Could We Change the Subject Now? (Lyra)

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy wasn't really sure why she agreed to joining the cinema club when she first got to Hammel. The thought was simple, if she remembered correctly. Movies were fun. Horror movies kicked ass. And maybe she thought she'd meet people who were like minded if she did. Not that she wanted to make a whole bunch of friends when she first got there. No, if she remembered correctly her intent was to breeze through Hammel without ever needing to talk to people. Well, she was stuck for another year. So she might as well do something with that year.

Lucky for Lucky, the cinema club were using the student lounge anyway for the watching of movies. She arrived late, and they were knee deep in something on the screen. She stopped, narrowing her eyes on the screen in mild confusion. Oh, that was pancake batter? Why were these people fishing through pancake batter? "You gotta be fucking kidding me..." She muttered to herself, running her hands along her face. Whatever, they were into it and she was there now. So Lucy flopped down on the couch and threw her feet onto the coffee table, narrowly escaping an assortment of sweets as she did so.

"What is this?" She asked flatly, to anyone willing to answer. "I thought this was finally horror night. Not art house shit on my tv screen night."

[Lyra Caruso]

"Yeah, never understood that sort of shit either."

Replies a bored and partially annoyed voice to the right of her. A girl was crouched on the floor with a suitcase next to her, glaring at what was going on with the screen. Her tartan shirt was over-sized, making her look much smaller than she already was. Lyra had sifted through the variety of clubs before her arrival to the institute - and just like regular high school, 98% of the choices were boring. How the hell was there no archery club? Just to whet her appetite, the film club seemed to be the least painful to sit through. It's movies! She LOVED movies, especially the horror genre. What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, art house films was the correct response to that question. Lyra shot a quick gaze at the companion chick with her at the moment. Thankfully, she didn't seem to be one of those type of cinema buffs that went on about art house films. Maybe the cursing gave it away.

"Like look: I remember reading all sorts of film analysis about this one. Apparently the pancake flipping scene is supposed to represent revolution and the breaking of tyrannical establishment. Who comes up with this nonsense?!"

Her fingers scrounged through the bag of chips she liberated from a snack machine as she looked toward the screen.

"And it's in French too. What the living hell? Just because it's French doesn't make it GOOD. "

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy rested her head on the back of the couch, turning her head to look at who actually answered her. Most times no one bothered. Unless they wanted to argue. But better yet, this one agreed with her. She'd take that to the bank. Because last time, she ended up with a budding friendship-type thing with a chick named Sawyer.

She pursed her lips at the explanation given. Lucy hadn't read anything about it. Maybe that was a good thing; it meant she was coming at it with fresh eyes, though she wasn't one for delving so deeply into something that wasn't there. "To me, it just means breakfast. Or brinner if you're keen for that sorta thing." She replied, lacing her fingers together and idly stretching her hands out before her.

"Dunno much about the French, but I know they brought us some douchey twins." Lucy replied, thinking of Dom almost instantly. "Never been into their films, personally. But that's all this fucking club is about nowadays." She jerked her head when a nearby member shushed her, the corner of her mouth twitching into a grin. "I'm still convinced they lied to drag people here."

[Lyra Caruso]

"See, brinner sounds good actually, better than munchos." Or wait, she looked at the bag in her hands for a second. She had almost questioned it was Doritos for some reason despite not even being the same kind of chip. There was little Lyra could note on, other than there were apparently French twins about. Something about that would get annoying pretty quick...

"Wasn't there supposed to be a horror movie thing going on? That's why the hell I was here. I was hoping for zombies and slashers."

Actually...the kid reached into a second bag that was hidden beneath the tartan sheet she called a shirt and pulled out the flyer. Horror movie night? Obviously the overly filtered crap playing on the screen highlighted the lies that lured her here.

"This had GOTTA be on purpose." Lyra points to her companion on the couch. "And being that you're just as annoyed, you're not the one heading this. So who do I have to take a bat to?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Is brinner just breakfast food at dinner time, or is it a mix of breakfast food and dinner food?" Lucy asked. She'd always wondered that - brinner was not exactly an Australian-born custom, but she doubted it was an American only thing either. Idly she leaned forward, fishing through a bag of miscellaneous sweets and settling it on her lap rather than just taking a handful.

Lucy pointed towards her, looking back at the others with a clear cut expression of understanding. So it wasn't just her! It was proven when a flier was drawn out. "You are fucking liars." She seethed, lifting her feet and slamming them down on the coffee table again with a laugh. "Liars." No wonder she found time to hate this place.

"I don't even know. This group barely do these things. Whoever the staff co-ordinator is is a total no-show." Lucy replied with a shrug, at the point where she wasn't registering that there were people in the room watching the movie on the screen. "There's a reason I don't go, y'know? But I guess... Each group need a minimun amount of people or they get dropped."

[Lyra Caruso]

Lyra almost shot a wide eyed gaze at the girl until it dawned upon her that Aussies probably don't have that concept. It's not very often she'd randomly meet an Australian with the same distaste for art house films. There was almost the smallest swell of pride of having the chance to impart a piece of information, even as small as concept of dinner types.

"First answer. There's nothing like having eggs, toast and orange juice for dinner. There's a bunch of diners all over the states that do it."

The small girl crumpled the dishonest flyer with a tangible satisfaction and tossed it over her shoulder, missing the trash bin by a few inches.

"Minimum members, hm?" Standard club issues, Lyra thought. Well, if they continued to show films that should be considered a crime to humanity, then maybe they deserved to be dissolved! "Couldn't we like, stage some sort of hostile takeover of the club? Or would that be frowned upon?"

And an actual takeover, not a pancake flipping in a pan metaphor. Seriously, it was still happening on the screen! She may have invested no more than five or ten minutes conversing with this far more interesting Aussie chick and to no surprise, still flipping pancakes. Lyra would roll her eyes before continuing the conversation.

"Actually Sheila, since I kinda just got about 10 minutes ago, swear to god: what is frowned upon here, if you don't mind me asking? That way I know the boundaries and then probably cross them anyways."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy pursed her lips, wondering what brinner would actually be like. Always a thought never put into practice in her world. "You can't talk breakfast and not say bacon, though." She replied, glad it was in fact the former and not the latter at any rate. Enveloping toast into something like pasta didn't sound like a stellar move.

"I don't think anyone's ever thought of a hostile takeover. What if they quit?" Lucy asked, riffling through the bag on her lap and pulling out certain sweets. She had preferences, just like every other person in the world. "Then you lose your numbers and your club. But if you quit, they lose their club and you lose the need to be here." She'd given it some thought, but the numbers weren't in her favour.

"Frowned upon?" She asked, leaning her head against the back of the couch and glancing at the ceiling. "Think regular high school rules, I guess. I'm not a choice person to ask. I throw paint on walls at least once a month." She added a shrug to that, as if somehow it was a regular fact of life. It was, for Hammel's sake anyway. "Depends on what you got planned though. Detention is about as boring as it always is."

[Lyra Caruso]

Lyra grinned. Not only did she not take her sudden nickname in offense, but she liked her general train of thought. Qh, there HAD to be bacon involved, or at least a variety of Italian deli meats. That how brinner at her house was! The thoughts of breakfast for dinner were swept away in talks of hostile club takeovers, but the variables this chick presented made was met with a flat stare.

"Like they get a choice to quit? It's a hostile takeover, hostile being the fun key word there. What's the fun without scaring some poor saps to remain a member in fear of their lives?"

Which now seemed to be straying into dictatorship territory, not that it would be a deterrent. The girl's attentions flick to the sounds of sweets, though not heavily invested in her curiosity to ask what they were but enough for her to become bored with the idea of taking over the club - too much work involved.

"Damn." The girl swears to herself. "See, I always thought detention at a place like this would be...I dunno, different?" Lyra shrugs, suppose her idea of detention at an institute with meta-things were simply wayward dreams of a teen-aged girl with an active imagination. Lyra shifted her seating position, stretching out her legs after crouching for so long.

"I never got to ask my brother much about this place before he graduated." She noted, picking at a tear in her black jeans. "Should've though. I'm not even sure what to expect...aside from people with crazy powers and stuff."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"I know. Unfortunately, s'not really how things like to work around here." Lucy replied with a light shrug. No, people had their attitudes and they liked to be pushy with them. "Think of it this way; a lotta people in this place like to think they're boss. You can join the race, be some douche's puppet, or sit back and laugh at the people who actually give a fuck." She laughed at that. Some of the ego's in this place weren't worth getting in a mess with.

"What's your idea of power detention? Being dropped in a crazy ass dimension and left to fend for yourself for an hour?" She waved her hand, chuckling to herself at the idea; "Nah. I'd rather get slapped with a 5k morning jog. Buuut... More likely you'll end up sitting at a desk for half a day staring at the ceiling."

Lucy rolled her shoulders, unwrapping one of the sweets in her lap and dropping it into her mouth. Huh. Tasted like grape. Well, the wrapper was purple, so that made sense. "They dragged me across the bloody world to drop me here. Didn't have anyone to ask. Didn't know anyone." It wasn't so bad. At least, that's what she was trying to say. "What did you expect? Anything at all? Sorry to disappoint, but this is just a little jacked up high school."

[Lyra Caruso]

Lyra pouts again, but it is far more exaggeration than from actual disappointment. There goes her hopes of hostile takeovers! Egos were always the worst, that aspect of school has not changed at all. Thankfully her companion seemed to not be one of those types, it made the girl feel a little more comfortable. This was quite literally her first day on the grounds, a fish out of water. And in Vermont.

Could be worse, honestly. She could have been dragged half a world away to a school like Sheila.

"Know what, though? I dunno what I was expecting. All this time, I heard so much stuff about meta-things and all these rumors about schools for meta-things and then one day-" She used her hands to simulate a "poof", complete with the sound.

"I become one. It kinda feels like you'd learn all the secrets of the universe or something, y'know?" Though that was a bit of a bust, but a girl can dream.

"I sorta thought there was like crazy classes and secretive teachers with hopes of making us into a ragtag team of super heroes." Lyra shrugs. The kid had an interesting imagination...or read one too many comic books.

"Well, least you don't seem to be much of a douchenozzle." A compliment, certainly.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"You thinking like... X-men type shit?" Lucy asked. She knew for her, it was her only point of reference when it came to meta-humans. Her family didn't have powers. At least, her parents didn't. Just normal people living a normal life far far away from here. "They don't tell you about this stuff. Not openly, anyway. Even when you're here, you're still dumb." There had to be more than just this life, but there was no evidence of that in Vermont.

She had to laugh at the idea of crazy classes. If only, maybe that would spark some more interesting outbreaks; "Crazy classes? How does math and history grab you?" She grinned. Two things she was failing. History especially - it meant nothing to her. "Somehow there are a handful of power schools that are secret, right. But it's like... The world's worst kept secret." After all, people weren't all getting a cosy ride on power-town. Some people were probably blowing up buildings in some shitty corner of the world.

"Yeah, I don't suck. Because I don't glorify the place." She replied, rolling her eyes at the thought. "But hey, it's either here or fucking Switzerland. I wasn't going nowhere English wasn't mandatory."

[Lyra Caruso]

Lyra would point at her then give her a thumbs up. YES, X-men, exactly...and probably a whole genre of Japanese animation if she recalled correctly. It was incredibly dorky to utter in front of the awesome Aussie chick but Lyra hardly cared at this point. She was deprived of a showing of really awesome horror movies in favor of art house, over-filtered nonsense.

And it was still GOING. Wow, this scene was much longer than she had read on reviews.

"Exactly like that. It makes sense, doesn't it? We got superpowers, some probably can cause serious damage to others. So totally make sense to have a super school with super stuff. Hell, I even expected drones and robots around here."

Lyra stopped and held her hands up in surrender. She's talking too much dorky nonsense. This was real life after all! "Figures though, metas get exposed in the world and all we get is a jacked up high school, right?"

Shh! Coming from the Aussie chick's side. Oh right, people were actually watching this crap! Naturally, Lyra flipped whomever it was right off and spoke up:

"Don't be rude ya douche, we're having a conversation here!"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy replied with a knowing grin, raising her eyebrows in acknowledgement. Sure, there were more things out there that people could compare it to, but the one mentioned was the first that ended up popping into her head. So she ran with it.

By this point, Lucy had no fucks to give over the TV. Or the movie on offer.

"Think some kind of crazy-minded scientists built this place? Nah, I bet it was burly dudes with super strength and speed." She replied with a shrug. She knew both were unlikely, but it was funny to try and think of outlandish stories.

She shrugged her shoulders, "A school, yeah. Or five. None for my country though. Aussie's get jacked in every scenario."

Lucy kept her eyes elsewhere, away from the other even when they tried to speak up against her. She just boldly didn't care either way. But still, she had to sit back with a laugh when the girl spoke up, either for her or for the potential fight. Alas, nothing would come of it. "Nah, let's get the fuck outta here. Leave them to their pancake-crazy."

[Lyra Caruso]

Lyra's eyes widened at the very idea of this place existing due to the mad works of scientists and speedsters whom can travel the world in 30 seconds. IF ONLY! That would be crazy insane to be the truth....but reality was reality. It seems this chick was not put off by her sudden nerdiness. The fact she went along with it made her wonder if she had siblings.

And it was nice not to be teased for it. Not her fault her brother had all those comic books!

"Can we get the fuck outta here?" She was already motioning to get back on her feet, grabbing her companion rolling suitcase ready to go.

"Since no one's gonna be honest about what we're actually watching, I'd rather go do something not-lame. Like seriously, this would have all been avoided if we've been watching Evil Dead instead."

Pause. "And not the remake, mind you. That was trying too hard. It takes the fun out of it." But Sheila, she hoped, had the same idea. "Hey Sheila, the hell's your name anyway? I know I never asked but...I tend not to."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"I'm not chained to this thing." Lucy replied with a shrug, lifting her feet off the coffee table and standing up with a slight stretch. She took the bag of sweets with her and threw a half-hearted wave over her shoulder as she made her way towards the door.

First and last time she'd be rocking up to that club. Unless they changed their ways, or something.

Was it weird how much they talked before getting to the name thing? Lucy stepped out the door and made a move towards the courtyard. And the dorms, specifically. "Most people don't give out nicknames - they call me Lucy." She replied. She knew the name wasn't what people thought of when it came to who she was, but it was what she was given, and she could deal with that.

"This place is like a regular school, right? Only difference is that there's a mess of training rooms off that way." She explained, indicating in their direction. "But you should set yourself up in a dorm first. Y'get your assignment?"