A chime sounded as the door to the room slid open, admitting two new people to the gradually growing cluster. That made 7 people so far, including himself. A tiny boy with colorless hair sat on a chair in the corner, trying to pretend he wasn�t sweating. A largely-breasted woman with hair like an alarm light sat on a couch, hunching into her clothing and rubbing the goosebumps on her arms. A pair of identical-looking blond men sat together on another couch, conversing in quiet tones. The topic seemed to be the large-breasted woman across from them. If she could hear them, she was pretending that she couldn�t.
The new arrivals, a blond girl with a braid and another girl with� no, that was a male. A male with long brown hair to his shoulders and eyes like a medium-sized yellow star. Strange. The two looked around the room, spotted the food trays to one side, and headed straight for them. Moments later they were engaged in a duel with carrots for swords. Equally strange.
After a few minutes and three broken carrots from too much enthusiasm, the door chimed again, and three people entered, one male and two females. J guessed that the blond female was the teacher from the confident way she carried herself, until the male clapped his hands to get everyone�s attention.
�Students,� he began, �welcome to the Academy. You�re the brightest and the best of the Alliance. We expect great things from all of you. Now,� he paused to pull out a role sheet, �Say �here� or raise your hand when I call your name. Arlan Shield-stone.�
One of the blond twins raised his hand. �Dunmer Arrow-root.� The other raised his. �Charon Vashito.� The buxom redhead barked a blunt �here�. �Emimac Crossim Dundiedimbledell.� Was that a name? It must have been, for the male with the long hair called out �here� in a cheery voice. �Lanatas Shanis Sumbertellamin.� Another impossible name, and another chirpy �here� from the braided girl. �Jay Ay-fourty seven, three-one-five-eight.� The other students looked confused, but J stiffly raised his hand and they didn�t comment. �Lukas Halsec.� A quiet �here� from the boy in the corner. �That�s everyone but the girls I have with me. This is Jessini Sara,� he pointed to the girl who looked like she was going to faint from either excitement or nervousness, �and Dainaya Kelly.� And he pointed to the confident blond, who smiled at the room and nodded her head.
�Good. You�ll all be assigned double-rooms, and tomorrow you can check the Academy database for your assignments.�