Zenterfold
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Monday, August 11, 2042
Activity was in full swing at Arthur Gray's School of Power, for it was none other than orientation day and students were ushered to participate in the various activities set up around the academy. There were trivia games and information boards designed to help students learn about the academy, club stations urging people to join them, probably a few too many carnival games, and food vendors handing out their goods to hungry people. Most of the activities were centered around the school's courtyard, a space enclosed between multiple school buildings and connected to the student garden, where senior students were happily letting others sample some of their produce.
Any student new to the school had already gone through their entrance exam that determined their power grade and where they were at academically. They had been issued ID cards that were designed for a variety of purposes, including dorm keys, money holding, password keepers, and interfacing with the technology around the school. The new students had also been able to move in to their dorms if they were boarding.
A group of fifteen-year-old boys were chatting amidst the bustle, getting pretty animated over the most minute of subjects. Their conversation turned quickly to roughhousing as one pushed another and provoked the other. The pushed teen's hands started to glow a bright red but he found a large hand gripping his shoulder almost immediately. He turned to find one of the school's security guards, Chris Gill, staring down at him with an intimidating glare. Though the man did not possess any powers of his own, his hulking frame and shaved head was enough to make just about anyone freeze.
"No powers," he said gruffly, releasing the kid's shoulder once he seemed suitably spooked. Chris looked down at the kid's hand to find a stamp indicating it was his first day. "You are to only use your powers in controlled environments as directed by the faculty. Got that?"
The teen and his friends nodded dumbly, mostly just wanting this guy to leave them alone. Chris watched them as they walked off. Once they had blended into the crowd of students, Chris made sure to report to his fellow security team to keep an eye on them.
For being a school filled with superpowered kids and young adults, there had to be measures in place to ensure the academy did not melt down on a daily basis. Powers were largely prohibited on special days like today and they were certainly not allowed in any of the academic classrooms on any occasion. As powers varied so much, it was largely difficult and rather unfair to pick and choose who had the privilege of using their abilities. The dorms were more free, though they were heavily monitored. It was really only when the students had class time dedicated to their powers or during exams that they could really let loose. Thankfully, Arthur Gray's had Courser faculty on hand who were trained in pacifying students with various kinds of powers in case anything really went wrong.
The school's head, George Alcast, was a powerful telekinetic in his own right, able to read minds and put others to sleep. As a result, there was very, very little that got past him. Orientation always began to with him addressing the year's new students in the large auditorium, telling them what a privilege it was that they got to attend the academy and how they must work together for a safer, brighter future. He used the opportunity to get a good read on the student body, though few of the students would even realize this was the case.
Tommy King, a new seventeen-year-old student, had found the rousing speech by Mr. Alcast to be... dreadfully dull. All the talk of future greatness, creating safe spaces, and honoring the Coursers who came before them meant very little to a guy who just didn't want to be there. Tommy didn't want to be a Courser, nor did he want to switch to a new school. He wanted to go to a real college and not some weird academy where half the student body were literal children.
The only benefit to attending a new school was that Tommy was still allowed to play lacrosse, though they had made it very clear that powers were not permitted at any point on the field or in training. This was totally fine by Tommy, though he had a sinking feeling that playing for a Courser school would only hurt his chances of going anywhere professionally.
When the orientation speech was over and a bunch of the faculty had introduced themselves, Tommy and the many other new students had been sent off to tour the activities going on. Just about none of it held much interest for Tommy, who mostly stood in the courtyard with his hands in his pockets and looking dully at the other students milling about. He was tall enough that he stood out and it certainly didn't help that his cropped blond hair sort of shone in the August sun. A part of him itched to try the carnival games, as he was on the competitive side and he figured he could meet a few people that way. Tommy had to find some kind of crew eventually.
And hey, he had to give the school one thing; you really couldn't beat free food.
Two students were way ahead of Tommy on the carnival games, however. One of them was having a much better time than the other, though.
Ayako Akiyama, dark haired and blood red eyes, stood flatly at the fishing carnival game. She had some expression on her face that was between blank and irritated, with enough self-awareness to know that she frankly looked a bit ridiculous, just standing there and holding out a fishing pole... trying to fish out plastic fish, and even then, with limited success. She pursed her lips and gave a furrowed brow as she stood by herself, unable to get so much as a nibble. In other words, her otherwise intimidating demeanor was offset by how stupid she felt right now, fishing for fake game.
She just wanted to get settled into her dorm already and call it a day, but it seemed the school board was insistent on making her and all the other students partake in their little orientation festival, so here she was.
Not too far away, another student was getting pretty excited.
"Boom! I'm unstoppable!!" Ren Tsukino, in male form, exclaimed excitedly, essentially hogging the basketball game by themself. They were just having way too much fun with it, scoring almost perfectly in rapid succession each time they threw a ball into the hoop, with only an occasional miss every now and then. They were much more enthused to mingle around among the other fellow students at the academy... even if most of the rest of the student body was much younger than them. Felt weird being one of the few actual adults among teens, even if just by one or two years.
After all, being a would-have-been college student and still hanging out with high-school aged kids wasn't what Ren had in mind after they'd graduated high school, but here they were. May as well make the best of it!
Before long, the timer on the game ran out, prompting a somewhat worn but still active breath from them, wondering to themselves if they do another game, unless someone else wanted in, of course.
For the rest of everyone else here, it truly was the first day of the rest of their lives.
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