Welcome to Gaia! ::

Footsteps kept deliberately soft echoed faintly along hallways and down stairwells as Merro prowled the campus while waiting for the first day of the new school year to begin. She had already memorized the layout of the various buildings based on a map included in her orientation materials, but visual confirmation helped soothe some of the her jitters. Considering the sheer tonnage of anxiety she was generating these days, it seemed important to manage as many jitters as was humanly possible.

A new country, a new school, and hopefully new friends to succeed to the ones she had left behind. Being a born bookworm as well as a highly self-motivated scholar, Merro had only mild qualms about being able to adjust to high school, even if it was of a different system - and to a degree, caliber - than the one she had been expecting to enter into. Immersing herself into the micro-culture and carving out a niche for herself in the social hierarchy was something she viewed with a bit more trepidation. She wondered whether finding someone she could relax (somewhat) around and be (mostly) herself with would be easier to do here or in her new home.

The parents she had parted temporarily from had been replaced by a family-appointed legal guardian c** tutor. That had been about the third or fourth shock in a shock-filled conversation with said parents a few months ago. Her father deciding to up stakes and move in order to more effectively further his research had only been a mild shock. His drive and ambition were nothing new. That her mother would choose to accompany him was no surprise either as they were inseparable, but Merro had been informed that she would not be joining them. Not only that, but she would be making a great move of her own instead of merely being left behind. Being ripped out of the soil grown dear to her over the years without warning and transplanted overseas had been bad enough, but to find that she would be handed off to the care of a distant relative she knew nothing about! That had been a real kick to the stomach.

After detailing the schedule of near-future events in a crisp manner and asking her if she had any questions in a tone that expressed the belief that she should not voice any either way, her father had left the room. Her mother had remained sitting across the coffee table from her, a signal from the usually cozy-close woman that they were still in Serious Conversation territory. Merro had continued to listen quietly as she had to her father, and learned a few more things about her future legal guardian and housemate.

He was her third cousin once removed, which as far as Merro could figure, meant that they shared a great-great-great-grandparent and that he would be her parents' age. He excelled in casting wards and healing both, and was proficient enough in other areas to be more than able to take over Merro's training and exploration of her talents. The council of elders respected him, and this translated into an expectation that Merro revere him as a demi-god, to be obeyed in all things as if he were mother, father and elder all rolled into one intimidating presence. They would live together, Merro attending school and he working out of the home as an artist, and in the evenings and on weekends when many of her fellow students attended cram school, he would act as her personal tutor, ostensibly in the usual scholastic courses but in truth, she would continue her education in casting and controlling spells.

Mundane details such as the division of housekeeping chores had been left vague, her mother finally coming over to sit next to her and give her a snuggle and a flippant flap of the hand to indicate that such things would work themselves out on their own. The greyness of this area had left Merro free to conjure up a vision of herself attending school and using her lunch hours to catch up on homework assignments, being grilled in the arts by an exacting instructor in the evening and then scrubbing floors and pots and windows into the wee hours of the night. No friends, no free time, and not even any little mice to keep Cinderella company, never mind Prince Charming. The more she'd tried to envision what sort of man could command the respect of the mysterious council, the more forbidding her vision of him had gotten. Eventually the weeks of preparation had passed and she found herself on foreign soil, knocking on the door of her own future home cringingly, expecting to meet Saruman on steroids.

She had met Hiroaki instead.

Coming to the end of a hallway and stepping out into a small inner courtyard between buildings, the young woman blinked up into the morning sky and let her thoughts wander to the distant relative she now lived with. Her first impressions of him were still aflutter in her brain, like bits of paper caught in a swirl of wind. His youth had surprised her, though he was indeed quite a bit older than she, as well as the family resemblance to her mother found in his bone structure, fair skin and dark hair and eyes. He had greeted her with a slight smile and the words her mother often used, as if to impress upon her that she was indeed coming home, and to family.

Welcome home, Tesoro.

That faint smile had stayed on his face for the most part during the past few days, but then again, she reminded herself that she had yet to begin her lessons. Perhaps the guardian who had so far worked diligently at easing her into her new life here would prove to be a fire-breathing smack-happy demon once he deemed her to be properly acclimated. She set her jaw, mentally setting herself to accept whatever challenges the coming days might bring to her. The next decade or so would set the course for her future, and Merro was determined that that future should be as bright as elbow grease could make it. A brilliant father, a mother who could probably charm snakes right out of their skins even without her bloodborn gift, and two older brothers who had inherited both mental and magical gifts aplenty from each parent. And each family member had healthy supplies of ambition and drive to put those talents to use as well. Merro had quite a bit to live up to.

Her reverie was cut short as she glimpsed an increasing number of students through windows from her position in the courtyard she had wandered in to. A glance at her watch told her that it was near time for the staff address to the students to begin, and she looked around to orient herself and decide which hallway would lead her to where she wanted to go.

"The faculty will be addressing the new students shortly. After the last of the introductions, we'd like you to --"
"Address them as well."
"Ah...yes. As president of the student council, it's important to --"
"Ingratiate myself with the students."

Pursing her lips in repressed frustration, the woman eyed the student walking next to her with resentment. Tall enough to be an adult, he walked with the easy grace and confidence of someone comfortable with who they were and where they were going in life -- not a common position for any teenager to be in. The complete lack of respect he was showing her as a member of the staff grated on her nerves terribly, treating her as he was like some sort of secretary. Which, she grudgingly admitted to herself, she seemed to be in all but name by now. Faculty assistant to a teenage boy. What was the world coming to?

"Yes, well, then I suppose you know to mention the recent openings on the council? Last year, all positions were filled. That was your first year as the President, yes?" Her voice was snippy, waspish, but she didn't care, eyes hard as she glared up at the boy who, as of yet, seemed to barely register she was even there. "Suddenly, we find ourselves without a vice-president, treasurer OR a secretary at the start of this year. Indeed, you're the only one left." She smirked, adjusting the stack of papers in her arms. "Chased them all out, did you?"

Unfortunately, her attempt to get any sort of emotional response from him failed. His profile remained as blank as ever, unnaturally light eyes staring impassively ahead as they turned a corner. A small group of second year girls quickly made way for them, blushing and giggling among themselves as they watched them pass. "Channing graduated early, as you may recall," he said flatly, seemingly oblivious to the hormones of his peers. "Smith transferred to our smaller girls school. Beates has decided to focus his time on his academics, which I fully support." He finally looked at her now, eyebrow raised to the barest degree, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Don't you support his ambitions?"

She merely frowned, on the edge of a full-blown pout. Damn him and his smug, cold ways. If only the student council was elected by vote instead of the school president...there's no way he would have this position if it were about popularity, like most schools! Who would put up with this...this unfeeling robot?

"I need to go over my speech," he said after a beat or two of silence. They stopped in front of the auditorium doors that lead to the back stage. He turned his head to glance at her over his shoulder. "That will be all, Miss Novak." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and opened the doors, heading inside.

"Good luck, Letalus," she called sweetly, sarcastically, as the heavy metal door swung shut.

After slipping his uniform on, and spiking back his still-wet hair, Tomlin headed out the gymnasium side entrance and started for the auditiorium.

Droves of students were passing into the sets of doors in the front, but Tomlin usually didn't bother with that entrance. Instead he went in through the faculty door, often left unlocked by the janitor or maintenance when they had to work on rigging, lighting, or other stage issues.

It took a minute or so to navigate through the hallways, but Tomlin managed to find his way to the auditorium with little effort. After all, he had travelled this route, and many similar back routes since he came to this school.

Finding a seat in the second row, he found the seating relatively empty. Faculty usually sat in these seats, but didn't squabble if students sat there as well. Most were busy working schedules, preparing classes or just too busy to bother.

Tomlin took note of the class president as he walked out to the stage. Letalus, he recalled as the boy's name from previous sitings and gatherings such as this, seemed unflappable and bored, as usual. Tomlin scratched his head a bit, trying to figure out why someone with that guy's style bothered with the politics.

But then again, he really didn't know him well enough to care.

Nothing happened during the introductory speeches to cool Merro's simmering excitement in any way. Despite being a school stuffed with the rich and famous - or at least their spawn - the academic standards were by no means lowered in order to allow spoiled teenagers to score an easy pass to college. Oft-times poor students had to study on their own, middle class students attended cram school and rich students hired the best tutors money could buy, but one way or the other, everyone earned their diploma or - cue the sounds of doom - was held back.

While not quite a guaranteed invitation to an Ivy League college, a perfect GPA at CLAMP did open hallowed university doors much wider than most other high school diplomas could, thus explaining the presence of the many scholarship students who had gained entry not with money or fame but with blood, sweat and tears. In a way, the presence of the scholarship students served to further fuel the flames of studious ambition in the hearts of the legacy students. After all, it did not sit well in the stomachs of those used to being first and best to have the common rabble dominate the academic rankings. And of course, those who had not been born with a silver spoon in their mouths fought hard to prove that money couldn't buy brains.

All in all, there was a very healthy dose of superbia swirling about at CLAMP. The faculty, accepting that there was little gain in attempting to purge the student body of this deadly sin, instead tacitly encouraged it as best they could and used it to the advantage of the school's reputation for churning out some of the best and brighest in the nation. It was like dangling little golden carrots just barely out of reach of a sea of greedy mouths.

Hustle, little piggies. Hustle.

Merro took a mental snapshot of Professor Flamel and made some notes. He seemed an energetic man very much engaged in his work. She would have to ferret out how open his open door policy truly was. As the department heads each stood up in turn and gave their little talks, the girl continued to file away her first impressions and add to her to-do list. Her English was much more than passable from a textbook standpoint but she was not au fait with all the little quirks of the language that marked a native speaker. The Language department might have less to teach her there than her fellow students. Mathematics, the arts and sciences and literature did not give her pause, but she worried a bit about History. She might have to get an actual tutor if self-study proved not to be enough to get her caught up in whatever portion and version of History was being taught in this country, but would her lessons with Hiroaki leave her enough free time to engage such a one?

Her attention was brought fully back to the podium before her as the final speaker took his place. His appearance was arresting just by contrast to the department heads', for he was about her age instead of a generation or two ahead. His introduction cleared the mystery about his youth away immediately, but by then his moonstone eyes and authoritative demeanor were up for consideration. And then there were his words.

The class representatives reported to him. All extracurricular activities including the creation of new clubs and event planning were to be approved - or denied - by him. The members of the student council were chosen by him and Professor Flamel.

Mio Dio, Theo Letalus is the Pope of CLAMP, Merro thought to herself. Immediately following that thought was that she must become one of the Cardinals. She had already given thought to running for student council, since graduating well was merely what was expected of her. To shine, she must do more. The information that the class president was relaying, however, put things in an entirely new light. She did not need to simply rise in popularity among the student body in general. Somehow or the other she needed to catch this person's eye.

...although she seemed to have already. She almost blinked in surprise as she realized that he was returning her intent stare. The ambitious spirit within her that was fueled by an intense desire to win the approval of those she loved dearly flared up, and instead of flinching at all, her manner and expression shifted minutely to turn her rapt stare into what might be interpreted as a challenging glare. She took a breath, her shoulders coming back ever so slightly and her chin lifting a bit as if to meet his gaze on an equal plane despite needing to look up at him as he stood on stage. In her mind, the class president had thrown down a challenge to the student body to come at him, armed with the approbation of one's homeroom class, proof of leadership capabilities and excellent grades among other things.

Already in a state of suppressed excitement and ambitious hope, Merro mentally picked up the gauntlet and without being quite aware of what she was doing, gave Letalus a brief, quirked smile as if to say that she welcomed the challenge.

His gaze drifted away from her at almost the same moment and she suddenly realized that she was practically grinning at him. She smoothed her face back down into a more appropriately genteel and non-committal smile and wondered if he'd seen the goofy expression. Self-control, she reminded herself, is the hallmark of a civilized being. She nearly lost it again, however, upon hearing that the library which she'd so coveted entry into was closed. Being what she was, written and printed words were irresistibly alluring to her. The more she learned, the more promise each little curl of ink seemed to hold for her, and she had heard rumors that CLAMP had a remarkably fine library.

The closing comments by Professor Flamel were nearly lost upon her as she indulged in a brief fret, but she pulled herself back together in short order, and by the time the students were dismissed Merro was back in planning and plotting mode. First order of business: get elected class representative.

The sketchy battle plans beginning to form in her mind were interrupted by a query from a fellow student, and she started slightly and looked up toward the voice. It belonged to a Sophomore standing in the row ahead of her who seemed to be of a helpful nature despite an almost rakish appearance. Either that or he thought Merro was cute and was proactively attempting to stake a claim on her before homeroom began and she was exposed to more Y chromosomes, but her mind tended not to go down those paths unless pushed. With a "helpful" Post-It note tentatively pasted onto him in her mental folio, Merro smiled back and nodded, although she was fairly certain she could have found her way on her own.

"Thank you. If my homeroom is not far from yours I would be happy to have a guide." After rifling through the papers in her welcome packet for a couple of seconds, she held up a slip of paper containing her class schedule.

"Room 2C in the Ohkawa building," she noted, and then looked back up to him.

She couldn't help but let her jaw fall open as the Sophomore immediately pegged her as a magic user, but clamped it quickly shut again before she could blurt out anything. Merro hoped that he had not noticed her expression of shock before bowing to her, and after returning a little nod and curtsy, followed him silently through the room, trying to arrange her thoughts.

His words seemed to imply that her assigned homeroom gave him the clue to her identity as a magical being. She tried to recall his exact phrasing and then wondered if it meant that he too could use magic. Or was the homeroom packed with magic users? Her head spun a bit at the thought, plottings over being elected class representative lost in the mental shuffle.

"Thank you for the suggestion. The school is very large. Oh, and most of my classes are the usual classes assigned to Freshmen," she offered, choosing to stay on the safer side of the conversation. He had, after all, assumed she was a magic user instead of asking her directly if she was or not. Perhaps her not answering on that nerve-wracking topic would go unnoticed for now.

"We might share elective classes, however. May I ask what elective classes you have?" she asked, deciding to attempt to get him to share more rather than offering her class list for his perusal. Hopefully he'd give her more of an idea of who or what she was dealing with. This person could be anything from a harmless eccentric to a spy sent to ferret out information about her family. She kept close to him in the ever-shifting crush of bodies around them so that she wouldn't have to raise her voice too much to be heard, and kept her eyes on him as well, as much as was possible.

She nodded, make noises of agreement, and continued to keep a wary eye on him as they navigated the halls. As he refrained, however, from doing anything like drop menacing hints or subtly threaten her, she began to lean more towards "harmless eccentric" than "potential spy" for her re-assessment of him. He chatted and smiled and continued to be informative and helpful. If only he hadn't dropped that conversational nuke on her earlier she might have already attached herself to him like a little Freshie leech eager to suck knowledge and experience from his convenient veins.

His comment about the current class representative knowing something about her raised a small red flag, but she decided to simply stick with him and keep smiling until they settled down into the classroom. A careful scrying spell might shed some more light on the matter, and there was no point in making full-body jumps to conclusions with only vague suspicions.

"Thank you Tomlin. My name is Merro Castaldi. Again, thank you, for showing me the way to our homeroom. I hope we can speak again later," she added with what she hoped looked like an entirely natural smile of gratitude. What she really wanted was to find out what Tomlin knew, or perhaps even more importantly, didn't know, about her.

As he held open the door to what was apparently their shared homeroom, she stepped up and took a quick glance inside, but then decided stopped as she decided that he really had been too nice to just leave it at that. The guy deserved an extra smile, at least, for being a gentleman in holding open the door for her. She quickly turned her head back to him with said smile curving her lips, but her eyes widened and cut back and forth a bit as she thought she saw an unexpected flick of one of his hands and something fly past into the room.

"Ah, thank you," she said just a bit hesitantly, the smile still on her face but her eyebrows raised a bit in a combination of surprise and confusion. With a little nod, she turned to enter the room.