Introductions

Herbert grunts when the stupid boy finally leaves. He didn't like Donny at all. But now he had meat, so he could feed the fishes. He walked out into the cafeteria, spotting the fishtank. He might need some help taking it out. Possibly with a little cart to wheel it down. Though getting it down stairs would be tough. Choices, choices.
The fish noticed the meat in his hand and swarmed to the front of the tank. "Ey little varmints," Herbert said, his voice displaying some affection as he cut the meat, tossing it in for the fish to fight over. "O's daddy's littah buggers? Yuh are, yuh are!"
And he was thoroughly glad Debbie wasn't around to see him. He might have to kill him after witnessing his forbidden love for the fish.

Laura's frown deepened. "It's not just that they weren't used, they didn't have faces on them either. That's so weird..." Her voice trailed off. Anyone looking at Laura would think she was deep in thought, but in actuality Laura was never the best at critical thinking. In fact, thinking in general had never been her strong point.

She shook her head. "Well, there's no use getting worked up about it. And time's a wastin'!" She broke off into a run around the perimeter of the gymnasium. It might not be her usual routine, but Laura had been dying for a good jog since she woke up in the classroom earlier.

Oscar tears his eyes away from the diagrams to talk to Adda and Marci.

"A book club would be great!" He exclaims, "I've got some great suggestions already!" Alas, poor Marci and Adda would be subjected to book after book on every element except surprise.
'W-Would we be the only ones...?" He now looked around a bit more awkwardly, and suddenly it dawns on him. "A-Are we the only ones!?"
He frowns now, feeling a bit of panic again. "I mean, books are company enough, but where is everybody else? Not just the other seven...the school?"

Asher spotted some ropes for climbing. He had never been one to conform. He began to climb one, and then attempt to swing on it.
"This thing's no good! It's too long to get any momentum going!" He frowned, and grabbed the rope with his legs propped on a knot before reaching fro the next.
"I wonder what that meeting with the bear's gonna be like? I guess we'll meet the real headmaster or starters..." he mused aloud, hoping to start conversation.

She thought for a moment. "Maybe it's some orientation thing, where they bring in the new students so that we can get used to everything. That seems logical...but then what's with that bear?" she frowned, looking upset. "None of this makes sense, now that you mention it...maybe we'll get some information in...how long until 8? I don't wear a watch, sorry."

Adda leaned against one of the shelves, a worried expression beginning to emerge.
"Maybe we were just given an earlier date than the other grades, being the new kids and all. Kinda like a wacky orientation?" She glanced around. At another look, though, many books looked untouched for a fairly long time. A bead of sweat rolled down her face.
"Weird headmaster, weird orientation, right?" she asked.

He wandered around for awhile, going nowhere in particular. He was thinking, mainly - thinking about how weird it was that there was no one here even though he was supposed to drive a bunch of SHSL's around, how weird it was that that bear even existed, how weird...everything was.

He shook his head and checked his watch. It wasn't long now, so he figured he'd just head into the auditorium early. He always liked being early - no one ever yelled at you for being early.

He sat down in one of the chairs in front and waited, imaging what the meeting would be about.

A slightly childish thought popped into his head. What if he swung around on the punching bag? Definitely not fueled by Asher trying to swing around at all.
He ran and jumped onto the punching bag, yelling in surprise as he nearly fell off by the angle it took from his weight. It spun around quickly, making his head spin until he let go and slammed onto the mat, groaning.
Never doing that again.

Laura didn't stop jogging as she talked to Asher between breaths. It wasn't the most ideal setup for a conversation, one person being suspended on a rope and another running in circles, but Laura didn't mind.

"Well, if we do meet him I've got a bucket load of questions for the guy!" she said. She was only half joking. There was a lot of strangeness about this school, and it would be nice to hear an explanation about it from the big man himself. Or herself. Laura was all about equal opportunity.

Oscar flips through the book's pages nervously.

"I guess that makes sense. I don't like it, though." Oscar grimaces, "I don't like bears."
He now takes out his Student ID.
"Well it's 7:41," He reads the time aloud, "So we've got a little time." He doesn't calm down however, and finds himsef tapping the desk nervously. "So what did you guys find?"

Asher slid down the rope he was on a landed on the floor, stretching his arms across his chest. "We still don't know our way around the school, and we've got plenty of things on our mind. Should we start heading over soon?" he asked, not even sure if anyone heard with all of the commotion in the room.

"EVERYTHING!" Adda exclaimed. She hugged the book she had grabbed against her chest.
"Like I said, they've got more occult stuff gathered than I have ever seen in my entire life. And I'm pretty sure Marci's found some cool poetry, though I wouldn't know for myself. But seeing everything here-I can't wait to dabble with the works of some of these obscure authors! What about you guys?" She asked enthusiastically.

She smiled at the two. "I found some amazing poetry by people I may have forgotten existed for awhile. Everything on the poetry front of things points to a solid 'Impressive!' mark so far. And you, Oscar?" she looked at him curiously. Was alchemy even possible? So many questions!

Eloise was done kicking around the rubber ball. She had thoroughly bounced it against the wall and felt satisfied with her rather pathetic choice of workout. If she had known punching bag-tackling was a sport, she would've certainly joined in.
She gathered by the ropes now, joining the conversation again.
"It doesn't hurt to be early!" She smirks, "I'm not sure about the looks of our 'headmaster', but I don't think I want to be late!"

Jaden had been lazing around his room. He had inspected the bed, which was of course adorned with only the finest blankets and tempur-pedic mattress and pillow. He had also checked out the bathroom, which had stylish granite counter tops and a shower. Perfect for if he were to get sweaty after dancing.

"Hmmm, I should really check the time," he said to himself. His ID card said that it was around 7:45. "Should I start heading back? Nah, if someone wants me they can come and get me. I don't really care what the headmaster has to say, I'm fine here."

Jaden then promptly plopped himself down on his bed to take a nap.

Laura stopped running around and walked over to where Eloise was standing. "Yeah, I'd like to be one of the first to get to the auditorium. We should probably get going. Ally, you coming, or are you just gonna lay down there for a while?" she asked playfully. She hoped that Alex understood the joke more so than she cared about whether or not he responded to the nickname she assigned for him.

Asher pulled out his ID an checked the map. "The Auditorium looks like it's right down the hall, shouldn't be hard to find. You guy and gals are gonna change again, I assume? I'll wait out here for you all." He shifted into what he felt was a more natural position.

When he saw the others leaving, he decided to get back up from contemplating his universal bad luck and leave as well. He quickly passed through the locker room, shutting his locker and going out. He didn't need to change at all- he barely broke a sweat, and he felt comfortable.
He tried to check for the auditorium, but his ID proved to be worthless. So he did guess and check. The auditorium had David in it, he found out. He took a seat near the front, adjusting his footwraps and handwraps.

Now that they were back onto the subject of books, Oscar began to feel a bit more comfortable, even enthusiastic.
"They even have books on that stuff!?" Oscar replied excitedly to Adda, unaware that his comment could be taken rather offensively. "I even bet they have some of your stuff, Marci!"

He grabs his book and holds it up like a kindergardener at show and tell. "They have loads of stuff of alchemy, chemistry, you name it! This'll be great for my Magnum Opus!" He grins a dumb grin.

Laura was a little hurt that Alex ignored her, but she chalked it up to him just not hearing her speak. "Oh shoot, you're right Ash!" she exclaimed. "C'mon Elly, we've gotta go get changed quickly!" She continued speaking while heading for the girls' locker room.

"Not that it'll be much a problem for you. I imagine you switch outfits really fast in your line of work, am I right?"

Adda took a step closer to Oscar, beaming. "I know, right?! And I thought my collection was big! I was afraid I was hitting the limits of what was available, but this school's proved me wrong! I'd have to be locked in here my entire life to get through it all and put it to use, and it'd be so well worth it!" She had to fight back the urge to just barrel through the room again in the middle of conversation.

She smiled and rolled her eyes at Oscar, forgetting that she hadn't told Oscar the lie of them having none of her stuff. Not that it was that big of a lie, either way - really, it didn't matter!
"They don't have any of my stuff, which really isn't that surprising. They do have a lot, though. So much that I don't know if I'll ever be able to read it all! It seems the three of us will be something of a literary club - I can't wait to spend some more time with you two." she smiled and nodded her head a bit.

Eloise responded quickly to her new nickname, hardly even noticing it. She always had to be able to adjust to new names and this was no exception. She nods, "It's what I do best!"
"See all of ya in the auditorium!" She waved goodbye to Asher, with Alex now gone, giving a slight bow as she tends to do.

In the locker room, Eloise was in her usual outfit in a matter of seconds. Kicking a ball around didn't work up much of a sweat at all, obviously, and so Eloise decided she'd leave the shower for when she was in the dorms.
"This meeting's gonna be interesting..."

Wasn't there a meeting at eight? Herbert dimly was aware of the fact as he played around with the fish. Perhaps he should attend. He could ask that bear about a cart for the fishtank. Or ask him to move the fish. Threaten him. That was more like it.
With a parting kissy to the fishies, he began to slowly walk to the auditorium. He took his seat in the far back, near to the door.

"I'll head on over and wait for you dolls at the auditorium, then," he said, removing his hat and bowing before putting it back on and leaving the room and walking down the hall.