cold and alone on the dirty streets of L.A. Maybe we’ll make a few bucks playing for passerbys, but it’ll never be enough. And then one cold, dark autumn night, we’ll be brutally beaten to death by a junkie for our instrument, which will promptly be hocked at the nearest pawn shop. The junkie will get their fix and probably OD that night. The instrument will waste away on the pawn shop wall until one day, MAYBE, a couple comes in with the little bit of extra money they’ve been able to scrape together in order to get Jr. that guitar he’s always asked about. The pawn shop owner will see that and bump up the price as much as he can, wringing the poor saps for every cent he can get. And they’ll present the guitar to the little lad, who’ll fall in love with it and get obsessed. He’ll be bad and find others that are bad. And together, they’ll get good. And then the cycle repeats itself.

…

...what the actual fuck, Tabby? No more Behind the Music. Ever.

“Want me to demonstrate it to you?”

Tabitha met Anouk’s smile with her own then strolled over to her own bass.

“Nah, I wantcha ta jam with me.”

Tabby was just about to pick up the beast when she heard the piercing doom that was the bell. The color left her already pale skin. She turned back to Anouk who seemed to be experiencing the same fear she was.

“Euhm… Was that the bell? Please don’t tell me that was the bell. I don’t wanna end up becoming teacher food!”

She sounded worried. If she had the same class Tabby did, then she had every reason to be. This teacher was supposedly a freakin’ nightmare. She had heard that one time, Meredith (she supposedly didn’t like Ms. Hillard) caught some dude cheating on a test and had him stay over after class. She then went all medieval on his ass and chopped off his hand and made him eat it! Or this other time, she caught some peeps making out outside her classroom, so she chopped them up and fed them to frogs. They say that year, the class doing the dissections found bits and pieces of the lovers in the frogs.

Tabitha shivered but didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to freak out Anouk over nothing.

“Hey, it’s all good, ya? You’ve got Ms. Hillard too, right? We’re fine. Let’s just go to class and explain that we got lost. We’re newbies and it’s the first day. Surely she’ll cut us a little slack.”

…

“Alright, so we’re probably fucked. I say we go anyway, and just like, wait outside until she turns around to like, write on the board or something. Then we just sneak inside. If we get away with it, then we’re fuckin’ legends here. Whaddya say?”

---

BONUS ROUND: Graham Turner

Graham shuddered.

There she was. The bane of his existence, nightmare incarnate, death as blonde bombshell…

Meredith.

It appeared that another Turner child had decided sneaking in would be the best course of action.

…

Nobody ever said they were bright children.

He was barely peeking in the door, leaning deeply to even do so. It didn’t seem like anybody had noticed him. Which was good. The fewer witnesses, the better. He inched closed to the door until he was directly in front of it. Still peeking in, Graham put a hand on the handle. He wouldn’t open it, not yet at least. Not until that demon, that MONSTER, turned around.

…

What if it still saw him? What if it knew he was there and was just fucking with him. It might even do that too. It might even let him think he won, letting him snake his way in. But it would know, oh-ho-ho, it would know. And then it would eat him. And he would die, be it instantly as the monster chewed him, or perhaps he’d be swallowed whole and the beast would digest him to death. He shuddered again. He wished for a swift death.

He scanned the room, searching for a destination. He had to have a game plan here. After a few moments, he spotted an open seat behind a blonde that seemed to be enjoying a bit of a snooze. There were three actually.

Perfect.

She wouldn’t be able to rat him out. Or if she did, he’d snitch on her impromptu nap. Misery loves company, dammit, and if he had to die, he wouldn’t be going alone. And with nobody on either side of him, who was to know? He traced a path from that seat down the perimeter of the classroom. He might be able to make it...there was even a pencil sharpener on the way. Which was even more perfect. He could stop there and sharpen a pencil. He might get yelled at for it, but at least that would be less severe than tardiness.

Feeling like a genius, Graham smiled to himself. This was flawless. He had it all planned out. This was going great. He shifted his gaze back towards the front of the room when he...he noticed something...something...familiar…

Red…

Hai…

Huh. There was a girl that looked very familiar up front. Rather prissy...it reminded him of Gracie a bit. But…it couldn’t be. That would be impossible. He stared harder. She was a redhead, sure. And she dressed similarly to how his sister would... And she had a very close hairstyle... and she was reading the same book that his sister was...

but...

that…

would...

mean…

…

“Gracie?!”

Graham’s tongue slipped and with it, his hand, which pushed down, turned the knob. The door started to open a bit and Graham desperately tried to stop it. He lunged for the door, but misjudged his own weight distribution. He failed. He ended up tumbling forwards, crashing into the door and causing it to swing open and hit the wall. Graham himself ended up sprawled on his belly. Again. He just stared slack jawed into the classroom, not sure what was the worse thing happening here. The door creaked back, gently tapping him right in the shame.

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

...Zol...Didn't you get 1000th back in the original HA?

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

Walp. RIP Graham.

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

~Graham Turner~

“Well well, what do we have here?”

Nothing. Nothing at all. Just us ants, going about our antlike ways. Please, by all means, continue on your way, gentle giant.

“Don’t you know that it's rude to suddenly bump into people?”

Don’t you know that it’s rude to make a man soil himself? And -

The giant bent down and grabbed Graham by the back of the neck. And the next thing Graham knew, he was soaring through the air. Onwards and upwards. Perhaps he would continue raising all the way up into the sky? To space? He’d be happy to live amongst the stars. Why not?

…

Nope.

He stopped before her face. That grin chilled him to the bone. His body was urging for a response. To stay would be death. To leave would be death. Please… His legs were ready to pump, lungs ready to scream, bladder ready to spray liquid fear into the giant’s eyes.

“I think you owe me an apology, don’t you think?”

Graham might have been willing to give the woman her apology, but the chuckle...oh God the chuckle…

“SWEET MERCIFUL THOR! Don’t hit me, I’m little! I’m allergic to violence and pain and ouch.”

Graham closed his eyes and scrunched his face up, making deals with any otherworldly being that happened to be listening at the time.

It seemed like something was.

“Mishka, I presume. Why don’t you set Mr. Turner down?”

“Yes! Yes! Listen to the manly voice of wise wisdom and kindness! Mr. Turner would like to go down now, please? Miiisssshhhkkkaaa, pwetty pwease? With borscht on top?”

…

Wait…did he just...did he just poke the bear?

…

“OH GOD NO! NO NO NO! I DIDN’T MEAN THAT! PLEASE!”

Graham pleaded once more with the outside forces, begging for the manly voice to gain physical form and rescue him. He wasn’t holding his breath though.

At least he would die with dignity and honor.

Or no, the opposite of that.

---

~Tabitha Turner~

Uhh…

Tabitha blinked a couple times. Her roommate was gone. Holy fuck she spoke quickly. And moved...quickly. Welp. Ok then. Back to business. She quickly finished up when the original Tabitha strolled back into the room. MaidTabby strolled over to her, nodded approvingly, then broke out a brush and painted on a small blue star on her face.

Perfect.

Tabitha’s copy walked towards her, joining back up into one. There. Right as rain, fully whole. She felt nice. She was wearing a generic black rock ‘n’ roll shirt, some grey jeans with some holes cut by her knees, and finished up with a red jacket wrapped around her waist. Weather, man...at least back home, it was wild. Mother Nature couldn’t make up her stupid mind. Oh hey, have some rain. And some sunshine. And snow. AND BALLS OF FUCKING FIRE, DIE HEATHENS, DIE DIE DIE.

…

Tabby really hated the outdoors at times.

Her roomie popped back in and was practically bouncing off the walls. And she was wearing a kickass shirt which singlehandedly guaranteed their friendship. AC/DC, man… Add in the fact that there was the unmistakeable shape of guitar on the other side of the room and boom! Instant friendship through the power of music. Yep, friends. Whether she liked it or not.

“Pleased-to-meet-you-Tabitha!-My-name’s-Anouk.”

Anouk?

…

The hell kind of name is that?

“Sorrry… I tend to talk abit fast when I’m excited!”

Excited? Might be a bit of an understatement. But…

“Let’s be friends, k?”

Tabitha beamed a smile-and-a-half at the rockable brunette.

“Duuude...don’t worry ‘bout it. You do you, man, and we’ll be righteous. And if you can like, actually play THAT…”

Tabby nodded over to the beauty by the Dutch girl’s bed.

“...then you’re going to have a new best friend.”

She wrapped up her little spiel by shifting her weight to one foot and folding her hands behind her head, bearing the mischievous little grin which the other Turner children would associate with trouble of some sort.

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

The race for the post is on! Good luck to all, and to all a good night.

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

:D Awwwwh DFTBA <3

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

Three for the price of one, grandma :D
I'll be expecting my cookie to be chocolate chip.

<Snipped quote by Ogobrogo>

This guy... this guy knows what he's talking about! C:

Good work, Ogo!

@NarcissisticPotato

^-^ I'm rather giddy to see a fellow member of the Debauchery Tea Party~

Herculean Academy: Arc 1 - Welcome To The Academy

~Graham Turner~

Graham, assisted by the filthy Tall, got back to his feet. He quickly brushed himself off and adjusted his backpack. Gotta make sure everything was in order, yeah? He noticed that the Tall was like, looking at him. Without talking. Ooookaaaaay then.

Maybe the guy realized how awkward a situation he had just made, because Lukas finally decided to introduce himself and- wait, did he just make a Pokepun? He just made a Pokepun. Fuck. This guy was every bit as much of a loser as he was, wasn’t he? And he was a second year?

…

Was this Lukas dude really just him from the future. Was this FutureGraham coming back to deliver the can of whoopass to PastGraham? Because, dammit, he didn’t go back far enough. The asshat that forgot to pay attention was still a few hours back. Unless...shit, was he going to do something stupid soon?

Graham mentally slapped himself. He was being stupid again. And now he was the one just watching without speaking. Double fuck. Lukas started sneering and, well, Graham couldn’t blame him. Then he put both his hands at his sides. Graham could blame him for that. I mean, he looked fucking ridiculous at this point. Chest out, chin out, looking down- seriously, future Talls, don’t look down at people. You look down, you’re going to get punched in the manhood. Or womanhood. Whatever. Graham doesn’t discriminate. #Equality

"So I assume you are a first year…”

That a fuckin’ short joke, bub?

“...since I have never seen you around here before.”

...still sounds like a short joke.

“I guess this means I am your social superior, the far more exceeded and better student!”

You seem like a social dumpster. Douche.

“That means you have to obey my every beck and call at each whim”

Not happening.

“...since I obviously know more than you, you... dumb person!”

Dumb person? Is that...is that even an insult anymore? ...was a five-year-old getting all condescending on his ass?

“So, it's best you get used to me knockin' at your dorm to do a few errands for me, lest there be severe consequences, got it?”

Did...did I just get propositioned for sexual favors? Oh God no. Stranger danger, man. Prison rules do not apply to high school. Usually. Note to self: build a shiv. Secondary note to self: learn HOW to build a shiv.

Graham was rather at a loss for words. There was so much wrong here that he didn’t even know where to begin. He managed to catch a glimpse of a clock over the Tall’s shoulder and saw some students heading out of the cafeteria in a bit of a hurry. Hurry…

OH FUCK, CLASS!

Graham didn’t say a word. He didn’t notice Lukas’ breaking composure. And she sure as hell didn’t notice the generic asswipe that he pushed aside as he broke off his conversation and ran off towards the exit. He had to get to class. Where was class? Fuck if he knew. It had to be somewhere. His last hope was to follow the flow of people and hopefully catch sight of one of his friends. Maybe they were sharing a class. Worst case scenario, he walks into a class and just asks.

Yeah, that’d be good.

He dodged an older looking gentlemen...-

That would work out splendidly.

-...darted under a couple of students hold hands...-

Actually, fuck he could probably do that now.

-...weaved past a fat dude...-

Really, he could just stop running, right here, right now. It’d probably be smarter, really.

-and slammed face first into a solid brick wall. Of muscles.

Graham slammed back onto the ground. He was getting fuckin’ tired of that. Hell, he might have even mentioned it aloud, but the breath was knocked out of him. Not by hitting the wall or the ground, but by what he had seen.

Before him stood quite possibly the single largest human being he had ever seen. Graham’s mouth opened and he sat staring slackjawed. He was afraid. He was actually feeling true fear just at the sight of it. It scraped the heavens, a tower of muscles hellbent on piercing through the gods above. It was the stuff of nightmares…

And it was a woman. Probably. It had giant breasts...or were those pecs? He really didn’t know. He was going with the former due to the tower’s red mop and somewhat feminine facial features but…

Oh god. Graham’s heart was slamming against his ribs. RUN, it demanded. FLEE FROM THE TOWERING DOOM.

He couldn’t. The body had completely shut down due to fear. This was it. It wouldn’t be the eldritch horror that devoured him...no, his would be a different death.

This giant amazonian…

Graham gazed upon the face his death, seeing the malice in her light-blue eyes.

There could be only one logical way for her to end him.

Death by snu-snu.

---

~Tabitha Turner~

Bright lights.
Large crowd.
Big cheers.

Terrible Tabby Turner did a little shuffle and the crowd ate it up. She looked around. An ocean of people all there to see her succeed. It seemed to stretch on forever. Amiss the human sea, a lone squared ring floated, a vessel crewed by two. She shifted her eyes back to her shippmate. Lucia Rijker in her prime. Tabitha just smiled.

She tapped her forehead with her gloves. Just keep ‘em up.

The bell rang out.

Lucia stepped toward her.

Tabby mirrored.

They were in range of each other when Lucia threw the first punch.

Big mistake.

Tabby rushed in, ducking under the left. A quick left jab to the gut was her answer. Lucia was caught slightly off guard. That’s all it took. Tabby threw a right hook which landed promptly on Rijker’s chin rolling the woman’s head to the left. A left uppercut came next. It caught the Dutch woman’s chin and snapped her head back. She hit the mat amid a crescendo of cheers. Tabby did her little shuffle again and…

Something caught her unawares. A hard hook to the cheek. The momentum followed through, corkscrewing the poor ginger. Spinning rapidly, Tabitha found herself falling into the crowd…

She hit them with a splash and sunk. She fell deeper into the sea, light fading and oxygen growing oh so scarce. She was falling.

And falling…

And falling…

And…

Tabitha awoke with a start, her limbs flailing out. She was gasping for air and searching for solid land. It took a few moments, but she realized she was in a bed and calmed herself. She threw her head back, eyes closed, and groaned. Disappoint swarmed her. She was just about to win, too. Lucia Rijker ain't got nothin' on Tabby Turner. Stupid dreams, always having to end and all.

Wait…Tabby’s eyes flashed open and to her side. A little brunette with a rockin’ fro. Alright. That’s cool. What the fuck was she doing in he-

Oh.

OH!

Tabby rocked back and kicked out of bed. The redhead had her own case of the bedhead. She stretched back, throwing her hands behind her head and trying to pop her back.

“Sorry sorry sorry! My bad, dude! Didn’t mean to wake ya up or nothin’. I had a dre-”

As she was trying to explain her minifreakout to who she could only assume was her roomie, Tabby noticed the time.

Freakout part two was a go.

“AHH! Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck, I overslept!”

Not waiting for a response, darted over to her bags, pulling out whatever clothes she could find. Or at least one of her did. Another copy of her stood at the bed and was quickly trying to pull the covers and pillows back into place. The last one dashed from the room, holding a towel, a toothbrush, and other toiletries shouting as she scrambled away, blue plaid pajama bottoms and oversized black Alice in Chains shirt fluttering behind her.. “Fuuuck meee with a foork! DAMN DAMN DAMN!”

The ClothingTabby assembled the outfit she had picked out and rushed out of the room to go join with ShowerTabby. That left MaidTabitha, who quickly, and rather sloppily, finished making the bed and rushed to pack the backpack with school supplies. She did shoot a look over toward her roommate in the process of this.

“Duuude, I’m sooo sorry. Totally not this uh…scattered usually.”

She lied.

“I’m Tabitha. You can call me that, or Tabby, Tabs, or really anything. GAAAH, I seriously cannot be late to that first class. I got Biology with this chica that’s supposed to be like, super scary. Like, eatin’ students scary That’s what people were sayin’ at least. Ugggggggh…I’m dead. Just dead. Kill me now. Please?”

She finished packing the backpack and sighed. Alright, so just about everything was done now. She would be fine. She had this. She could kick Father Time’s ass. She SO had this.

Wait…

“FUCK! You’re gonna be late too, dude! Shiiit! We’re both screwed! Ahahaha!”

Well, whatever. Look on the bright side, at least she wouldn’t die alone.

---

~Gracie Turner~

Unlike her slacker siblings, Gracie never found herself in a rush. At the moment, she was casually strolling to the biology classroom with plenty of time to spare. She was fully prepared. Well...perhaps not prepared to meet the monster that she had heard teaches the class, but should that be her only obstacle, she’d be fine.

She had awoken much earlier that morning. Gracie had always been a bit of a morning person, and it was her morning routine to wake up early in order to get in a light workout followed by a nice run. Nothing too ambitious. She wasn’t an athlete or anything, this was just purely for her health.

She hadn’t had a chance to meet her roommate, sadly. The previous night, Gracie quickly unpacked everything, picked out her outfit for the next day, prepared her bag with the supplies she’d need for class, and went off to bed. In the morning, she left before the other girl woke up. She was decent at that. Always a bit of a light sleeper, Gracie’s alarm on her phone was rather quiet.

After her run, Gracie took a shower. She got cleaned up, did her hair and makeup, and went off to grab a quick balanced breakfast. Gracie hadn’t encountered any sort of trouble or really anything of note during all of this, which was fine for her. She preferred things to be a bit quieter. Not that she had anything against people or anything. She just liked her Gracie-time.

Once her meal was done, she headed off to class. She ended up there rather early though, so she decided to take a quick tour to get a feel of the layout while she could.

With the time for class growing nearer, Gracie returned to the Biology room. She wasn’t the first this time. She noticed a dark haired guy in a bright shirt, a slightly tall ponytailed blonde in green, a sharply dressed blonde guy drawing in a notebook, a few more students and…

There was a tall, brown-eyed blonde present. While still looking youthful, she appeared to be eldest in the room. And she was standing atop a desk.

This was the monster?

She couldn’t help but be a touch disappointed. Perhaps it was her own fault for getting too caught up in her imagination, but she was hoping for something a bit more...exciting. When people said monster, she was expecting a scaly beast full of teeth, drool, and hate. Or perhaps a dragon. Or even an eldritch beast from the depths of space. But a beautiful blond? Not exactly what she would call a monster.

Gracie softly sighed and moved into the classroom, spotting an open desk in the front and claiming it as her own with her books. She sat down and pulled out a notebook, a pen, and a paperback copy of “A Clash of Kings” from her backpack. She then moved the backpack to rest in the floor to the right of her desk, leaning against the metal legs. Raising the novel, Gracie turned to the page marked by her bookmark, removed the tag, and began reading to pass the time until class started.

It was odd, she noted. Despite being a school for those gifted with extraordinary abilities, so far everything seemed so very mundane. So very...normal.

Hopefully that would change.