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Chapter 3 - A Day In The Life

Early Morning, November 12th, 2007 - King Auditorium

Scald-Crow
Have I mentioned how much I hate mornings? Like, I don't just -dislike- or find them -disappointing-. No, I -fucking hate- getting up before 10 AM in the morning. You'd think that years’ worth of early rising would have prepared me for it the day I now lived in the mutant school. Oh hell no! I still -hated- mornings and my body still decided to make me feel like I was weighed down by thick pieces of lead all over my body. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I got myself together and was able to shuffle into my uniform. I took an extra five minutes to clean myself off and packed my things for the next hour.

Unlike before the violin case weighed nothing in my hands. It didn't drag at me as I walked out of the room and closed the door. I checked my school registration pamphlet and noted the location of my first class, Music in King Auditorium. I took a few short breaths before setting off at a power walk to make the first bell. I arrived just in time as did a few other freshmen. One group was assembling into a traditional string quartet as others were busily playing to each other.

I pulled out my violin and caressed the neck and scroll. The strings were decent quality though I did want to eventually get some gut strings. One of my favorite and most annoying advantages of being an Exemplar was my increased sense of tune. I thumbed the A string and quietly sung a tune and gently fitted the peg until the string was set. Next, I cleaned off the used rosin from the days before using a soft cloth and reapplied it to my bow. Now, by using the A string I was able to tune the harmony of both my d and e string. The g wasn't the hardest after all that work.

Not being the most awake I didn't respond immediately when Mister King attempted to get my attention. You'd think a tall Elvis impersonator would grab my focus as soon as he spoke, nope. It was about three seconds doing one final check of my violin that I finally heard Mr. King clear his throat. Slowly and painfully, my eyes swept up towards the man's face as he crossed his arms and gave a slow shake of his head. Dammit! Why did it have to be today?

"Miss Ní Callaghan, why don't you show us a bit of your skill?" the tall man asked. His words were kind, but I could tell he was annoyed that I'd been so caught up in my own little world. I took a deep breath before deciding to respond. Without thinking I dragged a finger over the strings of violin finding a small playful tune as I picked at the strings to get my mind working

"Um okay," I said as I tried to think of what the hell I was going to play.

Being a violinist my preferred form of music usually fell between fiddle and classic baroque period pieces. I rummaged in my backpack as every eye was on me. My eyes flipped up to Mister King and I set my bow down and switched it back and forth. The slow notes slid into the dual string as I opened into the beginning of King of the Golden Hall from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. By the time I was done I set my violin down and gave a light smile.

"Not bad Miss Ní Callaghan," he said with a smile. I did like the fact he was using the Ní rather than the masculine Ó. Still, how did he know about it? Likely my parents, or more than likely Sophia's mother.

"Thanks for letting me play," class moved onward from there. Most of the early morning groups appeared to be focused on group play. At least one small string quartet, a nascent rock band, and finally someone I didn't recognize.

"Fine - fine." The voice was a lazy alto and I noted the Asian woman with a long steel bodkin rest between her legs while she leaned on it.

"Miss Fujiwara, you're listed as being a singer, why don't you show us what you can do," the girl let go of her bodkin and stood up revealing her long straight black hair tied in a high ponytail.

"Sure, teach!" she chirped before standing atop her chair.

"Anyone mind playing a few cords for me?" she asked and a kid nearby struck up something as she started a quick vocal warm-up. I smiled, this girl wasn't being serious, but she did at least like it. To me, singing was a way to manage my anxiety.

"Thanks," she sighed before running her hands over her body.

"Hey folks, here's the story of Minnie the Moocher!
She's just a low-dow hoochie-coochah!
That girl was rough and tough as nails.
But Minnie she had a heart - as big as a whale"

Minnie the Moocher? That was one of my favorite songs and the girl was nailing the ragtime sound spot on. She spun around and went into the second verse before giving a bow at an end of her display.

Just After Breakfast, November 12, 2007 - Laird Hall

Scald-Crow
Changing in the girl's locker room before my new Phys Ed class was a weird experience. I was used to a very specific scenery back at home and for the first time, I wasn't sure what to make of it. This is the point in all of the usual transformation stories where I tell it was like being a kid in a candy shop. Let's be clear, I'm a lesbian, a big fat lesbian. But, I was more creeped out by the girl's brush past me and triggering my flashbacks. Also, unlike a lot of those kids, I chose who I was. Pulling on my gi for the class I readjusted my sport's bra and the workout shorts I wore under my gi's trousers.

Did I get a few nice looks at the girl's around me - yes, yes I did? But, it didn't go beyond the usual level of a hormonal teenager and honestly, it was less creepy than a few of the kids back at Poe. Yeah, I'm not going to go into it. Locking my combination lock in place I followed the rest of the girls out onto the floor.

"Ah, good you are all here," I heard a slightly accented voice say. Not far away I noticed an older Japanese man observing the rest of the class. Making a beeline for the man I came to stand in front of him and offered a small bow. His face was lightly tanned, and shaped like a rounded square. His eyes were focused on the assortment of students taking a seat in a circle around a set of gym mats. I noted the light fuzz of his grey hair and his stance reminded me of many Martial Arts Teachers I'd spied in a few dojos and dojang. His arms were crossed behind his back as light blue hanto was draped over his frame.

"You as well Gráinne," he addressed me with a simple shift of his eyes.

"Um....hello Itoke-sensei," I said remembering the basics of honorifics.

"Soke, Itoke-soke," he corrected me, "Tolman is your sensei. I am the head of teaching therefore I am the soke."

"Apologies soke, while I have Japanese family I have not had the best education in proper manners," I replied with a blush of shame.

"Well, it is good to know you understand the uniform requirements for this school," he replied to me and offered a small smirk.

"Gráinne Ní Callaghan," said a tall curvaceous black woman standing nearby Ito. A black bodysuit covered her body and revealed every precise curve of her muscles. Her hair was braided and beaded back from what I could only guess was hours of work. A finely manicured eyebrow rose as she gave me a questioning look. Tolman's lips tense and a small shift of her brown eyes gave me the feeling she was unimpressed with me.

"Ye-yes, Tolman-sensei?" I stuttered. My hands wrung together as I couldn't control how my eyes darted across all the children.

"Once the current spar is done," she continued and used her right thumb to direct my vision to two girls currently facing off against one another.

"I...I'd like to request that I only spar with women," I said anxiously.

"What?" Tolman asked me.

"I'm...I'm a rager," I sputtered.

"The white band on your arm makes that rather clear," Tolman-sensei chided me.

"Yes...but I was nearly raped at my last school and I-." I stopped as I caught Tolman's expression. A flash of anger across her face as she shifted her stance from one foot to the other and popped out her right hip.

"Understood. I will speak with Ito-soke about this. Your opponent will be Tamahagane, she's currently fighting Kitty," Tolman-sensei informed me and pointed to the current conflict. A fox-eared woman with obvious Exemplar curves was fencing up against the girl from Music Class. I watched as the Japanese girl used a bodkin to slap aside the fox girl's weapon before breaking her hold with a quick strike to her sword-bearing wrist. It was as the redhead drew closer I finally noticed her wavering twin-tails. Wait, was she some kind of Kitsune? A GSD?

"Match to Haruko, well done Fujiwara-chan," Ito said simply.

"Domo Arigatou gozaimasu Ito-soke," she snapped. Did she always have an eye patch?

"Fox, you have shown an improvement since you joined us last year." Tolman-sensei was the one to speak as she traded a smile with Ito-soke.

"I want you to continue your training with Miss Beaumont as soon as possible. You have improved greatly, and I believe you should consider speaking to Beaumont about Iiajutsu." Her words were delivered with succinct precision.

"Oui, Maître d'Armes," Kitty replied before taking a seat among the rest of the spectating students.

"Fujiwara-chan, you will now spar with Miss O'Callaghan," Ito-soke smiled as he addressed the sword-wielding girl with a friendly honorific. Strange, why was I still Miss O'Callaghan?

"Hai, soke!" Haruko said and gave a snide smile. I walked out onto the circle and felt everyone's eyes on me. I had no combat experience what so ever so this was likely to be short and painful.

"This spar will be strength and skill only. No weapons or holdouts allowed! No usage of any other power other than your speed, dexterity and what you as a student can bring to the floor!" snapped Tolman-sensei, “Hajime!”

I glanced at Haruko as the woman's rosebud shaped lips were set in a thin line. Her brown eyes watched me as she offered me a small bow and I returned it with hands at my sides. I'd seen enough karate combat on the internet to understand I wasn't going to piss off my opponent by not returning a bow. There was a moment of silence as I slowed my breathing so I could gain a modicum of focus and calm my nerves.

Absentmindedly, I felt my eyes wandering their gaze over the crowd and found familiar black hair and light Tuscan tanned face. I froze on her green eyes as I tried to not catch her looking at me, and just as I was about to turn one thing, well two happened. First, I heard the word

"BEGIN" shouted by Tolman-sensei, and second I felt the impact of a hard two punches to the front of my face.

"Tch, fight harder!" Haruko growled at me as she prepared to deliver another two hard punches to my face. I jumped back trying to put distance between us and found her pushing the attack. Three solid punches and a kick aimed at my middle and all I could do was use my shin to barely block it. With my Exemplar strength, I was easily able to weather the beating, but she was pushing me back and forced me to try something. Jumping over her I spun around to deliver a downward punch ended up hitting the ground as she rolled out of the way.

"Such a damn shame! Keep trying Aka-chan," she smiled at me.

"SHUT UP!" I snapped as I could feel my anger boiling up as it did. My eyes narrowed and I snarled while running at her. She sidestepped me and sent me skidding on my knees.

"How can an Exemplar be so terrible," she said just as she kicked my head causing me to see stars.

"FUCK YOU!" I screamed and lunged at her leading to two tattooed arms grabbing my hand and throwing me over her shoulder to land just outside the circle. Some of the kids had to jump out of the way to avoid colliding with my flying body.

"Ow!” I groaned as I hit the ground hard and I heard the command of, “Yame!” from Tolman-sensei.

"I see your lack of combat skill is worse than expected," Tolman-sensei said to me as I looked up at her from the ground. She offered me her hand and I took it to stand.

"I..I've never had combat training," I said carefully as a few in the class gave me sympathetic smiles.

"This means you'll need a tutor," Tolman-sensei said to me.

"I assume you will be assigning me one before the end of class?" I asked as a small joke.

"Miss O'Callaghan, you will be informed of your tutoring period after I speak with your faculty advisor," Tolman-sensei said to me in all seriousness. I had a faculty advisor? Who the hell could that be?

"Sit down and listen, lass. Ye have a lot of work cut of for ye." Morgan's words broke her silence throughout the spar as I stared at my bruised hands and the dust covering my chest from hitting the ground. "You have the strength and the rage for battle, lass. We just need the knowledge to back it up."

As always Obi-Wan in my head was clear and vague in what she meant, and to be honest I was surprised she didn't find offense to being compared to a Jedi. "He was a wise man," Tolman-sensei called for everyone's attention as Ito-soke began to lecture us all on the necessity to defend ourselves. I mean, I was only what about a month or two behind the school curriculum.

Just After Lunch, November 12th, 2007 - Whateley Campus

Scald-Crow
As I walked out of the Lunchroom I took a second to think and already it felt like I was running in place. Even at the beginning of my first day as I moved through the hours, a pattern was emerging. Perhaps it was because my ancestors were Gaelic warriors on one side and Norse vikingr on another, but I felt the bands of fate tying themselves to me. I wouldn't think of it right then and there, but later I sensed I would look back and see where it all led to. In a daze, I bussed my tray and waved goodbye to Sophia as padded out the front door of Crystal Hall.

I slowed and leaned against one of the chairs in Schuster's grand opening hall. The animation on my phone indicated my sister was writing something and I stared at the screen until the text appeared.

Sloan: The first deposition today for mom and dad's lawsuit happened. It was pretty epic! Mister Jameson let me watch as he tore apart your stupid former Principal. Oh my god, I swear she was either going to burst into tears or worse. It was just fucking great!

Leave it to my sister to have a serious case of schadenfreude when the enemies of my family meet a slow end. In a moment of pure joy, I pumped my fist into the air and shimmied a little. Just like Sloan, I enjoyed seeing my enemies driven before me! I even let out a little yip of happiness as a few of the nearby students froze and stared at me as if I'd grown a third head. Of course, that's when fate or more specifically my spirit decided to drop a bit of chaos on my head.

"Her. Of all the feckin bints to see, we run into -her-." I blink for a moment as I try to figure out what's going on and I notice the redhead walking by with a curvy umber skinned girl I could only assume was the infamous, Chaka.

"Which one? You aren't helping, those are two of the big players of Kimba," I sighed under my breath.

"THE SIDHE, THE FEY! HER THAT IS HER!" I can feel a feral reaction as I let out a loud, "SERIOUSLY?"

"Yo, what's up with you?" Chaka asked me as she stopped and stared at me. Her right hip was cocked as she placed a hand on it giving a pretty obvious expression of expectation.

"Um....hi I'm Gráinne," I spit out like an idiot.

"The new girl in Poe they stuck with Shipwright, right," the redhead says. Nikki, or Fey, now her I knew of her from a model page, I kept from last summer. I mean how could I not she was drop-dead gorgeous.

"Yeah...Gráinne codenamed Scald-Crow," I said giving a shameless shrug and adding, "Avatar 3, Exemplar 4 and Wizard 1."

"Niceta meetcha!" Chaka chirped at me with a smile that bled rambunctious energy.

"So why did you scream?" Nikki inquired as not only did I scream I also revealed my sharped teeth in a predatory snarl.

"Oh...my spirit, she says that your some kind of big shot," I said trying not to show my hand. Both girls were from Poe, yet I still didn't know them. People I don't know are people I can't trust.

"High and mighty upon her throne with the nine! We went to war and even now....where is she?" Morgan was muttering in the back of my mind.

"I...I once had a Spirit of-" she began.

I finished her line out of nowhere, "Aunghadhail."

"How did you know that?" she asked me perplexed.

I didn't it was then I realized that Morgan's determination had paired her words through my mouth. She hadn't possessed me but inserted the word into my speech.

"Morgan, my spirit, she...knew of Aunghadhail." All I could do was shrug.

"Wait, how come she can say Unga-bunga correctly?" Chaka asked curiously.

"...It's a name using Gaelic syllables...." I deadpanned at her.

"Is that how you say it?" Chaka pushed Nikki.

"I mean - I guess." Nikki gave a roll of her eyes before giving a demonstrative sigh and pinching her nose.

"How do you know it?" Chaka pushed as she seemed to start bouncing on the spot.

"Uh...my spirit is teaching me," I responded.

"Why?" she asked.

"Cuz she's from Ireland." This was getting old fast.

"Look I have to get to my next class," I said as I started to beat a quick retreat.

"See you then!" chirped Chaka while the two continued on their way.

"What in the world got into you?" I murmured to Morgan. There wasn't any point in speaking aloud to my spirit, but it did put my thoughts into perspective.

"I didn't think...she would come back. That any of them would come back! The nightmare that keeps my memories at bay only lets me see through for small periods of time." Another new side of the spirit bound in my body. "The First Princes wove it tight to prevent the madness of the dream from destroying us."

"What does all of that mean?" I snapped. More exposition from my spirit and just as she was about to say something I heard a sound similar to what I could only consider a pause.

"You aren't ready for it."

With a stomp in frustration, I took off towards my next class.

Afternoon, November 12th, 2007 - Schuster Hall

Scald-Crow
"An raibh tú ar an gCarraig, nó an bhfaca tú féin mo ghrá." I sang to myself as I strolled through the hall outside the classrooms of Schuster still excited from Powers Theory in period five. My backpack was barely a weight on my shoulder as I didn't bother to use my locker when all of my books barely weighed a thing to me. The song stayed on my lips as I was walking in circles just before the bell sounded. A group of students were slowly meandering their way to the assigned room and immediately noticed my red armband. One of them, a perky looking brunette was the first to walk over to me.

"Hi," she said and gave a little wave. I ran my memory on who she was.

"You've been sitting with Shipwright at the Underdog table," she started, "Grannah right?"

"Grahn-yuh," I answered slowly trying my best to be polite, "I just...arrived two days ago."

"Wow, so you're an avatar?" she asked. I noticed she had a slightly rodent-esque nature to her though it was hard for me to nail down what.

"Yeah....um...you're Aquana?" I asked really feeling stupid I didn't know her name.

"Aquerna...I'm bonded to a squirrel spirit," she smiled.

"That's so cool!" I replied.

"Really?" she asked her eyes widening with excitement.

"Yes. I'm from the Northwest. I mean it's no big deal, but squirrels there will chatter and natter at almost anything. Little bastards will stand up to house cats, full-size pit bulls and a lot more from their trees. But, they also are pretty awesome at jumping from the thirty foot tall Douglas
Firs to others." I gave a shrug and offered her a smile.

"That's a whole lot of words," Aquerna said before smirking at me.

"Sorry! I am so shitty at peopling," I sighed and she winced when I swore, "Sorry...my spirit and I are pretty foul-mouthed. I've already been almost given detention over it."

True story, I was in World History and described the Pilgrims as "fucking idiots" while answering a question and the teacher had already warned me. What, it wasn't my fault I was battered for days with Sophia's blunt opinion on colonization. It didn't help that I actually read textbooks and several were quite clear that the early settlers of American really didn't seem to know what the hell they were doing. I mean don't even get me started on James Town!

"I can understand that. So...what kind of spirit are you bonded too?" she asked me and opened the door for me as we entered the class.

"She's an Irish spirit and I think she's pretty old."

"Rude little bint." Morgan suddenly spoke up in the recesses of my mind.

"Morgan's her name. In my dream-space, she's like seven feet tall and looks like she could kick Braveheart's butt!" I smiled.

"Wallace was an okay bastard, Bannockburn still brings a tear to my eye." I blinked at her comment and found a seat near the back of the classroom.

"Do you mind if I sit here with you?" Aquerna asked me a little timidly as I gave her a confused look.

"You want to sit near the rager?" I returned her question with my own.

"Sure why not, Lexi likes you, and you even seem nice to everyone at the Underdog's table." She began unpacking her bag and unfolded a workbook and spiral-bound notebook.

"I was bullied a lot at my last school. My own principal was gleefully going to hand me over to the MCO," I said slowly breathing to maintain my composure, "and if my friend' Sophia's grandfather hadn't been there with the 'rents I was sure it was over."

"That sucks, I'm sorry you had to experience all of that," Aquerna nodded.

"Yeah, it's not so bad. I mean, Morgan's made me really strong, and she's teaching me a bunch of languages." I smiled.

"Nice! All my spirit does is basically squirrel skills, though I can talk to squirrels too!" I watched her deflate for a second before fighting back her self depreciation.

"I can punch things hard. That's it, I even got my butt kicked in BMA today since I don't even know how to fight," I sighed.
Aquerna was about to speak before the door to the classroom opened and the last of the class started to file in.

"Dang...Aquerna, what's your name?" I asked.

"Anna." She smiled before turning her attention to the front of the class. I gave a small nod as the teacher made his way to the front of the class. He was a slightly chubby man wearing a lab coat. One of his lapels was completely covered in a hodge-podge of pins which I could only guess were from the various clubs on campus.

"This girl is almost Draoi like you. She will make a worthy ally." Morgan spoke up out of the blue as Dr. Hewley finished arranging his classwork for the day.

'Why are you talking now?' I thought in return to Morgan.

"I've been thinking...there is much here I thought all gone. New avenues and threats to sit on." Her words faltered as she made a telepathic 'hmmm'. It was then that I noticed entering and walking not far behind Dr. Hewley were a pair of young women a little older than myself. The oldest of the two had vivid red hair and an obviously blooming exemplar figure. She was far curvier than me in the top and her eyes flashed with analytical intelligence. She was wearing the blazer of an upperclassman and a black-tie from Poe. Her companion was a native woman with similar ochre skin as Sophia, but that's where the two differed. Her hair was a dark straight brown I was envious of (come on I have the hair from hell) and she was about my height making her maybe five-sixish. A soft heart-shaped face with distinctive cheekbones and kissable lips.

"There is a change in the essence here...other Spirits, Powers." Morgan's muttering continued as I felt her moving in me and gave a small shudder. "Sorry my heart, but those two have...powerful allies. One...is connected to a notable noble and one -not- to be taken lightly."

'Morgan. You need to tell me more about this...soon. I feel like I'm in some shitty anime prologue episode with all the useless foreshadowing you are giving me.' I responded telepathically to her. It was hard to focus enough with class beginning. The two girls from before took a seat as Dr. Hewley leaned over his materials on the podium and cleared his throat. Immediately, everyone in class snapped to meet his gaze.

"Welcome once again everyone to Avatars I or as some students call it, Spirits I." Dr. Hewley began his opening lecture for the day. "We have a new student with us today, Gráinne Ní Callaghan, a young avatar from Washington State!"

Immediately upon having my name given I stood and gave a very embarrassed wave to the rest of the class. Anna gave me a quirky cute smile as I sat down after a moment.

I was able to pick up some of the audible background noise from the other students:

"She's a rager? Why are they letting her into our class?"

"I heard she killed a Humanity First bastard back home."

"Is she the second coming of Fey with hair like that?"

I closed my eyes half-way as I placed my head in my hands and put my head down. "Don't tell them too much about me lass. We don't know much about this school yet."

"Gráinne, what can you tell us about your spirit?" Dr. Hewley addressed me with a genuine smile. I perked up in place and gripped the edge of the table to center myself. Just like Dr. Hewley I inhaled before speaking and breathed out very slowly to finish calming myself.

"I'm...Gráinne...codename 'Scald-Crow'. I'm bonded to a spirit named Morgan, and from what I can tell she's an Irish Spirit of passion." I decided to give them the generic spiel on my spirit.

"Interesting, very interesting," Dr. Hewley was giving the stereotypical fascinated professor chin rub. All I could do was give a small shrug as he immediately began a simple recitation from what I guessed was another lecture. The gist of which explained the nature of spirits symbiotic bond forged between them and avatars. Personally, it was a simple review and provided me with a lot more to work on understanding why
Morgan needed me. But, I mean, Avatars from what Dr. Hewley explained weren't exactly common, but we weren't that rare. There had to be another one closer to Morgan when her previous host was murdered., So, why did she pick me?

"I chose you, my heart because you are Draoi. You carry the necessary lineage for me to properly bond with you. And we are of like mind and soul in so many ways."

"Now, as part of an ongoing upperclassmen guest lectures today Kayda Franks, or Pejuta, will be talking about her experiences as an avatar and channeler."

The Native American girl walked to the front of the class after receiving a fairly intimate look from the redhead. This wasn't romantic, but one forged from family. "Blood-sisters. Spear-sisters. That is what we would call them long ago." Her words made sense as the girl, Kayda, I guessed stood at the podium at the front of the class.

"Hey," she began slowly her body language showed just the tiniest bit of anxiety. She glanced over at the redhead who offered her a confident smile and started once again.

"Hey everyone, I'm Kayda Franks - and I'm a class five Avatar," she said and I saw her gulp. "There is a great weight on her shoulders, my heart, a Power of the Center walks with her." 

"Some of you know me from last year, and the rest, yeah, I'm here to talk to you about the different kinds of Avatar and how Spirits interact with us." I sat up in my seat as she spoke and I raised my hand out of the blue.

"Um...Kayda, are you referring to Paladins and Channelers?" I asked. In learning what I was, I had scoured the internet looking for as many crackpot theories as I could. A site dedicated to "Mutant Watching" had said that Channelers were devil infused warlocks and that Paladins were the freaks of history bringing an unholy crusade. Yeah, I read some bullshit "Coming Apocalypse" stuff, but I was able to read between the lines.

"I wasn't going to but, that's actually a good topic," she seemed to brighten as she recognized my tie. Yup, she was a Posie, and I was too. Offering a smile I waited for her to continue.

"As an Avatar, I host Tatanka, the White Buffalo Spirit of my people, the Lakota," I nodded along with the others, "I also host a second spirit, Ptesanwi, who allows me to channel the great spirit, Wakan Tanka."

"Um, Kayda, what's the difference between a Paladin and Channel versus an Avatar?" Aquerna was the next to raise her hand and ask.

"From what I understand it - um - a Paladin hosts only a small part of a Spirit." She exhaled slowly, as someone who was of like mind. Whenever I was up for class presentations I would shake with every movement as my voice ran clear. I was watching Kayda carefully as I noticed the small tremor in her wrists and how she was attempting to control her breathing.

"And a channeler does just that - channel the spiritual energy of a spirit," she said and I noticed how she finished her lecture. 

"What's the difference then? How are you different from any other Avatar?" a kid asked in a snarky voice. I couldn't place the speaker as I was busily keeping an eye on Kayda. Finally, I was able to pinpoint the kid after a few seconds of tracking the snobby arrogance of a football-linebacker built teenager. Great, another fellow Exemplar, and one who was using his newfound appearance to be a dick - just great! Thick shoulders, brown hair in a military buzz cut, and what I could see was a Melville purple tie.

"I'm one of the few noted dual spirited Avatars," she replied with a bit of fire entering her voice, "and but one of my spirits gives me access to the greater teachings of a major Power."

The kid didn't even really explain himself as Kayda stepped aside to let Dr. Hewley take over the day’s lecture. He immediately began to discuss the wide difference of Avatar sub-traits to everyone. I kept an eye on the linebacker as the kid was busily writing out notes on what looked like a high-end tablet. He gave me a skeevy vibe as he looked up and a pair of blue eyes spied me. I immediately looked down as an ashamed blush came to my face.

"He's not looking at you anymore," said a whisper from a seat nearby. Raising my head I blushed as I came face to face with the curvy bust of the Fox-girl from BMA.

"I -hate jocks-," I seethed through gritted teeth.

"I haven't had the best experiences with them either," the girl said and gave me a two-finger wave, "oh, Kitty or Catherine by the way."

"Gráinne," I replied as I returned it. We both eyed Dr. Hewley who was quietly checking a few notes and letting kids catch-up with what he'd written down on the whiteboard behind him.

"That dick's been sniping at Kayda and the other guest Lecturers whenever he can," Kitty said to me as her ears flicked absently, "typical goomba hormonal bullshit too. Always trying to get a look down their shirts."

"This lass smells of fox, and I don't mean her tails or ears." My spirit commented before I could reply.

"So you know Kayda?" I decided to ask.

"Yeah!" she said before slowly jotting down a series of notes on Paladin spirit shards.  "I joined Whateley late last year after some shit in Seattle around last winter," she shrugged.

"You talking about the Overlord Coffee Caper?" I giggled in return.

"Don't get me started on that Gaius Baltar reject," Kitty smirked.  "He has the fashion sense of Judge Dredd with half the moral fiber"

"What you get from C-List Villains," I laughed even harder.

"Ladies, would you two like to share with what is so funny with the rest of the class?" Dr. Hewley Chimed in as the rest of the class stared at us. 

"Nothing Dr. Hewley," I said bashfully.

Class went back to the doldrums after that. Jock's'McGee was still using his stupid tablet to keep his notes while trying to rubberneck a few little glances at the nearest girls. Goddess, I was so happy I was a fucking lesbian at this point. A few of the girls at Poe were already trying to steal a few views of my own assets, but at least I wouldn't have to navigate the world of hetero dating.

Class ended without a bang and I found myself shuffling past the jock. Just as I was about to get past him he stood and inched out in front of me causing my heart to jump. What did this shit want? I got a good look at him, he was Bradley Finkbonner as an Exemplar. Tall, full broad shoulders; a chest hard enough to cut diamond.  Yeah, if I was straight I'd find him hot if you didn’t get my drift. Except, his body had the exact opposite reaction he wanted.

"So - new girl?" he phrased a disjointed question to me.

"Gráinne," I said tersely. "What do you want?"

"Just want to welcome you to Whateley," he offered his hand and I quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay," I said and took it and gave him a hard firm handshake. His eyes didn't even widen when he saw my Ultra-Violent armband. There was a minute shift in his hand as he let go and canted his head to view me with a quirked eyebrow.

"There is something off about this one," Morgan growled from the recesses of my mind.

"Yeah, I um, killed a Humanity First guy who was attacking my family," it slipped out of my mouth before I could really explain.

"Not bad hot stuff, attractive and already blooded on the enemy. We should have coffee sometime," he said before stepping away and making his way. The dick didn't even give me a name as I watched him leave I felt my heart rate pounding loudly in my ears. I had been able to control my reaction long enough, but still, already I could feel phantom hands gliding over my chest and behind. A small squeak escaped from my mouth as I zipped out of the classroom as fast as I could.