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Morri glared hard at Curtis but he found the courage to meet her eyes and apologize. Eileen had explained to her that sorry was inviolate; when someone apologized to you, you had to forgive them. She didn’t want to forgive Curtis, mostly because she wanted to keep disliking him. But Eileen had been clear.

Morri made a grunting noise and dropped her weapons. The bloody things splashed to the ground only to fade a few moments later. But their dismissal dropped the possibly of violence from horror movie levels to merely likely, which was Morri’s default state. So all was back to normal.

Not that she said this, only that she changed her behavior.

“You eat!” she demanded to Alex, picking up where she’d left off as if she hadn’t just threatened to gut another student. She pointed a small, dark finger at his still-warm dinner – and not warm from being in the oven either – with fervor. “Scrawny! Eat!” Had her word choices been better, and her tone not so belligerent, the mothering quality to her actions might have been cute. Of course, a candy bar instead of a dead rabbit might have reduced the creepy factor to the point where it could be cute, but one can only expect so much from the Morrigan.

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"He can't just eat it," Kia explained gently. "You have to...to...well you have to take the bones out. And the fur off. And then you have to cook it. Eating something like a bunny raw can make you sick. And it would taste awful." A pertinent fact from some tv show popped irrelevantly ino her mind and she parroted it back to establish her 'expert' credentials. "Rabbits are rodents after all."

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"Can eat raw," Morri said in a tone of a three-year-old proclaiming 'can too!' "Taste good when hungry."

Kia's eyes widened. "It's a rodent. That can make you sick! They carry diseases!"

"Stupid," Morri huffed in a superior tone. "Row Dents no carry anything. Have no hands." She crossed her arms in the face of this irrefutable logic.

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Rather than get into a verbal combat over semantics, and likely provoke a real combat with the avoided stabbing- Curtis rubbed his eyes and decided on the careful way to resolve this. "Ok, you can eat a rabbit raw. Do you want to eat the rabbit raw, Alex?" Predictably, Alex shook his head in a diplomatic and glowing manner. "I'll eat it after it gets cooked, Morri."

"Promise?" The caramel feral asked, fixing her gaze on him to ensure Alex fed himself to survive. "Promise." Was the answer.

Curtis suddenly clear his throat, as he admittedly had something to offer. "Well, I don't think you can get the cafeteria staff to touch it with a ten-foot pole, but I can easily help you guys clean and cook the rabbit with a scalpel and Bunsen Burner. Just give me the bones."

The quid pro quo request made Kia and Alex look at him like a Cthulhu spawn, and he clarified with a hint of irritation: "My scratch-built forensic lab needs some testing."

"How can scratching build thing? And tests for people." Morri piped up, looking at Curtis more like he was stupid, than jerk now.

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"Look, it's really simple," Kia said, getting frustrated despite herself. "Alex is a human being, and we cook our food before we eat it. Even cavemen cook their food. That's what we do. You eat lunch with us, Morri...that food isn't raw."

A counterargument abruptly materialized in her imagination as she realized she'd spoken rather broadly. "I mean meat. We cook meat. Fruits and vegetables we don't always cook...but raw meat can have germs, and bacteria, and...bad things in it that make you sick. When you cook the meat, all that stuff dies, and then its safe to eat. That's why we cook meat."

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"Morri." Alex's voice was gentle, as was the smile he gave her. Not patronising, just warm and friendly. "Thank you for this rabbit, really. I'm going to go find a place to clean the skin off and cook it properly. Like I said before, you can eat raw rabbits because you're tough. Me? I'd be ill if I did that." He looked at Curtis and Kia, then at Morri again.

"You should come with us." he suggested to Morri. "Curtis is going to clean the rabbit, then we'll pop it on an outdoor grill and eat it. You can try some, if you like?" His smile was engaging, and hard to refuse. "I had rabbit in a game pie once. That's a pie that has rabbit, and grouse and pheasant - which are birds - in it. And a rabbit stew once, too. It tastes better cooked." He hefted the parcel and started to walk off in the direction of the outdoor eating area. During summer, the students and faculty had cookouts there - Alex felt sure the grills and whatnot wouldn't be far away.

After taking a few steps he paused, looking back over his shoulder at them all before offering a hand to Morri, to take if she wanted. Kia and Curtis both wondered if the golden youth had taken leave of his senses. Alex himself was wondering that, but hell - someone had to try offering a literal hand of friendship to the Morrigan.

"Coming?" he asked gently, his blue eyes shining as he smiled.

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"Well I would like to see the library personally, but if I did you guys might lose me so that won't be so fun."

She nods to Ronaldo. "You know what guys? Lunch on me between us three. School cafeteria or that little restaurant I spotted down the road. Although I would probably have to either ask permission and/or get a chaperone for that."

She adjusts her glasses. "You know, I would just love to see the gymnastic and swimming facilities here. I am sort of interested in getting stronger. Seems after I was healed by my mutation I do feel an obligation to become as sound in body as I am in mind."

Smiling she adjusts her backpack. "And... personally... a swim sounds wonderful. I could use the practice and it's the funnest exercise method."

"That and if we ever plan on doing any rescues we would need to know how to deal with things like water rescues."

She realizes something. "Wait... do any of you know first aid? Things like CPR and what-not?"

Natalie shakes her head "You don't have to pay for us, Saku."

"Library sounds fine Saku. Though I want to take a look at the gym too."

She then raises a eyebrow

"You weren't well before you mutated? Sorry if it's something you're not comfortable with talking about it. I just was curious."

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"I had contracted a virus that had damaged my body and compromised my immune system. I was confined to a wheelchair until my mutant factor activated when my found out my parents died. Well... the actual trigger was the cardiac arrest that happened from the shock of finding out my parents had died."

"The moment was so harrowing that my hair turned white. I was unconscious for 7 days, the doctors all thought I was going to die very soon. Then I got up. Luckily my Aunt found me first and made me get into bed. Made it look like I was having a psychotic episode that was driving me to my feet. She took me to new york and helped me get to at least where I should be for my age through physical therapy. She's a mutant activist as well and that is probably how I got sent here."

She adjusts her glasses. "As a result I do look a bit sickly don't I. I should be much taller for my age, by a few inches, and there is evidence my growth plates in my bones are all dead. But... I'm not..."

"Just... don't ask me to get on a plane."

She says that last sentence with a far-away look.

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Aradia and Sonja had both helped with their (somewhat disproportionate) share of the luggage. Not that Ari was a weakling by any stretch, but even above-average human strength paled in comparison to Sonja's inhuman toughness. Once they got them upstairs to the administration office, Ari and Sonja settled against the wall outside to wait for the new kids to slog through the paperwork.

"So, you should take me with you to Manhattan to help you shop! I mean, after all, shopping should never be done alone, you can't trust a salesperson's opinion! And besides, you haven't gotten used to driving with your new height and strength yet.. a trip all the way to the city might be a little rough alone, don't you think?"

"Oh, please - you're just bored and want an excuse to leave school grounds, admit it."

"Even if that were true - and I'm definitely not saying it is! - you have to admit that I make some very valid points."

"Yeah, well..."

The veteren students of LHA let their conversation trail off as the three new students walked out of the office. Deep in conversation, they gathered their things up and started walking towards the rooms, talking about exploring the campus and getting lunch. Sonja started to follow them, to offer them more assistance with the bags, but Aradia caught her by the arm, holding her back as the three new kids rounded the corner.

"You know.. I'm sure if they needed my help, or wanted it, they would've asked. They seem very self-sufficient, and like they're hitting it off pretty well. We should let them bond over their newness, and exploring the campus together, and all that stuff."

Sonja fixed Ari with a mock-stern look, but the acrobat blinked up at her in such a faux-innocent manner that Sonja finally laughed - she couldn't help it.

"Okay, fine - let's go grab our stuff and get out of here."

"Alright!!!"

With that, Aradia disappeared again, with her familiar *BAMF!* noise. Sonja sighed, and hurried upstairs towards their bedroom. Normally Ari didn't teleport around quite this much - she was obviously antsy to get out of the school, and if she didn't hurry, she knew her roommate would tear half the room apart in a good-natured attempt at trying to locate Sonja's keys or purse, so that they could leave all the sooner. But when she got to their bedroom and stepped inside, what she saw wasn't at all what she was expecting. Instead, Aradia was standing in the middle of the room, staring at something pink draped over Sonja's bed. It was a measure of how stunningly impressive the coat was that Ari hadn't picked it up to inspect it further. She hadn't gotten any further than *looking* at it.

"Damn, girl - look at that! It's gotta be for you. It's fricking AWESOME!!"

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“Yes,” Morri replied, taking Alex’s hand and giving him a firm shake that threatened to remove his arm. She didn’t seem to be aware that she’d overdone the up-and-down; her grip hadn’t been painful but his shoulder tendons were now aching in protest. Social lizing done, she dropped Alex’s hand and fell into step with the group.

As they walked, Morri seemed to be deep in thought. Her brow was furrowed and one could almost smell her brain cells smoking. She was clearly having Deep Thoughts. Meat pie? Morri was fascinated by the idea that meat could be a dessert! She loved sweets and she loved meat – putting them together sounded wonderful!

What had Alex said? Rabbit and birds. She wasn’t sure what a grous bird or a fesant bird was, but she could get other birds. A flicker in the bush caught her eye, and she darted off the path mid-step. “Oh god… not again…” Alex groaned, exchanging helpless glances with the other two. “Morri!?”

“Pie!” came the exultant cry from somewhere in the underbrush.

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The other two mutant teens saw Alex look in the direction Morri had disappeared, his mouth open for a second like a particularly attractive flytrap, then he buried his face in his free hand. Both Kia and Curtis noted that the solar Adonis seemed to be trying not to laugh, though his shoulders shook with repressed mirth as he raised his head once more and looked at them both, his eyes alive with good humor.

"Uh... We might need to change direction for the Home Ec room." he suggested. "Those have ovens, right? And pastry cases?" He looked hopefully at their faces as Morri made another triumphant shout of 'Pie!' somewhere nearby.

"Well, we might be able to wrangle some pastry from the kitchens." Curtis suggested dubiously. "Though we probably shouldn't tell them why. I have a feeling that eating the local wildlife isn't going to be a popular decision with the faculty."

"We're weaning Morri off raw food." Alex shrugged. "And teaching her how to prep and cook what she catches. How can they protest?" The expression on his face was nothing short of ingenuous, though the sparkle in his deep blue eyes was pure mischief. Any counterarguments were forestalled by Morri's return, the lithe feral bounding back onto the trail and offering Alex two small, feathered bundles. Starlings, he noted with a slight wince.

"Birds." Morri stated. "For pie!"

"Um.. They're not the right sort of birds." Alex told her, his eyes still on the proffered carcasses. "There aren't any pheasant or grouse around here."

Morri's face became a picture of devastated disappointment, shoulders slumping and her crestfallen gaze dropping to also rest on the dead starlings. Watching her, Alex felt like a heel, and was about to speak when Morri looked up at him once more, her face alight with hope as she offered the birds once more.

"Try wrong birds?"

"Ah... Sure." The radiant young man replied, unable to keep from smiling. Morri was so oddly cute when she did that... Sort of like a venomous snake with puppy-dog eyes, his treacherous inner snark supplied. "But don't get any more yet, just hang onto those. We need to try them and see if they work, okay?"

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Natalie shakes her head "You don't have to pay for us, Saku."

"Library sounds fine Saku. Though I want to take a look at the gym too."

She then raises a eyebrow

"You weren't well before you mutated? Sorry if it's something you're not comfortable with talking about it. I just was curious."

"Same here, no need to pay. It is nice just to meet you ... both of you." Said Ronaldo, adding "I have to go and get my things quickly. They are in the corner of the office,"

"Maybe I can meet you two in a little while? I am not sure where they are going to send me yet. Where is it that we should meet?"

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"Well after I get my belongings stored I'm going to meet up at the foyer like I mentioned at the administrator's office."

She adjusts her glasses. "Thanks, Ronaldo. Your help is appreciated greatly."

She nods. "Take care of what you need to, I'm in no rush."

"Natalie, we should check out the athletic facility then... perhaps before any trips off campus."

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"Birds for pie?" Kia asked. It was kind of a rhetorical question, in that she didn't really expect an answer...but it had to be asked. An observation that Morri might be trained to keep the school rat population under control next bubbled up in her head, but she instantly, instinctively rejected it. It was something a 'bee-eye-itch' would say, and it would only make everyone feel bad, including her. Still. Birds for pie?

"I guess it could be like...like chicken pot pie?" she decided weakly. "They might even taste like chicken. Most things do."

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Curtis shrugged, and didn't comment. It wasn't as if HE was being asked to eat the rabbit or pie, even cooked as it would be. Alex had gotten himself into the mess, the Brit would have to clean it up with his mouth in total. "In that case, someone else has to chop the veggies." He turned to Alex and fixed a non-verbal sign through his eyes that wouldn't have been clearer if it had been physically present and adorned with moving neon. As the old rule went, he who does not work, does not eat.

"Anyway," Curtis went on, aware of how drenched with sweat he was, "I'm heading back to my room and taking a quick shower for cleanliness' sake. I'll see you all in Home EC, ok?"

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"... mmit, Ari! Why'd you have to bamf?" Sonja complained as she ducked into their room, her tone both irritated and self-deprecating. "I split my jeans hurrying here and they were my last..."

The gorgeous giant girl trailed off, her indigo eyes wide as her gaze fell on the coat folded neatly on her bed that had enraptured the acrobatic 'porter. "What... Where did that..."

With three long, slow steps (which made the split in her jeans rip open further) Sonja passed Aradia, hesitated a moment, then picked up the coat. She ran the soft, smooth leather between her fingers, then with a flick of her hand, unfurled its rippling lengths, revealing the entirety of the gorgeous, pink long coat. Eyes wide with wonder began to narrow in suspicion as she fingered the embossed runes on the trim, full lips mouthing the words.

"'Neca," Sonja murmured, her voice flat, but Aradia could see the pleased light in her eyes as she stepped up to get a better look herself.

"Hmm?"

"Neca did this," Sonja reiterated. She shrugged out of the jacket she was wearing, tearing it at the shoulders in her haste, and dropped it unceremoniously to the floor. A small smile curved her lips as she slipped on the pink longcoat, feeling the plush lining against her skin. It fit her impressive stature and extravagant curves perfectly. "It's very... pink."

"It's so you, JB! Your sister nailed it. And you love pink."

"I like pink," Sonja protested. If she had never had a coat so pink before, or would never have chosen one on her own, she was willing to overlook its sheer pinkness just for something that fit her new size so well. Thank-you, 'Neca... She wouldn't say it where anyone could hear, but she truly meant it. "But this'll do."

Aradia snickered. Sonja stuck her tongue out at her and reluctantly took off the coat as she headed for her closet. "Quiet you. Let me get a new pair of pants on - I think all of have left are sweats - and then we can head out of here. I need clothes that fit as well as..."

For the second time, Sonja was rendered speechless as she beheld the contents of her closet, a pastel profusion of pretty garments. A complex series of expressions crossed her stunning - and stunned - face. Peeking under Sonja's arm, Aradia whistled.

"I think you've got some, JB."

Sonja's mouth opened, then closed, and opened again. "That... that bitch!"

"Huh?"

Sonja gesturing vigorously at the clothing. "Look at this! Look at all the pink! 'Neca is trying to turn me into her fucking personal Barbie Doll!"

To be fair, Aradia had to admit there was more pink in the Oneca-provided wardrobe than in Sonja's previous one. Still, despite trying to sound outraged, Sonja seemed be on the cusp of a full-on fashion-gasm.

"You so want to play dress-up, don't'cha?"

Sonja scowled down fiercely at her comparatively tiny room-mate, but Aradia simply an arched brow in reply. Sonja's nose scrunched up cutely as she looked down at her feet, shifting her weight, then released a long sigh and admitted in a small voice. "I so do."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

An hour later, Sonja had tried on nearly everything, making pleased and appreciative sounds the entire time despite herself. Though Sonja could be self-conscious about her looks, and it had been heightened with her new height, it didn't extend to the locker-room or their dorm-room, a fact Aradia could well attest to, having seen more of the Jolly Blonde Giant than probably anyone else on campus.

"Still up for heading into Manhattan, Ari?" Sonja asked as she slipped on the new coat once more and bent over to study herself in the full-length mirror on the door of her closet. She was wearing a flatteringly-fitting fuzzy, fuchsia turtle-neck - that let her breath without fearing it would explode - and tight, acid-washed jeans, with a pair of stylisn, knee-high black boots with a modest heel. She looked damn good, and felt damn good, for the first time since her sudden growth spurt.

She had had a total blonde moment when she saw the tags on most of the clothing and realized where they had come from. Fallega Risa, which meant 'Beautiful Giants' in Icelandic, a clothing emporium several of their aunts jointly owned and operated in Reykjavik, Still she was impressed and grateful that they had stuff to accommodate seven feet of girl - mom's family was tall, but even so, seven feet was a stretch - and that Oneca had arranged it so quickly. And without her knowing anything about it. She had a very generous allowance and never asked for more from her family, so hadn't even thought of asking her aunts for help.

"Of course! But what about you? I think you got the clothes, now."

"Pfft! This is a modest start," Sonja said with faux condescension and a derisive sniff, which dissolved into giggles. "Seriously, I'm not having all my clothes picked out by 'Neca, even if I like most of them. And I still need more than just clothes." She belted her coat, ran her hand down its length, then slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed the keys to her titanium silver BMW X6. She pursed her lips as her stomach made a nearly audible growl. "Food to start. You mind if we swing by the cafeteria first?"

"Not at all," Aradia agreed with a smirk, feeling a bit peckish herself. She had seen how much Sonja had ate while growing, and even if her appetite had leveled off, it took a lot of fuel to power seven feet of babelicious powerhouse. Still, Aradia thought Sonja wanted to jaunt off to the cafeteria more to showoff a bit than the food.

And she would have been right. Some say clothes make the (wo)man. And if so, Sonja was a helluva lot of woman. Shoulders straight, chest out, Sonja strutted down the halls and across the Quad to the cafeteria, proud and powerful in pink, already thinking on how she would retaliate in kindness against her sister.

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"Well after I get my belongings stored I'm going to meet up at the foyer like I mentioned at the administrator's office."

She adjusts her glasses. "Thanks, Ronaldo. Your help is appreciated greatly."

She nods. "Take care of what you need to, I'm in no rush."

"Natalie, we should check out the athletic facility then... perhaps before any trips off campus."

Ronaldo smiles at the two girls with his smoldering latin eyes and a happy grin and says "A pleasure. See both of you there."

Then he dashes off - heading back to the office with a bit of parkour flash on railings and stair cases when he figured no one in charge would be looking.

The secretary had stepped out on some matter it seemed, so he sat down to wait. He'd have to get a room, and hopefully he wouldn't be late to the cafeteria.

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Morri all but skipped as they walked toward the Home Ec building. She was ridiculously excited by the thought of meat dessert. It seemed that the way to the feral’s happy-place was through her appetite, because this was the most cheerful they’d ever seen her. Though they didn’t know, it was as much the chance to hunt and eat her kill as it was just eating. And she’d done social lies while doing it – she was sharing it with people she liked. And Curtis, but he had said the s-word that meant she had to be nice to him now.

Bouncing, the feral led the way to the kitchen. Once there, she began to strip the feathers off the birds without being asked. Her quick, nimble fingers pulled them loose with ease; the ugly brown and gray feathers were piled to the side. Then she began to gut them, producing a blood-knife and humming tunelessly as she removed the innards and separated the good organs from the bad.

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Once Sakurako and Natilie reach their dorm, Sakurako opens the door and moves her things in, setting them near the window but not unpacking.

"Okay, I'm going to get changed in the bathroom... this coat's starting to get quite warm. I'll be able to hear you. the bathroom door is pretty thin it seems. I really need a change of clothes."

She tosses her jacket on the large footlocker, it was obviously puffy since Sakurako's frame was quite thin in comparison. She grabbed a dark brownish sweater and some other clothes.

"So what are your hobbies?"

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Kia swallowed and cleared her throat. It wasn't so much the gore...she'd been fishing plenty of times. It was the mess. Morri wasn't nearly as careful cleaning the rabbit as, say, her dad had always been when cleaning fish. He was delicate to the point of prissyness, and had the technique so well schooled that it was over almost as fast as it had begun. It made the process rather clinical. There was nothing clinical about Morri's method. It was still well practiced, but there was quite a bit more...goop involved.

"I'll...uh...I'll get some paper towels," she volunteers. "And soap." Then she hurried to the back of the classroom to get the cleaning supplies that were stashed in the cabinet there.

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She's done it again! Prof. Jensen had kicked Josh out of the lab... again. Even before classes had started up in honest he was being evicted. He had thought that since he had gone out and practiced his powers, even though he had made friends, even though he had practiced his powers with groups, helping them practice as he did. Josh had thought that by following his mentor's instructions that he'd get more lab time... little did he realize that his mentor had hoped that he would start socializing on his own and thus wouldn't have to be pushed out by her.

It just so happened that the wine of Josh's powerchair echoed across the quad. It was a familiar sound at school, though more so in the science wing than out here. It was, however, something that Sonja had heard before. Josh had actually gotten into the quad a little before Sonja, so he didn't notice her entrance until her shadow, the largest part of her with the sun in this position, enveloped not only Josh but all the ground around his chair.

Josh looked over his shoulder to determine the origin of the unscheduled eclipse. Oh my word.... what happened to...

"Hey Sonja... you look... different... You going to get something to eat?"

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"I had contracted a virus that had damaged my body and compromised my immune system. I was confined to a wheelchair until my mutant factor activated when my found out my parents died. Well... the actual trigger was the cardiac arrest that happened from the shock of finding out my parents had died." "The moment was so harrowing that my hair turned white. I was unconscious for 7 days, the doctors all thought I was going to die very soon. Then I got up. Luckily my Aunt found me first and made me get into bed. Made it look like I was having a psychotic episode that was driving me to my feet. She took me to new york and helped me get to at least where I should be for my age through physical therapy. She's a mutant activist as well and that is probably how I got sent here." She adjusts her glasses. "As a result I do look a bit sickly don't I. I should be much taller for my age, by a few inches, and there is evidence my growth plates in my bones are all dead. But... I'm not..." "Just... don't ask me to get on a plane." She says that last sentence with a far-away look.

Scratches her head when told the story.

"Sorry Saku. I didn't know."

She said in a sincere tone.

"So you're powers saved your life you manifest? Mine manifested after I got hit by a car. From what I hear I had to be grounded before they could get to me since I was making that strong of a electrical field. The magnetic field I generated didn't help either. I was kind of out of it for a few days because of it."

She started unpacking her stuff as she talked.

"Sure. I'd love to head of the gym for a bit. We're going to be using it for the next few years, so might as well get acquainted with it"

She nods while talking

"As for hobbies, you'll find you're roommate is a bit of a gaming and computer geek. Don't worry, I won't keep you up all night while I game."

She said pulling out a few disc pouches and setting them on a desk

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SakIllo.jpg
"Oh. I really only play chess, or do 3D modelling or chat with friends on Second Life. Outside of that... I'm not much of a computer gamer." She says stepping out of the bathroom. Dressed in what could only be described as full schoolgirl regailia.

"Now what I do love playing is strategy games. The two black cases are my Tau Empire and Sisters of Battle armies. I also got a couple boardgames. Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Axis and Allies.

Then there is my usual clothes, mostly a labcoat, a couple flightsuits - those things are so easy to clean, a spare of what I'm wearing now, my swimsuit, some pooltoys for when they do allow lounging in the school pool, got a inflatable life jacket for boating, a raft with collapsible oars - Been wanting to hit one of the finger lakes at some point... my bedding, and a air mattress to soften things on the bed over there if needed. I also got a drysuit for cold water, and a parachute. I'm still really iffy on my flying so I figured while I practice I should play it safe. oh got a surplus navy pilot's life preserver vest too for wearing with the parachute. I like covering my bases with my gear."

She adjusts her glasses. "I also got a couple cosplay costumes. Rei Anayami's plugsuit, and I got a Yomiko Readman costume as well."

She smiles. "If we fly together I got a spare drysuit and a life vest I bought from an aviation supply company. It's one of those ones you see on a passenger plane in the movies. I figure if we're gonna fly together we should cover most our safety bases. I would have brought a second chute but I really had a lot to carry. If you got trouble, I'm grabbing you and we're drifting down together. Trust me."

She smiles and has an awkward cuteness that suggests that socially, she isn't well experienced yet she is very well meaning.

"I got a first aid kit, flashlight, a flare gun with a few flares... I plan on getting some more survival gear like trail rations and what not later now that I'm settling in."

"My desktop rig is pretty decent, runs Second Life perfect... my laptop is my pride and joy though."

She pulls her laptop out of her backpack. "Well, ready?" She says grabbing her jacket and putting it under her free arm.
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Curtis had as he told them, broken off to reach his room quickly. Once inside, he stripped off and dumped his clothes in his laundry bag before showering just enough to immerse and wipe off the sweat. Toweling and a new change of clothes followed promptly. Once he was satisfied that he would not unduly disease the rabbit, he headed for the Home EC room, arriving not very long after everyone else had started.

Morri was already gleefully cutting up the birds, so he washed his hands and then took a knife out and began cutting open the rabbit, and removing the fur. He was unfazed by the guts and calm in his work, treating this like a biology dissection with an edible byproduct. And as outside observation showed, Curtis was very very effective at the preparation, with his hands very dexterous and not shifting even in the slightest way. There was a lot less gore going around at his position.

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"Oh! You noticed. Yup, new hair-cut," Sonja joked with a smile, running a hand down her long, platinum-blonde pony-tail then flicking it over her shoulder. "Guess you were in the lab, Josh. I've been out of class for most of a week with a crazy growth spurt of something. The tests say I was producing way too much... um, what was it? Somatotropin, that's it! I was making too much Soma and my regenerative capabilities caused me to react too well to it or something. The somatotropin has leveled off now, but they don't know why it happened in the first place yet."

The towering blonde gave Josh a rueful shrug and a friendly smile as she nodded towards the cafeteria. "Yeah, me and Ari are heading to the caff before taking a trip into the city." Full lips twisted wryly as she gestured down at herself. "I'm still a growing girl and all that, after all. You're free to join us, if you like."

"Okay, sure," Josh agreed, still amazed that a girl as popular as Sonja would socialize with him, seemingly of her own accord.

The trio crossed the Quad to the cafeteria, Sonja holding the door open for Josh, since the automatic door opener on the double doors was perverse, rarely working properly, probably not aided by Sonja inadvertently tearing them off their hinges some time ago. Sonja noted idly the double doors were one of the few she could go through without ducking, though there was less than an inch of clearance.

They each passed along the cafeteria counter, getting their food, Sonja taking twice as much as the other two together, before taking a seat at a table in the corner, which had become a usual spot for Morri's benefit. Despite her restored confidence from her new clothes, there was a slightly self-conscious hitch to her shoulders as the chair creaked under her weight - she had added over eighty pounds along with ten inches of height - and was drawing more than her usual amount of attention.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Kilo gazed adoringly on the big, busty, blonde beauty. She was even more perfect now, the only girl in LHA who was as tall as he was. He'd have to scrape up another twenty bucks so he could talk to Ren about what he wanted now.

Unaware of what was going through Kilo's head, Sonja began eating one of her burgers as she talked with her companions. "So, Josh, you out of the lab on your own, or did Ms. Jensen have to kick you out again," she asked in a bantering tone, the richer timber to her voice making her sound older, more mature. "And have you tried any more human-catapulting? You shoulda seen him Ari."

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Though Sonja ate far more than both Ari and Josh combined, Aradia's plate was still full by normal standards, bordering more on "typical teenage boy" than "typical teenage girl". Of course, that was because of both her athletic inclinations, and (as Sakurako had previously pondered) because all the 'BAMF!ing' did tend to take a bit out of a girl. After piling up her plates with an amusing combination of health and junk food, Aradia joined Sonja and Josh at the table. She was one of the few students at the school who did pretty well at getting along with almost everyone. Ari could party with the ravers, hang with the jocks, and never made fun of the nerds. Who knew when they were going to invent something useful, something awesome, something -

"And have you tried any more human-catapulting? You shoulda seen him Ari."

Most people would be horrified by the words "human catapult", but it only seemed to perk the young acrobat up. Her eyes seemed to glow a little brighter in excitement at there mere thought of being hurdled through the air, even if it was by a science project of some sort.

"Human-catapulting? That sounds AWESOME! Did you rig something up, or what?! I could definitely help you test it if you did, you know."

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The meat de-boned, de-feathered/furred and chopped, Alex washed it all before browning it in a pan along with some onions. He'd prepped the pastry case, as well as a flat piece to lay over the top of the pie, and had to admit that while this wasn't exactly how he'd pictured spending his day, it had certainly deflected his mind from brooding. He smiled over at the others: Kia as she cleaned down the countertop, Curtis as he cleaned the bones from the birds and rabbit, and of course Morri...

Who was almost nose-first into the pan.

"Smell good." she admitted, looking up at him with those eerie red eyes.

"It'll be better in a little while. Mind out there." Alex replied with a grin as he dumped the meat into the pastry case, juices and all, then sealed it and slid the pie into an oven. "It's been awhile since I last saw anyone make a pie, but that should take an hour or so. It's a little one. Thanks for the help, everyone."

"Hour?" Morri scowled. She'd meant Alex to eat the rabbit NOW. That was the problem with coo king. It tasted good, but it took too long.

"Yes." the glowing boy replied calmly as he sat on a stool, almost absently picking up his guitar and setting it across his lap before letting his fingers strum softly over the strings. "We can go do something else if people want." he suggested with a smile for them all. "The oven's on a timer, so it won't burn."

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To the cafeteria and then to the city... you're welcomed to join us... surely she just meant to the cafeteria... surely she didn't just invite me to go into the city with them too.

Josh's plate was probably the smallest of the three of them, and he actually took the time to taste most of it. He hadn't been using his powers much today, so he had a more 'normal' appetite than usual. Josh did his best to pull up to Sonja's table unobtrusively, but it turned out to be a much more involved thing than he was used to. The clatter he made opening up aisle ways, moving chairs that hadn't been pushed back in or tables that had been rearranged so that his chair could get through echoed over the lunchtime din of the cafeteria. But he made it, and the topic of conversation made him smile, genuinely smile. Remembering good times and making friends.

Aradia's willingness and eagerness to volunteer for something that she knew almost nothing about kind of took Josh off guard. He didn't exactly know what to do with that, except explain what had happened. "No, no, nothing like that. I was actually just practicing my powers. See, I can control the kinetic energy and momentum, the motion, of objects. What I did was get my chair going as fast as it could and transferred all of it's momentum to me. So, it stopped dead, and I went flying." Josh chuckled at the memory of soaring through the air. "I'm just lucky that there was a nice big snowdrift to catch me down by the pond." He gave a sheepish shrug, "I'm not that good at landings yet."

The girls could tell that an idea had just struck Josh. His eyes suddenly started to stare at nothing and his brow furrowed a little bit. Then he looked at the two girls sitting with him, as if he were putting them on some sort of balance scale in his mind. When he spoke back up, he sounded a little distant, like he was still working through a problem. "Sonja, you can run really fast, right? And I would put you at least twice the mass of Aradia..." It was then that Josh snapped back to reality and realized what he had said. "You know, with your height and muscle mass..." He flinched a little, expecting some sort of retaliation, physical or verbal, but quickly continued on. "With the proper safety equipment, maybe I could transfer your momentum while running to her. What are your abilities?" He finished, looking at Aradia.

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Kia threw away the paper towel she'd mopped up with and ran water over her hands briskly, trying to think of what they could do for an hour. It was a troublesome block of time. Too short for a movie, too long to just hang out and jabber.

But there were four of them...

"We could go to the student center and play ping pong or air hockey or something," she suggested.

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Morri watched the guitar with interest. The instrument called to something in her and the young feral narrowed her eyes at the guitar. Alex’s eyes widened nervously and he pressed his hands over his guitar protectively. “How do?” she queried, reaching out and brushing a finger over a string.

“How… do I play?” Alex asked. “You put your fingers like this, and strum here…” He ran the pick over the strings, producing a soft C.

“How do?” Morri asked and tapped her chest.

“You want to play?” Alex was a little surprised.

Morri nodded. Like the dancing, this reminded her of something, a rather important thing. She didn’t know how or why, but there was an eager curiosity in her eyes now, and her nod was emphatic.

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"Warhammer 40k? Still pretty green on that, on have a few codexes. Favorite army so far is the the Blood Angels. Tau and Eldar are cool too"

She nods when Saku mentions her rig

"I've only got a laptop to work with myself. Pretty good though, least I can run a few rpgs on it. Also brought my x-box 360 and PS2."

Natalie smiles when Saku mentions flying

"Sounds like you are prepared for anything, Saku. Yeah, let's get going"

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"Well, I sort of prepare for what I can within my means. Where I come from a disaster is quite possible."

She adjusts her glasses. "I'd rather be prepared than left wanting."

Then she notices her stomach growl. "You know... maybe we should swing by the cafeteria at some point as well. But let's head to the front foyer first before going to the Gym then the Cafeteria."

Smiling, she opens the door for Natalie. "After you."

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Folding her arms beneath her awesome bosom, Sonja gave Josh a tight smile and a level look, not that she was precisely self-conscious about her weight, it was the principle of the thing. Due to the length of her legs, sitting down, Sonja only seemed a head taller than the others, instead of head and shoulders taller, but no one would ever mistake her for being anything less than big.

"Uh, I'm not sure if that's a really good idea," Sonja hedged, quirking an eyebrow in uncertainty as she glanced between Josh and Aradia. "I'm built to endure the speeds I can reach, not sure what they would do to you, Ari. Last time I was clocked on the track, after reaching top speed, I hit twenty-seven hundred, seventy-three kilometers per hour. I remember from science class that momentum is mass times velocity and..." her lip jutted in a pout as she sighed, "and yeah, I guess I am a heavyweight now. If you transfer all that Josh, Aradia, I'm afraid it'll hurt you. It'll be a lot of G's."

On the other hand, Aradia and Josh both seemed really eager, and she had to admit, it had been pretty cool seeing Josh fly through the air like that. Sonja unfolded her arms and leaned back on her chair as she consumed a second burger. "But it was cool... If I start off at a more modest speed, and ratchet it up in increments, we can find the sweet spot between rollercoster thrill and painful splat. Hopefully you can bamf before hitting any hard landings. What do you say, Ari?"

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"That sounds awesome! I love it! We can find someplace that's safe, I'm sure - and you know my bamfing reactions are top-notch!"

At Josh's confused look, Aradia rolled her eyes, looking a bit amused.

"You spend WAY too much time holed up in those labs if you don't even know what your fellow students' powers are!"

Aradia shot Sonja a little wink - she might be giving Josh a hard time, but her roomie knew that inwardly, Ari was thrilled that Josh didn't know her abilities. She loved to get a good jump out of people the first time they experienced them. Aradia leaned forward, the expression on her face serious, as if she were imparting Josh some sage advice.

"Wheelchair or not--"

*BAMF!!!*

And just as suddenly as she disappeared, she was sitting in the chair next to him, leaning in from his left instead of his front.

"--you've gotta get out a little, dude."

This time it was Sonja who rolled her eyes, though it was obviously directed at Aradia's antics.

"She can climb the walls and ceilings, and do awesome acrobatic stuff too.. but I'm not sure if that would help us any with your current experiments."

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Curtis nodded to Kia and the rest. "Eh, it's as good a thought as any. Alex can show Morri 'how do', and I'm certainly up for ping-pong." He suddenly had a wicked grin. "I have an excellent serve." Which was not untrue, in the time allowed, he could easily pick up the angles and speeds for ping-pong balls, though his advantage of calculation disappeared after said serves. Still, he was a better player than many thought.

So in short order, they were in the Rec Center, Morri learning from Alex, and Curtis knocking a white ball back and forth over the ping-pong table.

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Josh listened as Sonja spoke, and then listened to Aradia's berating monologue. He jumped a little at the suddenness of Aradia's demonstration and at the odor that it left, but was otherwise unruffled. In fact, his eyes seemed to sparkle a little and he got that far off look again.

Josh's eyes moved back and forth a few times, his mouth open, as he processed his new thoughts. When he finally came back, he addressed Sonja. "I remember that you're pretty good with hockey pucks, but how fast can you throw a baseball? See, a baseball is about twice the size of a nice, large egg. If you can pitch the baseball really fast, and I swap the momentum of the two... probably in front of a high speed camera... if it breaks then we'll know that we can't do that with you and Aradia, but if it doesn't..." His eyes went far off again.

And about 5 to 10 long seconds later he came back. This time he was talking to both of them. "See, we wouldn't have you [sonja] run at full speed, probably ever, but just fast enough that we could get you [Aradia] airborne. And, with your teleportation ability, we could have a safe zone, like a net, or some padding, or even the pond as a stand by in case things got too hairy. How accurately can you teleport, especially if you're disorientated?"

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"Okay." Alex said, a trifle hesitant as he sat down on a couch. How did one teach someone like Morri to play the guitar? He'd been thinking about it on the way over to the rec room: truth be told, Alex wasn't all that confident in his teaching abilities to begin with. He was competent at playing the guitar and piano, but he'd always been on the receiving end of lessons. And Morri was different - he'd have to be really careful not to put his hands over hers to guide them, for instance. Touching in almost any way, shape or form was out for those without stone-hard skin or a healing factor. He motioned for Morri to sit on the couch and she did... kind of. Rather, she crouched at one end of the couch and watched him attentively. Smiling, he shook his head.

"Sit like me." he said. "The guitar has to go across your lap, like this." He showed her, sitting on the edge of the couch and cradling the instrument on his lap. Morri nodded in understanding and shifted with smooth grace, sitting on the edge of her seat also. She wasn't stupid, Alex reminded himself. She just didn't have the same frame of reference for things he took for granted. But if a good reason was given, Morri could and would do things like other people.

"Okay." he said again, biting his lip thoughtfully (and unconsciously distracting a few of the girls using the rec area by doing so). He looked at Morri apologetically. "I don't know if I'm a very good teacher, but I can try." he told her. The glowing red eyes stared at him as she digested that, but she didn't make a reply. He took a breath and plunged in, gingerly offering the guitar to the feral girl. "Here. Hold it like I was holding it." Morri took it from him, her own manner mimicking the glowing youth's caution as she tucked it under one arm, her left hand grasping the neck.

"Right, when you play the guitar, you use only your thumb and first three fingers on your right hand." he began, holding up his hand and showing her, waggling the digits. He smiled as Morri mimicked him again, and nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Now, with your thumb only, I want you to touch the top guitar string - the thickest one - right where it lines up with the hole." Morri lowered her hand, face a study in concentration as she rested her thumb on the right string, then looked at him to judge his reaction. Alex nodded encouragingly. "Now just pluck it with your thumb, like this." He made as if strumming with his thumb, and Morri followed suit.

A muted note came from the guitar, and Alex checked, then shook his head at himself. "Sorry, that's my fault. You need to open your left hand." he told Morri, showing her as if he were holding an imaginary guitar. "The strings make the sound, and the hollow wooden box makes the sound louder. But if you cover the strings like that, they don't make sound as loud." Morri opened her hand, letting the neck rest on her palm, then as Alex nodded encouragement she strummed again.

"Sound better." Morri said analytically, her expression pleased as the rich note issued forth.

"Good!" Alex smiled warmly at Morri. "In music, that is called a note. On guitars, every string makes a different note - several different notes actually, but we'll get to that. Each note has a name, and that one is called 'E'. That string is also called the low E, because that is the note it plays when you just strum it. The other strings after that one are the A, the D, the G, the B, and the high E." He paused, watching her. "Is that all okay? You understand so far?"

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Sonja thought back to some of the tests she had done, trying to catalogue and learn her maturing physical limits, especially in various sports, if rarely against other students. She grinned in a amusement recalling an incident wear she had thrown a baseball through the padded wall surrounding the baseball diamond, several benches of the bleachers, and embedded in the brick wall of the nearby gym... from home-plate.

With the extra length of her limbs, she'd have even more leverage for her pitches. Finishing off her Caesar salad, Sonja casually flexed an arm, the sleeve of her sweater rising under the swell of a shapely and well-defined ball of feminine muscle. "I'm pretty good with baseballs too. I can throw one faster and further than anyone in the major leagues."

She grinned with her own rising eagerness, and like everything else about her, it was stunningly pretty. "If we're going to do this, I want my turn too," she said. "Even if we can't find enough momentum from somewhere else to transfer to me - maybe Ari can bamf up high and let herself drop and you transfer it before she hits the ground - can you redirect it, Josh? And have some nets in the gymnasium that we use for gymnastics and acrobatics we can use, maybe string them up by the fence around the tennis-court. That should give us a big enough landing area, right?"

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Eeh seemed easy enough, but there was Aye, Dee, Gee, Bee and a high Eeh. “How note have name?” Morri asked, wondering if Alex was putting her on. It was music, and music only had names if you put words to them. When Alex strummed, he didn’t sing Aye, Dee or anything like that. He sang other words. She was sure of it; she’d listened to him singing for a while today, and then he’d played the notes without words. And these sounds already had a name: notes. So she wasn’t sure how this worked.

“It has a name so that we can talk about it,” Alex said after a second of hesitation. “It was given that name so that when I talk to you about music, I can say ‘E’ instead of ‘the note that you get from the top string’. Understand?”

They were short, unpretty names. Morri scowled for a moment, sourly muttered, “Yes” and strummed another E note. Then she accused, “Bad name!”

“Eh, the notes’ names are bad?” Alex asked uneasily.

“Too ugly. Notes pretty. Names not.” Morri’s eyes narrowed. “You pick bad. Pick different!”

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"I didn't pick them!" Alex protested. "They've had those names for centuries." He stopped: Morri was glaring at him. Alex sighed, then tried again. "Look, when people started to organise and write down how to play music, hundreds of years ago, they needed to come up with a short way of speaking about music, so they could teach each other. Like I'm teaching you. Music has it's own language, and it's not pretty when we speak it, because it is meant to be played on an instrument, or sung with the voice."

"Sung with voice." Morri repeated, turning the words over in her mind.

"Yeah, like this." Alex cleared his throat, a little self-conciously. It wasn't like he was a shrinking violet, but the sight of the Adonis teaching the feral girl was attracting some attention - mainly female - from the rest of the room. He opened his mouth and sang a passable 'E' in his clear tenor voice, then worked up the scale to the high E. He cleared his throat again, a little embarassed, and smiled at her. "When we talk about the notes, we just say them." he finished. "It's faster that way. So, do you want to try strumming the other notes?"

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