The New Girl Arrives

In one hand, Allete clutched her seeing-eye dog, Amura's leash tightly as he walked in front of her, guiding her footsteps. In the other, she felt along the brick wall that outlined Beata Academy. She was invited to this school by some strangers. Allete wasn't sure why she trusted them. They seemed to know her name, and her ability as well, her ability to know when someone is lying. That ability showed her the strangers were telling her the truth when they talked about this place, so here she was. After she felt the brick wall cut off, meaning this was the entrance. "Amura, right," she told Amura as she walked through the opening, the dog still following.

Zoey was pacing near the entrance of the school. If asked, she wouldn't say that she was pacing, but she was definitely pacing. She hadn't been here long, but she already found herself hating this place. How much of it was the place itself and how much was the knowledge that it had existed this whole time, while she had been living with her former guardian, that there had been a place where she wasn't strange... Well, that she wasn't sure of. All she was sure of was that she already hated Beata Academy, though her opinion on the students attending it was more neutral so far.

The approach of someone with a dog pulled her out of her thoughts, and she took a moment to observe them, wondering if she should say something. Eventually she decided it might seem rude if she didn't, standing and clearly watching someone without saying a word to them. "Hello," she said politely. "Are you new around here?" Welcome to my own personal hell, she thought, but that was one thought she didn't dare voice. A moment later she realized she should probably introduce herself. "I'm Zoey."

Amura suddenly stopped in his tracks as Allete heard someone greeting herself. She faced where the sound was coming from and nodded. "Uh, yeah. I just arrived here. Name's Allete," she greeted back, "So, what sort of gift brought you to this place?". She wasn't exactly sure what other sort of small talk to make with Zoey. She didn't really do small talk. Not that she was an introvert or anything. A part of her wanted to walk away, but she figured becoming a bit familiar with others would make arriving in the building itself, filled with strangers, would be much less awkward.

Zoey took a moment to calm herself. "It's nice to meet you, Allete," she said in a calm tone she'd practiced most of her life. In truth she didn't have any strong feelings one way or the other, but she'd gotten herself into this conversation and didn't want to make this stranger hate her somehow. "It's not much," she admitted, shrugging slightly. "But I can hide myself in shadows. Kind of like invisibility." She left out the part where she couldn't exactly control it, not wanting to seem especially vulnerable or give out more information about herself than necessary. "What about you?"

Allete nodded. "That's pretty neat" she said. Though, Zoey using it wouldn't make a difference to Allete, she couldn't see her either way. Still, it'd be really useful in some situations. "Basically, I can tell when a person is lying." she explained, "Though, I don't really like using it that much. I get a really bitter taste when a person is lying while I'm using it. That, and I feel lightheaded whenever I use it. I suppose that's what the school is for.". It's not like she sought power or anything like that. A part of the reason she came here was simply to get away from normal life. People lie way too much, no matter how much you knew them. She already knew that there were going to be people here would want to use her power to unravel secrets. She wasn't 100% sure if she was offended by that or not.

Zoey bit back a laugh. Pretty neat? Yeah, take a look at the amazing invisible girl, she thought to herself. Now you see her, except you don't! Out loud, though, she shrugged, unaware that Allete couldn't see it. "I guess it is. That's a pretty cool power, though. Too bad about the drawbacks. At least it sounds like you can turn it off?" It would be nice, she thought, to have that level of control over her ability. "You're probably right, that must be what this place is for." The only power Zoey wanted was control over her own life. But here she was, with what others called a gift and she called a curse, still without the ability to decide where she wanted to be. "I just get really tired after using mine."

Allete just shrugged. "I guess every gift's gotta have some sort of catch to it." she said, "I couldn't always control it though. Back then I had no say for when it would be used. Even now it can randomly turn on or off, rarely, but still.". She didn't feel like going in depth about those random outbursts. "Are you a new student here as well?" she asked.

"You could say that, more or less," Zoey replied. She'd been here a few days, but not nearly long enough to no longer be considered 'new'. "I still don't really know anyone. Or my way around," she admitted. That was why she was here, at the entrance, rather than somewhere more scenic - preferably with less people. "This place is something alright." What that something was, she wasn't yet sure (though she was still partial to her earlier sentiment of 'her own personal hell'); but at least this conversation was more pleasant than expected. At the very least, Zoey felt less inclined to slam her fist into the wall than she had a few minutes prior, and slightly more optimistic toward her fellow students.

"Honestly, I don't know if I like or dislike the place yet," Allete said. She didn't really explore enough or meet enough people to form a simple good or bad, "Not that anyone did anything wrong, at least not yet. It's just that I don't really trust strangers that much, and the fact that they have powers and there's an entire school full of them doesn't really help.". She wasn't sure if she could be able to stand it inside huge classrooms full of people she doesn't know. At the very least, the current conversation didn't seem too bad, but still, Allete couldn't help but feel cautious.

"Well, at least we both know someone here now," Zoey said with a small smile. She wasn't going to call this stranger a friend just yet, but having an acquaintance here left her slightly better off than she had been a short while earlier. "It's not a lot, but it's still at least a bit better than nothing, right?" At the very least, she knew someone's name now, which was a significant improvement. ...Wow, that was a depressing thought. And this was going to be her life for the foreseeable future? Well... She supposed that she'd have to get used to it eventually, if she was stuck here until she graduated from this place.