Author’s Note: I’m assuming that Chou will be back to sitting with TK by fall of ‘07 and that Nikki will still be with Bunny at least some of the time.

When Kim and Asuna got outside they found Ayla waiting, “I see our little group has grown by one. This your girlfriend?”

Asuna blushed but nodded vigorously, “She asked to come along. She knows all about me anyway and she’s a speedster so she’s hungry.”

Ayla smiled, “Fine by me but if you hold her hand everywhere people will get ideas.”

Kim giggled, “Let them, it will keep me from having to turn down boys in person. Not to mention how Sue reacts.”

“I haven’t hit anyone,” Sue replies.

“Yet,” Kim says. “Anyway I’m starved, can we go?”

Ayla smirks at them and leads them all to the crystal hall, “This was recently upgraded. It now has a lot more seating. Normally you’d eat on the bottom level with the other freshmen but today I’ll bring you up to my table on top and introduce you around after we grab our food.” She doesn’t come out and say ‘to other TGs’ and is glad that nobody else says it out loud either.

Asuna finally lets go of Kim’s hand to grab her tray and she notices Ayla gets brought something special from a chef but doesn’t mention it. When they all have full trays Ayla leads them up two flights of stairs to a full table that seems to have only one boy. As they approach Bobby mutters, “Suddenly I feel a lot more rare.”

The most beautiful redhead any of them have ever seen gives a silvery laugh and says, “Hey Hank, you finally have company.” She makes a graceful gesture and they are enclosed in another privacy spell.

Ayla nods, “These are the new TGs in Poe plus one.”

Kim waves, “I’m Sue’s girlfriend so she dragged me along to feed me.”

Asuna blushes, “Sorry, I didn’t know, um, well she was a lot of help, and she never judged, just flirted a lot, I mean helped me buy new clothes and she’s in Poe too so it’s not like she’d tell and”

Another girl cuts her off, “It’s cool. Don’t worry. Sit down and take a deep breath we don’t bite.” As she guides Asuna towards a seat she introduces herself, “I’m Chaka or Toni . If anyone harasses you or you need help you can to me or any of us really.”

Ayla nods, “That’s why I brought you all here. So you’d know some people who went through what you’re experiencing and can help you. Let me introduce everyone.” She gestured to Asuna, “This is Asuna, Ex and Man, who ended up looking like an Anime character. Tennyo can tell you which anime fanatics to avoid and you can cry in each other’s beer about having become incandescently hot.”

A blue haired girl sticks her tongue out at Ayla and Sue realizes she looks just like Ryoko. Sue says, “You can't call me hot when I'm sitting across from the perfect example of what a hot redhead should look like.”

Ayla snorts, “You can't measure yourself against Fey or you'll get a complex.” She continues, “Sitting next to Sue inhaling food is her girlfriend Kim the speedster. This is Bobby who is an unusual avatar that has been having dreams that you might want to talk to him about Fey, at least once he stops drooling in your presence.”

“Sorry,” Bobby said closing his mouth. “Is there a reason I keep getting the idea you are royalty of some sort?”

Nikki looks surprised then nods at Ayla, “I think you may be right.” She turns to Bobby, “Picked a codename yet?”

“Heimdall,” he replies promptly. “If it’s not taken.”

“Show her your eyes,” Ayla says.

Bobby removes the sunglasses and shows his rainbow eyes. Fey nods and says, “Bifrost. We’ll definitely chat later Heimdall.”

He gets a goofy grin on his face and nods, “Thank you your majesty.”

Nikki frowns, “Try not to call me that.”

Toni adds, “Yeah her ego is big enough as it is.” Which gets her a tongue salute too.

Ayla points to the next boy, “This is Sara who needs a new name. Just don’t ask Hank. We let him pick his codename and he picked Lancer.” She pauses while several girl giggle then continues, “Sara can fly and seems to be an exemplar but we don’t know what else he can do yet.”

The boys sit down and start eating while Ayla gestures again, “This is Steve who also needs a new name. She can float and probably other things but has not explored her powers yet. She wants to be a park ranger after graduation. Last but not least this is John who is still changing under all that darkness and wishes it would hurry up.” The last two sit down and Ayla introduces Team Kimba plus Bunny, Chou, Molly, and Sara.

Asuna looks over at Tennyo, “I can do some of the stuff my manga character can. How about you?”

“I can do it all just about,” Billie replies. “I don’t have any power gems but all the rest yeah.”

After seeing what Billie was eating Kim didn’t feel bad about going for seconds or thirds. She also complimented Molly on her clothes which started a fashion conversation out of which Asuna tried to stay. So she turned to Ayla and brought out her schedule, “Can I ask your opinion on my classes?”

Ayla look happy to have a reason not to enter the discussion about which shades of pink went best with which skin tones and gave Asuna an in depth analysis of the classes available.

Eventually they all finished eating and wandered off in two groups, one discussing courses and career paths and one discussing fashion, team wondercute, and how best to keep a girlfriend’s attention.