Winner:
[X][Evening] Relax. After the day you've had, you deserve it. (Will further decrease Amy's overall stress and end the day)
Tie (broken by in-story characters):
[-][Breakfast] May and the others, if they're sitting together. At least you won't have to go through introductions all over again, and they've been nice so far.
[-][Breakfast] Neha and some of your floormates. Get to know them a little better, you'll be living in the same space as them for the next year.
You pause for a moment. You could try and meet some of the other people on the floor—or even in the whole building—but really…
You smile at Elva. "Probably the same. Today's been… eventful."
Understatement much?
Elva smiled back though, and nodded. "Alright, cool."
Taking some effort, you manage to move from the rolling desk-chair onto your bed and push the chair back to at least the area it was supposed to be in. Getting into your pajamas is tricky, but done easily enough, and your clothes from the day go in the laundry bag you printed that's hanging by its strap from one of the bedposts.
Without your innertech working you can't really listen to anything unless you fabbed earphones or something, and videos without sounds… boriiiiing.
So instead you just read.
It's… grounding.
Something that's so normal for you that it makes it easier to let everything slip to the background, to make this room feel less not-yours, this place less not-home, to let everything from the day get worked out in the back of your head.
By the time lights-out is called —the room's lights dimming automatically from their already-redshifted state that had matched the sun's setting before the window went opaque— you're feeling much… calmer.
Some big stuff happened today. You're on a new planet, forty-two light years from home. You're surrounded by Talented, all of them just as out-of-their-depth here as you. You got a pair of mods that are going to help you become the best you can be. You've met a bunch of people you can see yourself being friends with.
When you fall asleep, you're not quite so worried about the future or your Talent anymore. Because you know what? You'll still have the people you've found around you, and with friends you know you'll be able to do anything, no matter how weak or strong your Talent turns out to be.
The next morning, you're up bright and early, well rested and feeling ready to take on anything.
Well, almost anything.
You absently chew your lip, looking around the huge dining hall, your tray of breakfast already on your lap.
Neha's down near the bottom doors at a round table with some of your floormates. You could go there…
But you also kinda want to try and find your group from last night, if they're together today.
It'd be good to get to know the people you'll be living with…
But you also liked the girls from last night and want to get to know them better.
Then again you still have the next three da—
"Amy!"
You jump, only barely keeping your tray from spilling the glass of orange juice on it.
"Thought that was you!" Grace says, coming up on your left. "C'mon, let's go find Yue and May, they said they were going to go looking for a table."
…Looks like you're going to be eating with the Earth group again.
You follow Grace as she leads you down the terraces, talking about her roommate, who's apparently "teetering on the edge of bitch-hood."
You're starting to be glad Elva's so nice, now.
Eventually you reach the table where Yue is sitting, along with May, another person, Angharad, and a boy.
"Morning, Amy!" May greets.
"Hi May," you return, pulling up to the table to the left of Angharad. "Morning Yue!"
Yue smiles. "Good morning Amy, Grace."
The blonde grins, pulling out the chair next to you and sitting down.
"Morning Angie," you say in English to the white-haired girl on your right, and she practically chokes on the juice she's drinking, coughing a couple times before looking at you.
"Angie?" she asks incredulously, but also looking… pleased?
You shrug as you start eating. "You said you didn't have a nickname right? That's the best I've got."
"Hey, hey, don't leave us out of this! What's so funny?" Grace asks.
"Angharad's nickname is now 'Angie'," you declare to the rest of the table, while the named girl shakes her head, putting it in her hands with a noticeable embarrassed blush darkening her cheeks.
May giggles while Grace gets a glint in her eyes. "I can get behind that."
"This is Nem," Yue says, introducing the person to her right and drawing your attention away from the flustered British girl. Their hair is dark, close-cut, eyes a striking ocher color, with skin only a few shades darker than Yue's. "They are from my teleport group."
"Renenem, actually," they say with a wide smile. "Renenem Nguyen. But I think Nem's less of a mouthful, right?"
"I'll say," Grace agrees, you nodding as well.
"And Kerr…" Yue continues.
You turn to look at the boy, who's dark-blonde and hazel-eyed. He swallows a bite of his eggs before speaking. "I met Nem on one of the Talent info boards for new kids on the Net."
Oh that makes sense. You'd seen a couple of those, but never really got up the courage to go into a chatroom or anything.
"So what classes are you guys looking forward the most?" Nem asks. "Photography, for me."
"History of Talents," Yue says, nodding.
Grace shrugs. "Engineering, probably."
"Vocals," May says
Kerr taps the table. "I think… Composition."
"Martial Arts," Angharad contributes.
You frown. "I haven't chosen mine yet. I'm supposed to meet my advisor soon…" you admit.
"Well what do you think you'd like?" Grace asks.
Tech is your first thought. You're pretty curious about the AI system that's running in your head. There's also your art, which might be nice to expand by taking a class for if you're interested in taking that any further, at least in the traditional non-design directions. Or maybe something to do with other planets and environments?
There's just so much you could do.
You tilt your head, and then shake it. "I really don't know. Sorry."
And you also don't even know your Talent yet, which might change everything. Good thing you're able to change your classes the first week if you really want to.
"So, where's the craziest places you guys have ever been? If you've gone anywhere," Kerr asks.
"Minneapolis," you say immediately, and the whole table turns to look at you.
"That's…" Grace starts, looking at you with interest. May shivers, but the rest of the table looks puzzled.
"Yeah. In the Deadlands," you say. "Over a hundred miles in. It was… my mom. She'd always wanted to visit one of the Dead Cities, and she convinced me and my dad to go out there last summer. So we took an all-terrain vehicle out and stayed out there for a week, just wandering. Saw a ground zero. It was all just… dead. Empty. And quiet. Too quiet. It was creepy," you say, goosebumps raising on your skin just from the memories. "And the city was falling apart, like… like…" You shake your head, unable to think of any way to adequately describe it.
Crumbling buildings, rusting vehicles, a constant sense of wrongness. It had done what it was supposed to. You never wanted to see anything like it again.
"Yeah," you finish lamely, sticking a spoonful of cereal in your mouth.
"Well," Kerr says. "I think you win. I don't know how any of us are supposed to top that."
You shrug sheepishly, getting back to your breakfast. It's not your fault your mom's so weird.
The conversation continues from there, Kerr and Nem talking with Grace about various things (journalism stuff, mostly, it seems), intermittently pulling May in, and Angharad and you contributing every so often. It's… comfortable. Nice.
After breakfast, you all split up with promises of eating dinner together the next day. You can't help but wonder what Amber is doing, and if she'll be there or not.
You have a full day ahead of you. You're rested, comfortable, and —at this point— practically itching to explore.
What do you want to do?
[][Morning] Write-in.
[X][Morning] There's a university here, right? With a ton of Talents? And university means professors. And professors means research. And that means Talent research, since this is the Academy. And *that* means you'll be able to find a bored professor that can help you learn what your talent is so you know what it'll be when you sign up for classes. That's how research works, right? This is the best plan.
-[X]Drag someone along with you. Two people are harder to say no to. And you might need someone to help with the whole wheelchair thing.
[][Afternoon] Write-in.
[X][Afternoon] Look up the club directory and see which clubs are convened in some kind of activity. Pick the most personally interesting looking and go over and investigate, keeping in mind your current restrictions.
Where do you want to eat lunch?
[][Lunch] In one of the quads.
[X][Lunch] The garden.
[][Lunch] Dorm common rooms.
[][Lunch] Courtyard outside dining hall.
[][Lunch] Random spot somewhere.
A/N: I'm sorry if the amount of content is lackluster. Choosing to end the day basically cut the chapter in half immediately, and then I didn't want to drag breakfast out too long, and I really wanted to get this out on Saturday (which it is, PST).
Class list is getting a major expansion in the near-future, don't worry if you don't recognize some of the stuff.
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