EIGHTY: First Year Impressions

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 wouldnt hurt everyone else's feelings. Yasmins an Audial Brute, but even she shouldnt be able to hear me now soYES! I am one of the chosen! Im going to be a superhero. Im going to get so freaking powerful, and Im going to get my own personal magic gym suit, and Im going to eat waffles at Cafeteria North every day, and its gonna be STELLAR!! Tuyet smiled. Youre 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. Hed heard Tuyet was a Meister, but he hadnt 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. Theyre safe right now if you want? She held the case toward Maricel. Yeah, Tuyets sweet. Kon watched Maricel pick up a dart. Most Meisters wont let you breathe on their tools unless theyre 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 didnt 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 Im 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 schools campus from the larger university one. I cant believe its only us and Vandy, she said to Kon. Everyone else is going to be mad at us, arent they? Weve always gone to school together, and now Theyll get over it, said Kon. Most of them will, anyway. And the ones who dont, we cant do anything about. Didnt 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 dont want them to. Tuyets face fell. Hey! said Kon, dropping back to nudge her with an elbow. Were still together. And some people we know have already gotten in, not to mention all the people wholl be in the programs for Arts and Sciences. This is supposed to be happy. Alden and Maricel are happy. Arent you? Alden glanced at Maricel. Her expression was blank. He suspected she wasnt happy in the way Kon meant. Satisfied, probably. Glad that shed done what shed 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 wasnt speaking. I guess I should say something? I think Maricel and I might have slightly different goals, so we see it in another ligh Im happy, Maricel interrupted suddenly. Im happy I got in. She plastered on a smile and turned to Tuyet. Im still a little upset about my hair, though! Alden watched in surprise as Maricel, whod 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! Youll be beautiful with short hair as soon as its 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? Theyre so cute! Oh. Shes going to do bubbly now, Alden thought, a little confused. Okay. By the time theyd 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. Im glad Im 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. Im happy to be going to school in general, Alden added. Its been a while. I dont really know anything about American schools except for what I've seen on television. Did you have to leave in the middle of term? Im 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 reallylong assignment. I guess it explains why youve 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. Thats not normal. But youre a Rabbit. So it doesnt seem totally impossible to me. Kons parents get summoned a lot, Tuyet said from behind them. Not a lot, but a couple of times a year usually. Theyve been on Artona II for three days. Theyll be home in ten. They get summoned together? Alden asked. Theyre ballet dancers, said Kon. Theyre 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 its 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. Its kind of working? The Systems been loosening up about letting Brutes hybridize in new ways, especially once they get past low levels. They get summonedto dance? Kon nodded. With the Anesidoran Avowed Ballet. If youve 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. Ive never seen a ballet at all. Me either, said Maricel. Kons mouth dropped open. But why? I guess I could have gone to one, if tickets for that kind of thing arent expensive? But I never even thought about it. Theyre 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. Thats terrible. You have to go. Ill take you both. Theyre 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 well have a party. But youre 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 were talking about parties and superballet, and youre going to think Im depressing. I wont! 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. Ill think up an emergency conversation starter right nowandyes, 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. Shes my favorite person. Its 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. Thats not that bad, said Kon after a few seconds. I dont know what youre so worried about. I dont 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 thats not true? I was just missing for a long time. I can see why you might not want to bring that up. But Im not rude enough to freak out about it to your face after you just said you didnt want things to be awkward. We can pretend like your backstory is boring, average stuff. Isis that what we should do? Tuyet said tentatively. Is it? Maricel asked, too. Alden felt himself relax. Id like that. Thanks. Everyone, said Kon, sweeping a hand out over the group. Alden is boring and average. Weve agreed. Its done. So average, said Maricel. So average, Tuyet repeated after hesitating for a second. Its a shame, but Ill 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, theyve already sent them. Theyre with our Anesidora IDs. Were 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.

* Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.