The fourth is an eerie ethereal waif in a flowy midnight blue dress, with big violet eyes, pale skin, and stringy raven hair, who is already looking up with interest at the group coming in from the train platform.

Eelle already knows who they are. Even with her psychic senses reigned in, she could feel the flavor of their minds long before the train actually stopped. One of them stands out from the others, stark in its purity of self-acceptance, and equally in dire need of a hug.

Here's a buxom, improbably curvy goth girl in a scandalously short black skirt and green tube-top, with bright amber eyes and an emerald streak in her jet black hair.

Despite the brisk morning chill, Cameron is comfortable, using the first of her two powers to stay warm. All she has to do is rouse her aerobic metabolism a little and numb her sweat glands, and the cold doesn't bother her.

Cameron isn't really thinking about being dressed like a whore, but that is the word she'd use if she was, and without an ounce of shame. She isn't dressed this way to make an impression, she's dressed this way to avoid making the wrong impression, so it just feels natural to her.

Eelle doesn't hesitate to walk right up and gently wrap her arms around this girl.

It's a huge invasion of privacy. Eelle has some control over her senses at range, but when she touches someone she gets everything. But she's betting Cameron won't mind. For a moment, she is two girls, one giving a hug to a new friend, one receiving a hug from a pretty stranger.

Cameron has no objections to the hug from the pretty stranger, but she is confused about why the pretty stranger.

"Um, hi. Are you sure you're hugging the right girl? I don't think I know you."

"My name is Purgatory. I'm psychic."

She'll mention her real name later. Her codename is the name that matters, now.

"I knew you needed a hug because I could feel it myself. It's nice to meet you, Cameron."

How much are you in my head right now? Cameron wonders. Is that how she knew her name?

Cameron returns the hug and snuggles up to the other girl, regardless. It isn't like Cameron has any secrets. Her family's dead, her powers are straightforward, and she actively rejects the idea that lust is a private matter in the first place. Actually, she doesn't want it getting around that she was born a boy, but she never planned to hide her ability to shift between male and female form at will, so.

Honestly, she's more discomfited by the possibility that this is a platonic hug and not a come-on. Cameron is less than comfortable with platonicly-intended affection.

I'm very, very psychic, but your hypothetical secrets are safe with me, Eelle projects. "I knew right away that you needed a hug, and almost as quickly that ordinary hugging for ordinary reasons is sexual for you. I wouldn't have hugged you and introduced myself if that bothered me."

For emphasis, Eelle drops one hand down to Cameron's butt and gropes her, hard, pulling her hips more firmly against Eelle's own. She's quick about it, and she's reading everyone else in the room, too. No one sees her do it.

Yum. Groping.

Cameron relaxes and just enjoys being touched, now that that's cleared up.

Then she giggles. Her ARC therapist, who is also a telepath, has been trying to define Cameron's emotional malaise since she arrived there, and Purgatory just plucks it perfectly out of her head on the first try and understands completely.

Being understood like that is a really, really good feeling. She was not expecting her first day at Whateley to be this nice.

Eelle wasn't expecting to meet someone so unbothered by having her in their mind this soon either. It's wonderful to be trusted, and be able to trust, so quickly. They were both alone, and now they're not.

And so non-platonic hugging can continue indefinitely.

Or at least until the school vans arrive, and a tall businessy-looking woman steps out to collect them.

"Okay, listen up! I am Mrs. Shugendo, I'm the Dean of Students at Whateley Academy. There are two shuttles here to take you to the school. I'm going to call off your names alphabetically. When I call out your name, let me know who you are, and then go out to the vans. Now, I know that you have a lot of questions, but, unless it's an emergency, save it for when we get to the school."

Mrs. Shugendo calls roll, and everyone scrambles to get themselves and their luggage into the vans.

The drive takes them past some spectacular scenery, past several old summer camps on the way into the mountains. Shortly, they turn off and proceed through a large gate set in an imposing stone wall. A pair of tall, gaunt, faceless gargoyle statues perch above like pieces of night.

The vans park in front of a stately-looking building of red brick. A small sign names this building, Poe Cottage.

Mrs. Shugendo has all the students bring their luggage into the entryway, then sits them down in the adjacent common room for a talk.

"Welcome to Whateley Academy! Now, you'll get the formal welcoming speech from the Headmistress along with all the other freshmen, but this little talk is just for you. The reason that you were all told to come here a day ahead of the other freshmen, and the reason that you're being put up in this dormitory, is that you all have something in common that sets you apart from the other students, even beyond your individual mutations. You are what some call 'alternative lifestyle' types. You are gay, lesbian, transgender, or so aggressively bisexual that it is an issue for you. We don't condemn you for this; you didn't really have a choice in it, any more than you chose to be mutants. We realize that it's hard going through adolescence. We realize that it's even harder when you're a mutant. You have enough to put up with already, you don't need the extra aggravation of being branded a, quote, sexual deviant, unquote. Poe Cottage is a place where you don't need to worry about the kids down the hall finding out, because they already know about you, and you already know about them."

Cameron, who has every intention of openly being a sexual deviant, still thinks this is really cool. Clearly, she is in the right place.

"Now, while we are very proud of the fact that you were brave and honest enough to admit your, persuasion, on your admittance forms, I'm afraid that we're going to have to ask you to curb that honesty with regard to Poe itself. The sad fact is that your differences make you targets, and the secret of Poe prevents a lot of violence. If your sense of pride demands that you come out of the closet, then you have a right to. But please, have consideration for the other people here at Poe, and don't reveal the overall status here. You have been brought here a day earlier than the rest of the students to make this easier as you move in and sort out roommate arrangements."

The boy with the orange hair and the music, from the waiting room, speaks up. "Um, ma'am? What are the roommate arrangements? If everyone here is gay, are we supposed to room with the opposite sex instead? Because that sounds, awkward."

Mrs. Shugendo clears her throat nervously. "It will be boys with boys and girls with girls. To have it otherwise would advertise that there was something unusual going on at Poe Cottage to everyone who looked at the roster. However, I must remind you that carnal relations involving students, whether between opposite sexes or the same sex, is strictly forbidden at Whateley, and any homosexual student caught breaking that rule will be punished as severely as any heterosexual student doing so!" Which is to say, not at all, but she is still expected to say it with a straight face.

WHAT.

Oh shit.

Eelle quickly touches Cameron's mind and repeats Mrs. Shugendo's last thought before Cameron can... murder the woman, or whatever she is about to do.

Cameron is not that impulsive, but is very grateful anyway. She probably would've done something ill-advised if Purgatory wasn't there to clue her in to the lie.

She gets over her figurative heart attack and settles for internal grumbling about the GRATUITOUS HYPOCRISY instead. Fake rules are the worst. But her new friend is excellent.

Speech concluded, Mrs. Shugendo introduces the students to Ms. Horton, the "house mother" for Poe. Ms. Horton looks the part, and helpfully explains where all the basic amenities are located within the cottage.

Once her explanation is finished, the adults bring in three older students who are dressed in the school uniform.

"Let's get you broken into groups small enough to work with. These three are Steve Rossiter, Toni Chandler, and Rosalyn Dekkard. They'll be your Student Guides for today."

Steve calls out names until he's collected a group of only boys, including the orange-haired boy. Rosalyn calls out names until she's collected a group of only girls, including Eelle and the Asian red-head.

Eelle gives Cameron a friendly bump and a hand-squeeze before she goes off with the lesbians.

Toni does a little twirl, something halfway between casual stretching and Olympic break-dancing.

"So! That's the gayboys and the cislesbians taken care of! Leeeaaavvvviiiiinnnnnggggg.... Us!"

Toni gestures grandly and moonwalk-skates into the center of the remaining freshmen, a wide but warm smile on her face.

"The changelings."

"Changelings?" repeats the pinkette in the labcoat, tone soft and wondering as she exchanges glances with the other three remaining freshmen. "There's a word for it?"

The blonde freckled girl in the shiny blue duster gasps excitedly. "Wow really?! You guys, too?"

The curvy brunette in a t-shirt and jeans (no bra) meets everyone's looks, relieved and thoughtful.

Cameron returns glances from the other three with curiosity.

"Let's take a walk."

Grinning, Toni leads them outside, waving expansively to get them to follow her.

"So! On the same page, we all'a us are defectors in the war, leapers of the fence, crossers of the line, between dude and dudette. Boy and girl. Sticker and stuck."

She leads the group away from Poe, towards a secluded area nearer the center of campus. She points out the fancy Melville dorm that sits between Poe and a towering crystal dome which Toni informs them is actually the cafeteria.

At the statue of Noah Whateley, she stops.

"The thing you gotta remember is, as much as our gay pals've got our back, they don't really get it y'know? I dunno if you chose this, or if your mutation didn't give you a choice, but either way, us changelings have got a unique dealio. Its us against the world, lotta the time. So while we're out here, where it's just us gender-transgressors and nobody's around to drop no eaves, let's use this oppor-tunity t'be real, yeah? Introduce yo'self, tell us all about how you feel, where you're comin' from, and just for fun throw in the skinny on your mutant power!"

"I'll go first, yeah?"

Toni strikes a pose.

"My name's Toni Chandler, codename: Chaka, and I knew I wanted to be a girl since I was tiny. I got lucky. When I manifested my mutation, I got exactly what I wanted. I started changin' and my family was cool with it. And it came with these kickass ki abilities!"

Toni leaps into the air, gliding upwards with the barest of steps off the side of the statue, then flips up and stands on one hand on Noah Whateley's head.

"I'm what they call a 'ki-wizard' 'cause they never invented a'actual rating for super martial arts like they've got 'wizard' for super spellslinging or 'psi' for super," two fingers to her temple and a look of excessive concentration. "But I play with ki like the stuff was made just for me, so I can learn moves in one day that it takes baselines decades'a training and monk'i'tude to master."

Toni flips off the statue and lands easily in front of the busty brunette in the t-shirt.

"I'm also an exemplar, which gives me my rockin' bod. It mean's I've got a body image template, which is a whole thang. I'm low-level, so I'm only a littl'bit tougher and stronger than I physically 'should' be, but the part that matters here is that the Bee-Ey-Tee is a specific ideal, that yur body follows. If you changed as part of your mutation, and you didn't choose what you look like, you've probably got one."

"Uh," says the busty brunette in the t-shirt, after a moment of no one speaking. "I guess I'll go? My name's Ellen Dunkel. I don't have a codename yet. Me and my brother used to be the same person. So technically, I didn't used to be a boy? But I have all of his memories, so it feels like I was. I'm still not really sure how I feel about being a girl. I'm an exemplar, like Toni said, and everyone my family talked to told us that means there's probably nothing that can change me... back. So I haven't really thought about what I'd do if I could. Maybe I should...."

Ellen sighs.

"Anyway, my powers, like I said, I'm strong and tough, but not that far above baseline. My actual power is this."

Holding out a hand, Ellen flexes her fingers and an aurora of scintillating green energy starts to play around her fingers.

"Pretty classic. I shoot energy beams. But that's not all. I can also do things to anything I'm hitting with my beam, like, make stuff appear or change the way it looks. They tell me its something to do with ectoplasm."

"Whoa, and I thought my life was weird," the freckled blonde in the blue duster says.

"Speaking of my life! My name's Hayden Winters, and I used to be a gay boy, then I was a mutant and turned into a girl over the weekend. It was freaky, but cool. Being a girl is actually pretty neat, I just wish my boyfriend hadn't broken up with me over it. But! I'm a speedster! I can go really fast and it is awesome! Oh! Also when I use my powers, this happens."

In an instant, Hayden turns from a freckled blonde into girl-shaped black void, sliced out of reality.

"I'mstrongerinthesunandstuff." She turns back to normal. "I absorb light and it makes me faster. Cool huh? I think I'm going to call myself Silhouette."

"That's taken, I'm sorry to say. It fits you better than that guy!"

"Oh dangit!" Hayden says with a flounce. "I guess I'll have to think of something else..."

Cameron, who is standing next to Hayden, goes next.

"Well, my name is Cameron Endel. My codename, I've been calling myself Rouse."

Now, what can she even say about her feels.

"I never thought I needed to be a girl, until I was one. For me, it is a choice. My powers let me choose. I could've stayed a boy, but here I am, in female form, registered as a female student, so yeah."

"Wait, does that mean you can turn back into a boy any time you want?" the petite pinkette who hadn't introduced herself yet, asked, envious.

Cameron nods.

"I'm a healer. Actually, I'm a really, really powerful healer. They told me I have, like, the most powerful 'healing' mutation on record. I can heal myself, or anyone I'm touching, completely, in the blink of an eye. It's just, when I use it on myself, this happens."

Cameron's body snaps, displacing air quickly enough to make a sound, as it flows from female

to male, in an instant.

"I have to be the same physical sex as the person I'm healing, or they will change to match whichever sex I am."

Cameron glances gown at the tube top bunched against his pecs and the skirt slipping down his hips, and grimaces. The fact remains that his boy clothes look better on his girlform than his girl clothes look on his boyform.

He heals himself, and his body snaps

back into girl-mode.

Toni gives Cameron a low, impressed whistle.

"Looks like we got'a 'nother powerhouse on our hands, that is wild. You can shift yourself, and other people too? That is some top shelf gender-bending."

The petite pinkette in the labcoat flings herself in front of Cameron. "Dibs!"

Everyone else stares at her.

"What? That is literally the coolest power that has ever existed in the whole universe. So I call dibs on being Cameron's roommate. Hi. I'm Terra Verres. Can you really transform other people into the opposite sex? I promise I don't snore."

"Actually... I'm not sure? The thing Ellen said about exemplars made me realize that I've only ever used my healing power on baselines. I don't know if it works the same on mutants."

"Wanna check?" Toni asks impulsively, holding out her hand. "You gotta promise to change me back if it works, tho. On my own it took summat'like three months to finish my change."

Shift. Poke. Heal.

Toni does not turn into a boy.

"Whew. Well, that's prolly for the best. Ayles is gonna be crushed tho."

Toni gets a thoughtful look on her face. "Jade, tho..."

"Try me?" Terra requests. "As a girl. I'm not an exemplar."

Shift. Poke.

Huh, is Terra not already a girl? She looks and sounds girly. Wait, is Terra trans?

Heal. All the heal.

The change is subtle. If one looked away it could be missed entirely. But her face shape softens, her breasts get bigger, and she gasps, looking down. Terra immediately spins around so she's not facing the group, and peeks into her waistband.

Then she starts laughing maniacally. "Yes!!"

"Are you okay over there?" Ellen asks.

Terra bites off her giggles and turns around again. "Yes! Sorry. Yes. I'm great. Absolutely great."

"You gonna tell us what the heck?" Ellen wonders.

"Yes," Terra says. "I guess I did derail my own intro a bit. Sorry about that."

Terra takes a deep breath.

"I'm a high-level gadgeteer. If you don't already know, that's the version of the mad-scientist superpower that's like being psychic about how technology works. I actually have several nanotechnology patents already. Long story short, I wanted to know what it'd be like to be a girl, so I combined several of my medical projects into a nanite colony that could switch my hormone regulation at will, and simulate high-speed stem-cell regeneration. Basically, I could do the same thing Cameron does, only it took about an hour to go each way and or heal grievous injuries."

Terra takes another deep breath.

"Its painful, and has side effects, but I transitioned about a dozen times before... my godmother, she's a supervillain, and she didn't mean to do it, but because of something she did, my whole lab got destroyed and my nanites denatured. While I was halfway through a transformation. I was stuck halfway for weeks, until just now."

Everyone else winces, but Terra just bounces happily in place.

"Thank fuck and thank you. Can I hug you?" she asks Cameron.

Cameron hugs Terra.

"You don't have to ask. That goes for everyone. You just can."

"Awesome. Alright everyone, let's finish the tour, head back, and find you gals rooms. Whaddya say?"

Cameron had vague plans to ask Purgatory to room with her, but if it's a Poe tradition to room the changelings together, she'd rather share with the other gender-shifter than with Hayden or Ellen.

Somewhere during the trek back to Poe, Cameron abruptly realizes she completely forgot to tell them about her other power. Oh well. She'll mention it when it becomes relevant.

Poe Cottage has four floors.

The first floor is common rooms, study areas, the kitchen, laundry, and things like that. It also contains the very important Safety Indicator, which is a panel vaguely resembling a traffic light. A red light means that there is an uninformed stranger in the building, and powers are not to be used under any circumstances. A yellow light means an informed stranger is in the building, and powers may be used at one's own risk. A green light means, all-clear. It is the same system the whole campus uses, keep an eye on the flags outside.

The second floor is reserved for freshmen, meaning, students who are new to Whateley and new to being mutants, regardless of age. It is in less than pristine condition because accidents with powers happen.

The third and fourth floors are for the upperclassmen. If a freshman goes up there an has a powers accident, that freshman Will Not Have A Nice Time At Whateley this semester. But freshman are technically allowed to go up there if they want to risk it. The upperclassmen have Nice Things, especially now that Phase will be living up there.

Speaking of Phase, here is a young woman(?) with a punk haircut in ridiculously expensive-looking business casual, standing among a large amount of luggage and what look like high-end metallic shipping crates.

A man in a delivery uniform suddenly teleports in with another crate, and vanishes just as quickly, while several more professional-looking guys move stuff into the cottage.

Toni bounces over, leaving the four froshies to look on.

"Ayles! What's all this? They finally let'ya get away with renovating the whole damn dorm?"

"Of course not. I merely arranged to replace all of the furniture, and fixtures, and appliances."

Ayla manages to look sheepish.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. This is the last of it, and they should be done presently. I expected your tour to take longer. The tour Beltane gave us took at least another twenty minutes. I should have known you'd be faster than her."

"Well duh."

Toni bounces back to the froshies.

"So! This is my teammate Phase, ay-kay-ay Ayla Goodkind. He's one'a us. Sorta. His power is that he's 'secretly' one of those Goodkinds and has forgotten more about how to make money than you or I will ever know. Oh and also he's a flying brick who can walk through walls, but who cares about that right."

Snicker.

"Grab a seat down here. If Ayles says twenty minutes, it'll be exactly twenty minutes. I dunno what he's putting in for y'all but it'll prolly make the Hilton penthouse look like a Motel 6."

Cameron exchanges disbelieving, optimistic glances with Terra, Hayden, and Ellen.

Her luggage is over there. Cameron flops down in a seat nearby to wait.

Oh look, the lesbians are back.

Eelle is the only one of them who doesn't gawk at the flurry of efficient professional activity around Phase.

The athletic redhead from before comes with her as she flows gracefully into the seat next to Cameron, and leans comfortably into Cameron's side.

"Hi. This is Kitsune. She's gonna be my roommate."

"Hi."

Cameron puts her head on Purgatory's shoulder.

"This is Purgatory. She's a super-psychic."

Hayden, Ellen, and Terra nod and say, "hi," as well.

Terra eyes the psychic nervously for a moment, before shrugging it off. She's wondering if Cameron and Purgatory already knew each other, or if they're just that fast at getting on snuggling terms, and if they are that fast that she's kinda envious, and she hopes the psychic isn't reading any of that.

"So hey, what's your power?" Ellen asks Kitsune.

"I'm a warper, manifestor, esper, and exemplar," Kitsune says casually. "I can do some things with electromagnetic fields like magnets do, and I can fold space to teleport small objects or manipulate gravity to levitate things or fly. I'm physically strong enough to just barely bullet-resistant, but not bullet-proof. I can summon a temporary second body in a variety of forms and control it. And I can sense the locations of objects and people I've used my powers on or touched recently, and I can sense when people are looking at me."

Kitsune blinks, and blushes, noticing that everyone is gawking at her now.

"Wow," Hayden says. "Is there anything you can't do?"

Kitsune just signs. "Plenty." Like admit to herself that she is gay before introducing her (ex)boyfriend to her parents.

Eelle is a little too wrapped up in Cameron's everything to pay much attention to Terra's or anyone's thoughts, but does note them absently.

With a hand idly stroking Cameron's thigh, Eelle can have the subtlest of conversations with Cameron's subconscious. She can feel what Cameron feels. She knows what a nice touch is, and she knows what a touch that teases with not-enough is. Using the first for 'yes' and the second for 'no' Eelle can reply to Cameron's unconscious impulses and communicate with her without occupying any of Cameron's conscious attention.

And so Cameron's impressions and impulses are steered to be kinder and more accurate than ever before. On some level, she is actually aware of what Purgatory is doing, but she doesn't care. It's fun.

"Hey, what about you?" Hayden asks of Purgatory. "What's it mean to be a 'super-psychic'? Are you one of those, whaduyacall'em, Package Deals?"

"Package Deal Psychics, or Pee-Dee-Pees," Kitsune supplies. "And no, she isn't a PDP. She's a psi."

"I don't get it."

"Being a 'psi' mutant means my mutation makes me super-humanly talented and powerful at the psychic arts. PDPs don't have that. PDPs get exactly three linked psi-based superpowers that they can rotate between and use without the normal limits on endurance and energy, but they don't have any special advantage at manipulating psychic energy outside of those specific abilities."

Pause. Nuzzle.

"Everything I can do, I have to learn, but anything I can learn, I can do."

"Also, PDPs can't be exemplars, and she is," Kitsune points out, nodding at Purgatory.

"They can't?" Ellen wonders.

"The traits are mutually exclusive for some reason."

"Huh."

As promised, the work crews all finish promptly.

"Thank you for being patient. Your rooms should be ready for you now."

By this point, Cameron is as curious as the rest of them. She collects her luggage and lugs it up the stairs between Terra and Purgatory.

"I don't really care which room we're in, if you wanna grab the one next to Kitsune and 'Tory," Terra suggests.

"Yes, let's," Eelle says to Kitsune.

Inside each dorm room, there are:

Two adjustable laminated steel desks with ergonomic office chairs, and several lockable plexiglas cabinets.

Two space-efficient track-rotating wardrobes.

Two sleek, modern bedframes with programmable smart-mattresses and hydrophobic satin sheets.

Warm LED strip-lighting around the edges of the ceiling.

A duct-less silent climate-control unit.

Two sleek thin-profile laptops emblazoned with the Whateley coat of arms.

And lastly, a clear, concise instructional pamphlet for all of the above.

Okay, that is fucking impressive. Just how rich is Phase?

After staring for a long moment, Cameron and Terra set about unpacking.

Gothy slutwear goes in the wardrobe compartments, girl clothes on this track, boy clothes on the other. School uniforms go up on the provided hangers. Personal laptop goes in the cabinet. Books on the shelf next to that. Brand-new dildo, still in the package, goes next to that, for now. Brand-new high-definition webcam, also still in the package, goes in the other cabinet. Spare pair of flat-heeled stompin' boots, under the bed.

Terra is reading the instructional pamphlet, but when she looks up and sees the combination of sex toy and webcam she is perhaps a little alarmed.

Cameron catches the look and giggles. "What?"

She flops down on top of the covers on her bed and oh my fuck it's like floating on a jello cloud.

On the other side of the wall, Eelle giggles inexplicably.

"Nothing!" Terra squeaks. "Nothing. Seriously. I'm a pervert. My mind went to a perverted place. That's all."

"Don't worry," Cameron laughs. "The dildo and the camera are not related."

Not yet, anyway. Cameron is very much looking forwards to her eighteenth birthday, and the lucrative opportunities that will suddenly become legal for her on that day.

"But now I'm curious where your mind went. Do tell."

"Pretty much what you said..."

"ANYWAY! Pamphlet. Laptop. I mean, the pamphlet says the laptops are our course-books, rule-books, gen-ed textbooks, and class catalog. So, that's neat."

She takes the chair at her desk and opens hers up. It boots up ridiculously fast, too.

Rolling her eyes, Cameron gets off the bed and follows suit at her own desk.

The laptop is actually nicer than her personal one. Holy fuck.

Cameron ignores the rule book. With one confirmed fake rule already, she sees no point in reading the erroneous document. Instead she goes straight to the class catalog.

The interface is clean and easy to read, showing her schedule, the classes she is eligible for, and the classes she has not met the prerequisites for, separate and searchable.

Four of her six class slots are already locked in with the required classes, while the other two show Cameron's chosen electives, which may still be changed.

Class Schedule - "Endel, Cameron"

Morning Block (8:00am - 10:30am | Tues. - Thurs.)
INTRODUCTION TO SUPERPOWERS (LAB)
(Schuster Hall, 209 | Quintain)

Morning Short Block (8:00am - 9:30am | Mon. - Wed. - Fri.)
INTRODUCTION TO SUPERPOWERS (THEORY)
(Schuster Hall, 301 | Bohn)

Day Mini Block (11:30pm - 1:00pm | Tues. - Thurs.)
SCIENCE - BIOCHEMISTRY
(Dunn Hall, 202 | Welch)

Day Super Block (10:30am - 1:00pm | Mon. - Wed. - Fri.)
DEFENSIVE DRIVING - LAND VEHICLES                      [->-]
(Laird Hall, Outbuilding C | Tomago)

Afternoon Block (2:00pm - 4:30pm | Tues. - Thurs.)
BASIC MARTIAL ARTS
(Laird Hall, Eastman B | Ito)

Afternoon Short Block (2:00pm - 3:30pm | Mon. - Wed. - Fri.)
COSTUME SHOP 1                                                               [->-]
(Schuster Hall, 304 | Ryan)

A tooltip pops up over "Defensive Driving" to remind Cameron that she will need to sign a waiver and pass a physical before being allowed to participate in that class. There's a helpful link to make an appointment for that at the Doyle Medical Complex automatically.

Cameron makes the appointment. She's really looking forward to learning how to drive like a badass. And without any mobility powers, those skills are probably going to save lives some day.

Meanwhile, Eelle is finalizing her own class schedule.

Class Schedule - "Riviera, Eelle"

Morning Block (8:00am - 10:30am | Tues. - Thurs.)
AIKIDO FOR ESPERS (ADVANCED)                     [->-]
(Laird Hall, Eastman A | Junzo)

Morning Short Block (8:00am - 9:30am | Mon. - Wed. - Fri.)
INTRODUCTION TO SUPERPOWERS (THEORY)
(Schuster Hall, 301 | Bohn)

Day Mini Block (11:30pm - 1:00pm | Tues. - Thurs.)
ART APPRECIATION                                              [->-]
(Dunn Hall, 106 | Kade)

Day Super Block (10:30am - 1:00pm | Mon. - Wed. - Fri.)
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHIC DISCIPLINES
(Kirby Hall, 103 | Geintz)

Afternoon Block (2:00pm - 4:30pm | Tues. - Thurs.)
HACKING THEORY                                                [->-]
(Dunn Hall, 205 | Babage)

Afternoon Short Block (2:00pm - 3:30pm | Mon. - Wed. - Fri.)
CALCULUS II                                                                         [->-]
(Schuster Hall, 201 | Bell)

She was a clever student, even before she was a mutant, and she tested out the general education requirements she hadn't already completed in her sleepy small-town high school. So now she gets to have more than half electives, depending on how she counts advanced calculus. Math isn't her favorite thing but calculus is useful and she's only one class from the end of the generalized course, so she wants to finish.

Ellen appears in the doorway of Purgatory's and Kitsune's room, grinning.

"Hey gals! The boys are back and one'a them's unpacking a Xbox. They're setting up DDR in the study lounge! Wanna play?"

"Yeah," Kitsune says, floating out of her chair. "'Tory?"

"Go on. I'll catch up."

The same conversation is taking place next door, with Hayden asking Terra and Cameron if they want to play.

"Ooh! Yes." Terra hops up eagerly and follows Hayden into the hall.

After a moment, Cameron gets up and meanders somewhat ambivalently out after them.

A hand comes out of the neighboring dorm room and pulls Cameron inside.

Her arms go around Cameron's waist. "Hi."

A wave of tingling force emanates from Eelle and catches the door, swinging it firmly shut.

Relieved smile. "Hi."

They're alone, and Purgatory knows exactly what Cameron is feeling. She can just... stop not acting on the yearning ache in her skin, the melty flutter between her legs, the hollow need in her core; on the warmth of Purgatory's body, the silky smoothness of Purgatory's skin, the alluring quirk of Purgatory's lips. No pretense is even possible, here, and that is so utterly freeing.

Cameron's lips crash into Purgatory's, and her hands dive into the other girl's dress, yanking the neckline down to expose her breasts and pull the straps off her shoulders.

She shimmies, letting her dress fall all the way to the floor, then arches into Cameron's touch, kissing back with a needy fervor. Eelle is into Cameron on her own merits, but she's also drinking in all of Cameron's lust and shivering as it rages through her. Cameron must have ridiculous self-control if she feels like this all the time.

A quick yank turns Cameron's tube-top into a belt. Hands move out of the way as she presses herself against Cameron's thicker, softer chest.

Cameron's lust is delightfully non-specific, and Purgatory may drink it all without feeling the least bit narcissistic. Also, her skirt can unzip and come off without needing to step out of it.

See, this is why it's awkward to start before everyone is already naked. It leads to a suboptimal experience, either because hands are busy with clothing instead of flesh, or because urgency to get hands on flesh leads to not actually reaching a state of nudity. Cameron isn't ripping Purgatory's panties off, but only because she has a very strong respect for other people's property. Also, she's still wearing her leather bracelets and other adornments, and they're both still wearing shoes.

Cameron has no idea how normal people solve this problem, but she solves it by figuratively throwing up her hands, focusing on her arousal, and rousing them both with her full power.

Eelle finds the zipper, but her nimble fingers fumble it as she gasps out a breathless, "Oh!!!!"

"Oh god! I can feel that! Like a billion psionic tentacles caressing every last nerve in my body! OH!!!!"

Eelle's arms clench Cameron to her with bruising force as she cums and cums, breathless, shaking, her hips twisting and humping air as she soaks her panties through and slicks her thighs.

Cameron is too distracted by her own orgasm to be sure, at first, but judging by the pain, that cracked at least one of her ribs. It hurts, but making Purgatory lose control like that is hot.

"S-sorry."

Cameron shifts, healing the damage.

"I have no regrets about that decision." He means that, wholeheartedly.

He drops to his knees, dragging his face and lips over Purgatory's breasts and belly on his way down. He yanks her panties down, then grabs those and her dress and frees them from her feet, leaving Purgatory completely naked except for her shoes. He twists around to get his own girly goth boots off, then unzips his skirt and kicks off his thong. Finally, he stands up and removes his bracelets and stuff; those he could leave on, but... not this time.

Eelle knows she can ask him to return to girl form, and he will. She doesn't ask. It doesn't actually matter to her which body Cameron's in, as long as she can keep feeling that same mind behind the flesh.

She takes off her shoes and tackles Cameron onto her fancy new bed, straddling his hips as she lays flat on top of him and captures his lips again.

His cock is hard, eager, seeking. He can feel her cleft, touching the shaft, wet and inviting. He wants to be inside her, needs to be insider her, or else why even have a cock. It isn't like she prefers it to a pussy.

It's cool how she can feel his electrochemokinesis touching her, though. He can't even do that.

He can heal her, which happens to serve as a form of birth control, if that was a concern.

There are some purely functional, penetrative advantages to the cock, admittedly. Irrespective of the rest of Cameron's current form, she wants it in her.

I can kill gametes with my own psychokinesis, but thank you for thinking it, Eelle projects into his mind while she does her best to fellate his tongue with her mouth.

Speaking of psychokinesis. Eelle moans, needy, and angles her hips as she pushes that feeling out of her body. A cloud of force collects around Cameron's cock, and flows back to Eelle's molten center, pulling his cock with it. The force tugs his tip straight to her entrance, spearing him into her.

Oh fuck that's hot. His hips lurch up, thrusting him deep into her without his input, bottoming out with a wet squish.

He feels an orgasm boiling up as her slippery heat envelops his shaft, and slams a numbing into himself, strangling it before it can break loose. Except, why exactly is he holding back? He can keep himself hard and horny after he cums just as easily. Kicking that reflex in the figurative face, Cameron lets off with his power and stops caring.

Eelle can feel how close he is to cumming, obviously. As the psychokinetic force spends itself, their hips fall back to the bed, driven together by the force of the fall, driving Cameron's cock up into her to the absolute limit, and the jolt of pleasure wrings another gasp out of her, and before their weight can settle she rises again and drops, riding his cock as she rocks her body against his.

Your electrochemokinesis is based in the psychic energy field, Eelle projects distractedly. If I can sense it. It is. So it will be visible to psionic senses.

Good to know.

And then he is moaning into her lips bucking into her as her pussy milks his climax out of him.

Cameron touches himself with his power, rousing to stay erect, and wraps his arms around Purgatory smooth bare back, rocking with her as they continue to move together in a languid undulation.

Eelle wiggles herself into better leverage, and sits up, breaking their kiss. She closes her eyes and moves, riding Cameron faster and with more force, bouncing on his cock and bucking against him on the down-stroke.

So this is what it's like to be on the receiving end of that.

Over the course of learning to use his electrochemokinesis, Cameron has observed that 'arousal' and 'lust' are not simple sliding scales, but complex tapestries of interacting urges and feelings. And his aim has gotten very good. With a light touch, he begins to rouse both of their need: the raw animal compulsion to seek stimulation.

His hips lurch, and his hands seize Purgatory's hips. Suddenly he's desperate to fuck and be fucked, harder, faster, and a low whine escapes him as his skin almost seems to cramp everywhere he isn't touching her.

Eelle opens her mouth in a silent, strangled scream as the psionic touch suffuses her with a feral urgency. And it compounds with what she experiences second-hand through Cameron.

She drops down, pressing herself against the desperate ache of not-touch, rubbing their bodies together fervently as her hips go crazy, pounding up and down, frantic. She doesn't even notice she's about to cum, until she does.

As Purgatory is caught by her orgasm and stops fucking him so frantically, his own need takes over his body and he rolls them over. Now he pounds into her, with frantic, violent thrusts. He grinds his whole body against her, feeling her as he fucks her.

Okay, in this state maybe his aim isn't so good. He tries to numb just her sensitivity to overstimulation, but ends up numbing her entire ability to feel pain. Meh, close enough. She's tougher than him. Its not like he can hurt her by thrusting too hard, and if he somehow does, he'll just heal her before he stops numbing her pain.

Shortly, with a choked off scream, Cameron cums. Without thinking about it, he seizes on the sensation and rouses it in them both, at full power.

Doing that on top of a natural orgasm is

seizureshakingpleasureimpossibleecstasy

love.
No, euphoria.

That... you should be careful with that... Eelle projects, unable to speak. Holy fucking god.

Cameron rises onto his elbows, shaking, as he lifts his face out of the crook of Purgatory's neck. He shivers as a lingering pulsation makes him throb inside her.

Hm?

"You... could accidentally... brainwash... some poor virgin... in love with you... doing that... to them."

Giggle.

"But you'll warn me, right? You'll warn me if I'm with someone who'd confuse pleasure and love, like that. Because you understand exactly what I want out of life. You understand what I want to be."

Her hands wander over him, and she can't help but think that Cameron's girl form is cuddlier.

"I believe I do."

Teasing giggle. "What's the term? Campus bicycle?"

Cameron sporfles.

"Campus bicycle? Campus bicycle? I'm not some piddly bike, I'm Goddamn Batwhore!"

And then, as his bruised hips start hurting more than the afterglow feels good, Cameron heal-shifts

because she can't take herself seriously as a boy after saying that.

Helpless giggling.

Oh that's nice. Cuddling naked jiggly girl Cameron.

She's passively aware of enough to know if anyone is about to interrupt them, but she wants to be sure they have time to cuddle, so now she starts probing more actively. Is anyone thinking about checking on them? Is Kitsune?

Kitsune is kicking orange-haired boy (Justin, no codename yet)'s ass at DDR.

Hayden, however, is wondering where they are, and is about to go looking.

Sigh.

By the time Hayden knocks, Eelle has her dress back on and the high-tech climate control unit has silently filtered most of the scent of sex out of the room.

Cameron doesn't actually care if they're caught, unless its by someone who's going to try to enforce the fake rule. She picks up her clothes but doesn't bother to put them on.

That's fine.

"Some plausible deniability is necessary, but not very much. We should avoid being caught in the act by Hayden in particular because she's the only straight girl on the floor and would appreciate it least."

She opens the door.

"Oh hey! There you gah!" Hayden spins around. "Wait. I'm a girl now. Do I still need to turn my back? Does the rule change for lesbians? If you weren't? If I was? It wasn't when I was gay. Except it also kinda was. Um..."

"Well I can't speak for everyone, but I don't care who sees me naked," and the next part isn't true until she says it, but then it is, "and I'll probably be naked anywhere that's not against the rules."

Cameron gets up and wonders at Purgatory what the actual rules about that are, because it's not like she can trust the ones that are written down.

I don't have enough observations to be sure, but I'd guess that the dorm rooms and bathrooms are fine all the time, and the hallway and study lounge of our floor are fine when the safety indicator is green.

"Anyway, what were you going to say, Hayden?"

"Oh right! I just got curious if you two got lost or something. Mystery solved! Want me to save you a spot?"

Cameron probably should meet and get to know her dormmates, shouldn't she.

...she's actually a little nervous about brazenly walking into a semi-public space, nude? She doesn't want to be nervous, and she doesn't want to go back on the decision she just made, but... what if the guys boo and tell her to put clothes on? Should she shift? What if that just makes the girls boo and tell her to put clothes on?

Eelle hugs Cameron from behind.

"Please," she says to Hayden. "We'll be there in a bit."

Let's go have a shower, she projects to Cameron.

Cameron just needs to put away her bracelets and stick her tube-top and skirt and socks in the hamper drawer in her own wardrobe in her room, and then yes, they can totally check out the showers. Towels?

A set of bath towels comes with the wardrobe! They're fluffy.

After a moment's consideration, Eelle takes her dress back off and drops it in her own hamper drawer, grabs a folded towel, and doesn't wrap it around herself. She wouldn't normally like to go nude in the halls on her first day here, but Cameron's attitude about it is like a shield around Eelle's nakedness so long as she's doing it with Cameron.

Everyone's in the study lounge anyway.

Well, not everyone. A cute non-exemplar girl with a black side-ponytail is coming the other way. She sees them, ogles them, and is so distracted that she walks straight into a wall.

"Ow!"

Realizing what she's done, the girl turns red and flees with an, "eep!"

Giggle.

"Oh no. Should I go find her later?"

"She'll be fine as long as she's there when you make your nude entrance to the floor party."

Pause.

"You'll be fine too. I haven't caught any thoughts that imply a fuss is waiting to be made. Just laugh it off if anyone questions you and there shouldn't be trouble."

Eelle pats Cameron's bare butt and gives it a reassuring squeeze. Now, what're the bathrooms like?

Gleaming.

Soft light-panels in the ceiling come on automatically the moment they step through the door. Marble counter tops, tasteful glass-and-brass fixtures, and rich wood-grain accents lend the room a high-class steampunk feel, complemented by the ultra-modern sleek lines of the pristine white tile and accordion-style shower 'curtains'. Each shower stall could've been pulled from the master bathroom of a mansion, with a full dozen chrome'd sci-fi-looking shower nozzles and a set of controls considerably more full-featured than mere hot vs. cold.

In pride of place, where it's not visible from the entrance but where it can't be missed while looking towards the showers, there is a self-lit engraved plaque dominating a wall.

THE FIRST RULE OF HYDROFLUX HARDWARE IS
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT HYDROFLUX HARDWARE.

HYDROFLUX HARDWARE IS NOT TO BE USED BETWEEN 6 AM AND 9 AM ON WEEKDAYS.
DO NOT MAKE ANYONE LATE FOR CLASS!

REMINDER:
TURN ON SOUND CANCELLATION SYSTEM BEFORE USING HYDROFLUX HARDWARE!
WITHOUT THE SOUND CANCELLATION SYSTEM, YOUR SOUNDS WILL NOT BE CANCELED.

THE SECOND RULE OF HYDROFLUX HARDWARE IS
YOU DO NOT USE HYDROFLUX HARDWARE ON SOMEONE ELSE WITHOUT CONSENT

It is a very large plaque, all in caps. Also the self-lighting appears to be rotating through colors like an aurora.

Cameron's eyebrows go up, up, up.

...she honestly can't decide if having sex machines installed in the bathrooms makes the "no sex" fake rule far less hypocritical or exponentially more hypocritical. She can see both sides, really.

Unless, "That can't actually be what it sounds like, right?"

"Your first impression was completely correct."

Eelle laughs and dances over to one of the stalls.

"Come on, we have to try it."

Cameron agrees completely. Are the controls self-explanatory?

"If we have this, what do the boys get?"

"I don't know. If anyone's thought about it, I wasn't paying attention."

There is a handlebar switch in the down position, over a dun indicator light that reads, Noise Cancel: Active.

There is a standard lever spigot to turn the water on, an actual temperature dial with a genuine glass needle-gauge, and a master switch labeled, Hydroflux System. Beside that, are three more lever-dials labeled, Coherence, Frequency, and Aperture.

Turning the water on with the master switch off results in streams from just three of the nozzles, which combine into a reasonably traditional shower stream at head-height. It is remarkable only in that it is exactly the temperature indicated on the dial, immediately.

Cameron hangs up her towel and flips the master switch.

The normal shower stream turns into a fine mist, and clear, blunt streams of water shoot gently out of all the other nozzles. One clear spout shoots straight up from a nozzle in the floor, forming a vertical bar of water that reaches waist-high at its apex. All of them move. A few spiral, a few more oscillate, and the one from the floor... pulsates, the spout rising and then losing about half a foot of height over and over.

"Oh wow it isn't even pretending that it isn't for fucking."

Eelle hugs Cameron from behind, skin on skin, and tugs both of them into the streams.

The floor spout splits, gushing precisely into both sets of visible labia. Spiraling streams massage Eelle's butt and shoulders, while oscillating streams stroke her back and limbs. Cameron gets spirals of water teasing her breasts and an oscillating massage on her mons.

It feels like being fucked and licked and groped, almost. Whoever designed this thing is a national treasure.

Cameron shakes as the water rapidly massages her to orgasmic heights, and then keeps going. It never becomes too much. Her body can take this level of stimulation for a long time, and the streams can just keep pleasuring her all day, making her cum over and over and over. It's effortless.

A completely different flavor of effortless than just inducing spontaneous orgasm with her power, too. Though in either case, being held while she cums adds a whole third flavor of nice to the experience.

Eelle is trembling with her own pleasure, hands everywhere on Cameron's wet skin, sucking and kissing on Cameron's neck. It feels so good, sharing this, and its just the right kind of naughty.

It's a long, long while before Eelle shuts the water off, spins Cameron around, and pins her naked sopping form to the stall wall with a fervent kiss.

Mmmmmm post-orgasmic makeouts.

Eventually, she flops her head on EellePurgatory's shoulder, giggling as she catches her breath.

"My given name is applicable and appropriate."

Neck kiss.

"I prefer to be introduced by my codename, but my given name is not defunct. You did not need to correct yourself."

"Cool."

Cameron vaguely recalls there being towels. Oh there they are. She grabs hers and tries to squeeze the water out of her hair and then dry off.

"Not all the way dry, maybe. Innuendo toward the facilities here will serve well as a deflection. You are comfortable objectifying yourself but others will be soothed by having the barest veneer of an excuse for your nudity."

Eelle is so helpful. She's right. That's a good idea.

Actually, letting people ogle her is great and all, but now that she thinks about it, if she can get her dormmates used to her being naked in the halls, she'll have to deal with so much less laundry during her time here.

...probably not a good idea to use that as an excuse. Even she is cringing at the idea. Cameron is a shameless fanservice girl, not an innocent fanservice girl. Whole different vibe.

Sporfle.

And (naked breasty skinship) hug.

"Alright. I'm going to go put on underwear. It'll serve as a contextual bridge, between clothed and nude."

Also, she may be nigh-omniscient in a local bounded region, but she's still embarrassed to parade herself naked in front of strangers people who don't know her.

When they get to the packed study lounge, they get some looks of surprise and several looks of interest, but the general noise level doesn't even drop enough for anyone to make a judging comment. The DDR mats are off to one side. The game being played is now Guitar Hero.

"Whoa did somebody lose their towel?"

"Yum, who's that?"

"Hey c'mon, we almost had it!" this from one of the gay boys at the Xbox who's second player is distracted.

Another of the boys lets off an obviously-fake catcall whistle, and gets a few laughs.

Ellen appears! With a wide grin on her face. "Hey gals! Have a nice shower?"

"Ellen."

Cameron puts on an expression of mock, wide-eyed awe, and hams it up by grabbing Ellen's shoulders.

"Yes. Yes we did, Ellen." She raises her voice, enough to be heard over the din if anyone is trying to hear her. "The showers in this hall are godly, Ellen. Oh my god!"

The notion that telling them all about the showers was more urgent than stopping for clothes first is plausible deniability enough for a room full of nubile lesbians, evidently. They laugh and enjoy the eye-candy. Even a few of the boys ogle her, a little. That naked girl is excessively hot.

Hayden makes a face at the two under-dressed girls, but is mostly exasperated and amused as she makes room for them and hands them each a soda.

Cameron hangs out, pretending to be perfectly comfortable in her nudity, until she actually is. It doesn't even take very long.

It's kind of too loud for extensive conversation, but she does her best to learn the names, powers, and basic interests of anyone who speaks to her or ogles her from close up. If anyone tries to touch her, she allows it with a giggle and a smile.

She gets a couple of butt-smacks, and one brazen anime-style skinship grope, before the party winds down as everyone trickles away to settle in to their rooms.

None of the girls (or boys) that introduce themselves to Cameron during the party are in dire suffering from a lack of sex, but a significant number of them would probably appreciate having Cameron available as a booty call.

Later on, some of those girls discover the special features of the showers, put two and two together, and mentally cement Cameron in the 'easy and fuckable' category.

Just as planned.

Dinner time rolls around.

There are snacks in the cottage, but to get a real meal requires a trip to the Crystal Hall.

The Crystal Hall is a school cafeteria the way Earth is a ball of rock. There are water features and escalators, connecting the three floors, and the buffet line wouldn't look out of place on a high class cruise ship. Except here the selection is even more exotic, for the students with inhuman dietary requirements.

Cameron throws on a miniskirt and her new leather half-jacket and goes to dinner with everyone else.

The few dozen freshmen disperse to explore the dining hall designed for a thousand while it's so empty and they have it all to themselves. Dinner is had, and everyone is very impressed with the quality of the food.

On the way back to Poe, a shadow passes overhead.

It's gone before anyone can look up, and goes unremarked.

As they return to the cottage, Eelle suddenly looks upwards.

"What."

It's a girl who looks like she leaped right out of an anime, floating backwards down the stairs!

"...s'not like last time, but we know it's probably not gonna, oh hey."

She is now upside down. And waving at the returning freshmen.

"It can't hurt to ask, onee-san!"

And behind the anime girl is a tiny Japanese girl, bounding down the stairs in gravity-defying bounces.

Her face lights up as she spots the group of new students, and takes a flying leap across the lobby.

With sound effects.

A woosh as she takes off, and a boing boing sound that plays as she skips across the floor. And then a cartoonish 8-bit skidding sound plays as she digs her heels into mid-air and comes to a literal screeching halt at eye-level with the girl in the mini-skirt and leather jacket.

"Hi! I'm Jade. Are you Cameron?"

Pffff. Okay. That's actually a really cute bit.

"That's me."

"Toni-senpai said you can fix bodies, is it true? I've got a problem with my B.I.T. do you think you could try your power on me?"

"Sure?"

Cameron holds out her hand.

Anime girl jukes in the air to block Jade.

"Jade, hold on. Don't you think you ought'a do this in the power-testing labs, at least? I mean, what if," she glances around and lowers her voice, "what if 'healing' you just undoes all your... progress?"

Jade looks defiant for about a second and a half, before deflating, sinking down until her feet meet the floor.

She perks up again just as fast, and smiles hopefully at Cameron. "Please? If I schedule something, will you come?"

"Heh, sure. Let me know the time and place, and I'll be there."

"Those two were both psychic-ly weird," Eelle comments idly to Cameron, on the way back to their rooms. "I really don't know what's up with them."

"Well, I want to help if I can."

Cameron goes into her room, strips naked, and flop face-down onto her bed. Its been a long day---a good day, but she's ready to stop pretending at extroversion for a few hours.

Eelle drops a kiss at the base of Cameron's spine, fondles her a little, then goes to join Kitsune in their own room. Eelle's new roommate's name is actually Nanase, but isn't using it at all because... Terra is known to have a cousin with that name and for some reason they don't want anyone knowing they're related? Well okay. Eelle doesn't judge.

Terra herself shows up a few minutes later and... stares... kind of a lot... at the sight that greets her. Terra's cool but unfairly sexy roommate, on her belly, with her legs spread enough that Terra can see everything from right there in the doorway.

Gulp.

"Uh so, you know the door's open, right?"

Cameron lifts her head.

"Hm? Oh. I don't care."

Re-flop.

Should she sleep tonight? She hasn't actually gone to sleep in, months. Hasn't been unconscious in, also months.

...nah.

"That's so cool. Um, you don't? What if, someone sees you like that and takes it as, um, an invitation?"

Terra tugs on the door, as though to close it, but mostly just wiggles it indecisively.

"It kind of is? It's not why I'm naked right now, but one of the reasons I'm comfortable with nudity is that I'm comfortable not having any barriers between me and hypothetical amorous hands. And with my powers? It's not like I can be caught at a bad time, physically. If I am, I can just use my powers to make it be not a bad time. My healing is a total body reset and I'm in psionic control of my hormones n' stuff."

"Oh kay," Terra squeaks. Is she blushing. She's totally blushing.

Wait.

"You're in psionic control of what now?"

"Oh right. I forgot to talk about that when we talked about our powers. I've got this weak electrochemokinesis thing. If it happens because of a chemical in the body, I can make it happen without the chemical, or not happen with the chemical."

Terra is more than a little stunned. The sheer variety of applications for a power like that...

...including, it sounds like... "Does that mean... you can... turned on? If some random person came along and saw you like that, and decided to have their way with you, without a thought to foreplay, you could just... flip a mental switch and be ready anyway?"

"Have I mentioned, I like the places your mind goes? Yes, that's exactly what I'd do."

Hmm.

"Wanna see?"

Terra sputters.

 "..."

 "..."

"Yes."

Cameron aims for the basic physiological engorgement response, and rouses...

...Terra.

An, "Uunf!" of surprise escapes Terra as her knees knock together, her hands fly to her middle, and her body lurches over like she just got punched in the gut.

Or like her own insides just punched her in the libido.

Now that Terra knows how that feels, Cameron aims the same rousing at herself.

"Mmn."

Her labia flushes, visibly, pink folds darkening and emerging between lush, silky lips. The glisten of wetness shines within.

"Fun, huh."

"Th-that felt like more than chemical simulation. I think you can directly control other people's autonomics!"

Holy crap that's powerful. Terra's urge to squee is fighting for attention with the raw lust that her brain is summoning up in response to the yearning looseness between her legs, like some kind of reverse Pavlovian inception.

Then she remembers what they were actually talking about, and lust wins.

"So, you're... just okay with being... used like sex doll? Because you're always in control of the physical factors? Anyone can just do what they want to you, and you don't care?"

"I'm fine with anyone at all using my body to get off whenever I'm not using it for anything else," Cameron clarifies. "I do care, I'm just very willing to share, because lust is beautiful and sex is so much more important than we're supposed to admit even to ourselves."

Wryly, "And I also deeply resent the idea that my personality ought to be an obstacle course between horny dudes and my vagina. That is just terrible incentives in every direction."

Squirm.

"I mean, you say that, and it sounds awesome but... you're my roommate. And literally everyone ever thinks sex complicates things like that in bad ways. Unless you're married. And sometimes even then. I don't think I can, actually, take you at your word, here. Even though I really want to."

"Okay. If you say so."

That's kind of sad, though.

"But those rules you're talking about, they don't apply to me. And you don't have to ask first, if you change your mind. You really, truly don't. And then, when you're done, it'll be like we're pretending it didn't happen at all, except we can skip the pretending."

"...I know I talk big, but... I think, deep down, I might be one of those people who falls in love when they have sex, or like, needs it to be special or whatever. I... I... yeah... I'm going... to go... take a shower."

Terra turns to leave.

"If you're gonna think about me during your 'shower' then probably whatever you're worried will happen if you fuck me has already happened, and there's no reason at all you shouldn't have the real thing instead."

"That remains to be determined!" Terra squeaks, and proceeds to flee the room.

Sigh.

Cameron knocks lazily on the wall next to her. Hey Eelle. Is anyone else fantasizing about my body at the moment?

Two knocks. (Yes.)

Any of 'em yearning for the real thing?

Three knocks. (No.)

...do any of 'em have PLANS for the real thing?

Two knocks.

Well okay then.

Sunday dawns.

The empty campus slowly fills as the thousands of mutants and similarly-abled who make up the student body arrive throughout the day. The campus flag is yellow, warning that power-use should be kept discrete while so much traffic is passing through the gates.

Terra sleeps in, while Cameron has an appointment to keep at the Doyle Medical Complex.

Cameron puts some consideration into her outfit for the day. It's going to be her first impression on probably quite a few guys and gals. She wants to look indisputably, pants-ruining-ly fuckable, but also approachable and not intimidating.

The cotton thigh-socks with the green stripes. No fishnets, today. Pleated miniskirt with the ultra-low waist and the green thong. Hmm. Maybe the lace-up cleavage shirt with the slit sides? No, too look-but-don't-touch. Definitely the faux-ripped crop top. And her sneakers, not her stomping boots.

Cameron picks out a leather bracelet, slides her student ID card under it, and leaves Poe in search of Doyle.

According to the campus map, Doyle is actually the large, modern-looking building closest to the 'wing' of cottages in which Poe resides. Sticking to the paths would require heading into the central campus and then doubling back, but according to the map there are also underground tunnels directly connecting the cottages to the hospital's basement.

Cameron's not late. What the heck. She'll take the long way.

Melville Cottage is on the way. It teems with activity, as by far the most populous of the cottages. Rich kids, flaunting it. Not so rich kids, excited and awed by the fanciness. An small entourage of what look to be actual genuine dark elves appear to be bickering in the lobby. Exemplar boys and exemplar girls by the car-load.

Cameron gets some appreciative looks from boys, and a few of the girls give her dismissive glances. Among fashionably dressed exemplars, Cameron's sexiness is merely above average, not striking.

After a moment, Cameron remembers not to keep her eyes down and hurry along. She catches the gazes of the boys with the most earnest leers and smiles at them as she passes.

Among them, a thin, beautiful black-haired boy with a native cast to his skin holds her eyes and cocks his head curiously.

This other guy, who looks like the stereotypical action-hero body-builder, smirks and steps into her path. "You must be new, 'cause I'd remember seeing you around. How about I show you around the cottage?" He gestures behind himself. "You look a little lost."

Cameron stops. It's still awesomely weird how she gets reactions like that now.

"Thanks, but I'm actually in Poe, and all moved in already."

Letting simple facts get in the way of rolling with a pickup line: still a problem she doesn't quite know how to solve, unfortunately.

Something in the guy's overly handsome face shifts, darkens, but only for a moment. "Ah, you would be one'a the crazies. I can work with that. You gotta a name?"

For a moment, Cameron freezes. Did he just imply...?

Cameron catches herself before she can react. No, that wasn't an insult, it's the cover story. Of course Poe would have a cover story. Toni or someone really should've mentioned the cover story. The cover story is mildly insulting but kind of brilliant, actually.

"I'm," outside the dorm, among peers, "Rouse."

The guy steps into Rouse's personal space, close enough that her breasts brush his shirt. "Well, Rouse. I'm Powerhouse." He brushes a finger through her bangs. "So, you the fun kinda crazy or what?"

Wow this guy is coming on strong. She kind of wonders if he usually gets good results with this approach. If she didn't default to willing-to-fuck it'd probably be a little annoying.

On the other hand, given the cover story she now knows about, he's handing her a golden opportunity and she can't resist it. "You wanna know what I'm in for?" She leans in, squishing her cotton-clad tits against his chest, and breathes, "Nymphomania."

A dark grin spreads across Powerhouse's face. "Well then. How about we skip that tour and I show you my room."

"Oh, I totally would," she takes a reluctant step back, "but I've got an appointment to keep right now. So I can't. Sorry."

Powerhouse grabs her around the waist, stopping her from pulling away. "Hah! Good one. C'mon, let's go."

She lets him pull her close, thrilling a little at his touch, but she digs her heels in and refuses to start walking with him.

"I'm serious. They're expecting me in like ten minutes and I don't want to be late."

He yanks her forward a step. He's strong. Strong enough that he could probably carry her in one hand if it came to that. "Aw c'mon don't be like that. Blow it off! I promise I'm more fun."

If he's going to literally drag her off like a caveman, well, there's a kind of audacity in it that Cameron wants to honor, and she's kind of curious how far this will go if she doesn't fight him off.

But the idea of showing up for Driving class tomorrow and being forced to sit out... With an inward sigh, Cameron hits herself with adrenaline and digs her heels in harder.

"Probably, but this is more urgent. I can't blow it off or I won't be able to participate in one of my classes tomorrow."

"What the hell are you trying to pull?" Powerhouse grunts, scowling at her. "You gonna get a guy all hard up and then flake on him? I know you're into it, nympho. Now shut up with your bullshit excuses and stop being a brat!"

Cameron flinches.

Okay, that's... well, not fair, he's being an ass, but true.

But!!!!

And just like that, the thin beautiful boy appears right next to them, teleporting with a blue-tasting crack-whomp sound. He has an amused grin on his face. "Heeeey there Johnny-boy! You maybe wanna take a second here, and reflect on the bigger picture?"

"Fuck off, Bluejay. This doesn't concern you."

"You're right, it doesn't. But that's no thanks to you."

"This lying tease owes me a romp, talking about being a nympho like that..."

"Oh for the love of fuck, fine."

Cameron grabs Powerhouse's crotch and hits him with an erectile rousing, bringing him from semi to beyond fully hard in a heartbeat. There's a low rip and tearing sound as the front of his pants split open and his super-strong cock forces itself through the fabric.

Cameron drops to her knees, numbs her own gag reflex, stuffs his cock down her throat, and hits him with the strongest orgasmic rousing she can.

"Ah! Wha'th'fuck!"

Powerhouse is not prepared for this at all. At first he is merely stunned by the sudden skip to the end of a blowjob, but then it keeps going, he keeps cumming, and it's so intense he's seeing stars and filled with something like animal panic at the loss of control. He barely keeps his balance, and he doesn't check his strength at all as he clutches at Rouse's head.

Conversations die as Powerhouse staggers under Rouse's oral assault. Only a few students were watching the scene before, but now they all are, in incredulous silence. Then the hooting and hollering that is characteristic of a crowd of agitated apes, starts.

OW!!! That's a skull fracture for sure.

Cameron just barely holds back the impulse to heal herself. There're way too many witnesses and she wants to save the revelation that she can turn into a boy for after she's established herself. She numbs the pain, and throws even more mental force at the orgasmic rousing, feeling the violent twitches in her esophagus speed up and batter her flesh.

Powerhouse makes an undignified, strangled sound. His legs finally give out, leaving him to flop onto the ground.

Bluejay is laughing. So are a lot of other people.

As Powerhouse falls, Cameron lurches up, using the motion to disguise that she spends a fraction of a second as a boy, even as she uses the burst of force from her shifting flesh to break his grip. His cock slurps out of her mouth, shiny with drool, and the return to girl form throws her breasts out from under her faux-slashed top.

She wipes her mouth. "There. Don't you dare say I'm a tease."

Powerhouse doesn't respond. He's busy twitching on the ground, making these breathy little whimpering noises as his cock spasms in the air.

"Oh he shan't," Bluejay says cheerfully. "I believe you can be assured of that. His sense of masculine dignity may have other ideas, however. To make up for his boorish conduct, may I offer you a ride to your destination?" He bows and holds out one hand.

Cameron faces the cottage, makes sure anyone who wants gets a good look at her tits, then casually tugs her shirt back down into place.

Bluejay's manner is kind of florid, but it works for him better than it has any right to. "Sure. Doyle please."

The world slides away, and when it comes back, they're standing at the entrance to the large glass-sided medical center.

Bluejay smiles at Rouse and gives her an ironic little salute before vanishing with another whomp-crack.

Cameron goes inside. Hello, she is here for the thing.

After a short wait, a man in the stereotypical white-with-stethoscope shows up.

"Miss Endel? I am Dr. Kemmel. This way please."

He leads her into a relatively standard, pristine exam room.

"Alright. I'm here to make sure I qualify for Defensive Driving, right?"

"Yes. Not to worry. It's merely a simple vision test, hearing test, and reflexes test. For an exemplar such as yourself it is little more than a bureaucratic formality."

"I'm not actually an exemplar, but I take your point."

Dr. Kemmel pauses in surprise and looks her over, his gaze analytical, then skeptical. "Have you had any powers testing done?"

"They rated me at ARC. I'm a Shifter Three, a Healer Seven, and a Tee-Kay One."

"I see. Then perhaps this is not merely a formality after all. God knows what you might have done to yourself."

He pauses.

"I apologize. What did you say your healer rating was?"

"Seven. They told me I'm the most powerful mutant healer on record. I can reset a body to perfect health in an eyeblink."

Dr. Kemmel seems to have completely forgotten about the exam. "Are you mass-limited? Are there side effects?"

"That would be the shifter rating. I have two forms, and when I heal myself I switch between them. I can't actually shapeshift other than that. And yes, if I heal someone missing an arm, they get noticeably thinner. If I heal a fat person, they get fit and shapely but are still, like, overly wide and heavy, just with, healthy proportions."

Cameron glances over at the eye-chart on the wall.

"So, the tests?"

Dr. Kemmel blinks and shakes his head.

"Yes, of course. Let us proceed."

He hands Cameron one of those little plastic cups to cover one eye with.

"I will be putting in a request to have your powers testing moved up to as soon as possible, however. Tell me, are you looking for a student job? Provided your healing power is proven safe in powers testing, there will be a job waiting for you here at Doyle."

"You mean, the school will pay me to hang out here and heal people? Yeah, I could do that."

Cameron proceeds to cover one eye and read the chart.

Other side of the chart for the other eye. Hearing next. Then reflexes. It only takes a few minutes.

"Well, exemplar or not, your results are well into the exemplar range. Especially the reflexes. You're pushing the boundaries of what's possible with a purely human nervous system."

"Cool."

"I'll forward your results to the administration. You're good to go."

He offers a handshake.

"I hope you decide to work with us."

Cameron shakes his hand, nods, and leaves.

It's still morning, and there's nothing else she has to do today. Now what? She does have a whole campus to explore, and today probably is the best day to wander around and explore. And be seen. That's a thing, now.

With Melville to the east, and Poe to the south-east, the north face of Doyle opens on the Quad, between Doyle, old Shushter Hall, and the four-winged Laird Hall, with the Crystal Hall dominating the skyline behind Shushter. It's mostly empty right now, but a few small groups of older students are chatting or having post-summer reunions.

Cameron wanders north, towards the areas of campus on which she has yet to set foot.

After a moderate walk past Laird and the Crystal Hall, there's Emerson Cottage, the more photogenic of the two boys-only dorms. It has that upper-class private school vibe, and the handful of parents who are present only reinforce that.

On the path up to the cottage, there's a lean boy with auburn hair struggling with a teetering hand-cart. He's bickering with another boy, a blonde exemplar, who's trying to help, while an older blonde woman who is probably related to the second boy looks on.

Just as Rouse passes them, the cart hits a bump, and a tower of boxes comes crashing down.

On pure reflex, Cameron lunges forward and catches the falling stack.

"Whoa!" cries the blonde exemplar boy.

A bubble of sparkly shimmer bursts out from the boy, encompassing the falling boxes and also the girl who just dived to catch them. The sparkly warp field snaps into place with a low whoomm and immobilizes everything, sticking it in place in space.

Cameron is caught mid-lunge, bent over with one hand against the top-most box, and now she can't move at all.

It's a curious sensation. It doesn't feel like there's anything surrounding her body, holding her still. It just feels like all of her limbs have infinite mass while also being weightless.

"Whoa! Thanks, Collin," the smaller boy. "That was close."

"Yeah, good thing I..." the blonde exemplar moves through his own warp field easily, coming around the cart and stopping dead at the sudden unexpected sight of bare girl-butt. "Eh?!"

"What what's wrong... oh! Hello?" the auburn skinny boy moves around the outside of the warp field in the opposite direction, able to see the trapped girl's frozen face.

The older woman hurries over, behind him. "Collin!" she scolds the blonde exemplar boy.

Collin flushes, stops staring at the girl's butt, and quickly grabs the box himself before dropping his warp field and freeing the girl. "Sorry! Yeah, sorry about that."

Cameron straightens up and smiles at him.

"It's alright."

She helps him steady the boxes and then steps back.

"Hi. I'm Rouse."

Blonde boy tries not to be obvious about how relieved he is that she isn't upset or offended. "I'm Flytrap, this is Fixx. And this is Crucibelle, my aunt."

"Hi," says Fixx, sheepish. "Sorry my stuff fell on you. Thank you so much for trying to catch it."

"You're welcome. What's in all these anyway?"

"My gear! I'm a devisor," says Fixx.

Crucibelle and Flytrap confer for a moment, then each take one end and lift the entire cart, carrying it up onto the flatter section of path abutting the cottage's porch. Flytrap struggles a little with the weight.

"Okay boys, get unloading," Crucibelle says.

Fixx and Flytrap each grab a box and carry it inside.

"I do apologize for my nephew," Crucibelle says to Rouse, gesturing vaguely at where the cart tipped. "He should know better. Is this your first year, here?"

"I really don't mind at all," Cameron all but purrs. "And yes, I'm new. I've been exploring."