Fern glanced at the time. Only about 1:45. She was about 15 minutes early, but it looked like her mentee was here ahead of her anyway. A young man in spandex was on the grass, upside down, balanced precariously on one hand. He kept wobbling under the constant thread of toppling, yet somehow kept managing to barely catch himself in time. His mask obscured his face, but the blond hair matched the photo in the dossier the school had given her.
She smiled mischievously, then cast her voice loudly. "So you're Aiden, right?"
For such a simple question, it received a very animate answer. Spines erupted all over the young mans body as he fell crashing to the ground. He didn't just crash, though. He went into a roll, from which he sprung back onto his feet a moment later, swiveling on his feet to face her with his spines at the ready.
"Easy!" She laughed, then smiled winningly as she noticed the blush start to form on his face. "I'm Fern, your new mentor."
"Oh! Uh, hello. Yeah, I'm Aiden." The spines slipped back into his body, and a moment later the spandex suit had sealed itself back up over where it had been punctured. Aiden grinned a bit wryly. "You kinda startled me."
"So I noticed. You recovered quite well, though. Thank you for not skewering me, by the way. I really can't stand going through the hospital reclaimators."
"Heh, well, I certainly wouldn't learn much from you if you were in the hospital, I guess." Aiden paused for a moment's hesitation. "They didn't really tell me anything about you, just that I was supposed to meet you here. What do you do?"
"Well, Hero Registration calls me a scrapper. I tend to get in the thick of things and fight. I'm guessing what you're most interested in is what my powers are though, right?" She smiled at Aiden's nod. "Like you, I have dark powers that resulted from a magical mishap. Which is why I was asked to mentor you."
"You have... dark powers?" Aiden frowned. "I've got spines, though."
"And I don't. But you've got a pretty good handle on the spines, all things considered. It's the other side of your powers that MAGI and St. Joseph's are more concerned about."
"Oh." He looked somehow crestfallen. "But, those are pretty well under control, too, actually."
"Oh?" She smiled. "Then let's see what you've got."
Aiden blinked, not comprehending what she was looking for. And then the air around Fern darkened... and she vanished.
"Fern? Where'd you go?" He looked around, cautiously, looking like he wanted to say something smart-assed but had thought better of it. He also seemed to be listening. Fern guessed he'd already dealt with stealthy opponents. Quietly, she crept around behind him.
"Hyah!" A well-placed kick in his back sent him sprawling forward, face first to the ground.
"Ack!" He quickly rolled over, trying to spot his assailant, but she was nowhere in sight. "Fern? Uh... I'm not exactly learning anything..."
"Sure you are." She faded back into sight, right next to him, then reached out a hand to lug him to his feet. "You're learning that you have a lot to learn about your powers yet."
"I am?"
"Sure. MAGI's pretty smart. They were able to give me an idea of what kinds of things you should be able to learn to do. According to them, you should've been able to see me that whole time."
Aiden gaped. "I was? How?"
"I'll teach that to you later. First, though, you're going to show me what you can do. And you're going to do it without hemming and hawing about it, or I'll give you twice as much homework."
"... Homework? You're kidding."
"The hell I am. Now, get to it!"
Learning Equinox
Moderator: Student Council