New Arrival(open)

[Alex Grayson]

Alex was scared.

He'd just been taken to Hammel. Of the four Grayson children, Alex was the only one to have special abilities. He wasn't too sure about his new abilities. Frankie kept on telling his brother that it'd be okay- and it was really cool for him to learn how to tell the future. However, Alex just wasn't buying it. What Frankie wasn't realizing was that his brother's talent came with side effects. The migraines he'd been having weren't random, and he knew it. They normally occurred right after he'd used his ability- or rather, his ability randomly decided to work.

He closed his eyes. He felt a vision come on- and he immediately went back to wishing that he were normal. There was a picture of his father, happy, his mother following after him, also happy, his sisters happier than they'd ever been before, trailing behind. The only one missing was his brother. Where was Frankie? Was he going to die?

He knew Julia was going to be calling him a mutant to her friends. He knew Olivia wouldn't do anything about it, she never stuck up for anyone. Pain began to egg at his head- Alex could tell that a migraine was coming.

He frowned, and went back to wandering around the courtyard, trying to block the sun from his eyes.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin wasn’t afraid of much. He was an adventurer on his good days and a reader on his bad days.

Today was a good day, and already Hammel was starting to feel at home. Most would still consider Kevin new to the school, but he knew the place well already. He’d even made a few friends! There was Caroline and her brother Lani. There was Aaron and Jared, and Amber, and Chase, and Haley. Yes, he’d already made quite a few friends here and hoped to make more. Of course, his parents weren’t here and he missed them and his brother a lot, but that was alright. They promised to visit him and he knew they would.

He loved his power, so, he didn’t mind the pay off of being here to learn about it, even if he was away from his family. They were all as excited as he was.

September. Already the leaves were beginning to turn yellow, but at least the sun was shining. Someone stepped over him and he watched them. Wow, this guy must’ve been pretty spaced out. Actually...

“Hey! Are you lost?” Kevin asked from his spot on the ground, standing up and sloughing off the dead grass on his sweater. Just because it was sunny didn’t mean it was warm. “I’m pretty knew here, but I’m sure I can help you out,” he said, beaming, and chalk full of confidence.

[Alex Grayson]

Alex stopped, blinked and looked at the other teen. He wondered if this person would be nice, and what power they had. He couldn't tell from just looking. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to talk to the kid, maybe get an idea of what Hammel was about from an insider.

Today had definitely been a weird day. Though, any day that he saw something was a weird day, and the migraines that came quite often were frankly painful, and his power simply wasn't worth the pain that it brought. Side effects, the recruited had told him, came with every power, and they wouldn't be easy to deal with, from what he'd heard. Alex was determined, though, and he'd find a way to deal.

Alex nodded. "Yeah, i am," he answered, in a quiet voice. Anything louder would've been painful- heck, even the other kid's voice was a touch too loud for his liking on a day with a migraine. "I'm brand-new here, just got here today. I'm Alex," he introduced himself.

Maybe Hammel wouldn't be so bad if there were people who voluntarily offered to help out those who were new. After all, unlike Alex's previous school, everyone had at least one thing in common- they were all metahumans, trying to learn how to cope with their newly discovered abilities.

[Kevin Bailey]

"Cool," Kevin said with a nod and a smile, "I got here during the summer, everyone's a little different, but we all have powers, so that's pretty awesome." Seriously, this was the next best thing to happen to him. The best thing would've been getting accepted into Hogwarts, but that wasn't going to happen now that he was at Hammel. "I'm Kevin," he said.

Alex was just lucky to find someone who actually liked people, and the newbie would soon find that there were also a lot of people who weren't so nice.

"You okay?" He asked, putting a hand to Alex's forehead like his mom did when she thought Kevin had a cold. Nope, he seemed fine. Kevin drew his hand away and shrugged. "You don't look so good," he said, peering at Alex through squinted eyes.

[Alex Grayson]

"I suppose everyone has something in common," Alex mused out loud, continuing in the soft voice. In theory, it wold mean that everyone more or less got along and bonded over their similarity, but not everywhere was an ideal world. He wondered what the Hammel students were like- at least, the other ones, or even the older ones. Heck, he was even curious about his dormmates, who he assumed he'd be meeting sometime in the very near future. Though, he couldn't tell; precognition for him never worked on command.

"It's nice to meet you," added Alex, looking the teen in the eyes. He supposed he could trust Kevin if he continued being nice- only time would tell, he figured.

Alex sighed, rubbing his forehead after Kevin touched it. "I...well, let's just start off by saying I've got precognition," he said quickly, yet softly. "And I've been having migraines ever since my ability started," he explained. "Right now, I'm in the middle of one of them, I'll be fine in a few hours."

[Kevin Bailey]

Eventually, his power would for him on demand. At least, that was why they were here, right?

"Cool! I haven't met anyone who's a precog yet!" He said, eager to use his vast knowledge of power slang. Kevin quickly covered his mouth, realizing just how loud he must be. "Sorry! I'll speak quieter," he said with a nod. There was no way he'd be able to stop talking altogether. "I can breathe underwater and talk to different fish species," Kevin said, obviously quite proud of his ability.

"Where are you from?" He asked, eager to learn all about his new friend, even though he was suffering from a headache. "Wait," he added, deciding his curiosity wasn't the most important thing right now, "do you need to go to the infirmary?"

[Alex Grayson]

Alex was slightly confused by the slang- he figured he'd get used to it, after a while, at least. Though, precog was much better than saying the entire thing. It was simple, and easy enough to understand. Next time, he'd use that. If he could remember to, at least....

"S'alright," Alex said with a shrug. Kevin probably didn't realize that he was talking loudly until after he'd spoken, which was okay with Alex- hey, everyone made mistakes after all. Even Alex, who had a tendency to crash into things before he'd developed his ability, was quite forgetful. "That's pretty cool." Alex wished he'd had something like that instead of being able to predict the future- the side effects probably weren't as bad. Though, there would still be side effects.

"I'm fine," Alex shook his head. He didn't quite want to go to the infirmary, nor would he trust the staff there for a few weeks.

[Kevin Bailey]

As soon as Alex didn't have a headache, Kevin would naturally progress back to his outdoor voice. For now, he was keeping it down for the sake of his new friend. Kevin smiled sheepishly and nodded. Now was not a good time to bring up Aquaman. "I don't get headaches, but I can't be away from water for very long, I just figured that out the other day. I was so worried, it felt like I was drying up! But then it all made sense in the end," he said, trying to be sympathetic.

"Okay," Kevin said, smiling a bit. "Well, where do you want to go? And on the way there, you can tell me where you're from," he offered, putting his twitchy hands in his pockets.

[Alex Grayson]

Now that was interesting. Still, Alex didn't think it was as bad as having constant migraines, but it was still a side effect. Then again, there was no point in comparing side effects; in the end, everyone supposedly got used to them. "I guess you learn something new every day," Alex offered with a small shrug. He'd be learning loads about metahumans, he figured- he'd never talked with one before he'd been recruited. Though, he did want to meet a fellow precognition student... he supposed he'd meet one soon enough. "Do you go swimming often? I heard that Hammel has a pool," he asked politely.

"How 'bout staying here?" Alex offered. "Or I guess I'd be okay with going exploring," though, it might be stretching his luck. Hopefully the pain didn't get any worse; the throbbing was already rather bad.

[Kevin Bailey]

Alex didn't seem very excited to be here, and Kevin wondered why. "It gets better you know," he offered, his eyes searching Alex's. "I go swimming as much as I can," he said with a grin. "Hey, if you ever want someone to go with you, I would go!" He was getting carried away again, and pursed his lips together as a reminder. "You know, only if you want to."

Kevin plopped down onto a nearby bench in the courtyard. "We can stay here, sounds good to me," he said, his light blue eyes glancing up at Alex. He was agreeable for most things. "Maybe once you're feeling better, we can go on an adventure," he stated, like it was the most natural step. He just hoped Alex wouldn't pass out on him, that'd be too much adventure maybe.

[Alex Grayson]

Alex wondered if Kevin was just saying it to console him- though, starting was rough, and he was probably already behind on some stuff. Though, Kevin had been there for a little bit, and he figured it'd be best to just take any advice he could take and run with it. Any pointers would be quite good. "I'll go with you sometime," he offered. Alex wasn't much of a swimmer, but he'd learned how at an early age. If he had someone to go with, he'd be absolutely fine with swimming around.

"That sounds like a good plan," Alex affirmed with a nod. He rubbed his forehead again- the throbbing was getting worse. He'd deal; the headache he'd had two days ago was worse.

[Kevin Bailey]

So what if he stayed just for Alex? Isn't that what friends did? Besides, he didn't really want to do homework, so a good excuse was always in order. "Cool, it'll be fun. My friend Aaron has sonic manip and he made a tornado thingy in the water once. I got stuck in it, I felt so sick," he shuddered at the memory, but at least it made him smile now. They'd had s'more afterwards so things definitely turned out well in the end.

"So what do you want to know about Hammel?" Kevin asked, wondering if he'd even be able to answer any questions. He'd do his best, even though he hadn't read the manual and probably should have. Oh well.

[Alex Grayson]

Alex was slightly shocked. The Aaron person sounded slightly scary, but he'd have to meet the person to find out for himself. Alex wasn't a fan of being judged himself- it made him wonder what rumors would go around about him. Of course, since no one knew him yet, there wouldn't be any rumors- but as time went on, there would definitely be gossip about the weird precognition student, or so he thought. "That sounds terrifying," Alex said after a moment. His voice was slightly quieter this time.

"What's training like?" he asked. "I haven't heard much about it yet, and I'm a bit scared to start," he admitted. He figured he'd start soon enough, but how they'd train him was a daunting thought.

[Kevin Bailey]

"I didn't puke though," he reassured his new friend. "And yeah, we had a campfire afterwards and has s'mores. It totally made up for everything." And it was awesome to have friends and stuff. Kevin smiled fondly at the memory. What didn't kill him made him stronger, or something like that, not like he'd been through many hardships.

"It's alright," he said, shrugging, "a lot of the older kids think the trainers are useless, but I don't know. Mine is pretty strict, but fair you know? It's going pretty good so far, trying to figure out how I breathe under water, since I don't have any gills on the outside of my body." Kevin patted Alex's shoulder lightly. "You don't have to be scared, everyone here's really friendly." Well, for the most part. "Well, you'll get a weirdo every once in a while, but I've only met one person who was really hard to get along with so far."

[Alex Grayson]

A smile appeared on Alex's face. "Is he nice?" he asked quickly. "I mean... that sounds really scary. But s'mores sounds awesome." Alex looked around. Is that what the norm at Hammel was- bonding over s'mores and campfires? He then wondered where the fire pits on the campus were, if s'mores were made often, failing to realize that it must've been on the retreat that s'mores were made.

Training was something Alex wasn't exactly looking forward to. He hated being able to see the future and being unable to change it. It made him feel quite guilty, but he'd get over it soon, hopefully. "Who's your trainer?" he asked quietly. He figured that knowing the name could do him some good. "Maybe I'll get the same trainer as you," he said brightly. The happy tone faded quickly. "Who's that?"