SerpentGear

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Codi Bailey and Rosette Sauveterre

Codi was leery about making introductions to strangers in the dark, but decided it might be better, in her case, if people judged her based on personality, versus the way she looked. “Nice to meet you, Theresa!” she replied to the introduction with friendly enthusiasm. She then fell silent as another conversation ensued, and then, after the flash of light, and what she saw in it, was very uncomfortable, to say the least. She wound up punctuating the silence with a nervous, uneasy laugh, although there wasn’t any real joy in it. It was more sheepish and embarrassed, and quickly ended with a quiet, “Oh…my…” As she had nothing really appropriate to say in reaction to the turn of events.

Codi had suspected there might have been people who could produce light, obtain something that did, or see in the dark, so she hadn’t expected that people would do things, believing that nobody would see them. She also did not quite get what was happening, but she suspected she was better off not knowing at all. She had only seen the light for a second, enough to see the French woman—Victoria? And Henry reacting with shock, and then where he was shut out of the cafeteria. She was completely silent for a moment, before nervously laughing with Theresa, whose problem she did not notice, as she couldn’t take in the entire scene within such a short time frame. She wasn’t laughing because of the idea of messenger pigeons, but mostly because laughing was something she felt a compulsion to do with other people, and it helped relieve the anxiety.

“Codi, are you alright?” Rosette asked, the voice coming from close by her. Rosette had been forced to move, as Henry had nearly crashed into her in the process of charging out of the cafeteria. She was very quick, though, and was therefore unharmed. She had landed very close to Codi in her dodging attempt.

Codi yelped, “How do you keep sneaking up on me?” She exclaimed.

“Aside from the sound of my voice, there is nothing that allows others to detect my presence. I make no ambient noise, nor do I have a scent or heat signature. It may be a hindrance, seeing as I cannot see in the dark any better than you can, and people may have a tendency to trip over me.” She said. She then asked her question again, “Are you alright?” She repeated.

“Uh, yeah, just a little weirded out…what just happened?” Codi asked, uneasy.

“I am not quite sure, nor am I positive that I wish to know. This school is quite a strange place, and I think perhaps that it might be a bit dangerous, as well, considering the information I have gathered, so far.”

“I think I agree with you. Also, doesn’t the weather seem really weird, to you? Did you hear any thunder before that lightning hit?” Codi asked.

“As a matter of fact, no, and I had been thinking that was quite unusual, as well. Is it a regular weather pattern on this island, or was it deliberate? Nothing is impossible.”

“I don’t know where this school is located, so I don’t know what the weather pattern would be, although we’re somewhere in the tropics, so storms like that could possibly hit. I really don’t know, but I’d look it up if I could. I’d like to know about this sort of thing so I could be better prepared for it.” Codi told her.

“Well, if there were any notable fauna on this island, that would be a very quick way of determining where we are, or, at least, the general vicinity.” Rosette said. “After all, animals aside from birds or sea-faring creatures cannot travel off the island, so they would become distinct as a population due to the isolation.”

“Well, I’m not really familiar. I know there’s lots of palm trees and that some of them grow coconuts, but I wasn’t looking that close. Coconuts don’t even help the case, they’d just drift in the current and go somewhere else. For all I know, someone planted the trees.”

It seemed that the main reason Codi and Rosette got along was because they both shared an analytical side that made them work well together when solving a problem.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Wow, I got Ninja'd. All I could do was throw in a swift edit where everyone heard someone vomiting...honestly, what Codi said would have been my own reaction in that situation. Really uncomfortable and awkward.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Rosette Sauveterre and Codi Bailey

There was a yelp from next to the door, “Henry? Oh, dear, I didn’t almost pin you to the wall, did I?” She fretted, concerned, since the voice had come from very close and from behind her. She would feel extremely guilty if she hurt someone by sheer accident. It was no mystery that Reef’s presence on her back was cumbersome at times, but if it came to the point that she accidentally hurt someone, she would probably hate herself. She was then hit by another thought, “Wait a minute, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”

“Codi? You’re here, too?” Rosette’s voice came from the dark. The two had met each other before they even reached the school, having come on the same boat because of their close living areas. Rosette’s home was established in a wealthier neighborhood that was somewhat mountainous about two hours from where Codi and Atticus were. The homes were further spread out from one another, which allowed far more privacy, although one struggled to see the well-kept residences as being in the same boat as the rural places where the other two passengers had lived. Where Codi and Atticus lived, pastures with cattle could be found roughly fifteen minutes away from the property, and families privately raising chickens, goats, or small gardens were not an uncommon occurrence.

It was then that the terrible sound of retching drew the attention of both girls, "Uh, did someone just uh..." Codi didn't bother finishing the sentence.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Hey, Jazzy, if Henry is seeing based only on heat signatures, Rosette should be completely invisible to him. She doesn't have a heat signature.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Rosette Sauveterre

Rosette found it amusing when a flash of lightning startled Theresa, but mainly because it had cut her off before she could say something irritating about the way Rosette looked. In truth, that amusement really wasn’t appropriate, considering that the lights went out, but Rosette’s preferred brand of humor had a tendency to alight on the dark side. She had noted, though, how Theresa had suddenly developed a kind of unhealthy pallor to her features, as though she were feeling sick. It did seem that the incident that had thrown Henry through a tree had somehow affected her, as well. At the same time, Rosette had suffered her own trials, and therefore, she didn’t care to have any sort of dramatic reaction, when it was clear that everyone was fine. Rosette had spent a lot of time in a state where her only thoughts revolved around self-preservation, and often, she stayed in that mindset, regardless if she wanted to or not.

When Theresa decided to make a grand speech about how dark it was in the room, Rosette actually found the statement comical, as the dryness in it appealed to her own sense of humor. The fact that they were in a dark place, though, was more immediate as a concern. The lightning had also seemed quite unusual, in that Rosette did not hear any sort of thunder before it happened. Her own personal belief was that if a storm formed over the ocean and would have lightning, it would have violent crashes of thunder long before it hit land. She supposed, though, wondering about weather patterns was the least of the problem, though she reminded herself to do research if she got the chance.

“Well, power outages will happen during storms like this, although the lightning comes as a bit of a surprise. I do not recall the entire time since it has been raining that there was any sort of thunder to alert us to the presence of lightning strikes.” She said, stating this personal opinion aloud. She then sighed, and stood up, although nobody would hear her rise from her seat. “I suppose we should go look for flashlights or something along those lines?” She voiced this as a kind of question.

Codi Bailey

Codi was just walking into the cafeteria entrance to eat dinner when a loud crash of lightning blew out all of the power. She yelped a bit, but quickly recovered, having been through countless power outages before. She and Atticus had lived in a location out in the country where the power went out virtually every single time a thunderstorm happened. It was extremely annoying, but generally, there was some sort of small power surge that told everyone to unplug their appliances or turn them off so they didn’t get damaged by everything. In scenarios like this, where nobody knew to save their devices beforehand, the power outage would likely damage some electrical equipment, which was a nightmare to fix or replace.

Deciding to avoid the chances of a person bumping into the urchin on her back, she backed up so that Reef’s spines faced towards the wall next to the entrance, and sighed, a bit annoyed. She really was hungry, but nobody was comfortable eating when it was pitch black and you couldn’t see your food. In fact, she couldn’t get it even if she wanted to, because she had no idea what was being served. She could survive for a bit longer, but it was irritating how inopportune the whole thing was. She also had no idea where Atticus or anybody she knew was, and although she wasn’t exactly scared of the dark, she didn’t quite enjoy being alone in it.

Atticus Fowler

Most people were bothered by the power going out, but because he was in his creature form, Atticus was not troubled by the sudden darkness. The membranes covering the organs beneath his eyes folded back to reveal a brilliant pure-red light, and several other membranes present in the lure on his head also folded back, allowing the blue bioluminescent lure to shine and help see. These did not aid others, except to notify them that something or someone was leaving the hospital. To Atticus, however, these two light-producing parts of his body made him see perfectly, although in truth, he did not need them at all to find his way in the dark. Even in human form, he was more comfortable in the shadows like this; he would even be free enough to remove his tinted lenses, although his creature form was still better-adapted, overall.

He decided he would probably wander around and help people trying to find their way around the school. Not everyone could see in the dark, and the inability to see was a miserable thing. Atticus knew from the times when he would wake up with light somehow managing to get into his room, where he would have to shield his eyes and blindly search for his lenses. Blindly searching, he had found, was a good way to waste time, as well as get badly hurt from bumping into things.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Rosette Sauveterre

Without a person teasing her for her appearance, Rosette immediately seemed more comfortable in the conversation. Although she was truly embarrassed about getting detention, she would rather share that information with others, versus hide it from them and have them find out from someone else. A nasty rumor could easily stem from something like that, if nobody knew the exact nature of her offense. She finished her bite of food, and proceeded to explain the story, “When I arrived here on the boats yesterday, I was greeted by a staff member who immediately treated me like a child; an honest mistake, in his defense. However, the main problem was that he used a ridiculously high-pitched voice, more like the kind you would hear someone use when talking to an infant, than a child the age I appear to be. When I told him I was actually twenty-two, his tone grew even more exaggerated than before, and he proceeded to reprimand me for trying to act like an adult when he knew I was probably only about ten or eleven.”

She sighed a bit, and shook her head, “I had been feeling sick during the entire boat ride, so I was in a particularly irritable mood, and I lost my temper. My sense of reason fled to the great and wondrous beyond, and I did something that I will not try to defend. Not a single person in this room would consider my actions to be anything other than foolish. I proceeded to assert my real age, and in a rather nasty tone, demanded to know if he wanted me to kill him. The truth is that I would never actually do anything like that, but I was furious enough to make dire threats, ignorant of the consequences.”

She looked down at her spoon, thoughtfully swirling at her black-eyed peas, “What happened next, was that he flew into a panic, and I was dragged off to a special cell meant to hold students with spatial powers.” She looked back at Henry, “In hindsight, I should have known better than to think a person would not take me seriously. I should have kept greater control over my temper, and taken my things to my dormitory. A brief flash of anger is not worth the troubles that come as a result.”

Rosette then took another bite of her food, having finished the story.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

It's probably better than any face I could draw at that angle. I say this as a person who has to look at pictures of the human muscular system to draw faces.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Rosette Saveterre

Rosette, after hearing sarcastic comments from two people at once, sighed, and shook her head, before looking at the woman, “I would be more positive and provide more interesting conversation, except that you keep making offensive comments about my appearance that are growing increasingly inappropriate in nature, and it is not a part of my personality to condone that. I told you before, that I did not like the way you were treating me, that I had nothing nice to say in response for it, and it was your choice to ignore that.” She said, her voice calm, and her words blunt. She then rubbed her temples, and seemed tired, “Although, before you say something in response, let me apologize to you for my own behavior. I am being too harsh and negative towards people, for a person who has just arrived at this school. I already allowed myself to become angry with a member of the staff, and I was thrown into the detention center as punishment, mere minutes after I had gotten off of the boat. I suspect I was kept there longer than what is considered to be normal, as I was released only a few hours ago, but I do not know how such systems are run.”

She continued rubbing her temples from a few moments, during which people would notice the beautiful ring on her hand, and how it resembled a wedding ring that had been soldered to the engagement ring, before she stopped. She then seemed to think for a moment, “Ah, I did forget something important, I never said what my name was. My name is Rosette, but it doesn’t bother me if you want to shorten it.” She then sighed, and decided to quit talking about herself.

Rosette then looked between Henry and the woman, before finally deciding to ask, “Out of curiosity, what happened that you had to be in the hospital? You do not have to tell me, if it bothers you. I cannot claim I have any sort of right to know, considering what I just confessed.” She then calmly took another bite of food. It seemed that being placid, even when stressed, was a defining trait of hers. The eerie thing about it was that not only did she look like a ghost, but only when she spoke, was there anything aside from her visual appearance that let someone know she was there. She would not be the kind of person that could be tracked. There was also the fact that her behavior was so calm, and her speech so formal, that she almost seemed robotic or artificial. It was in its own way somewhat creepy.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Rosette Sauveterre

Rosette took another bite of her food, taking her time to chew and swallow, and deciding, after this woman had chosen to use a figure of speech that Rosette suspected was vulgar in nature, that immediately responding was just giving her a reaction that she wanted. Because of this, instead of saying anything, she just continued eating in the casual manner of a person who might as well have been sitting alone by themselves. She did not drag the silence on to an unbearable length, but she held it for long enough that a person would realize that Rosette was not the kind of person that would be enjoyable to carelessly toy with. She would endure the torment, but only because she had the self-control and self-respect to do so. She tolerated the woman because she felt there was no other choice, but had Rosette possessed fewer inhibitions, she might have torn into her in the most brutal of fashions.

The only sign that Rosette was frustrated at all was that her ethereal hand gripped her fork so tightly that the knuckles had turned white. Nothing else about her behavior betrayed her feelings, neither her face nor her movements. It was self-control on a level that seemed almost unnatural for a regular person, and yet Rosette almost flawlessly managed it. When she felt that she had allowed enough time for her anger to subside, Rosette’s hand loosened around the fork, and she was comfortable enough to speak again. “My powers come with incredible drawbacks that are severely detrimental to my well-being, regardless of their strength or usefulness. I think I might have been happier if I had some ability as ridiculous as turning into a clam and back.”

Rosette wasn’t exactly mean-spirited, and though this person aggravated her, it might make the conversation easier if she said something ridiculous that would have made anyone laugh at the notion. Indeed, one idea that she found quite bizarre would be a person whose only gift was transforming into a tiny bivalve. Other ideas were transforming into a worm, a snail, or a slug, but Rosette was filled with deep loathing when she thought of those creatures. They were all quite useless-sounding abilities, but a person who could turn into a clam could get away with never using their powers, and living out a normal life in the world. Because Rosette had become like a phantom in appearance, normal life was virtually impossible, as was ignoring the dangers that her abilities posed.

Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

Hey, guys, if you get a pop-up in the IC warning about an out-of-date Java plugin, don't accept the link. It's not Java, it's a malicious URL that my antivirus just blocked.