The Beginning Of A New Era

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

SET: 25TH OF AUGUST, 8AM - FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Erika stood on top of the podium, gazing over the empty room that would be shortly after filled with new and old students, college students and the school staff. The meeting had been announced over the speakers a few days prior, and this morning as well. The rumors about the twins' new position had spread like wildfire and it was time to put those rumors to the bulletin board; They were true, Erika and Elsa couldn't even deny it. And yes, they were still just eighteen years old and not nearly old enough to run a school. At least not after normal school regulations. But this wasn't a normal school either. This was a special occasion and the twins had to deal with everything as best as they could.

Erika was going to explain it all as the students settled. She had seen her grandfather do this when they first learned about SPECTRE. She knew how it all went about. She couldn't chase the nagging, nervous feeling away, and she'd much prefer Elsa doing this, but being the figurehead, she had no choice but to step up and take the responsibility she had accepted so long ago. Offering her sister a meek smile, Erika took a deep breath.

As the auditorium started filling, Erika took a deep breath and stepped towards the microphone. She tossed Elsa another glance and sighed. Her heart was racing in her chest and she wanted nothing more than all of this to simply end.

Tapping the microphone, Erika pressed her lips into a hard line, "Good morning students of Bellefonte Academy. As many of you already know, there has been a change of positions," she began and gestured towards herself, and her sister, Elsa. "William Bellefonte fell ill after over extending himself from using his ability to save Ellen Banks' life. This left him in his old age unfit to continue leading the school. As the oldest Bellefonte daughter, I was asked to step up and take over the position with my twin sister, Elsa. We accepted the position." She swallowed hard and offered the crowd a smile. "We're here today to talk about some of the changes we will implement onto the school to make it safer for all of you; We're still shaken up about what happened with SPECTRE a few months ago, and we want all of you to feel safe again, because as you all know, this once used to be a safe haven for mutants. We want our safe haven back again, and to do that, we all need to work together as a gathered people. We all need each other."

Lifting her hand to the crowd as they started to mutter among themselves, "I know a lot of you have questions and we will answer them all," she said, "But first, we want to talk about the changes that will be added to the school. Elsa?" Erika turned to look at her twin sister and gestured for her to take her rightful place next to her.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa stood by in her crisp suit, hair pulled back, practically radiating confidence. She listened with her usual stoic expression as her sister went into the explanation, talking about the shifting positions. Technically the two were nominal heads, with the various school board members offering permission and what have you, but that was all paperwork nonsense that the vast majority of the audience simply didn't need to know. Erika handled the speaking quite fine, and Elsa found herself wondering toward the end why she even had to bother making the other announcements. As if Erika couldn't read from a script or handle a crowd.

But she'd been called forward, so forward she came. Elsa took to a podium, fighting a momentary flashback to the last time she stood there, addressing the crowd. Her eyes swept the gathered people, nodding. Then she pulled out her notes, once more readying to speak. When she did, she spoke clearly, enunciating almost too sharply, her voice amplified by a microphone and carrying.

"First, I want to assure you that both Erika and myself have official approval, and that you need not worry about our serving as your Headmistresses. We will be available for you. Now, as for those changes, there are several, so listen carefully.

"To begin with, in light of the SPECTRE attacks, new security measures are to be put into position. Students and staff will be asked to have their ID cards with them at all time. Staff will regularly check. In addition, uniforms will now be required while on campus. They have been specifically selected to be stylish, comfortable, and noticeable.

" Furthermore, I wish to point out that the construction you see throughout campus is mostly for security measures. We are reinforcing buildings to make them more resilient to powers among other things. Furthermore, sections of the dormitories, particularly those allotted to the college students, are being updated and remodeled. We will be providing living accommodations to match side effects and ease your time here.

"You will also see several recent alumni around campus working in official roles. We are broadening the internship program here to allow alumni to continue working with the Academy and to ease that transition. Please treat these new staff members with the respect their position deserves," and Elsa paused, almost as if making a mental joke about the position of interns in the grand scheme of things.

"The security squad formed during the crisis will continue. They will be led and trained by academy personnel. In addition we will be accepting younger students as trainees in this program.

"Lastly, we will be receiving international guests in a few weeks. We ask that you pay them respect and welcome them as guests to our fine institution. Now, the floor is open for questions," Elsa nodded, stepped back, and waited for the inevitable onslaught.

[Blake Harlow]

Blake showed up to this meeting of course since she was a staff here at Bellefonte Academy and it was expected of her to show up. Even if Blake was feeling particularly sleepy today she made sure to show up and pay close attention when the two Bellefonte heiress started to speak. She had to shut her eyes for a moment because she was getting a serious headache from being in a room with so many mutants and unable to turn off her ability to sense others powers. This is why I don't come to these things. Blake thought to herself and figured that she could get away with just watching a recording of this later and that Guy would be fine with it because of her always active ability. She could sense them all, copy them all; one at a time of course, but the fact still remained she was in a room full of mutants and the headache would end up turning into a margarine soon enough.

Her eyes looked down to her pants for a moment as she reached into her pockets and pulled out on of her special lollypops. She made them with medication to help with her headache and was thankful to the schools side effect specialist along with the medical staff in general for their aid in giving her the medication in the first place. It didn't get rid of the problem, but it certainly helped her manage it. With the cherry flavor candy in her mouth Blake was able to focus a little better on what was being said. The twins would be taking over in their grandfather’s places. Wow, they certainly are stepping up to the plate. If I was there age I would so laze out of the job. Blake thought to herself and personally didn’t have a care in the world who was the headmaster or headmistress in this case. They were both adults and they were Bellefonte’s, which was more than enough reason for Blake to be okay with who was in charge. Plus she just didn't have that much concern over the matter since in the end she would do what Guy told her.

She did move around in her seat a little at hearing the changes that were going to be made to make the school safer after the attack from SPECTRE. The other twin stepping forward and then going into some detail of what other changes would be made. Carrying around IDS, uniforms, construction, upgrades to the building, new staff coming in, the security squad would remain, and people from other schools would be paying a visit at some point. Everything that Blake was fine with and thought that everything mentioned would be good for the school. The floor was open for questions and Blake's eyes just looked around the room as she started to crunch on her lollypop, not having any questions so she sat in silence and kept paying attention.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana of course was at the new school year meeting for a lot of reason besides the fact that it was a mandatory event. She was already guessing that most of the students would not end up saying anything but perhaps a few adults may end up speaking up with a few questions. There was even the slim chance that no one would ask any questions and this would be a quick meeting and people would be sent off on their way to get to their classes and welcome in the new school year. Despite her desire to be up on the stage behind the curtain or the back of the room she ended up going for sitting towards the front, but at the end of a row. She still planned to move around the room here and there and eventually end up back stage, but for now she remained in her seat with her eyes scanning around. All of her targets would more than likely be here, making it easy for her to keep track of all of them, but at the same time it just increased her alertness.

They were all here, which meant that if something bad happened then Roxana was going to make quick decisions on who were her priorities. Not really. Her organization had made it very clear who she was to protect over whom if things came down to her having to protect her targets all at once. The top of the list were the Bellefonte twins, having to protect them all the more and keep track of them due to their new position within the school. That was ultimately why Roxana was sitting near the front, so she could react quicker in case something did happen. Still behind the stage would have been the best but she was supposed to be the whole 'average student' with just some skill at BA. Even if like three or four people actually knew the truth of which Roxana was they would never know everything and none of that mattered at the moment. She was occurred on scanning around, checking to see if there was any suspicious movement, all while paying attention to what was being said.

She knew pretty much most of what changes were being made; especially in terms of security since she and Elsa had their talks on such matters before. The whole uniform things did catch Roxana by surprise and she could not help but to make a displeased face for a moment. She liked being able to wear whatever she wanted to but now it seemed like she was going to be restricted to wearing a uniform. Unless said uniforms did not apply to college students, which she certainly hoped it did not but would deal with it if she had to. Everything that needed to be said was said and then the floor was opened for questions. Roxana normally would have opted for silence but she did have a question on a matter that really unnerved her. Raising her hands, Roxana stood up and waited for one of the traveling mikes to be handed to her. "You said that we will be having international guest in a few weeks. Is that wise in terms of security?" Roxana asked, leaving the question sort of vague but figured the twins would understand what she was getting at.

She was just concerned with letting 'outsiders' in a short amount of time after the attack from SPECTRE. Unless they are doing that as a way to test their new security measure and work on building a strong relationship with the other mutant schools. Roxana thought to herself, and figured that might end up being the answer, but she asked the question either way and sat back down.

[Vera M. Solway]

So this was it, huh? The beginning of something new. Vera had somewhat dreaded how fast the summer days had sped on by. Summer was near it's end, vacation was over, graduation was done and now the first day of school was among them. It was pretty wild how she found herself sitting in the auditorium as a college student and a security intern all at the same time. What was even more wild was the fact that her favorite twins were now the Headmistresses of the Academy. At first Vera had mixed feelings about the new change but not because she didn't feel like the twins couldn't handle it. No, that wasn't the reason. Vera just didn't want the girls or any of her friends for that matter, to have to go through any more stress. After SPECTRE there had been so much to deal with and even though Elsa dealt with it the best she could, especially with Erika being kidnapped. Well let's just say Vera felt uneasy about it. There was more light being shone on mutants now and that only meant things could either get better or way worse.

Which was why Vera decided to stay and thanks to Elsa, interning in security would be a great fit for her. With being apart of the Security Squad and the skills she currently possessed, she was sure to help make sure that the school stayed orderly (or as orderly as possible) and safe. She felt like the twins would probably need as much help and support as they could get from the rest of the new staff and graduates. Who knew how much whispering and dislike could have been going on from the older staff

Crossing her legs, her hazel eyes watched over Erika as she did her introduction to the new school year as well as Elsa stating the new updates happening at the school and as well as a few new rules. For new headmistresses, they looked good and hopefully it stayed that way. 

Though she couldn't help but to raise a brow at the mention of uniforms. Having to keep an ID around with you wasn't an issue but uniforms? That was kind of a ball breaker. Attending college and having to wear a uniform? Eh...

When it was time for questions, Vera's head turned to a familiar voice... Roxana's nonetheless. They would also be working together as interns so she would soon have to figure out ways on how to not get annoyed with the young woman. Which was hard seeing how Vera was somewhat of a hot head. Though, Roxana's question did prove an interesting point. Having international guest did sound a bit random as well. 

Her Look

[Isaac Da Costa]

Sitting at the back of the room, Isaac listened to what the new headmistresses of the school had to say with half an ear. Truth be told, he didn't really care all that much about who ran the school. No, that didn't matter. At least, not to him. In the end, what mattered was that the school was properly run, and who was better to do exactly that than the princesses themselves? Not long ago, they had been students themselves, which meant that they had the kind of insight none of the other did. They were one (or two) of the students and that went far in Isaac's book.

Leaning further back in his chair, Isaac yawned as he stretched his arms back. He looked over the crowd and hummed lowly to himself. Well, hey, if everything went to hell and back, at least he could be amused by the fact that the new heads of the school just happened to be super hot and damn, what he wouldn't do to tap either of those.

He didn't have any questions, because really, again, he didn't care. As long as he had a place to call home, that was what mattered the most to him. Though, that didn't stop him from listening in. All jokes aside, Isaac did care, and he was interested, despite never seeing the need to ever admit to it, mind. He wasn't even sure if he'd ever admit it to himself, either.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

The gathered crowd seemed to be taking the news fairly well, which pleased Elsa. The less struggle they had moving forward, the better off they would all be. Besides, she figured that such changes were for the benefit of all, and most of the students would be willing to go along with it. Even then, Elsa half expected more complaints regarding the uniforms.

oh well.

"The international guests are part of an international event that we will be hosting," said Elsa, turning to address Roxana, who'd been one of the few to vocalize a question. "This has been arranged for some time, as it's a semi-regular event. As far as security goes, we are taking measures to insure that things progress in a safe manner."

As Roxana should've known already. Elsa briefly wondered if the girl had asked the question simply to get the crowd to hear it. She looked back, waiting to see any other reactions. The student body and staff had gathered here, after all. Who knew how such a diverse crowd would react?

[Capri Mendez]

Capri listened quietly to the two new headmistresses. It wasn't like the girls becoming heads of the school was something shocking. They were, after all, the next-in-line Bellefontes. It wasn't even really a shock that they were making changes. The whole SPECTRE thing had caused quite the stir. What had kept the girl quiet and listening was the mention of international students. Hmm, she pondered, still listening, waiting to hear the questions of her peers. Will they be all ages? How many will I run in to?

New people. The ones she knew were fine, she even liked some of them, but the idea of having foreign people to bother was fairly tempting. She smiled a crooked little smile - one the might give the person beside her the chills if they had glanced her way. The look on Capri's face was rather disturbing. It wasn't her intention. She was just planning on making nice with the new crop of students, especially if any were college bound.

She leaned back, glancing around. The whole student body was here. Hmph. "So, outside of the new students and the upped security measures, it's life as usual?" she asked, just to be sure she was understanding. She considered the uniforms part of the security. It was, after all, mentioned that they'd be wearing their ID cards from now on. What other reason than to assure that the people on campus were supposed to be on campus?