Koga Set at the front of the class excited that school was picking up again. Excited about Martin Luther King Day, now there was a human who knew about coexistence, plus they got the day off. Being an awesome provider of coexistence and visionary of erasing race lines, throw in a day off and it was like getting an extra cherry on your epically awesome Sunday. But here they were on the first day of the new semester. They kicked off their day with home room. He didn’t know why they wasted time with home room here, but Koga would guess it was to transfer things from home to school, it made sense.

So it was Tuesday, one day after MLK day and the first of the semester. He opened up a college ruled notebook and started jotting down some goals for this semester. He had a yellow number two pencil that scribbled away plans and projects for the year. If he kept getting credits at the rate he did, he would graduate a year early. He was shooting for two, but training had been eating up time that he would have thrown at school. After settling a list of 20 achievable goals. He closed his note book and started digging into his first period text book, Speech. He managed to order the Japanese school boy uniform he’d been wanting; His hair was styled to bed headed perfection. He was managing to keep a nice flesh tone and dark hair, no need to distract his classmates after all.

He idly wondered if they were going to give him someone to tutor this year. He'd be happy about it, if they did, teaching others was a fantastic way to learn! the levels of nerdiness was starting to get off the chart. no one knew about his secret mutation, it was the equivalent of being compulsively studious, but he liked to think of it as a positive, Yay School!

He’d told his parents that he’d take classes. They’d told him that if he didn’t study then they’d bring him back home. And home was one place he didn’t want to be. Ted loved his parents but he wanted to learn how he would grow up without the pushing of his parents. It’d taken a lot of persuading and a lot of arguing the points back and forth, a lot of pros and a lot of cons for him to be going here. Although he wasn’t necessarily taking as many classes as his parents would have liked him to, he was actually kind of glad that he would be able to be taking classes. Ted had gotten to choose which classes he wanted to take instead of taking all the mandatory classes that he needed. The young man was more focused on playing with his powers than he was with learning about tessellations, or diagramming sentences, or learning to speak in front of groups of people.

Home room. What a weird idea. Was it just some bureaucratic way of making the school day last longer? Or was it some clever ploy conceived by teachers to make students like school better. With a deep breath and a large sigh Ted walked into his home room class. There were some students there but it wasn’t as full as he thought it might be. He still didn’t know many people but a plus side to school is that he was able to meet and greet plenty of people. What better way to meet people than to take a class with them in which they are, presumably, struggling with the same material as you are. Seeing the many unfamiliar faces he walked in and sat down next to the one that seemed to be rapt up in whatever he was reading.

Carrick hated school, the aspect of being forced to sit in a seat for six hours a day was anything but appealing, which is why even though today was the first day of the new semester and he had signed up for classes he had respectively declined his alarm’s clock to wake him up. The annoying beeps that preceded the alarm going off soon stopped shot once Carrick got a hold of it. Ripping the plug from the wall and shoving the clock under his bed Carrick rolled over and fell back asleep. Ten minutes that was all he got till someone outside his door knocked on his door rapidly.

”Christ, it’s Tuesday morning!” he muttered to the door and opened it to see one of the older male students eyeing him. Like him he too was from Ireland, what’s more he knew his father in some roundabout way so he was more than happy to do Carrick’s father a favor in rearing Carrick’s but to class. “Early bird gets the worm, and if you don’t want me forcing that worm to you I suggest you get moving…” Carrick smiled weakly and rubbed the back of his head, ”Yes, Sir!” he fashioned a salute and once the boy nodded his head and had agreed to check up on Carrick in twenty minutes, Carrick responded with quietly closing the door and returning to bed with no intention of going to classes.

-----

Forty minutes later Carrick felt himself be forced into his homeroom and his book bag tossed at him. He frowned at the older student and lifted his hand in his direction and pretended that his hands were talons. Closing it around his figure from afar Carrick yelled at him, ”Well Played!” looking around and seeing one or two faces that were somewhat familiar. Nodding to Koga ”Hey" Carrick said quickly before proceeding to the back of the classroom. Slacker rule was to sit in the back and he planned on breaking in his chair with a few Z’s, and he was never one to break the rules.

The class had yet to start and the teacher was currently reading a book. Sitting down next to the window in the back of the room Carrick tossed his backpack onto the ground and muttered as he leaned back in the chair and swished his tail trough the gap in the back of the chair. His flannel around his chest unzipped as he ran his fingers through his long shaggy hair. It was clear that this place wasn’t for him. Looking out the window Carrick eyed a few birds that had recently returned to the mansion after the long and harsh winter.

It wasn’t exactly warm yet but it was clear that spring wouldn’t be to far off from the sunny skies they had been seeing for the past two days. His wings twitching slightly in response to the flying beauties Carrick wondered if he could manage to sneak out at some point and stay gone.

Koga was reading over the finer points of how to address a large audience when another class mate entered, he was game for sitting in the front row as well, he took that as a fairly good sign that he was inclined to pay some sort of attention in class even, if this was simply a study period. even though he was trying to not watch his class mate out of the corner of his eye, the resounding boredom emanating from him was distracting. he finished the paragraph and marked it wit h an upside down post it note signifying that he was still had more to read on the page and not merely to start the page over. He had about fifteen different meanings to how a post it sat in a book to keep short hand as short as possible. he closed the book and looked up to his fellow class mate.

"Hi, I am Ryuichi Koga. You can call me Koga. Are you looking forward to this semester?"

He didn't say it with the enthusiasm he personally felt about it. it was after all a personal joy and time had taught him that most students didn't appreciate education.

After awhile one of the usual suspects was dragged into the class room and sent onward. if ignorance wasn't the resistance of knowledge he didn't know what was...

A small grin found its self to Koga's lips as he replied to the passing greeting. "Hi." he could inflict tutoring on Carrick, try to awaken a thirst for intelligence in that griffin's brain of his. It would be a task, but it was possible. He would have brought it up, if Carrick hadn't fled to hid at the back with the bookshelves.

The kid he was sitting next to put down his book and started talking to Ted. “Hi Koga, I’m Ted or Teddy whichever you prefer.” His name wasn’t anything special as far as he was concerned. And there was certainly nothing cool about his name like with Koga’s name. “A little bit…” he answered truthfully, “I’m looking forward to the classes that let me practice my powers more than math class.” Teddy answered.

It seemed like Koga was one of those weird students that actually liked being at school. He was, after all, only here because his parents were making him. There was another boy who walked in shortly after him. Koga and the other boy seemed to know each other as they exchange short greetings. “What’s your favorite subject here?” Ted said trying to keep their conversation up as they waited patiently in their homeroom class until they went to their first actual class where they would do more than just sit there.

School.

School is like a fire, lit within your soul
The students, tender kindling, ripe for the burning.

Books—rocks, to be sure
Building brains
And muscle mass
And back problems.

How to describe the teachers, then, those noble knowledgeable souls?
They over brim, their cups of wisdom full,
And smile fondly over the drowning struggles below.

Let us not forget the students themselves:
Ready for molding, a bit like clay, with insistent hands
Or like stone, with chisels and hammers
Or pouring themselves whole-heartedly into the mold
Like that quaint and curious creature

The teacher’s pet

(It lurks not like a beast of the forest, but like a puppy: at the feet.
It does not seek stealth and silence: with a bark bark bark, it seeks its treat.
The tigers in the back
(and the griffins, too)
Watch it prance at the master’s feet.
Later in the day or night, in the dark places of the hallways
Or perhaps—
(to be poetic)
—in the lunchroom:
It will learn who dinner is.)

Which is to say:

Calley slumped into a seat next to the winged kid. The younger teen’s bored expression and defiant chair lean marked him, instantly, as exactly the sort of person Calley wanted to socialize with. Koga got an I will eat you glare as he idly kicked his backpack under the chair. By association, so did his new little friend.

“Hey,” the brown-haired teen said, to his fellow inmate. At nineteen, Calley was probably the oldest person in this class. And he’d be in their other classes, too: he’d flunked everything, last term (...and the term before). Because school wasn’t important. Because he had waaaaay better things to do. Yet here he was. Again.

The cat

Claws and teeth
Hisses and spits
Ears back, tail protesting:
No defense against
The quiet kitten eyes
Of the Katrina.

It was still winter. No matter how often the weather forecasters promised warmer days in the near future, no matter how often optimistic people commented on how much warmer it seemed outside, no matter how many fool hardy robins had returned from their temporary southern homes; it was still winter. Cold. Snowy. Dark. And cold.

Katrina felt as though she had never fully thawed out after her Christmas adventure, and it was going to take more than the promise of a couple of wintry sun beams filtering through the striped slats of the blinds to make her feel warm again. And yet "Spring" semester had arrived.

The little illusionist waddled into the classroom, well padded by her turtleneck and two sweaters, two pairs of sweatpants (with long underwear underneath), a double layer of socks, and fingerless gloves. Her hair was long enough again to flip outward under the edge of her colorfully striped stocking cap. With a shiver, she surveyed her under dressed classmates; the room was far from full with only four other students, but chances were they wouldn't be getting too many more than that. Xavier's was a pretty small school.

All boys, two she knew very well (one of whom had kissed her once) and two she didn't know as well (one of whom had sort of saved her life, sort of, after she saved him first). Normally Katrina might have chosen to sit in the front row, but today Koga was already there and it might be awkward to sit right next to him (though she did attempt a smile on the way past). Calley and Griffin-boy were in the back looking about as sulky as Katrina was feeling, so today, at least for homeroom, she was going to sit by them.

The only girl in the room wuffed all her layers into her seat with a half hearted "good morning" to the perma-winged boy and a somewhat impressed sounding "you actually came" to the sometimes furry, feathered, and/or scaled one. And slump.

Tom strolled into the room, head hung slightly in disappointment at being back at school. He hated school really. When it came down to it, Tom saw school as the break between the fun stuff. His old school had been rough and tumble too, not like this flash place. At least at his old school there was a chance of a decent fight most lunch times. Here there would clearly be no such thing. He glanced around to see a couple of little nerds up the front, sitting close to the teacher who was reading a book, and then a few more normal people down the very back of the room. Tom went with the safe bet. The back.

He walked over towards a corner seat. It was at the back, by a window so he could look out and day dream his way through class. He had his one-shoulder bag on, carrying a few supplies he had picked up from the store room earlier in it, but no books or anything. He was told he would get those later. It wasn't like he was ever going to use them, but hey, if it was free, why not? One hand held onto his bag strap and the other held onto the baseball bat he carried, it's shaft resting on the other shoulder as the bag strap. When he got to his desk, Tom rested the bat against the leg of the small table and tossed his bag against the back wall.

He slumped into the seat and leaned back, comfortably placing his feet on the desk and reaching down to his pocket to turn up his ipod. With his music on loud he continued his assessment of the class room. Up the front, the two nerds, they seemed younger than him, and not the type he would normally hang with anyway, whereas these ones at the back were much more likely candidates. He was sitting on the left side of the class, and the one directly to his right was a guy who looked a bit older than the rest of them, but Tom wasn't phased by it. Hell, there had been a third year fifth at his old school, Tom remembered giving him a total hiding once.

The next across was a guy with big wings coming out of his back, they looked cool, but kind of annoying. Never the less, this guy seemed more Tom's age, he figured he'd introduce himself to those two later. As for the last person in the row so far, a little girl, she hardly seemed the trouble-maker type so Tom brushed her off. He would probably meet her, get along fine even, but he doubted they'd be up to much together.

Tom mused, there were so many people here, not in this class, but in the mansion, he never would have guessed. Thus, given they were all mutants, there was a lot of power here, and yet, so little of it was being abused. Tom smiled, that was going to change, he was going to do his best to show these people the wild side. That all started with a night sometime in the next few days. It was going to be party time...

More and more kids filled into the classroom and the chairs (although few) were filling up quickly. On occasion he looked over to the door as it opened and swung shut to see who was entering the classroom. There was a girl his age with pink ears some normal looking kids and then someone entered who caught his attention for a moment. He was older than most of the other kids by a year or two at least. Then again Carrick didn’t know the age cut off for American schools but if they were anything like they were back home, homeroom wouldn’t have a cut off date.

Nodding to the kid Carrick grinned slightly and added a quick, ”Yo” before turning his head back to look out the window, Carrick didn’t feel like talking right away, he was to busy wondering how the semester was going to go. Despite his lack of interest in the learning process of school he was a bit more worried about everyone in the class and if he would make friends or be bullied like his old school.

He hated bullies with a passion, most of them spineless and over compensating for their lack of awesomeness, which he had tons of (so said his older brother once upon a time). He looked back to the kid towards Koga with blonde sandy hair and he quickly spoke his Irish dialect drowning his words, ” First Semester for me back in school after a year, but back when I attended I have to say Gym might have been my favorite subject…” he looked back towards the older kid sitting next to him and smiled, ”Name’s Carrick O’Conner” offering a tilted handshake to the older teen. Carrick’s tail swayed started to slow as he waited to see if this guy was going to turn out to be a friend or someone he dreaded to see the rest of the semester.

Looking over the teen’s side Carrick eyed the blonde haired girl who saved him during the Christmas incident. Well he saved her twice after he saved her once therefore she owed him. Watching her walk closer to them and pick a seat in the back of the room Carrick smirked as she disrobed the several layers to the “average” clothing layer. He offered her a nod when she offered the morning greeting, ”Jump of anything high lately?” Carrick asked the bottom of his wings twitching slightly as he suddenly had an urge to take to the air and ditch class all together.

He however fought the urge as the next kid walked into the class with a bat. Carrick smirked slightly resisting the urge to laugh as the bat stuck out from his side like a sword of kinds. Carrick bit his tongue slightly and turned his head back to the window, obviously this kid thought he was a Hardchaw (fella looking for a fight) Carrick frowned to the window as the kid made his way towards where he and the other three kids were and his tail stopped swaying all together. Last thing he wanted to do was fight with someone and if this kid thought he was as cool as the kids at his old school he had a feeling he wouldn’t have much of a choice. ”Anyone know when the proffesor supposed to get here?” Carrick asked hoping he could be excused when class started. It seems the call of the skies was more than he could resist. Eyes trailed back outside to watch a few clouds pass by.

“Nothing higher than a step ladder,” Katrina quipped back at the winged boy, “you take any naps under deadly trees lately, falling, burning, or otherwise?”

A tall shape marched past her and took the seat between Calley and the window. Katrina's last rational thought was that the back row was full up now so anyone who was both a slacker and late would be stuck in the middle row. Then she caught a glimpse of the face from down the row; unkempt black hair, bored expression, baseball bat, bright green eyes.

“Holy s***!” She normally didn't swear. Or jump out of her seat like she'd sat on a porcupine. Or back into the corner feeling for the doorknob behind her back to make her escape and generally looking as terrified as if she'd seen the devil. Or his doppelganger.

Slowly, slowly, the realization dawned on her. This boy wasn't him. And she was looking mighty ridiculous.

“Uh, sorry. I thought you were somebody else. For a second there. ... Yeah.” And slowly, slowly, she slid herself back into her seat trying not to make any more of a scene than she already had. There was nothing like making a good impression on the first day.

~~“Hi Koga, I’m Ted or Teddy whichever you prefer.”

“nice to meet ya Teddy.”

~~“A little bit…” “I’m looking forward to the classes that let me practice my powers more than math class.”

“I get that, wait until you sssee the danger room, it’ll ruin video gamesss for you. I want to program dragonage into it or sssomething knew and run around in there. It isss really amazing.”

~~“What’s your favorite subject here?”

**“ First Semester for me back in school after a year, but back when I attended I have to say Gym might have been my favorite subject…”

Koga shot a smile over his shoulder. At least the back row hooligan’s weren’t anti social as well training to remain uneducated.. his eyes fell on Calley as he passed by him and went to settle in at the back. At least he wasn’t playing Mr.Ed anymore. So much potential throw to the wind. His focused on him as he compared him to his brother and the potential there was so much more obvious to him. but how to unlock it. Did Calley look hungry? Well he could go back to the sanctuary and study whatever racist Bs they taught there instead. :: Glare, return.::

“Oh, ummmmmm, thatsss a hard one, if I can only have one, Thisss sssemester it will be chemissstry, the real world applications are too vassst to ignore.”

And then all thought was lost, an angel walked by, all be it a bundled up one. So bundled up that someone might need a long red scarf. Or not…::Smile met with forced I don’t want to hurt your feelings Smile.::

Sit with the guy that actively thrashed and attacked with all his heart and life the giant clay creature that sought to destroy newyork or go sit with the pair of guys that ran around and did nothing. Pulling carts and dropping you out of the sky were not valid heroics…it was harsh but he was bitter.


He watched as others came in and noted the guy with the bat on his shoulder…huh? They were starting a baseball team? Neat! He looked grumpy and like he was looking down on him, but you know what, so what.

**”Anyone know when the proffesor supposed to get here?”

Gah, Carrick was loud. “They sssaid they’d be back with sssome print outsss.” He called back to Carrick, he was the only one here early enough to see the homeroom teacher.

++“Holy s***!”

The sound of her voice in distresss was all it took to put him next to her in about four seconds flat. His eyes wide and his fists clenched. His skin blazed black and his hair turned Red. His teeth were bare and his knuckles in spite of changing color were starting to turn white. He stood at the ready for anyone to attack that had made her freak out like that. But all the adrenaline found no one to unleash itself on immediately.

++“Uh, sorry. I thought you were somebody else. For a second there. ... Yeah.”

His solid black eyes scanned back and forth and fell on the guy with the bat. His eyebrows furrowed until she backed down. He lingered for a moment too long. It was funny how swearing in general silinece a high school room. It was true of mutant schools too.

OOC: I'm guessing post order isn't exactly a law here, so I'll just go with it. Also figured I'd post up this little extra for you guys:
Tank in class

IC: Tom had just settled into the Tempest by Pendulum when there was screaming and yelling and all sorts. He had figured that he would fit in here, after all, he was one of the normal looking ones in the room. More normal at least than Jack Sparrow and The Rainbow Kid. He didn't discriminate against people who looked odd because of mutations. He knew how hard this could be, but never the less, he wasn't expecting that he would cause that reaction. The music was up loud, as per the usual, so he didn't catch exactly what was going on, but he got the general idea. The young girl was screaming while looking at him and backing away, she practically sprinted backwards into the corner while the colour changing guy ran to her side in some kind of protective gesture. Tom raised an eyebrow and reached up to flick one earbud out of his right ear to hear what was going on. How annoying.

She cowered and the kid stood, staring intensely at him as he got up. With one of his headphones dangling down in front of his shirt, Tom stretched his legs and reached slowly for his bat. With its pommel lightly in his grasp and his eyes narrowing at the now black boy in front of him he finally spoke.
"Now look 'ere kid. I ain' gonna 'arm nobody. So I suggest tha' you cool it alrigh' mate?"
He said in a warning tone.
"I really didn' want any of this drama on my firs' day, but if you really wanna go, make it 'appen mate."
He finished, displaying his thick English accent. There was a moment of pause before the girl seemed to calm down and told him that she had gotten him confused with someone else.

With that, Tom locked eyes with the kid for a second more before leaning the bat back up against his desk.
"No 'ard feelings?"
He asked the kid as he sunk back into his chair. He really didn't want to do this all over again, but if people picked fights with him, they got what they asked for in spades. With the situation defused, Tom hopped his feet back up onto the desk and wiggled the headphone back into his ear. He smiled inwardly, how about that, he had needed the bat after all. In fact he didn't doubt that if he hadn't had the bat, and shown a clear display of power, he figured it would have gotten nasty. That was bad, after all, he was supposed to be avoiding nasty these days.

He just hoped that the other students didn't take away the impression that he was some kind of total thug, he figured he had better talk to the girl and clear things up, so with a sigh, he flicked out the earbud again and walked as non-threateningly as he could over to her desk.
"Look, sorry tha' I scared you righ'. The name's Tom Barker, an I tell ya, I won' 'urt you ok?"
He said, trying to sound as reassuring as he could manage. Being nice wasn't exactly Tom's forte, so he hoped he was getting it right as he extended a hand for her to shake if she wasn't too scared.
What a f****** mess.

“I get that, wait until you sssee the danger room, it’ll ruin video gamesss for you. I want to program dragonage into it or sssomething knew and run around in there. It isss really amazing.”

The classroom was filling up relatively quickly. There weren’t a whole lot of people there still but it seemed like most were steadily flowing into the room. “Ya I haven’t gotten in there yet. I think I’m too young to get in there by myself or something like that.” Ted didn’t really believe the response that he was told about when he was first shown around, but it was a rule and no matter how badly he wanted to see the place he couldn’t get in. a smile did cross his face at the thought of it ruining video games, because video games were the greatest thing since sliced bread and if the Danger Room ruined that then it had to be something special.

“Oh, ummmmmm, thatsss a hard one, if I can only have one, Thisss sssemester it will be chemissstry, the real world applications are too vassst to ignore.”

Ok, Koga either had a bad lisp or it was part of his mutation. Ya… We’ll go with part of his mutation. Whatever the reason was, it didn’t affect his speech to bad and Ted was still able to understand him well enough. Pretty soon another voice chimed in with his opinion of his favorite class. Teddy was glad that they were all fairly talkative and even though they were sitting in the back of the class, they were still inclined to give their opinions to the kids at the front of the class. Another smile crossed his face; this was shaping up to be an alright first day. The name Carrick was overheard by the young mutant as he introduced himself to someone else. He could remember that name. It was like Koga’s name. Unique and memorable.

Another couple students walked in that he didn’t recognize at all. One of them was a girl who seemed like she was wrapped a little too heavily for being in doors. However, there was something odd in the way that she passed by the two in the front. The young boy wasn’t that skilled in the art of relationships and so it seemed just a little odd after Koga and her exchanged glances. After the guy with the bat entered it was a little less of a pleasant day. The girl let out a little bit of profanity. Very loudly and unexpected profanity at that. Ted looked around to see if there was something wrong. About the time it took for him to turn around was about the time it took Koga to jump out of his chair and move protectively in front of whomever she was. Now it was more apparent that there was obviously something going on between the two of them. It didn’t really matter what but it was clear that Koga was a very protective person when it came to girls he liked.

Ted didn’t like fights, plain and simple. There were several reasons and the main one was that he didn't really know how to fight. Also if it came down to using mutations his wasn't exactly something that he could use to fight. Ted also didn’t like to see people get hurt. It just didn’t sit right with him. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything that he could do to prevent it; fortunately enough the others weren’t interested in fighting either, at least not at the moment. The last thing Ted needed was to be in a room where a fight took place. Great…school equals drama. Just great…

Katrina waddled into the room, in full female winter attire. Calley grinned, sitting in his own jeans and a T-shirt. And a black Mondragon Labs guard’s coat, too. An unbuttoned one. Silly girls, and their lack of body heat.

>> "you actually came."

Oh, le eloquent one-shouldered shrug, with gaze averting action. It was so very teenage.

>> ” First Semester for me back in school after a year, but back when I attended I have to say Gym might have been my favorite subject… Name’s Carrick O’Conner.”

Tilted handshake accepted, and returned. “Calley O’Something-something. I had nothing better to do.” Gaze still averted from Kat. Not because he wasn’t looking at her, of course: just because he was looking at Carrick. Yes. Yes, there could be no doubt: that was the only reason that a cat could get dragged to class. Because he wanted to be.

Yesss...

“Holy s***!”

Eyes back to Kat. At the same time the lizard was rushing to her rescue, the brown-haired teenager was watching their Batty friend with narrowed eyes. He didn’t now what the guy had just done; he’d only vaguely noticed him even entering. But Kat usually didn’t swear.

Or jump out of her desk, like a serial killer was in the room.

>> “Uh, sorry. I thought you were somebody else. For a second there. ... Yeah.”

Snatches of memory, given to him at Ghost’s wedding, flashed through his mind. Green eyes. Black hair. That face— Yeah. He could understand the confusion.

>> "Now look 'ere kid. I ain' gonna 'arm nobody. So I suggest tha' you cool it alrigh' mate? I really didn' want any of this drama on my firs' day, but if you really wanna go, make it 'appen mate."

“Just a mistake.” Calley said levelly, eyeing Batty’s reaction. Bringing out a weapon, at the slightest hint of trouble. Not. Cool.

>> "Look, sorry tha' I scared you righ'. The name's Tom Barker, an I tell ya, I won' 'urt you ok?"

Calley stayed seated, but his blue eyes tracked his fellow teen warily as the guy approached their bundled up fourteen year old. They flicked to that hand Batty was offering.

“What’s your mutation, Tom?” He said the guy, hoping that Kat understood. Edging, potentially violent guy + unknown mutation = do not, do not shake the man’s hand. Just because this was the X’s little stronghold didn’t mean the students were safe; double meaning entirely intentional. Witness his own case: he’d mauled a senior X-Men, then been personally invited back to the Mansion by the X-Leader himself without even being asked for so much as an apology, or a promise not to do it again. Here sat a little slice of the Order, in homeroom.

“I’m Calley. Tiger shifter.” At least two people in this room knew that was a blatant understatement. Which was rather the point: it was a reminder, to one of them. Back during the Resistance days, Calley had been the one to teach Kat that a mutant kept safer if they didn’t spill all of their abilities. He was hoping she’d realize the other half, now: no matter what this guy answered, that didn’t mean it was the truth.

He did not like that hand.
He did not like that bat.
He did not like that jumpy willingness to violence.

He did not like that face.
He did not like those sewage eyes.
That tunnel black hair.

He did not like Tom.

Smirking in blonde’s direction he waved a hand over his heart and let out whistle that dragged on before he added a sarcastic tone, ”Be still my heart, she has the quips!” he let out a quick laugh before he turned back to Calley, ”She’s a quick one she is!” Looking back to the girl to return the spit fire, ”Nope didn’t have any girls around who were willing to take care of me… although…” his thoughts quickly went to Noel and how he and her somehow ended up in a building cell of some kind that required him to bum a cab ride off of her.

Looking to Koga and smirking slightly at the Chemistry comment he added, ”I think I might have a friend who I want you to meet.” he of course was referring to the only other nerd he knew of at the mansion, Ruby the fox shifter was ecstatic about learning and other such nonsense that didn’t interest Carrick much.

“Holy s***!”

The air in the classroom went from normally classroom cold and bitter to a tense and dry one. It was clear that the guy with the bat didn’t make a good impression. His head turned from Koga and then looked over to the girl and then to the Hardchaw (fella looking for a fight), his bat now in hand and he approaching his sort of savior. He frowned slightly clearly the Hardchaw was like any other, claming he wasn’t looking for a fight but carrying around a bat in an attempt to scare everyone else.

”Great way to start off a semester!” Carrick smirked as he leaned forward and planted his feet on the ground his back turned towards the window while his front was facing both the Hardchaw, the girl and Koga. ”I got an idea,” Carrick said a grin on his face as everyone else seemed to be getting tense over the situation, ”How bout you set the bat down and greet her properly Hardchaw, doubt baseball is in season anyways but who knows,” Carrick shrugged his wings lifting with him, ”I’m just a foreigner.”

He looked to the girl slightly and frowned, ”And I think that might be the first time someone beat me swearing aloud in a class… don’t like that S*** one bit…” he said his attention turning towards Calley and then to Tom back to Calley, ”Tiger shifter?” he asked curiously trying to change the subject, ”Got a trick I’ll need to show you sometime…” he smiled hoping that Calley wasn’t like most cats.