EIGHTY: First Year Impressions

Their group of four had been walking for several minutes when Kon suddenly stopped, threw his arms around his chest in a self-hug, and stomped his feet rapidly while giggling and saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Alden, Maricel, and Tuyet stared at him. They were on a paved walkway, heading past a tall classroom building with reflective windows, so there was a second Kon doing the victory dance alongside the first. “Delayed realization?” Alden asked. “Haha!” said Kon, throwing his hands up in the air and spinning to face the other three. “No. Not delayed at all. I almost burst an organ trying to hold myself back so that I wouldn’t hurt everyone else’s feelings. Yasmin’s an Audial Brute, but even she shouldn’t be able to hear me now so…YES! I am one of the chosen! I’m going to be a superhero. I’m going to get so freaking powerful, and I’m going to get my own personal magic gym suit, and I’m going to eat waffles at Cafeteria North every day, and it’s gonna be STELLAR!!” Tuyet smiled. “You’re so excited.” Kon grabbed her by the shoulders. “You should be, too! Holy aliens, you must have kicked butt. Or darted butt? Anyway, you did it!” “Darts?” Maricel asked. “Is that what your mastery is?” Alden had been wondering, too. He’d heard Tuyet was a Meister, but he hadn’t caught what her weapon was. After a few seconds of begging interspersed with excessive praise from Kon, the girl reached into a yellow purse that matched the dress she was wearing and produced a shiny metal case the size of a hardback book. She opened it to show off eight pale, gleaming darts. They had needle-sharp points, and they looked like they were made of nacre, though Alden assumed it was really some other material. “Are they coated with poison? Or are they magically enhanced?” Alden asked. Maricel had been reaching out to touch one of the darts, but at that, she yanked her hand back. “I do magical enhancement,” said Tuyet. “They’re safe right now if you want…?” She held the case toward Maricel. “Yeah, Tuyet’s sweet.” Kon watched Maricel pick up a dart. “Most Meisters won’t let you breathe on their tools unless they’re trying to kill you with them.” “You sound like you speak from experience,” said Alden. “I just wanted to hold the whip for a minute. Lexi could have shared.” “Did your brother…?” “He got in, too!” Kon chirped. “I didn’t want to say that in front of everyone else either, since they were talking about the school being unfair to A-ranks. And he is one. But then you showed off by getting in at B, so I’m sure they all feel awful anyway.” Tuyet tucked her dart case back into her purse, and they headed toward the street that separated the high school’s campus from the larger university one. “I can’t believe it’s only us and Vandy,” she said to Kon. “Everyone else is going to be mad at us, aren’t they? We’ve always gone to school together, and now—” “They’ll get over it,” said Kon. “Most of them will, anyway. And the ones who don’t, we can’t do anything about.” “Didn’t you want them all to get in, too?” “That would have been great, but when everyone gets their ranks and classes, you know things are going to change a little. Even if you don’t want them to.” Tuyet’s face fell. “Hey!” said Kon, dropping back to nudge her with an elbow. “We’re still together. And some people we know have already gotten in, not to mention all the people who’ll be in the programs for Arts and Sciences. This is supposed to be happy. Alden and Maricel are happy. Aren’t you?” Alden glanced at Maricel. Her expression was blank. He suspected she wasn’t happy in the way Kon meant. Satisfied, probably. Glad that she’d done what she’d set out to do. But she was here in hopes that getting more powerful would eventually get her back home to her family. Even Alden was feeling envious of Kon and Tuyet. The separation from their classmates Tuyet was upset about was sad, but it was so minor compared to being forced to leave everything behind and come to a new country. Getting into that was going to be a real downer, though. And Maricel still wasn’t speaking. I guess I should say something? “I think Maricel and I might have slightly different goals, so we see it in another ligh—” “I’m happy,” Maricel interrupted suddenly. “I’m happy I got in.” She plastered on a smile and turned to Tuyet. “I’m still a little upset about my hair, though!” Alden watched in surprise as Maricel, who’d been so prickly and withdrawn most of the day, turned and gestured dramatically toward her hair. “Look what I did to myself! Just look at how terrible it is.” “No! You’ll be beautiful with short hair as soon as it’s trimmed!” Tuyet exclaimed. “The woman who cuts mine is really nice. I can send you her contact information.” “Maybe I should have bangs like yours? They’re so cute!” Oh. She’s going to do bubbly now, Alden thought, a little confused. Okay. By the time they’d crossed the street, Tuyet had pulled out a cell phone, and the girls were looking up pictures of celebrities with short hair. “What were you going to say?” Kon asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Nothing important,” said Alden. “I’m glad I’m in. I want to focus on skill development, and I want to be challenged. So this is great for me.” They passed a classroom building that had the high school coffee shop on the ground floor. There were a few students doing homework at tables and booths. A girl near the window was making orange juice jump from one tall plastic cup to another, like a leaping fountain. “I’m happy to be going to school in general,” Alden added. “It’s been a while.” “I don’t really know anything about American schools except for what I’ve seen on television. Did you have to leave in the middle of term?” I’m probably going to be seeing Kon at school for the next few years. Not telling him now is just going to be more awkward when he hears about it on his own. “I was selected back in February,” said Alden. “I walked out of school that day in a daze, and I never got the chance to go back. I was summoned right after affixing. I only made it back to Earth at the beginning of last month.” “Wow,” Kon said. “That…is a really long assignment. I guess it explains why you’ve leveled a few times, though, if you were doing a lot of work with your magic while you were gone?” Alden looked at him. Kon sounded surprised, but not completely shocked the way most people had been so far. “Usually people freak out a little when I tell them that.” “Do they? Yeah, that makes sense. Especially in intake. In F. It is crazy that someone our age got a posting that long. That’s not normal. But you’re a Rabbit. So it doesn’t seem totally impossible to me.” “Kon’s parents get summoned a lot,” Tuyet said from behind them. “Not a lot, but a couple of times a year usually. They’ve been on Artona II for three days. They’ll be home in ten.” “They get summoned together?” Alden asked. “They’re ballet dancers,” said Kon. “They’re Brutes. Dad was supposed to be a strongman, and mom was supposed to be all about that superspeed. But they were both dancers before they got selected and they ignored a lot of the normal tweaks people with their subclass would make and specced themselves for their thing. He still leans strong, and she still leans fast. But it’s all for the sake of the dance!” He flung out his arms and leaped dramatically. “They call it a Dancer Brute or Graceful Brute build at the arts schools. People have been trying to define it as a whole new subclass for the past thirty years. It’s kind of working? The System’s been loosening up about letting Brutes hybridize in new ways, especially once they get past low levels.” “They get summoned…to dance?” Kon nodded. “With the Anesidoran Avowed Ballet. If you’ve only seen regular ballets, then you should think of it as a more intense version. Plus acrobatics and spell performances. Most of the group goes. They still spend more time touring on Earth at this point, but human performing arts are finally starting to catch on a bit on the Triplanets.” “I’ve never seen a ballet at all.” “Me either,” said Maricel. Kon’s mouth dropped open. “But why?” “I guess I could have gone to one, if tickets for that kind of thing aren’t expensive? But I never even thought about it. They’re not very popular at home with people our age.” And if it was an Avowed group on a rare American tour, tickets would definitely have been too expensive for him. Any kind of superhuman sporting event or performance allowed to take place was always sold out in seconds. “That’s terrible. You have to go. I’ll take you both. They’re doing some special shows in February for Lunar New Year. Maybe we can invite our new classmates and make it a first year field trip!” He looked like he was completely energized by the idea. “And afterwards we’ll have a party.” But you’re about to have a party in a few days, thought Alden. How much socialization can one man plan? It sounded exhausting to him. “I went off topic,” said Kon. “Were you going to tell us what you were summoned for? What job did you do?” “I was going to tell you about it. But now we’re talking about parties and superballet, and you’re going to think I’m depressing.” “I won’t!” “I completely kill conversations when I talk about myself these days,” Alden warned. “I silenced an entire room full of people trying to introduce myself. At this point, it should be listed as a talent on my profile.” “Try me. My brother is a conversation serial murderer. The trick is, once one dies, you just have to walk away from the body fast and start a new one. I’ll think up an emergency conversation starter right now…and…yes, got it.” He grinned at Alden. Okay. “I got summoned as a lab assistant. Volatile materials disposal. It was a decent job. Not that hard, and the money was amazing. Then I accepted a side quest from a mad scientist, the teleporter broke, and I ended up trapped in a chaos-corrupted area on Moon Thegund. Some people died. I was living there with an Artonan kid for the past half a year. She’s my favorite person. It’s good to be back on Earth.” Kon blinked several times. He looked like he was processing. When Alden turned back to see how the girls had reacted, they both had blank expressions. Even though Maricel, at least, had already heard part of this. “That’s not that bad,” said Kon after a few seconds. “I don’t know what you’re so worried about. I don’t even have to use my emergency convo idea.” “Really?” Alden was stunned. Kon shook his head. “No, not really. It sounds like it was awful. And I actually know who you are now. We heard a rumor about you in school a few months ago. They said a brand new Avowed had died in a teleportation accident. I guess that’s not true?” “I was just missing for a long time.” “I can see why you might not want to bring that up. But I’m not rude enough to freak out about it to your face after you just said you didn’t want things to be awkward. We can pretend like your backstory is boring, average stuff. ” “Is…is that what we should do?” Tuyet said tentatively. “Is it?” Maricel asked, too. Alden felt himself relax. “I’d like that. Thanks.” “Everyone,” said Kon, sweeping a hand out over the group. “Alden is boring and average. We’ve agreed. It’s done.” “So average,” said Maricel. “So average,” Tuyet repeated after hesitating for a second. “It’s a shame, but I’ll just have to try to be interesting enough to make up for how boring you are,” Kon told Alden. “What was your conversation starter going to be?” Alden asked him. “Our student ID’s!” said Kon. “If you check, they’ve already sent them. They’re with our Anesidora ID’s. We’re officially CNH students now.” Tuyet gasped, and Maricel reached up to prod her interface. Alden opened the ID section with a mental command. Sure enough, it was right there.   ********   The ID wasn’t the only quick part of becoming a member of the student body now that they had been admitted. Onboarding new Avowed was something the school was adept at. The forty-one students who’d been accepted this cycle were directed to a meeting room. The principal and a few other faculty members were there to shake hands, congratulate them, and pull individuals aside for course advisement. While they were waiting their turn, everyone was supposed to mingle, make friends, and fill out a housing form that had been sent to their inboxes. You could request which dormitory you wanted to stay in and who you wanted for roommates. The dormitory request probably wouldn’t be honored. The roommate one would, provided the people you requested also requested you. Technically, you weren’t required to live in student housing. But it was free, convenient, and the school encouraged it so strongly that almost everyone did. Alden thought he should at least try it. Standing in a corner, he looked out over the group of teens who were engaged in anxious roommate negotiations with people they knew or half-knew from school and intake. A couple of them were calling friends who were already in the hero track or another program to find out if they had free space. “Maricel, be my roommate.” His fellow corner-dweller shook her head. “I know you heard them say the co-ed dorms were full. Anyway, I want to live with Tuyet, and I don’t think she wants to live with boys.” Alden groaned. “I’m going to get stuck with someone awful.” He was watching Winston Heelfeather, still in his sunglasses, zip around the room introducing himself to people. How did he get in? I know speed types have an advantage, but… “Ask Kon,” Maricel suggested. Alden wanted to ask Kon. “I would, but just look at him. He’s talked to six friends since we came into the room, and he’s air texting students who already live here at the same time. He’s probably got a dozen possible roommates, and they’re all people he already knows.” “Just ask. He might say yes.” “I don’t want him to say yes because he feels obligated after hearing my tale of woe.” Maricel peered at him over the can of cherry soda she was drinking. “You’re not confident about this kind of thing, are you?” Alden tried not to look offended. He was sure he did anyway. “You seemed so in control this morning, handling the people being mean on the bus.” Ignoring jerks is completely different from imposing on nice people. “And afterward, when you were telling me why I would get into school and they wouldn’t…I used that in my interview.” “What?” “They asked why they should let me in when I didn’t really want to be a hero. The others from intake did make sure to talk about what I’d said in front of the faculty—about wanting to go back home. And the interviewers told me this wasn’t a place for someone who trying to run away from their problems.” She looked angry. “So I said what you did. That going back home was a serious goal. And it meant more to me than anything. And getting stronger is one of the best ways to do that, so I’m going to work so much harder than everyone else. They must have believed me. Because here I am.” “And almost none of the others from the bus this morning are,” Alden added. She took another gulp from the soda.“Can I ask...