{CO} Some Official Statements

[Devyn Solway]

The cookout overall had been at least interesting, pretty much like all the events that happened at the school. Thankfully there was no group of people coming to shoot them, no fires, or anything bad happening like that. In fact things had gone pretty smoothly and Devyn could not help but feel like she helped ensure that. Well, at least for the fact that she was on the Squad; Beta, and that meant that for most of the cookout she had been doing her job. Of course she had time to herself to get some food and enjoy the event during her break.

Most of that break spent with her girlfriend or someone else on the squad; like Demi. Then when she was working, again she was mostly spending it with Vera and other members of Beta as she did her rounds. Now there was an announcement being made and everyone was being encouraged and basically ushered to gather around the podium. She had gone to the bathroom and then got distracted with things and thus got split up with Vera and those on Beta. Which was fine but she was quickly moving through the crowd to meet up with her girlfriend; who was standing next to Rox. Interesting. Of course Dev was not jealous or anything, it was just that Rox girl, Vera's partner in their line of work. That was it.

That didn't mean that Devyn was not going to go up to slide her arms around her girlfriend waist and pull her back against her. It was something that Devyn did to not only have a person she cared about close to her but also in a way to say 'mine', without having to say it. "Extra douche-y? I think he just at too much BBQ and really has to use the bathroom." Devyn spoke up, chuckling a little. "Oh, and hey Bleach." Devyn said, giving a nod towards Rox before she leaned in to kiss Vera's cheek.

[Callie Montgomery]

The cookout had been...interesting. Callie had meandered about trying to find something she could eat, and eventually managed to grab the last and probably only veggie burger that was around. It was mildly satisfying. She spent most of her time there thinking of her brother.

It was the formation of a small crowd that caught her attention and stopped her from making her way back to her dorm. She stopped and cocked her head slightly to the side. She squinted as her grey eyes tried to focus on the man who seemed as though he was going to make an announcement soon. Giving a small shrug and a smile, she found herself joining her fellow classmates. Callie stuck to the back of the mass, really more interested in getting back to her room.

She began playing with the tips of her side braid and bobbed her head side to side. Her grey eyes scanned the crowd hearing the bits and pieces from everyone's side conversations. Callie hoped the man would speak soon. She kept thinking about the comfort of her warm bed.

---

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji was no longer a student so it was not like he had to be here, but he did work here so it didn't make any sense for him to skip out on an announcement. Perhaps it could be revealing that there would be an increase in budget in certain areas. That would be good for him if it was in his line of work, but if not he would still be happy whoever got an increase in money they could use. Not that he thought such a thing would be brought up for the student, but it was still wishful thinking. If anything it was just going to be telling the student of any changes that were going to be made this year or any small bit of information that was relevant for the students as a whole.

There were several people here that he knew, but very few that he was actually close to; if he could still count being close to the few he knew, which was to be expected. With his track record of friends dying, leaving, and in general just falling off the face of the Earth he learned to keep it together and adjust. Plus it was nice to see others bonding with one another and observing others relationships in general. He was tempted to say hi to those that he did knew but he was hesitant for a little bit while others were gathering around them.

Still, he did try and make eye contact or at least attempt for the few that he knew to see him and give them a friendly wave with his signature warm smile. "Hi, Lupe." Seiji said, waving to the younger girl, not certain if she heard him but at least he had greeted her. "Selina...oh, never mind." Seiji went to say hello to her but she was around some other people and he didn't want to get in the way of their conversation so he kept his distance and looked forward. Akiko having moved to hide and sort of peek out of Seiji's hair on top of his head.

[Roxana Strix]

The day overall had been...uneventful. She did her job as expected, helped out where she was needed, got rid of people that did not belong; with the help of Demi, and even met someone on her break by the name of Callie Montgomery. All of those together had made the event at least not a dull one, but again the event itself was something that she took a part of because she had to. If she didn't have the job she did with the school and the event was not mandatory, she would have spent the free day working on her art or actually resting since she was still recovering from her sickness.

Not that any of that mattered now, right now all that mattered was still remaining on standby, even while the announcement was getting ready to be official made. She had arrived to the announcement before they started to even speak and call for everyone to gather around. She was all about being on time for things when there was a set time for something. She thrived on orders and function after all, so it had been made clear to her when the announcement was going to be made, so she was sure to be their right before it would start. Everyone was already starting to gather around and Rox was able to know Vera was approaching her before she even heard the girl's voice.

Her blue eyes glanced at the other girl when she spoke of 'The Heads' appearance, her mind running through the 'slang' term for the word. She didn't get a chance to response before Vera's significant other was showing up, being physical in a simple way with Vera, commenting on it, and then greeting Rox. At least Rox assumed Devyn Solway had been talking to her considering she called her Bleach in the past when she ran into the girl when she had been roommates with Ellen. She just gave a simple nod to Devyn before her attention was on Vera for a moment.

"Be on alert, now would be the time for something major to happen if someone is looking to make a big statement." Roxana informed Vera, and then her eyes went back to those before her, even giving Elsa a quick glance and a slight nod.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Jasper would have walked over to the announcement with his boyfriend; Franck, which everyone should have known by now. Well, probably not a lot of people knew about it since Jasper didn't think Franck bragged about him or anything like that. Then again, that was probably wrong considering that little blog post his boyfriend had posted up. Jasper had been tempted to say something on it, but didn't really know what to say; or more specifically what Franck would be okay with him tossing up there for the whole world to see.

He would think on it later and talk to Casper about it, or at least he hoped he would be able to talk to his brother about it. They were still not on talking terms, but he did spot his brother. It was kind of hard to not spot someone you were used to seeing in the mirror and who normally was always by your side most days. He was already looking at his brother longingly, squeezing his boyfriend hand for support in terms of not just running over to his brother and causing a scene. Casper knew his brother was there, picked where he was standing so he could see his brother but also not be super close to him.

Casper did miss his brother and it had been odd being away from him pretty much the whole event but he didn't want to be near him. He didn't want to be near Jasper or Franck at the moment so made sure to stand a good distance away from the two of them. He just hoped Franck would keep his brother in line so that neither of them would cause a scene for this announcement soon to be made.

[Erin Hackett]

"It's like they want me to have a panic attack." Erin mumbled to herself as she slowly approached the little gathering. She had to be at the cookout event and now she had to be gathered around like sheep to hear an announcement being made. Could she not have just gotten this in an email or they made it over the PA system? Why did they all have to gather around to hear whatever this boss man had to say. It had already been a challenge to survive the cookout considering she was being attacked by bugs for a good bit until she was helped out.

Now she was seeing everyone all together, most of them standing next to someone they knew and making conversation. Ah, she wished she had friends. Wait, she did. Where were they? Alex; her current super crush and the girl she was going to try and win the affections of, was probably with her boyfriend somewhere in the crown. Tim was...well she didn't know where he was. Quinn was probably in the crowd somewhere and she was already looking to find him so she could move and stand next to him.

There was that Kyle guy here but she didn't really view him as a friend just yet and he was with a really sexy girl and a handsome girl. The sexy girl was the biggest reason to stay away because like hell she would not be able to get near someone like that without feeling like she was going to vanish. "Deep breaths, it’s okay. Don't freak out." Erin was practically chanting to herself, hopefully finding Quinn and he would comfort her. Even if his comforting tended to be questions of what was wrong with her and the whole 'tough love' she just assumed was Quinn's way of caring.

[Jun-Aaron Starr]

Jun was a student, even if he didn't really feel like one with how his scheduled was and that fact that he was in college. Yes, you were still a student when you were in college but when you were not around that much it didn't feel like you were one. No matter, he had been there for the whole event, had his fun, and was now here for the speech or whatever was going on. He was bit in a sleepy state having eaten a bit too much and having to deal with his body adjusting to it.

While he had no problem being among the crowd, he currently had to deal with the fact that his wing were out and since his body was adjusting to the change in his weight, he was not able to fully tuck them away. They were of course against his back, but they were not tucked away into his back where they were easier to hide under his clothing. So, to ensure that he was not going to startle anyone with his wings, bump into them, or deal with any drama that came along with his wing; he stayed back.

Up in a tree or on top of a structure that was still close enough for him to hear what was being said but he himself was mostly out of sigh. Minus his legs hanging down and swinging back and forth like a child a little bit. He felt like such a bird of prey and it was hard not to smile a little just thinking about that.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina saw Seiji make his way over to hear the speech and waved to him. She then leaned forward and kissed Logan, on the lips this time, since she'd gotten away with kissing her on the cheeks earlier. She then whispered in her ear, "I'm heading over to say hi to a friend, and I do believe that Kyle will follow on my heels. You can thank me later," she teased before pulling back with a mischievous smile. 

    Selina then made her way over to where she'd seen Seiji and she thought she briefly caught a glimpse of Akiko in his hair? Maybe, she wasn't sure. Selina smiled brightly and greeted him, "How have you been Seiji? And was I mistaken or did I see you had a lovely lady with you?" she asked grinning as she glanced up and saw Akiko's head poking out of his hair. "It's good to see you both here," she said sincerely.

[Kyle Underly]

Kyle gave the alternative girl a quick jerk of the head, acknowledging her presence and letting her bask in the awesomeness which was him. And she was apparently rocking the whole nonchalant, cold bitch attitude. Seriously, did they just hand out pamphlets on how to do that to every girl when they enrolled at this school or what? Kyle definitely wasn't impressed, especially as she was effectively dismissing the whole conversation.

At least Selina gave Kyle attention. "Bit of both," he replied gamely enough. "Whole event would be boring without me around to spice things up, and hey, if we're required, we might as well--" Kyle paused then, noticing that someone else had been getting Selina's attention. He shook his head. "Man, do you seriously know everybody?"

She was already moving, claiming that the other girl could thank her later, since Kyle would probably follow. Kyle looked over at the girl, smirking. "You can thank me now," he said, giving her a wink before following along. Hey, the more people who saw him with Selina in public, the better off he'd be. That was the sort of thing that people talked about, and he was more than willing to do what it took.

Even if it meant apparently dealing with some random Asian dude. Kyle raised his brows as he looked over. "Seiji, huh, I can't---is that a snake?" Kyle actually ducked behind Selina then, bravely putting the Latina's body between him and the animal. "You do realize you got, like, snake hair or something, right? That's definitely not normal." And Kyle definitely didn't want to get any closer, that was for sure.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Yes, there was definitely enough to talk about. Zoe had heard bits and pieces, though she couldn't say with anything like certainty what would actually be discussed. Valerie and Riley seemed willing enough to go along with it. They were lucky in some ways, though Zoe knew they'd faced their own fires (one of which was quite literal).

The hand got freed, which meant that Zoe could utilize her camera. She immediately brought it up, taking a few shots of the podium and the people gathered there. Zoe recognized Elsa of course, and Vera and Devyn didn't seem to be too far off. There was Roxana too, who had worked with Zoe before. In fact, Zoe felt like she knew more people here than she didn't, which was something of a pleasant surprise. She scanned the crowd, picking out some familiar faces and feeling very pleased with herself.

One in particular looked almost stressed, milling her way through the middle of the crowd. Zoe knew that wouldn't work, so: "Erin!" She called, waving for the girl. "Over here!" Zoe turned to Valerie and Riley. "That's Erin, she's this really shy friend of mine. Well, she's more a friend of Quinn, but we're working together on some stuff," Zoe shrugged then turned back, hoping to wave and catch Erin's attention without drawing too much attention to herself.

[Charity Croft]

Groups of mutants were always a bit of a problem for Charity. She'd done alright when it was just the regular cook-out with smallish groups and all. There had also been other people around to help some. Here? With everyone gathered? Charity almost felt like she had ADHD.

Thankfully, it wasn't like there was going to be much attention on her or anything. She could just stand to the side with a few other teachers, sort of forming a perimeter or whatever. She did notice Matt Wilson, a fellow trainer she'd talked to a few times. She smiled at him before sort of adjusting herself, looking over. A few students she recognized, sure, having worked with them in some form or fashion. But at least everyone seemed more or less settled.

They were grouping too, but Charity tore her attention away from that. instead she focused ahead, particularly on the head of the board, figuring that maybe if she directed her power there she'd be able to focus. He definitely had a power, and he had to be one of the oldest people she'd seen with one, which was kinda weird now that she thought about it. Well, at least she'd be totally focused; that had to count for something.

[François Laffont]

Franck went to the announcement with Jasper. He had been with him for most of the day, that is when he managed to let go of Frank and her crazy frosting conspiracy. He noticed the silhouette of a guy looking exactly like him. Franck tried to subtly bring Jasper closer to his twin brother but he also didn’t want to force the two to make peace. It would happen in due time. These two could not stay angry at each other for long. They would be helpless without each other. They would get back together. For now, Franck tried to think about something positive out of this. If they learned they could spend time each on their own, maybe things will get better. The world won’t always keep them together after all, they needed to learn to let go.

He could tell Jasper was missing his brother and he moved a bit closer to him, squeezing his hand back. “You want to go and talk to him?” he whispered at Jasper. That was a silly question for it was obvious. Just like it was rather obvious Casper wanted to keep some distance between them. “After, alright?” It might be best like this. After the announcement. He didn’t want them to start fighting. He didn’t think they would hit each other hard enough to break anything, but the scene it would cause was not necessary.

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn didn’t particularly like that kind of gathering. His only comfort was that everyone was too much into their head to really care about him. It was how he survived the move-in week, it was how he managed to get a bit of food during the cookout without having to deal with anyone bothering him and it was how he figured he’d get through this announcement.

It was his goal. Blend in and be nothing more than another student in the crowd, one no one had to care about. This would be done soon enough and he’ll be allowed to go back to... to what? It was not like he was doing anything special. But that was still better than this. Come one. A few minutes than they’ll probably expect them to applaud to this and then go their own way. He might wait for the biggest part of the crowd went back to their dorm first, he didn’t want to end up squeezed between people or shoved out of the way.

He noticed Erin. Poor girl must be panicking. It was a miracle she had yet turned herself invisible but it was true it wouldn’t do any good here, since she’d bump into someone as soon as she’d disappear. He was walking towards her when he heard someone call her out. He raised his head, scanned the area. The thought he might look like a prairie dog peeking out of its burrow did come to his mind but only for a split second. He was pretty sure he noticed Zoe. Hard to tell, since it was crowded and she was not all that big. He had no idea Zoe and Erin knew each other. But if Zoe chose to help her out, he stayed there, no longer going after Erin. As long as she had someone, it did not matter. And why should it be him, right? There was nothing weird in his two friends knowing each other. It meant nothing. He turned to face the Head instead. He really shouldn’t care about that.

[Erin Hackett]

Erin had managed to spot out Quinn, who she was not sure had spotted her yet but she was about to make the quickest beeline to him. At least that had been the plan but with everyone kind of just gathering around, moving closer to their friends, and what not; it made things a little difficult. She wanted to use her power, to just vanish from here but it would not have worked out all that well since it would be cancelled out as soon as someone would bump into her. Which would likely happen a lot since they would only see an empty space for them to move through but in fact Erin would be standing right there and it would likely just cause further stress on her.

Then someone was calling out her voice, a very British person calling out her name, which had Erin looking in the direction of the voice. It was Zoe, waving to her but clearly trying to not make it so a lot of attention would be gathered to her. Erin did start to move towards the girl, only to pause to see that she was with her girlfriend and some other girl. Nope, she did not want to be a part of that. She would be third wheeling so hard and it would just be super awkward, well she would be the fourth wheel since the other girl was there already.

Unless she could make conversation with that other girl, it was tempting. She didn't want to outright ignore the girl and just go with Quinn, but she also didn't want to leave Quinn alone. Not that Quin would care. Erin was quick to hold up a finger at Zoe before dashing to grab a hold of Quinn to basically pull him over with her to join with Zoe, but still didn’t go right up on the girl to be safe. "H-hey." Erin managed, likely squeezing onto Quinn's arm really tight since she was still freaking out about this event all together and all the people. Quinn would not be getting away from her, that was for sure.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Did he want to go talk to his other half, his twin, and his brother? Yes, yes he did. He figured that Franck should have been very aware of that considering he was holding his boyfriends hand and most certainly was feeling like he wanted to talk to his brother and try to make things better. He wanted them to be okay, to still be connected and as one as they had always been since they were little. He didn't and could not lose his brother. He just nodded his head, still looking at his brother before he looked down to the ground and tried to remain where he was.

It helped that Franck was holding his hand and there to just sort of support him in a way. He just squeezed that hand back and gave another nod when Franck basically hinted that they would go try to talk to him after the event. That seemed like the smartest thing to do, but it was not like jasper cared about doing the smartest thing. He could not even focus on this stupid announcement and it had taken a lot to just make it this long without any form of contact with his brother. "O-okay." Jasper replied meekly as he rubbed at his eyes.

Casper remained were he was still, rubbing at his eyes too, but he looked forward and tried to focus on this little speech thing or whatever it was. He didn't care either and was just here because he had to but after he planned to leave and sleep off all the food that he had eaten today. That seemed like a good plan.