Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Nice to meet you Kora” Alba said “Lucid dreaming? I read about that before. It's a really cool power. How long have you been able to do that? Have you played any pranks yet? I can grow or shrink my hair at will-which is fun- it means I can have a different style every day. It also helps hide my ears sometimes,” chucking Alba continued “I just recently learned I can use my hair to pick up objects too. Sadly I can only pick up light objects, i hope someday I can pick up heavier objects.” Alba gushed, taking a deep breath-”Sorry for talking so fast, I'm just so excited, I hope..” she started when she noticed the girl in front of Kora shove something in her pocket to leave. Curious, Alba watched the student walk to the door before the teacher stopped her. She waited for the student to reply before she saw her hand something to miss Scarlett. Making a mental note to seek her out later, Alba turned back to Kora. “I wonder if she’s okay.” Alba said pointing to the girl. “Do you know her?”

Cloud watched her open her mouth to speak and then stop. It reminded her of herself a bit. The nod was enough for Cloud.

"She's best" Cloud said simply

She was a tad surprised when Echo took her hand. She felt the warmth and the wound seal like an invisible scab. Cloud unwrapped her hand since it wasn't needed anymore.

"Bully" Cloud answered in reply to Echo having pointed "fight happened. Thanks"

Cloud watched her as she was leaving and then looked down at her hand.

"Enjoy the garden" she muttered under her breath with a slight smile

She went back to slowly eating her breakfast alone. For once something felt wrong but she couldn't put a name to the feeling.

Kora looked at Alba's hair as she explained her ability. She laughed to herself thinking of Sampson from the Bible but it was still awe inspiring to think about a human with animal ears. Kora wondered if rubbing them would make her purr. Did she have a tail?

"It's almost like you have a third arm; oh have you thought of using it as a shield? Like protecting your head or body?" Kora noted aloud then turned red, trying to figure out how to answer Alba's questions. "I think I've been able to do this since I was a baby but my parents are Catholic and the nuns at my old school would punish me for "day dreaming" and the priests tried to exorcise me when I tried a prank. So I ran away." She bit her tongue, worried she'd said to much; but was relieved when Alba asked about Echo.

"I don't know her name, come to think of it she hasn't spoken a word since we met." She paused, looking at the clock and stuffing her bag with her books. "We were both lost in the garden and a bigger student showed us to class. You showed up a few minutes later." Kora smirked. "Wanna go find her?"

Echo finished unpacking her things. Her room still looked a little plain; the stock furniture that the university provided was unchanged and blended in with the dullness of the walls. The only items that were Echo’s was a stereo that sat on top of her dresser, a poster of her favorite band hanging on the wall above her bed, and a laptop sitting on a small desk. She sat on her bed, thoughts still racing through her head about her roommate. If they would get along, if they would even see each other, it started to worry her. She decided to go out for a walk around campus to ease her mind. Echo grabbed her bag and the campus map and headed out.

After wandering around for a while, Echo came across a campus café. Smaller than the main cafeteria, this place was near the north edge of campus. It seemed that this was the area where a lot of older students had classes. Not many students around were her age. She ordered a black tea (it was difficult ordering by just pointing at a menu and shaking her head a lot) and sat outside on a bench, sipping it and taking in her surroundings. Echo liked to explore despite her social anxiety. She enjoyed getting lost on her own and finding her way back, looking at her surroundings and taking in the scenery. It was getting closer towards the evening as the sun started to hover on top of the campus buildings.



It was around 5PM as the sun started to lower across the tops of the campus. Trent sat in his final class of the day. At least, the last class before the combat class that Jade signed him up for. The professor sat at the front of the classroom at a desk surrounded by potted plants. The word Herbalism written large on the dry erase board. Students were filing in at a steady pace, filling up the seats gradually. Trent sat towards the back of the large classroom, which was almost like an auditorium. The seats towards the back around him were still empty. It was possible that the class wouldn’t fill the room’s capacity. The teacher stood and introduced himself once the majority of the students were in their seats.

“My name is Mr. Datura. I will be your Herbalism professor for this semester. Today’s class will be shorter than usual, as it is the first day and I don’t want to overload you all with assignments, as I am sure your other professors have.” Mr. Datura continued on with his introductory lecture, surprisingly able to keep the attention of all of the students. Usually, students would start to walk out early in the first few classes. Mr. Datura seemed to have a way about him that kept everyone engaged in what he was saying.

“That’s all I have for you all today. A brief overview of what you will be learning throughout the course. You all enjoy the rest of the day and be ready to start next class.” Mr. Datura ended, closing the slides and packing up his materials at his desk. Trent was surprised at the number of students remaining and how he managed to hold their attention for what many would consider a boring subject. He stood up and grabbed his belongings, turning to see Cloud sitting in a dark section behind him in the back of the classroom. The events from earlier that day instantly replayed in his head; the look in her eyes after she sent the student flying. His gut told him he should just walk off and not say anything, but he ignored the feeling. “Looks like this class will be pretty interesting, huh?” He said casually as he approached her. He extended his hand again, just trying to be friendly like before.

"Luckily we're all weird." Kora smirked at Alba's reason for running late as she thought of where Echo was. "I have an idea of where she could be. We'll have to ask where she's staying when we find her." Collecting her things, Kora stood and walked toward the door.

"Don't forget these." Tom handed the girls some notes from class, knowing they'd been two of the three late students. Kora and Alba took them and stuffed them in their book bags before leaving the room.

"Have you been to the garden yet? It's on the other side of campus but maybe we'll run into her on the way there." Kora noted. "That's where I met her. A college student helped us find homeroom."

The day had grown warm besides being partly cloudy but was cooling off as the sun threatened to set. Students were walking around between classes. It was a lot different than the strict scheduling Kora grew up with.

As she got lost in her memories, Kora found herself physically walking on auto pilot but mentally hovering around campus. Suddenly she saw Echo sipping tea and came crashing back into her body.

"Do you like coffee or tea?" Kora asked Alba.

Trent was taken aback by Cloud’s response. It was completely different from earlier. She seemed like a different person. He was relieved, the nervousness in his gut was gone.
“The ones for medicine are great. I’m honestly interested in all of them. The poisonous ones, the edible ones, they are all interesting.” Trent replied with a grin, stopping himself before he started to geek out about plants. He was fascinated with anything that had to do with nature.
Trent noticed that Cloud came in through a different door, keeping out of sight from the rest of the class. He followed her through the exit. “What is the rest of your schedule like? Maybe we will have some more classes together?”