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Art in the Blood #998236 Tue 25/08/20 19:58 UTC
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Ben

He sat quietly and listened to the others speak, trying to get a feel for the person behind the words. It seemed a lot of them had been in difficult situations and that this "academy" might actually be a godsend for them. For that he was happy for them. Ben had always been blessed with parents that provided everything he had needed or wanted and he knew that he had had it good. That one girl over there, the shy one, seemed like she hadn't had a decent meal in ages.

So perhaps this place might have a benefit to society if it kept some of the children of powered individuals from desperate actions to keep food on their plates and clothes on their backs. It was but a temporary restraint for him and while he chaffed at it, he hoped that the others got a second chance.

Art in the Blood #998238 Tue 25/08/20 22:20 UTC
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Peri

She nodded in agreement with Cadence, at least until she started talking about underwear and chafing - then she turned a truly spectacular shade of red and covered her face with one hand.

She was silent on the subject of visiting family. Her only family was her father, and she didn’t expect he wanted to see her.

Art in the Blood #998244 Tue 25/08/20 23:29 UTC
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Mariel smiles and covers her mouth at Candence’s comment.

Grey:

“Cadence, when we say minimal costs, we mean minimal. Can’t guarantee that through the entire time here there will be no costs. Lawyers would be quite cross with me if I did. However, you will have clothing. You will have food. You will have what you need to learn. You will be given opportunities to earn money. What you will not do is leave here in debt with no way to pay it off. That would serve no one well. Your primary cost is to be paid in sweat equity. In learning and self-improvement. In leaving here and not going to that dark place that puts you in the pit. That applies to all here, regardless of means. And perhaps instead of “Destroyer of Worlds” one might want to try instead “Planetary Renovation Expert” Tends to sound better, if perhaps having less dramatic flair.”

Kemp looks over at Lamar:

“We will see. That is liable to be difficult. I think that any such visit, were it to happen, could not be unsupervised. As for ethics and Philosophy, that is in the realm of Grey. For specialized classes we have many topics covered between us, but if there is something unusual, we will see what we can find. Carver here, for example, can teach music should any have interest. Minus certain topics, this is less classrooms and blackboards than seminars and group testing.”

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Anne

She listened and considered. Yes life was different. She wondered if Nyx survived. Well of course she did. The real question is what was she going to do about it? Would she even care if her daughter had gone? Would she feel free and thus not risk anything to get her back? Anne hoped that was the case.

Money was something Anne had never had to deal with, short of paying for things because she could. The new found freedom such as it was, came with many responsibilities. She imagined that was probably the first and most important lesson they would try and teach them. Power without responsibility was what her mother was, that was clear.

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Lamar [Linked Image]

He waited a while, but it seemed like most everyone else preferred to sit back passively, listening and keeping their own counsel. So, he spake up again,

"Has similar provision been made for the children of powered heroes as well? The corollary to 'the children of villains can be led away from villainy' seems obvious, and the unwanted end result of non-intervention potentially the same in both cases. If so, any thought to interscholastic competition?"

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Peri

She started to zone out a little. Accreditation. University acceptance. Freaking interscholastic competition. These boys might as well be from a different planet, their priorities were so different from hers.

All she could think about was her dad, the tremors getting worse, his grip on reality starting to slip. Give it a few more hours and he’d start hallucinating. What would the cops do to him if he started screaming nonsense, swatting at things they couldn’t see? He was not going to be okay. Nothing was going to be okay. He was going to die there, and she’d failed him.

A tsunami of anxiety crashed over her, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of there. There were too many people, using up all the oxygen in the room.

She stood up abruptly, muttered “sorry, bathroom”, and walked briskly out of the room, trying her very best to keep the panic from showing.

Once in the hallway and out of eyesight, she began to hyperventilate, tugging at the collar of her shirt and scratching at her neck and collarbone.

Art in the Blood #998326 Thu 27/08/20 14:11 UTC
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Cadence

Cadence tried to listen to others. Her own question or questions might have sounded sarcastic, but in Cadence's mind they served a couple purposes, keep walls in place and highlight that this wasn't a normal world, despite the best efforts of the elder Hero types. A+ for effort, but there was a cynical side that reminded Cadence that these Heroes didn't really know what do do with teens and kids like her, and Dash... and Anne and Perri and even the boys... although most of them were more concerned about the cafeteria food and whether or not there would be interaction with the outside world... or team sports with hero kids. Umm... this was prison... jail maybe. The Heroes didn't really know what to do with them, and this was the only solution they had. Something that looked like it hoped to be somewhere in between high school and prison. But, make no mistake this was a detention facility... with fluffier pillows.

Maybe some of these kids didn't really belong here, like Peri. A victim of her circumstances it seemed. Maybe this was exactly what Peri needed. Maybe it was better than what she had. Hard to tell what was true about any of them though. Hard to read them when most everyone spent their short lifetimes keeping their truths hidden. But Cadence was the thing that balanced some of the others out. She had done real harm. She had hurt people. She had killed. She had chosen to kill. Grey thought she saw something in Cadence, and maybe there was, but Cadence tried to be very clear. She didn't believe she deserved mercy. She did what she did because she didn't see another way out. When you make decisions like that, where the math is more important than the reality of the faces of those on the wrong side of the equation, a piece of your heart grows cold goes a part of your soul goes cold. But if you can't make those choices when faced with the insanity of Nyx, and evil of Alchemy... you end up losing everything and everyone. You end up standing in a line, like a wall of defiance, unable to fight, frozen in place because your moral codes refuse to allow you to recognize that Evil uses your moral code against you, forces you to make choices and when you can't be pushed any further, evil makes the choices for you and you end up saving no one. Even if you recognize that evil will not fight by the same rules as you, because that is why evil is called evil, hen the chaos that ensues in your own heart, breaks and tears and claws at your soul. If you aren't strong enough to fight that, then you never will be able to fight evil on your own terms, even if it's a losing battle. You end up having to make a choice. You end up having to do the math.

What did Grey hope she could do in Cadence's case? Foster that kind child to re-emerge. Cadence hadn't lost that. She was kind and funny and sweet, and just wanted to be a cheerleader and go to Prom this year... but the darkness that surrounds her like a storm can only be held in check for so long. She was turned into a weapon and one side or the other was going to wield her as such. There was no middle ground.

Watching Peri get up, in a state of panic, and run for the bathroom with just two words was hard but it was understandable. I mean, it was pretty clear she was boxed in and it hit her suddenly. Or it was finally drowning her and she couldn't read water anymore. Cadence closed her eyes and sighed. The door to the hallway closed and Cadence stood up and shrugged in a feigned regret, "Me too... Potty break."

Passing Anne, in her chair, she mouthed the words, "I got it."

She exited the room and found Peri, up against a wall, not that far from the door, but she didn't say anything, just let the door close and leaned up against it. Peri had to fight this, and only when Peri acknowledged that Cadence was there would Cadence have permission to be there.

Art in the Blood #998331 Thu 27/08/20 14:49 UTC
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Ben

The young boy brought up an interesting question that he had thought of before. How did the so-called "good" supers deal with their children? Did they all have an academy where they were taught the 'proper' ethics and attitudes, how to pose and deal with the press and how to use their powers? Or was it more like his own parents who mentored him themselves, not trusting anyone else to mold their child in the ways of the world. The adults answers might be interesting indeed.

However that answer was delayed by the poor waif's need to leave. It was obvious that stress was getting to her. Ben didn't know what environment she had come from but he guessed that it hadn't been as nurturing and stable as his own and a part of him felt for her. No kid deserved to have a rough life but it was just the way of the world he guessed. Still, a big group meeting like this was going to be overwhelming for someone like her and that indicated to him that the 'educators' of this academy were flying by the seat of their pants and really had no idea what they were doing when it came to young kids.

As one of the older teens he felt a responsibility to go check on her and see if she was okay but the "hoohah" girl beat him to the punch and headed out quickly. That was probably a better idea anyway. Peri might respond better to another girl trying to help her than him.

"Might be a good time to take a break and let everyone get some breakfast and unwind." he suggested quietly to Mariel next to him.

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Anne

She watched Peri head out and then Cadence. She felt sympathy for Peri but really didn't know what to do about it. She had no experience with that kind of emotion. She had been taken care of such as it was. Her interpersonal relationship was mostly adversarial.

Art in the Blood #998338 Thu 27/08/20 17:01 UTC
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grey looks over to Martin for a moment wordlessly, he nods, then she speaks. ‘We have a breakfast table set up in the next room, get what you want and we’ll meet back here in forty minutes. We haven’t forgotten your questions, and we’ll get to them when we come back.”

Then her eyes go distant for a moment and she nods, after exchanging a brief look with each of the three adults.

Art in the Blood #998344 Thu 27/08/20 18:48 UTC
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Peri

Her head felt full of static, and everything around her seemed like she was observing it from the bottom of a pool. Distant, muffled, distorted. Her fingers were starting to tingle, a sensation of numbness spreading from her extremities upward into her chest - which held her frantically beating heart. She was getting lightheaded and unsteady on her feet, so she slid down the wall until she was seated on the floor. She didn’t even really notice her own tears.

Breathe, Peri, breathe. Freaking the hell out isn’t going to help Dad. It’s not going to help you. So just breathe. Slowly.

In...

Out...

In...

Out...


It took her a while to calm down enough to realise she wasn’t alone. When she did, she offered Cadence a wan half smile.

When she was ready to speak, she said two words. “Interscholastic competition”

Then she burst into a fit of giggles at the absurdity of two rival schools - one of villains’ children, the other of heroes’ children - in an epic clash on the field of... soccer? How would that sort of thing even work?!

Art in the Blood #998348 Thu 27/08/20 20:22 UTC
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Lamar

A fair enough reason for a break, all things considered. He'd definitely hold them to their word on the questions, the probing jibes and even the absurdities were not just for his amusement, but all of them establishing the shape of things, not just where ther lines to draw between were but also the size of the page and the book.

But for now, a chance to eat well.

Art in the Blood #998349 Thu 27/08/20 22:02 UTC
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Anne

As much as she hadn't eaten in quite some time, she really didn't feel hungry. It was likely the emotions roiling around in her body were probably responsible for her lack of appetite as anything tangible. She didn't move immediately almost as if she were still moving in slow motion.

Yet she would go through the motions and maybe some fruit and another hot tea.

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Ben

He got to his feet and headed into the other room to see what there was to eat. Ben suspected that he was greatly going to miss Mrs. McGillicuddy's sourdough french toast and irish scones.

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Mariel

“Didn’t get the chance to talk to you last night. Mariel Sorensen, Anne, Right?”

She still looks flat out exhausted and the smoke and building dust on her is obvious.

Last edited by Art in the Blood; Fri 28/08/20 02:10 UTC.
Art in the Blood #998407 Fri 28/08/20 15:34 UTC
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Anne

She didn't know what she expected, but she hadn't expected to be stopped on the way to breakfast. Her eyes widen ever so slightly as she looks the woman over dressed in similar dirt and soot as Anne's own clothes are. "Yes, I am Anne," she acknowledged.

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Mariel:

“C’mon. Lets get a bite. I know I missed dinner - I suspect you did too. Long night. I feel like someone put me through a cement mixer.”
She crinkles her nose and offers a raised eyebrow.

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Cadence

Leaning with her back against the door, and one leg raised to brace the sole of her foot against the door as well, Cadence replied in her easy drawl, all southern belle charm, "Yeah... Like that Disney movie on TV, the one with the kids who were children of famous Villains... They get picked for a second chance to go to school with Hero kids... and there's singing... a lot of singing."

She smiled in a conspiratorial way, as if this was a nefarious plan being hatched between them. "But if I have to sing, I get to be Maleficent's daughter, 'Kay?"

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Peri

“Deal, so long as I get to be Ursula’s kid.”

She stood up.

“Guess we should meet up with our teammates to prepare for the big championship match against the Unicorn Prep White Hats. Glad we got Dash on our team.”

A momentary serious look.

“We have to look out for her. She’s our star running back, or whatever. I just want to go and wash my face first. Red and blotchy isn’t a great look.”

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Cadence

Cadence smile grew wider but thinner, as if she were trying to suppress a laugh. She pushed off the wall and gestured down the hall.

"We passed a bathroom on the way down from our rooms," she said as she led the way. With a hop and a skip, as though it were part of some choreography, she started to sing a song that was probably familiar enough to Peri if she had seen Descendants. That was like 5 years ago, when Cadence was 12 and life was different and it was fun and simple and boys were just becoming interesting... well, maybe not the ones in her school, but she had posters of celebrity boys on her walls. Ursula's daughter, hmmm... Uma,,, Descendants 2... and 3.

In the end they are redeemed... imagine that.

Cadence skip and hop led to her impression from memory of Mal's dancing through the streets and alleys of the Isle of the Lost as she sang the chorus from the first movie.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall
Who's the baddest of them all?
Welcome to my wicked world, wicked world

I'm rotten to the core, core
Rotten to the core
I'm rotten to the core, core
Who could ask for more?
I'm nothing like the kid next, like the kid next door
I'm rotten to the, I'm rotten to the
I'm rotten to the core

Call me a schemer
Call me a freak
How can you say that?
I'm just... Unique!"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGlLe1w3DJM

Oh, how she practiced all those songs, all those dances. She was on her school's dance and cheer teams. Last year was her junior year and she had made the varsity squad, and this year she was going to be one of the Captains of the squad. She could dance... and she was a fairly good singer, maybe good enough to be part of a church worship team in a small Texas town. She stopped at the women's rest room door, opening with one hand so Peri could enter. She would follow her in.


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Anne

"I haven't had much other than a cup of tea. Didn't feel like eating much to be quite honest." She shrugged. "The healer took care of some of my aches and pains. Though..." her voice stopped suddenly. She realized that this was a different kind of a place. Nyx would have said to keep her mouth shut, which she clearly hadn't. Maybe it was time to be circumspect. Everyone she had dealt with in her life before wanted something. She suspected that hadn't changed. Keeping her own counsel might be better than some other choices. Even though she knew she could heal instantly, the cost was too high for someone else. She just couldn't do that even when Nyx demanded it of her.

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Mariel smiles a bit.
“Don’t worry, Anne. Not going to ask you for anything you aren’t ready to give. But you had better eat. Even getting healed takes a lot out of you, and you need to put it back in.

Carver walks near Lamar and Ben.

“So, what sort of things you think you might be most interested in studying?”

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Ben

"I have finished up all of my classes for university. I was just doing additional work in physics of course." he said with a shrug as he looked over what was offered for a meal.

"What about you Lamar?"

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Lamar

Acknowledging the cue, the apparent boy spoke up,

“Biology, natural history, and probably a bit too niche but worth asking, the origins and physiology of kaiju. Economics, business studies, psychology, civics. Law, architecture, history of powered individuals. Possibly dabbling a bit in medicine, though that’s probably a ways down the line. I’ve got time. I’m used to a fairly intensive ‘course load’ such as it was.”

He kept his face largely neutral for the moment, not unnaturally so, just not particularly expressive.

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Ben

"Whoa, that is a pretty advanced load for someone who looks your age. So....are you older than you look or advanced mind?" he asked, looking at the boy who looks about 13 years old.

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