Dr. Alan Lord. He's our advisor, a demigod Scion - but very little like the stories of the well known Heracles. For some unknown reason I get the impression that appearances are deceiving when I look at him. Like we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. He also seems conflicted about us. He seems resentful at having to teach us anything, and even more resentful that he has no control over it or the scheduling. At the same time, he seems like a man that tries to be fair. Plus even though it's not a task he'd have chosen to give himself I get the impression he will do his best to teach us because anything he does, he aims to do well. He's also got a huge jaguar which, interestingly enough, apparently is invisible to mortals. I wondered how that works, and later Dr. Lord explained that his kitty cat was in a ghost form and that allowed us Scions to see but not mortals. Being invisible, if only to mortals, is a trick I'd like to learn...but the idea of a ghost form makes me wonder how practical that would be. Still, could come in very handy as I think were supposed to keep the mortals in the dark about us and what's really going on.
Gabriella Velas. She's one of the four of us that arrived together. Strange, I seem to feel a connection between the four of us that I don't feel with the other Scions I met later that day. Anyway, she's hot. Like supermodel hot. Or possibly it would be more accurate to say that Gabriella has the kind of beauty that most top models only wish they had. Even better, she seems pretty nice - not like some of the stuck up, brainless girls that used to chase me in high school. But what seems the most amazing to me is that she has some sort of divine power like the Oracle at Delphi (but without breathing in any strange fumes, speaking in tongues, or the like). With a gift like that, I will definitely be listening to whatever she has to say. Hmm, I wonder if she can use that talent to see what the questions are on upcoming tests? And how does that prophetic ability work? Sight, sound, both, more? A single "vision" that always comes true? Or maybe possible futures? If she saw possible futures that might be support for M-theory. I wonder if she'd be willing to talk to me about this, or if it's too personal a topic. She seems pretty understanding, so I think I'll just try to ask her if we're ever alone some time. And mustn't forget she's got a cute pet jaguar, Tepini. I wonder if Tepini would like to wrestle with me? It's said that many martial arts techniques were taken from watching animals. So maybe I could learn to fight better by watching or rough housing with her big kitty.
Jahiera Saladin. Another of the four of us that arrived together. She's tiny, more than two feet shorter than me, about 5' tall and looks like she'd weigh about 100 lb. soaking wet. She's quite pretty too. But perhaps unfortunately for her, I bet a lot of guys won't even notice her if she's hanging out with Gabriella. If I understood her correctly, this is Jahiera's first time going to school. She had some sort of home schooling, but she seems smart as a whip. Is a whip actually smart? Whatever. I know my IQ is in the range that the psychologists say make it difficult to accurately measure, but Jahiera seems like she might be even smarter than me. That's certainly impressive. She's Egyptian, but she also speaks Italian like I do, a pity she doesn't know Greek. But she speaks Hebrew like Kobi and his family, so maybe she can help me keep in practice. Jahi also has a pet cat named Miyet. Or maybe she has a lioness named Miyet. They seem to be the same creature...or something like that. If this is some sort of shape change, I wonder which form is the natural/real one? If Tepini wouldn't want to rough house with me, maybe Miyet would. Or maybe the three of us could work out together. That sure would be cool!
Ren Panganiban. The last to be mentioned of the four of us that arrived together. (Ladies first, sorry Ren.) Ren is kind of feminine looking and the shortest of us guy Scions, about five and a half feet tall. But he's another really smart one. He and Jaheira make me think of that old expression, "the smaller, the smarter." He seems nice, but kind of shy. He's a computer geek, so I bet he'll be cool to hang out with. Maybe later on when we know more stuff, I can build a miniature super computer and he could program some AI into it - that would be freaking awesome! Apparently he's got a cousin that's a Scion too, but he's somewhere out on the left coast. Breaking the pattern of large cats, but not of having animal companions, Ren has a pet bird. I figure it's something special, but he hasn't talked about it much yet and I haven't asked either...though he did caution us about bleeding near it. Seems like I am the odd man out as of us new arrivals I was the only one without a pet. Though how well a bird will survive with all these large kitty cats might be problematic. Hmmm, and maybe with a little more know how I can build something for his bird. Maybe some laser, or better yet a taser, it can shoot to discourage the cats. I wonder if Ren would have a problem with that. I wonder if the bird would object. Well it's moot for now, but it's something to keep in mind for the future. But if I make something for his bird, maybe I should make something for the kitties. Cybernetic arms so they could open doors or use guns might be useful. I wonder if anyone will be interested in this. I mean we could have stuff better than "sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads" like Dr. Evil wanted!
Sonia Wu. Another short girl, but taller than Jahiera. Kind of average looking, but some nice musculature. The muscles are no doubt earned from her martial arts workouts. She's apparently really into martial arts, though more the artsy stuff than the practical stuff. Still, Jet Li trained a lot that way and he's pretty amazing with or without wires. Plus I have a hunch that some of the old legends that made this artsy, sorta fake, wuxia stuff were probably based on Scions who were martial artists. So those artsy skills may be some pretty potent combat skills - at least for us Scions. Hopefully she'll be interested in training together. I had several good partners and teachers back in Dale City, but so far she's the only one here I have seen that shares this sort of interest with me. Plus I hear she's got a good DVD collection of her wuxia stuff, so maybe she'd like to watch some of those movies together or at least let me borrow them so I can watch them. She also has an animal, but it apparently it's not a pet but somehow her half-brother. It's a monkey, which makes sense because of her father is Sun Wukong - though I doubt the movie The Forbidden Kingdom portrayed him accurately. But I wonder if half-brother is literal in this case, or more in keeping with the brother/sister way of speaking that I've seen in chinese martial arts flicks. I wonder if it would be rude to ask her about that. But I do need to talk to her about her half-brother, I need to make sure he won't wander into my room when I'm not around and play with my shotgun. Hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to her about this tomorrow.
Sadie Parr. The last of our female Scions - and the least. The first three all seem cool, but this girl is a female dog (OOC note to readers, I do hope you all know the proper name for a female dog). She's about average height for a girl, and I would have said she was - unbelievable as it may seem - hotter than Gabriella. Then Sadie opened her mouth. No amount of outer beauty can possibly hide that inner ugliness. I mean if attitude was ichor, she'd be a goddess - and not just any goddess but like the queen of all the pantheons. As it is, I feel sorry for poor Jahiera who got stuck with Sadie as a roommate. Sadie has money too, so that probably only makes her attitude worse. I will definitely avoid her. Though I do wonder how someone about two feet shorter than me can so effortlessly look down her nose at me. But I sure as hell don't wonder enough about that to spend any more time with her than is absolutely necessary.
Lionel Applegate. My roommate, unfortunately. Tall, thin, and ugly. I mean ugly like someone beat him with with the ugly stick - repeatedly. This wouldn't be a problem, if it wasn't for the fact I am also getting bad vibes off of him. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I keep thinking "I've got a bad feeling about this" whenever I see him. He doesn't want me messing with his stuff, which I can respect, mostly. But he's already got padlocks on a bunch of his stuff. Besides, I looked up his divine dad on the internet earlier this evening, and Lionel seems to share some interests. The one that worries me most is that he looks the type that will get into biological warfare. Which means I sure as hell won't be touching his stuff, not unless I have a hazmat suit or something. Plus he's got a weird stone statue. Every time I went out to do something and then came back, it was in a different position than when I left. And this even happened when Lionel wasn't in the room! Sometimes I think its eyes are following me. Again, I don't know how much is my imagination, but Lionel and his statue give me the creeps. If I get a chance before school starts, I will see if I can find some place to buy some miniature cameras and motion detectors. Or buy the parts needed to make 'em, whatever. Then I can set them up and maybe find out how that statue is moving. I think I normally am pretty open minded, but I'm already thinking about trying to change roommates. Ren would be my first choice so far, if it was just my pick, but Hank (next entry) seems pretty compatible to me too. Oh, and Lionel doesn't seem to wash his hair. I wonder how he'd take it if I bought a large bottle of shampoo and just left it on his bed when he wasn't around.
Hank Owens. Average height, maybe a little taller, but muscular. I don't know much about him, but he's ROTC and is thinking about the Marines. Since my stepdad is a Marine, I know a lot about them and respect them too. So I figure Hank's probably an OK guy. I do kind of wonder how he would handle a full time career as a Marine with whatever sort of duties we Scions are supposed to be handling in the war against the Titans. I mean even an average job would allow a lot more flexibility in scheduling that being in the military. Hopefully I'll get a chance to hang out with him more and get to know him better. It's strange though, despite liking Sonia and Hank from the very first, I don't seem drawn to them the same way as I do to Gabriella, Jahiera, and Ren. I guess this is all part of the way Fate hits us Scions, but I sure wish I understood it better. Also, perhaps strangely, the first six to arrive here don't seem to have the same connection with any of the others like the four of us that arrived together. I wonder if that means anything.
Cory Jackson. He's ... interesting ... sort of ... but I'm glad I'm not his roommate. His dad is Coyote and he wants some sort of career in comedy. He'll probably be great at parties, but I'm really glad I am not his roommate and hence a likely target for trying out his practical jokes. He's got an animal, a coyote of course, but like Sonia he says it's his half-brother. Despite my curiosity, I will not ask. I figure the less he notices me, the less frequently I'll be the victim of some untimely practical joke. Not that I figure we won't all be targeted as time goes on, but why give him extra reasons to choose me?
Barry Winston. The last male Scion here, and like Sadie, probably the least. This idiot redneck is some sort of bigoted Christian that mistook his divine father (who is some sort of Persian god) as a Christian angel. He thinks were all a bunch of pagan idiots who are acting stupid because we believe what our divine parents told us. I really wanted to educate him. Specifically I was thinking of starting by teaching him first hand the meaning of the word "defenestration." His brain is so dense a new thought probably takes years to surface. As the saying goes, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?" Dr. Lord did basically say we were allowed to handle him as roughly as necessary, with the proviso that we were not to kill him. I guess the war against the Titans takes all kinds, or makes for strange bedfellows, or whatever. Dr. Lord did try to set Barry straight, but I doubt much of it will stick. Dr. Lord also teleported him out to somewhere in the woods for awhile, so at least he won't be bothering us while we get settled in. Though maybe I am being too hard as Barry does have a dog. I've noticed most dog owners have some redeeming qualities. Too bad none of us realized the dog was there until after Dr. Lord left, because it would be a shame to let him starve or poop in the room while Barry's away. I guess I'll take care of the cute doggie until Barry comes back. But I'll check around with the others to see if anyone else is willing to or wants to share the chores.
Besides the Scions I met today, our dorm itself is worth mentioning. All of us Scions have a floor to ourselves, the 11th floor, but the building we're in only has 10 floors. It's apparently some sort of special place made by some god or gods. Dr. Lord didn't really explain much. But no sense in asking questions now because I think I just know too little to understand something like this. But if it's anything like the TARDIS, I will definitely make the effort to learn how to create something like this. The potential uses are mind boggling. Another unique thing about our dorm is that we access our floor via an elevator that is apparently invisible to mortals but not us Scions. I doubt it's a ghost form, like Dr. Lord's kitty cat used, so once I better understand science and the supernatural I will have to look into that as well.
That's all I can think of for my first day here. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
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