New Peaks Academy: Paradigm Shift (IC)

[Salroka]

Monday, August 28. 3:45PM New Peaks Time

Vincento's summer had been spent enjoying himself on the beach, doing weight training, and practicing his Hapkido. Yeah, his recovery had been painful... but also relatively brief thanks to the healing abilities of the medical staff. That meant he could enjoy himself for the majority of the break. He had even picked up a part-time job at "Spiro's Gyros" to occupy himself during the day. He was becoming quite the controversial guy among the poorer students. Not many would give away their entire paychecks to random people less fortunate, after all. Still, others saw his generosity as condescending. Proof that he had so much money that such paltry amounts were beneath him. To Vincento, however... he was just trying to be nice. That's all there was to it.

Now that the first day of school had come to a close, all the new freshmen were raring to get into their first fights. It made Vincento chuckle. His first day, he got on the wrong side of Shotaro Yanmei. That caused a fight between the newest addition to the New Peaks Legends group and the champion of last year's Holiday Tournament. He felt bad about it, but there was little he could do. It was only a year, but it felt like so long ago. This time, he wanted to stay clear of any incidents and start off the year properly. Fate, it seemed, had different ideas. Francesca MacGregor, Blackpool's Blonde Bombshell, was the latest recipient of Vincento's kindness... and it seemed she took issue with it.

"Oi, you gormless arsehole!" yelled the girl as she approached. "I don't take kindly to handouts. Take your fuckin' money back and give it to one of the people who wants that kind of shit." Suddenly, an envelope was slapped against the Italian boy's chest. "You might have some of these other idiots falling arse over tits for you, but I'm not that stupid. You're just out to make yourself look good. Do it again and I'll rip off your balls, tear out your eyes, then put your balls in your eye holes and your eyes in your ballsack so you can watch me kick you in the nuts." Well, that was certainly... descriptive. All Vince could do was accept the envelope and stare blankly as he was berated. Francesca, feeling she got her point across, stormed off toward the student recreation center.

Alexia Kensington on the other hand, was busy hosting a pro-parahuman rally in front of the Conclave. Being the key speaker, she belted out her message to any parahumans would listen. Hell, she hopes non-parahumans would hear it as well. If they knew that her people were tired of being pushed aside. it would mean a lot less work for her.

"Brothers. Sisters. Friends. ... Foes. We are here because we are through being trodded on. For decades now, we have silently bore the weight of prejudice. For years, we have been beaten down, raped, victimized, and punished due to our differences. For too long, we have been attacked and belittled simply because we have abilities and appearances that are not what some would call... normal. I say that has gone on long enough! The time has come for us to rise up in the face of this oppression and show the people that we are not weak! We are not victims! We are not monsters! We are people, just like them! They will either learn to accept us, or we will MAKE them accept us. We can no longer afford to act like there is nothing wrong with how we are treated. The ball is in YOUR court, humans... I hope, for everyone's sake, that you do the right thing. Thank you."

A stirring speech, to be sure. A fair number of parahumans cheered happily for the scorpion girl. Many of them felt that she had the standing, the resources, the charisma, and the ability to make good on her words. Some of the parahumans did not cheer, however. Some of them felt that Alexia had a good message and ideal, but was bing far too forceful and that she would only cause trouble. Who really knew where she stood? Perhaps she was just passionate. Perhaps she was just a rabble-rouser. Perhaps she was a bit of both. Only time would tell, as the Parahuman Initiative was still quite the young faction and an even younger movement. Most human students just figured she was trying to get as many recruits as possible on day one of the school year.

In any case, change was on the horizon at the school. But for now, it was just another exciting day at...

NEW PEAKS ACADEMY

[Dawscombine]

Cyst took the summer as a challenge.

A whole four months with nothing to do but train and learn to speak again? It was absolutely no wonder she learned so much. She had started training under Timur in private. The official explanation was that Timur saw a "hidden potential" in her and that he needed to train her one on one to unlock it. The real reason was that Cyst was afraid of training with more than one person. She wouldn't reveal why, but Timur respected that. He respected a lot of her little quirks. She liked that. Still, she never really picked up on all the little nuances of Systema, but she used it all to improve all the basic aspects of her style. She needed the little pointers on holes in her defenses, reminders about adjustments to her stance, someone to hold a pair of pads in front of their vitals and let Cyst hit the shit out of them. They practiced. She needed that.

But she got a little more than just practice.

It was not long after the summer started that she found out. A dodging drill that had her sidestepping tennis balls or something like that. One wrong muscle tensed at the wrong time and she was ten feet away in the blink of an eye, colliding with the side of a fence by accident. It was something she had never done or tried to do. Something that she had seen before, but never thought much of. It was chi manipulation. The thing that ended her run at the summer tournament, last year. She ran through the gambit of emotions. Frustrated this hadn't happened earlier. Elated that it was happening now. Confused as to why this power decided to manifest itself now. In the end she settled in determination to make herself better with the tool she had been given.

Now, she was sitting in one of the market squares looking for Vince, as she usually was. She found him rather quick. Not many people were hard to find with someone shouting at them, like that. She approached him and frowned, jerking a silent thumb over her shoulder with an inquisitive frown. "You go through a bad breakup, or something?" Straight-face humor. Cyst was getting better at it, but she still wasn't quite there.

[Iwazuma]

Junkiro Iwazuma was relaxed, refreshed, and feeling better than he had in a long time. Granted, that may have been because he wasn't exactly in the highest spirits beforehand. Only recently had he finally gotten rid of the crutches holding him back from his injury during the summer tournament, and he had been cleared to fight even more recently. Despite that, his recovery was quite swift, even with the medical miracles New Peaks had to offer. He chalked that up to being tenacious, little else. And the first person he got to see after being cleared to fight had been Kyami. Needless to say, the few days before classes began had been some of the happiest in recent memory. While his boyfriend had visited a few times over the course of his rehab, for the most part he only had Vincento to keep him company as they both worked off their respective injuries. Junkiro's took longer to recover from, but all that was in the past now.

His first class had let out early, so he had spent some time napping at the beach before meeting up with his best friend and Cyst down near the markets. He hadn't really gotten to know Cyst all that well, but from what he could tell, Vincento was close to, a bit afraid of, and seemed to feel endebted to her. Maybe because he had injured her during that one sparring match? All he knew was that he had made about thirty jokes about the two of them getting together, much to his Italian friend's dismay.

It was nearing that time to see them anyways, so Junkiro hauled himself from the sand, picked up his blanket, and headed in towards the more inhabited parts of the island. The Conclave was nearby, and Junkiro still had in his headphones from when he fell asleep. He turned up the volume, blasting some of The Megas. He had eclectic tastes, to say the least. Even with the music turned up, he could hear some microphone feedback; he turned to see the parahuman Alexia giving another speech. She had made a few waves the year prior...from what he'd heard, an outburst or two towards some bullying humans that ended up with some infirmary time. He definitely had no issues with the parahumans; they were still human, after all...but there was such a thing as nonviolent protest. From what he could tell, Alexia was a bit too hands-on for his liking. He had heard something about a new faction beginning to rise up, but had made little note of it; Imperius had kept him quite busy. Considering his placements in the last two tournaments, he had become a rather important member, with plenty of students his age coming to him for advice. It had been a busy week before classes started.

He needed to pass through the Conclave to get to the markets, so his path took him by the podium where she had been giving her speech. She seemed to have finished, so Junkiro ended up passing by her as he picked up the pace a bit, realizing he was running late. He still gave a friendly wave to the scorpion girl; kill them with kindness until they resist, he always said.

Alexia, on the other hand, was not the type to kill with kindness. If someone wronged her, she went for the throat. Better to dissuade someone from making further attacks than to give them the impression that you are weak. As for the previous year's Freshman Holiday Champion, well... wrong place, wrong time. She had seen him around in the three weeks prior to today, strutting about as if he didn't have a care in the world. Must have been nice, not having to watch your back and stay on the lookout for people who wished you ill. Add that to the fact he was a champion? Yeah, he irritated her. What set her off today was his nonchalant wave as he walked past. The cocky little shit. He needed a good... talking to. "Hey there, champ." The word 'champ' rolled off her tongue with a venom every bit as noxious as that which was contained within her stinger. "I am bloody talki-" That smug fuck had headphones in... he had ignored her AND her speech. That was it. That was all the excuse she needed.

Tapping Junkiro on the shoulder with the covered point on the end of her tail, she would instill an immediate fear into the Japanese boy. After all, who wouldn't be intimidated by an immense poisonous stinger? Next, she would motion for him to remove the headphones once he turned to face her. Finally, in her best post yet condescending tone, she would ask one simple question. "What is your problem, kid?" With her almost monstrous appearance, high rank, and forceful personality... she figured the kid would back down, champion or not. Still... he HAD willingly confronted Shotaro last year. Nah... no way would he be that stupid two years in a row.

He had heard some talk through the music, but hadn't assumed it was for him. Feeling the tap on his shoulder, he calmly turned to find the scorpion of New Peaks bearing down on him with a look that could melt stone. Unfortunately, she overestimated herself just a bit too much. Being Shotaro's whipping boy gave him the realization that nobody was going to hurt him more than the senior could. Of course, as long as that stinger stayed covered, that was. And it was. So Junkiro noticed the motion to his headphones, and he hurriedly pulled them out. She had been trying to talk to him! He had been downright rude. She was quite irritated by his inaction, it seemed, so he tried his best to fix the situation.

"I apologize! I had not realized you were trying to talk to me. If I did I would have responded sooner." Still not the perfect dialect, but at least he hopefully got his point across. "Hello, Alexia. I saw a few of your fights last year. You really do know your way around an opponent." Junkiro had seen Alexia as one of the top of the junior class, which made sense considering her nearly deadly arsenal at her disposition. He hadn't exactly expected to be making small talk to her, but then again, he hadn't exactly expected to be facing Shotaro on the first day of the year. "What did you need from me, exactly? I didn't get to catch a lot of your speech, so I apologize if that's what this is about..." Ever the pleaser, he was. Everything was his fault...most of the time, anyways. The name Troy came to mind, and he immediately recalled that farce of a sparring match. Shameful. Still, at least she knew how to fight. He knew he'd probably be steamrolled if he met her in the ring. His smile never left his face.

Just like that, the kid sealed his fate. "Yeah, that was part of it. Thanks for the apology, for what that is worth. But let's stop the pleasantries and all that. So. The nitty gritty of it is this: you were incredibly rude and frankly I don't much care for it. So here is how it will go. You. Me. Arena 4. Fifteen minutes. You don't show, and I take my grievances to your friends, if you get what I'm saying." The threat was made as calmly as if she had been having a discussion with her closest friends. Clearly she was no stranger to resorting to force. "See you there, champ. For your friends' sake, I hope you are as courageous as you act."

The lone response from Junkiro was a raised eyebrow. Again? Seriously? He wasn't even the one instigating this time! Junkiro sighed. "Oooookay....I guess this is happening again. Bring your best, I expect nothing less." No, he was going to get his ass kicked. He knew his opponent this time, and LINE wasn't exactly something he was prepared for, or that he could reliably deal with. Though he had one trick up his sleeve nobody but Kyami and perhaps Vincento knew about...

He quickly shot Vincento a text. 'Got blackmailed into a match again. It's Alexia. Bring Cyst, we'll hang out after they heal my bruises.' Whoops. He probably shouldn't have said 'again'. As far as he knew, only Shotaro had known about his family's terrorism, though how he knew was still far beyond him. He had been blackmailed the whole freshman year, though nothing really had come of it. But here he was, defending his friends' honor...or bones, as it were, a second time. Junkiro shook his head, glad he had decided to wear the Speedo underneath his school clothes. Why he was bothering to show up he was unsure of...she was bullying him for no reason. She'd have to know he wasn't 100%...walking still hurt from time to time, so there was no way he could be as agile as he needed to be to stand a chance...but that was for the fight to decide, wasn't it?

---------------------------

Where was Ilya? She was already hitting the training dummies. She had three around her, and was doing her best to crush the hell out of them all. She had trained nearly nonstop over the summer, and it showed; she looked like she had put on ten pounds of solid muscle. She knocked over a dummy with a violent two-arm hook, and grunted. Now if only Ayame would go down that easy...She sighed to herself, setting the dummy back up and hopping out of the ring. No, she'd need to be smarter to down her. No doubt she had trained as well. She'd find another opportunity...but for now, she absolutely had to stay sharp.

As she hit the locker rooms, she noticed a few of the girls dodge out of her way, even though she had plenty of clearance. Though she didn't react until she reached the showers, once she was sure she was alone, she sighed, stripping down and leaning her head against the wall as the hot water poured down. Since the summer tournament, she had been seen as little more than a monster. The four-armed freak that would splatter you on the floor as much as say hello. It was a rough time; she wanted to make friends, but it seemed most students were afraid of her...and the others hated her. She'd tried to reach out, but eventually she decided it wasn't worth another ordeal. For now, she'd try to lay low. She lamented on this for a moment before washing the sweat off of her body. Another time....being depressed wasn't something she wanted, but it was getting harder to fight it off lately. Perhaps if she proved herself a victor, she could be seen as something more than a bad guy...

[Cfavano]

Princeton walked off the boat sheepishly, but also trying to put on a mask of confidence. His mo said first impressions were the most important, and he could not appear to be weak. True, it was a first for him in a while, being around a large group of kids his own age, and all of them weren't even from his neighborhood, golly! That was one of the reasons his mother decided to send him here, after all, to meet new people. He didn't see anyone like him, though. Not tat there weren't many parahumans, there were many, of varieties he did not even know existed, but there were humans, many more humans...

To say being around humans made him uneasy would be considered partly true. It was not that he was racist, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone that Princeton truly disliked. True, he did not like everyone equally, but he did not hate. In his mother's words; 'only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural'. He was, however, Hopeful that he could make many new and varied friends, as, regardless of whatever background or social standing anyone in this school had, they all shared one thing in common, one binding thread that tied them together as a community: A love of martial arts.

Princeton stood in the crowd that was listening to Alexia's speech. He listened intently, and some things she said made her sound like his mom, which made him think of her, but, it, in a way, sounded odd to him. Her speech, to him, made it sound like she wanted to be different, separate from the humans. Wouldn't that just divide them even further? She was pretty and he wanted to ask her a question so, he, apologizing all the way through, did his best to push through the crowd and, boldly, he approached her, which could be perceived as rude. He did, of course, wait for her to finish her conversation. That also perturbed him "Excuse me." he said, listening to her speech, "But, if they humans hate us because we are different, why don't we try being more like them? If we are like them, act like them, can't that solve everything? And, did you really mean you would jump his friends if he didn't fight you?" He said, scratching the back of his head.

[TheDoctor]

The roar of ocean waves lapping on the shoreline filled Ayame’s ears as she lay on the beach, a thin towel separating her smooth skin from sandy irritation. A pair of aviators rested over her eyes, a slender yellow bikini covering the bare necessities as she sunbathed on her back. The first thing she did upon returning to New Peaks was go to the beach, leaving her luggage still packed in her new room and bringing only her swimsuit, glasses, towel, and tanning oil.

Oh, and her phone, of course. Rolling over onto her stomach as it buzzed, she snatched it from her bag and checked the text preview. From Vanessa? What's up? She tapped the password out on the screen and navigated to the messager app, scrolling through the ignored new messages from boys to get to her friend's tab. "I don't think he's..."

Suddenly, Ayame ripped off her sunglasses. What do you mean "he's not here?!" Clenching her jaw, she quickly tapped through Vanessa's message, notifying her of Ethan's departure from the school. Ugh, she can't be serious. Did the kid tap out that quickly? Puffing her cheeks with a slow, frustrated exhale, she tapped her thumps with a response to Vanessa. What a wimp. Not even willing to give me a goodbye fight.

Locking her phone again and tossing it back in her bag, Ayame rolled on her back again, sliding her aviators back over her eyes. Well, time to move on to someone new, I guess. Wiggling her fingers and smiling at a passing girlfriend, she settled into her groove and leaned her head back. I doubt I'll find something as entertaining as him...but I'm sure someone will suffice.

[Standatrocity]

That's a solid 8/10 for drama. Not bad. Only way she could have done better was if someone cared enough to counter-debate. Troy had watched the girl with the large tail give her speech, at a safe distance of course to avoid the crowd. 3/10 originality, though. Super cliche. Sounds like the speech you hear from those 'vigilantes' before a violent, misguided protest. He yawned. First day of school always made him tired. None of the classes did anything requiring his attention on the first day, just introductions. She has to know she sounds like that, right? There's no way she hasn't looked up other speeches for inspiration. Hell, she sounds like she just took another speech and paraphrased it. He was watching as intently as he could without looking weird; he'd leaned himself up against a lamppost and was doing his best to look half-attentive, like he wasn't putting all his focus into criticizing the parahuman's public speaking abilities. Bad timing, too. Nobody gives a shit about anything on the first day of school. She's made herself look obnoxious, not inspiring. Bored with the speech, but still willing to sit through it in case she said something interesting, he'd found his mind wandering to odd topics. I wonder if we have taxonomy for parahumans. What would she be? Judging from the tail, it's safe to say she's some sort of scorpion... so, like, Homo scorpius? No, wait, scorpion is a genus. Or is it a family? We'd need a whole new set of phyla for parahumans. Taxonomy is really not made to go sideways. I'll have to do some googling later.

Her speech had come to a close, and Troy was just about to move on with his life and spend the rest of the day making sure his room was still in order when the parahuman girl started turning her attention towards someone moving past her. Who's she talking to? Fucking crowd. He hated to, but he'd have to move closer to see what was going on. With a sigh, he begrudgingly shuffled towards the crowd, looking for a clear spot to witness the drama. When he did maneuver to the right place around the outside of the gathering, he was pleasantly surprised at what he saw. Oh, shit. That's Junkiro, and scorpion girl does not look happy with him. Suddenly, Troy's motivation was shifted, and he moved straight into the now-dispersing cloud of people to get closer to the conversation without being spotted. He didn't want to accidentally distract the champion fighter, but he still wanted to hear what was going on. He only caught the tail end of it, but that was luckily the important part. Arena 4, fifteen minutes. Oh, hell yes. This is more like it. Troy didn't know who the parahuman was or what her business was with Junkiro, but she looked strong enough, and Troy was always eager to catch a fight between the better fighters. He hadn't expected his first day back to be this interesting.

Still, he had fifteen minutes to kill. Casually strolling off with the scattering crowd, Troy got a safe distance away and then changed course towards Arena 4, walking slowly with his phone out to waste some time on the way there. He considered contacting Ayer, but remembered that the French kid was still busy getting himself sorted out for the school year. Instead, he started googling parahuman taxonomy out of sheer curiosity. So they're classified as a subspecies of Homo sapiens. Seems... kind of lazy. It makes sense, I guess, since they can interbreed, but they're all so different. Lots of debate on the forums over whether it's a good system, too. Damn, everything related to parahumans is controversial. Deciding he wasn't so interested in the topic after all, Troy locked his phone and pocketed it just as the arena came into view. Arena 4 always seemed like an odd one to Troy, it being nestled snugly between the warehouse and the faculty quarters, yet he could see why some would pick it. It was a bit smaller and a bit more obscure than most, and didn't really attract much attention, since there wasn't much student foot traffic in the area. However, it also made him very conspicuous, seeing as there was no real way he could act like he just happened to be there at the right time. Unless one or both of the fighters invited other people, it was possible Troy would be the only one or one of very few watching, which would be extra suspicious. Sucks, but I'll deal with it. If Junkiro asks questions, I can wave them off. Hands in his jacket pockets, Troy strolled towards the warehouse and sat down against its wall, facing the arena. It's worth it. This is gonna be good.

[RisingPhoenix]

He stepped out onto the academy courtyard, allowing the salty wind to blow through his hair. He had allowed it to grow a bit longer during the summer. He had experienced so much relaxation during the summer on the beach with family and friends he hadn’t seen in a long time. He had missed Junkiro so much, but he also missed Kyle and knowing that Kyle wouldn’t be here was hard to believe. They had talked over the phone a couple of times over the summer, but now with classes starting again it would surely be hard to find time to talk.

As he stood there allowing the breeze to flow over him, he smiled. He was back in the place that he was building a reputation. Most of the school knew who he was, and he had fought valiantly for his reputation. He was known as the kind heart that could kick ass if need be. He hoped to see Jun at some point today, but his mind was already set on getting a head start on his studies and making sure he passed all of his classes just as he had done the previous year. That meant that he would have to continue to train in order to keep his place or even win a tournament this year.

There was a lot to do this year, and as a sophomore, he was two years away from graduation. He already had opportunities lined up after he graduated, and he hoped to gather more as he continued on with his studies. He was sure Junkiro was off being who he was, but as he walked around campus, he saw familiar faces and even a few stopped him to see how his summer had been. He held a conversation with those individuals and made new associates as a result. Thankfully he didn’t have much to do. He had trained heavily after his vacation and before returning. He had increased his strength and ability. He hoped it would be enough to show everyone that he’d grown. During the summer he had to allow his shoulder time to heal. After the tournament, Ethan had really done a number on his shoulder and thankfully with the advanced medication the school provided he was on his way back to 100%. The vacation was just what he needed to relax, rest up and restore.

“Kyami,” he heard a voice call as he turned to see a senior approaching.

“Umm, hello?” Kyami replied with a question.

“I know you don’t particularly know me, I’m Adrian, Adrian Marshall,” the senior said causing Kyami to raise an eyebrow.

“Well, what can I do for you Adrian?” Kyami asked holding his phone in one hand and his bag in the other.

“I, I need your help. Everyone knows about your relationship, and how open you are with your sexuality and I…., well I’m gay but no one knows.”

Kyami exhaled and looked at Adrian.

“You do realize you being gay isn't an issue here? You're among those who will uplift you more than anything,” Kyami replied.

“Yea I know that, but that's here, my parents will straight out disown me if word gets out, and my boyfriend has threatened to out me. I don’t know if I can go through that. It's one thing to be gay, but to be gay and in love with a parahuman, they will seriously cut me off.”

“And talking to me is going to help your reputation with your family how?” Kyami replied causing Adrian to smirk.

“Okay I know I’ll probably get questioned but you’re badass dude, people don’t just walk up to you and talk shit. I’ve seen what you can do. So will you help me?” Adrian asked. Kyami looked at Adrian and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure, but we have to figure out what you REALLY want. I can't guarantee that there won't be fireworks, but I will do my absolute best to help you.”

As he turned to walk with Adrian he couldn't ignore the vibration of his phone which annoyed him. He paused for a quick moment to look at the screen and mentally cursed.

"Junkiro what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Kyami verbally questioned causing Adrian to look at him with a smirk.

"You two are iconic around here, you know that right? Like the New Peaks power couple or some shit," Adrian said, "it's very cool to see you two interact."

"Thank you, but if he survives this match I'm kicking him in the balls," Kyami replied causing Adrian to mentally grab his own as though Kyami had directed the threat towards him.

[Salroka]

Of course, one of Vince's friends had to see him getting chewed out. Figured. "Mio Dio, quella ragazza è una cagna." grumbled Vince before forcing a smile in response to Cyst's jest. "Si. We won a contest. Most unlikely couple at New Peaks. She hates me and hates the award, so told me to take her share and put it in a most unpleasant place." A halfhearted smile crossed his face as he attempted to pass the "winnings" off to his friend. "Perhaps you could make better use of this, yes? As I am sure you know, my father provides me with more than enough wealth. Maybe you could get yourself a nice dress and we could go dancing Signorina Voltromvskey." Oh how Vincento loved to play up his Italian accent. It was no secret that women around the world found Italian accents attractive, and the girls of New Peaks were no different. But he was not really lying... he wouldn't mind seeing Cyst dress up for once.

Before he could say more, Vince received a text message from Junkiro. Apparently he had been forced into another fight with a senior on the first day of school. "Seems we have been invited to watch a fight. Junkiro is having a scrap with that scary scorpion girl. He asked us to tag along. You up for a trip to watch Jun get the tar beaten out of him?" Sure, it was a serious situation, but Vince knew that Jun wouldnt get hurt TOO badly. The same thing happened last year against Shotaro, and Jun was fine. Alexia might have also been a senior, but she was of lower rank than Shotaro... and Jun himself was also more skilled than last year. He would most assuredly lose, but he wouldn't be terribly hurt.

Somewhere between the Conclave and Arena 4, Alexia was conversing with one of "her people", the naive Elk boy known as Princeton. Clearly he was unaware how difficult things were for many parahumans. As such, she would try to be patient with him. "What? Oh, you mean you don't know? Honey, parahumans are treated about as badly as black people were treated before MLK came along. Many places won't serve us because we are different, people treat us cruelly, we are mocked and demeaned, crimes against us go uninvestigated... its a tragedy. All we want IS to be the same... but trying to BE the same has gotten us to where we are. Sometimes you need to kick someone in the bollocks before they understand." Sighing heavily before responding to his next question, Alexia quickly contemplated how to best answer.

"Yes, I did make threats toward that kid's friends. Empty threats, I assure you. Sometimes it is necessary to keep up appearances. If I show weakness, if I show hesitation, if I stop being assertive... my movement will also suffer. The Parahuman Initiative has to stay strong, and I am the one who has to keep it that way. For you, for me, for all of us. We can talk about this on the way to Arena 4, if you want to tag along." She was lying to Princeton, of course. If Jun didn't show up, she would immediately challenge his friends and wipe the floor with them instead. Still, no point in seeming like a total monster. After all, Princeton could end up being a loyal supporter of TPI. Why burn that bridge whe you havent even attempted to build it, right?

[Dawscombine]

Cyst sighed, taking the envelope with a frown. She really didn't like it when Vince gave her things... but she knew that charity was in short demand, on the outside. Once she graduated New Peaks, she was going to be nothing once again. However, she also knew that she might catch a break. Become someone big and important in the world of ass-kicking. Maybe not. It wasn't for her to know, either way. Still... it felt wrong to take Vince's money. She was about to give it back, make up some lame excuse... but then he mentioned the dancing bit. She stopped, frowned, and re-evaluated. Then she looked back up to him, wishing her hair was longer so it could hide the red in her cheeks. "So... if I buy a dress, you'll go dancing with me?" She thought about that. She had no idea how to dance and knew he was better than good. She would trip all over herself and be a huge embarrassment... but she would be doing it with Vince.

"I'm holding you to that." She slipped the envelope into her shirt. Yes, she had pockets, but she didn't like the idea of carrying money that far from her head. She had a special pocket on the inside of her shirt that she sewed in. Sewing... it was something she was good at out of necessity more than desire. Street rat, and all that. She peeked over Vince's phone to read the text, but could barely get anywhere before he just explained it to her. "Scary scorpion girl....? Oh, the one that hates everyone. Yeah, I'm down for that." She was probably the only human on campus that wasn't afraid of Alexia. Before she found Viktor, she used to slum it in a condemned apartment building with about fifteen other kids. Twelve of them were parahumans, so she was pretty used to having them around. One of them was a bee. He was weird....
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Amaltheia was pissed. She was angry beyond angry and really needed to vent her frustrations. She was doing it by tossing around a couple freshmen in the Imperius Gloria sparring ring. She had taken to doing this, every now and again. Get a couple of Freshmen and sic them all against her. She was trying to develop her Pankration for better group fighting, but grappling was just better in one-on-one fights. That didn't stop her from winning every time, but it wasn't a cakewalk...

Today, she was pissed about the leadership change. Shotaro was the only reason she stuck around, and now he was gone. She knew that it would happen, but she also knew that the replacement was possibly the worst person it could ever be, for Ammy. Mrs. Jakobson was a very outspoken opponent of Ammy's inclusion into the faction, much less her status as an officer. Thought the Greek powerhouse was too soft for them. So, yeah. She was angry as fucking hell.

Once she was done, she found her way to the park, taking a seat on a nearby bench and sighing. She was thinking more and more about the Janessaries, nowadays... maybe it was time for her to jump ship. There wasn't any future for her in Imperius Gloria. Gods be damned, she had so many decisions to make... Was this how Shotaro felt? Why was being the best so damned hard?

[RisingPhoenix]

Kyami walked as Adrian talked giving more detail about what was going on with his life. He was a troubled individual, that much was certain, and Kyami couldn't fathom having to hide behind a mask the way Adrian was. Still, he had promised to help him and all information at this point was good information. The entire time Adrian spoke, Kyami was texting both Cyst and Vince trying to figure out what was going on.

"Vince I'm going to kill him," the text said as he pressed the send button before starting another text, "Where are you?" the next message asked as Kyami hurriedly pressed send. When Vince didn't reply fast enough Kyami started another message, only this one was directed to Cyst. "Please tell me you know what's going on with Jun," the message was quickly sent as Adrian broke Kyami's train of thought.

"Are you okay?" he asked causing Kyami to look up from his phone momentarily.

"It will be, just as soon as I get my hands..... you know what, yes it's fine, everything is fine," Kyami replied with a forced smile gripping the phone as if his life depended on it.

As much as his outward demeanor might have suggested otherwise, Vincento was worried about Jun's chances of escaping this without serious injury. Sure, the kid was tough... but Alexia was magnitudes tougher. Top off her innate toughness with her powerful tail and downright dangerous choice of combat style? Well, things didn't look good for Junkiro. All the while, Vince and Cyst were making their way to Arena 4. A bit of light conversation went on, but nothing too noteworthy. About halfway to the arena, Vince's phone went off in his pocket. As expected, a worried Kyami had texted and asked about Jun's status.

Immediately, Vince began typing up a response. Though apparently, not quickly enough.

Cyst was more or less just happy to be there, as it were. She was starved for a good fight, she was especially happy to watch one where her friend might be murdered in the process. She was weird like that. Either way, she walked and talked and had a good time until she felt her phone go off. She reached into her shirt pocket and pulled it out, reading the text with a frustrated frown before she eventually got the gist of it. She could speak pretty well, now, but reading gave her trouble still.

Eventually, she was able to fire back a quick, "I don't know anything about Jun." Before she looked over to Vince.

"Why is he so worried? Shouldn't he be happy?"

A vibration from his phone alerted him to an incoming text. As he read it, he immediately rolled his eyes. How could she not know something? Wasn't she his friend? Then again he was his boyfriend and didn't know much about the fight, the only thing he knew was what a friend told him and that wasn't much, just that Junkiro was going to be in a fight with an upperclassman, a parahuman. He slid his phone forcefully into his pocket and crossed his arm as he began to think about what he would do next. Adrian was still next to him talking about his life and Kyami was listening but his mind was on Junkiro and his constant need to prove something. Kyami looked up at Adrian and smiled.

"Adrian, I will help you with your issues, but...."

"But Junkiro has you distracted right?" Adrian interjected causing Kyami to shake his head.

"I'm sorry," he admitted, "He's just an ass, but I love him," Kyami added not realizing he had a slight blush forming.

"Hey it's cool, I'll catch you later then, okay?" Adrian suggested to which Kyami nodded and strode in the opposite direction Adrian had headed off to. He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent one more message to Vince.

"Where is he?" He pressed send and watched the animation of the message being sent on his phone's screen. He sighed and continued to walk towards the arenas. One of them would have him in it, at least he hoped.

Another text, another question. This time, a simple answer. After all, if Vince typed up another long message, Kyami might think he just wasnt responding. "If you checked the fight boards, the ones all over campus, you would know. Arena 4, by the docks." Yeah, Vince was a bit annoyed... but he couldnt really fault Kyami for being a bit upset. "I dont really know why he is so bothered, Cyst. Everyone knows that she wont be allowed to hurt Jun too badly. He'll get a bit roughed up, at the worst. Not like it is the end of the world, right?" Funny... saying that to her reassured Vince that his friend wasnt in any real danger. It was almost like he needed to hear it almost as much as Kyami did.

Still, it would be best if they picked up the pace a bit. Always better to get there early and snag up some good seats. Arena 4 was a traditional MMA Octagonal cage with bleacher seats on seven of the eight sides. Perfect for spectators, actually. maybe that was why Alexia chose this one? Did she want to make it a public spectacle? Probably, knowing her.

It's been a good while since Cyst was this confused. Junkiro wasn't going to get killed. In Cyst's mind, that meant there was absolutely no cause for concern. She was not in any danger, her friends were not in danger. So why was Kyami concerned? It was another puzzle to be solved, but she needed to be more concerned with the current puzzle. How are they gonna scrape Jun off the mat of Arena 4?

They were able to snag seats near the front. Not front row, but close. She was still trying to figure out what Kyami was so worked up about, but she was lost...

Kyami received the text from Vince and glared at his phone. He would be another victim of his ball snatching spree after this match. Instead of replying with a sly remark, Kyami decided to slide the phone back into his front left pocket and walk towards Arena 4. He really should check the fight boards more often. Instead he normally just surfed the internet for various reasons, most having to do with knowledge. While he walked he began to sing. At first it started off as a slight hum, but then it slowly transformed into an all out bellow from his gut, a song that most at New Peaks would know. He sang it loud and proud and turned heads as he walked through campus. Eventually he made it there just as he ended the song. His eyes glared at Vince and Cyst, but he didn't say a word as he took a seat next to Vince, crossing his legs and arms, a look of complete disapproval on his face.

"Well it's nice to see how enthused you two are to see him get his ass kicked," Kyami spoke, "then again I should expect this. So why is he fighting this barbarian?"

Wow. That look said it all. Kyami was likely not too pleased with Vincento's smart-assed response to his text. No matter, they were all there to watch the fight and that was all that could really be done at this point. A short while after taking a seat, Kyami piped up with more veiled vitriol. Vince couldn't fully blame him for being upset, though. It WAS basically a repeat of last year. One of the biggest badasses at school, and Jun just HAD to get into a scrap with them on day one. Still, there was no reason for Kyami to take out those frustrations on Vince and Cyst.

"Damned if I know, Ky. He just texted us and said he got into a fight. Plenty of folks probably want to scrap with him, on account of he is technically the reigning freshman Champ... what with that Ethan guy taking a movie deal and not coming back. As for our enthusiasm? Ky, my friend... we are living on an island in the middle of the ocean, going to school at an academy that is commonly called FIGHT school. Of course we would be happy to watch a fight. Besides, it isn't like the judge will let him get too badly hurt. Relax. He will be fine. Cyst, your thoughts on this?"

Granted, that was grasping at straws. Vince legitimately had no idea why this fight was going on. Sure, his message had said he was blackmailed into a fight... but proper english had never been one of Jun's strong points. Vince figured he was probably using the wrong word yet again. Being pressured into a fight or simply challenged to one was not the same as being blackmailed, after all. He also had a good point about Jun's safety. While fighting was a big part of life at New Peaks, preventing severe injuries was also a high priority. One could not perfect their skills if they were constantly hospitalized, right? Plus, not many people could honestly say they enjoyed being injured.

Thoughts? Cyst had to think about this. There were too many variables to consider, here. The only reason one would be forced to fight is if their life was threatened. That's the logic she was working off of. There as no reason to accept a fight you didn't want to fight if you weren't gonna die. Cyst had a good feeling that Alexia, as crazy as she might be, wasn't a killer.

That meant that she threatened him with something just as important. To Junkiro, that meant she must have threatened Kyami. Either that, or...

"I think she threatened his friends. Namely, us."

His eyes narrowed on Vince, and as much as he wanted to knee him where the sun didn't shine, he maintained control of his anger and breathed out to relax a bit. It wasn't their fault that Junkiro didn't value his life, and it wasn't their fault that he had fallen in love with the big headed bastard, but he couldn't help but worry that another serious injury would occur. Then Cyst brought something to his attention that made him smile. Junkiro was known to fight for those he cared for, and if the barbarian sized girl just happeend to threaten his friends, Kyami knew that Jun would fight to protect them. Sighing, he maintained his crossed arm and crossed leg demeanor before glancing over at Cyst and Vince.

"Ya know you two would make a very cute couple," he said with a smile, "well I guess I'll watch this match just to see how things go, but I'm still slapping some sense into him after this is over."