Paranormal 101- Session 1 [HIVE] [Finished]

[OOC: To avoid the risk of Nina getting fired due to HIVE inactivity, I suppose I have to start this thread now rather than waiting for more B-Team students to be approved.]

Nina walked through the classroom door, closing it behind her and looking to the class before her. Picking up the pen on the interactive whiteboard “hey there class, as you may know, my name is Nina Vulpes, call me Miss Vulpes, or Nina or teach or…whatever you want really, I’ll let you know if the name is a no-no” she said as she wrote Miss Vulpes on the blank page in the blue pen, her five tails visible, as were her ears. She was dressed in her casual clothes, as there wasn’t really a uniform for HIVE, she was just wearing her usual jeans, a t-shirt with a pretty design on it and black converse.

She would then turn herself to face the class “so…I’ve been thinking of how to start the first lesson, and I felt that we should all get to know each other, I don’t want to hear any complaints, the fact is that you’ll be spending an hour or two together a few times per week until you’re all super knowledgeable in different creatures and how to deal with them” she said before giving a kind smile “first things first, I want each of you to stand up and tell us a little about yourselves, I’ll start” she spoke before clearing her throat.

“Hello, my name is Nina, I’m 21 years old, I’m a kitsune, born and raised in England. I do this job part time and the rest of my time is spent at my comic store which sells comics, anime, manga, Japanese sweets and treats with all your card and D&D gaming needs too, located at the end of Robin Avenue in Midtown” she said with a sly smile at her obvious advertising before her face lowered in realisation “if any of you lot try and sabotage it, you’ll be getting an F” she said in a very serious tone of voice before smiling again “alright, who’s next?”

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Asami would look around to everyone before slowly standing up "m-my name is Asami, I like to create things from paper" she said before taking a piece of paper from her bag and showing her powers, holding her hands over the paper as it began to fold itself into the shape of an origami frog.

"I want to become strong so I can show people to respect things, respect the things that people create" she said as the frog would hop around on her desk before she would pick up the frog and sit back down at her desk.

[ http://origami-art.us/images/origami/animals/frog/frog-ava.jpg - the frog.]

Harpy walked in wearing her usual attire she wore at school and walked into the class room looking to the others who entered before her before finding a seat near the front and leaned back in her seat and laid her note book down on her desk ad got ready for class. She then looked up as the teacher entered the room though she didn't sit up straight like most would. She watched as in a wrote down her name on the board and introduced herself to the class in a rather mellow and laid back manner. She then eyed her a bit as she said that she wanted to get to know them and the question again rose, should she go with another fake persona or not? Nina seemed laid back and unlike Lust she wasn't a teaching a class on how to mess with people thus needing to know info o you to mess with you.

She figured then to just go with herself since it seemed not so dangerous of a risk by giving out the information. Harpy then looked to the student who stood up and showed her powers and told about herself and eyed her paper frog ad waited for a few more students to go before standing up to go. "I'm Harpy, I'm 17, I'm not a magical creature, I'm not an alien, I'm not a meta human or normal human. I was born and raised in america. I know how to look like just about anyone and even now I am not even showing my real face, hair, nor eyes. My favorite color are the shades of blood red, and my favorite pass time is killing, hurting, and scaring people." She then sat back down and sat there casually and silently.

It were a right carnival cast in here. Hopping paper frogs, eared women. It's like he'd died and gone to Narnia. Husher had been conflicted about going back to school. Sure it weren't regular school, but he had a livelihood to maintain. Yet he couldn't keep it up at his current level of skill. Now that the Russian war was over crime had gone down. The police were in order once more and he had to check over each shoulder twice before he so much as dropped litter. It wasn't good enough and his mum had convinced him he needed further education on the subject of villainy.

As luck would have it, Jump City, the second greatest city on Earth, catered to that sort of clientele.

Husher stood to take his turn. He'd chosen this class specifically after finding out who was teaching it. He knew of Nina, and her shop. Though it may have been a legitimate front, the shop was one of many sight-seeing points on the local black market. The fox girl made several 'acquisitions' that often needed to be shifted through the back-channels of society. Husher was one of many fences that took tax-free goods off her hands.

"Call me Anders, or Husher. I'm also from England. Surprised we ain't met before Teach. If you'd listen to these Americans you'd think we lived next door. He smiled disarmingly as he stepped a little closer to the front of the class, "I'm metahuman. 'Cause I can do this with me 'and." Turned around to face the class, he used his invisibility to make the bones in his hand show briefly.

"As for special skills. Well I'm a procurer, ain't it? I deal out essential supplies. I mean lookie 'ere." The overcoat on his person suddenly stopped being invisible. Husher opened up one end for the class to see, blocking out Nina behind him. The inner lining was stocked full of school supplies, "What you need? Fountain pen, tipex, organiser? Hey Sarmi, how about this pad a genuine tracing paper? You go down the stationary shop and they charge you a mint for that."

((OOC: Just assume he sits down if you tell him. ))

Nina would smile at the familiar face, once everyone had introduced themselves she would turn around and start to doodle a picture of various creatures on the whiteboard "okay, so first things first, I'll be introducing you to basic animals that you might have heard of, starting with one of the most well known, Nessie of Loch Ness, or The Loch Ness Monster, now tell me if any of you know any facts about this creature" she said as she turned around, noticing Husher was still stood up "uhh...Husher you can sit down now if you like, I'm sure at break someone will buy something" she said with a somewhat amused smile.

Asami just stared at the board, trying to get her head around the drawing of the creature, it was quite accurate but she hadn't really seen anything like it before.

Harpy took notes as the rest of the class introduced themselves, she was nearing the end of pages in her notebook for the 10th time, she'd have to  buy some more again soon enough. She looked up as the husher guy started to advertise his store on wheels and tried to sell things to the class during class and wrote down a note on his area of notes. 'Isn't too bright.' she then turned her focus to nina as she drew creatures and started taking notes on the lesson. She then rose her hand if called on she'd answer nina's question. "Some people think that existing photos are just altered or logs and some even believe that it is a creature that didn't die with the dinosaurs nor evolve to much past the dinosaurs or something."

As directed, Husher put away his wares. By which it was meant he made his coat once again invisible. Yet its presence was still evident when he swept it close behind him as he went to sit. The dealer looked around. Nice enough bunch. No one stupid with cash though. Give him a couple weeks and he could see about getting specialist merchandise in for each person's individual proclivities.

He wasn't taking notes. Didn't see the point. If he forgot anything he just had to ask the tutor to remind him. It's not like any of them would say no. And if push came to shove he could probably borrow notes from someone else. Harps seemed to be an avid jotter.

In answer to the open question Husher raised his hand and added, "It's from Loch Ness." Never been there himself. Closest he ever got was Sheffield.

Nina would smile and nod "both of you are correct, as Harpy said, some people believe it to be a plesiosaur, extensive research has been done on Loch Ness and lots of people have tried searching for it but to no avail, underwater sonar has shown that Loch Ness actually has many different underwater caves where Nessie could be living" she said as she set up the projector on the board and showed some well known images "some people claim to have seen Nessie, yet most sightings are merely pieces of drift wood or even hoaxes, hopefully in this lesson I can teach you how to recognise a fake photo from a real one" she added, it turns out that lessons like this could actually be beneficial to most students, not just cryptozoology fans "if anyone has any questions speak now" she said.
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Asami would listen to Nina, looking at the photos of Nessie and staring at them, she would take out a piece of paper and put her hands over the paper, the paper starting to fold itself into the shape of Nessie.

((OOC: Think Energy is out of this. TIME SKIP!))

Questions were delivered ranging from scepticism to genuine interest. Someone asked when they would ever need to recognise a fake photo. Husher knew the value of a good appraisal and was not fool enough to lend his voice to the naysayers. He took to the photo lesson with a fair degree of alacrity. When they were done for the day a bell rang out and the students gathered up their materials. Husher announced that he could be found in the common room, if anybody had designs on his wares. If the class cared, none showed it as they filed passed.

The sly spiv then turned his attentions on their tutor. As the row of student shuffled by, he wiggled out of the line and parked his butt on Nina's desk. The overcoat was visible again, shaped around his broad shoulders, "Got a mo, miss? I think you and I should have a bit of a natter. Our interests might coincide, you see what I mean?" He was a boy (in black market distribution), she was a girl (in black market acquisitions). It was obvious how they could help each other.

The kitsune doubtless had a buyer or several that she used to sell her stolen items. Husher knew of her basement connection to the tunnel system. Had even been there briefly, once. What he thought now was that maybe he could monopolise her custom for himself. Push the other black market competitors out of the equation. He may only have been young, but he'd been active in the underground community. It was time to start making lasting arrangements.

Anders smiled crookedly as he regarded Nina. His legs were swinging free from where he sat, "Who does your pick ups in that basement a yours? Windham? Sandhim? You don't want them crooks cheating you on what your stuff is worth. You want someone you can trust. And if you can't trust your students, who can you trust, eh? You get the gist." Of course there was also the mitigating factor that she was fit. If you could pick and choose your customers...

Nina would quickly shut up any skepticism with "oi, if you don't want to do this class you're more than welcome to leave, but as this is a class you've chosen to do, your eventual grade will be zero" she said in quite a serious tone, odd for Nina to be so serious, but this was teacher Nina, she had to put up a certain appearance.

Nina chuckled when Husher brought up a proposition "so you want to be my regular buyer huh? That would be nice, and if you ever scam me, I can track you down easily" she said with a playful grin "sure, I'll bite, and if you ever want I can cook you a home cooked meal when you come by, I bet you miss stuff like cottage pie and a decent Sunday breakfast, heck, crisp sandwiches" she said with a laugh "but seriously yeah I'll take you up on your offer" she said before offering her hand to him to shake "I take it you know about my secret entrance" she added.

Meanwhile, Asami would be waiting by the door quietly, listening to Husher and Nina talk, but she wasn't interested in spoiling their fun, she was wanting to become Husher's friend, she'd never seen someone so suave and savvy, reminded her of Jack Sparrow, maybe she was just confusing British people with old fashioned pirates...either way, she liked his coat of many pockets too, so many areas to hide pieces of paper in.

Husher was presently surprised, she seemed really keen on the idea. Usually people wriggled and squirmed a bit when he was proposing something. He beamed widely at the offers she made in response. This could be lucrative. He shook with a practiced handshake, "That's brill! I'm chuffed to bits. 'Ere, I'll write ya down my number. Call me at any hour. I don't sleep when there's work on." If it meant someone picked him over the myriad of other people willing to do odd labour, then he would work morning, noon, or night.

At her last question his mind went to rude places. He grin got lop-sided. Jumping down from the desk, he picked a pen out of his overcoat pocket and pulled in a piece of lined paper, "While I'm not intimate with your secret entrance, I'm no stranger neither. If I get outta my depth I can bring in a couple friends." He scribbled his digits and ripped off a scrap. It was titled 'Osseus'.

"Yeah, see, they call me Osseus on the street. That's my handle. So if you view this face," The skin around his head dissolved, leaving behind just the bare skull, "you know who ya talking to." After their final exchange he would turn to leave the classroom, and almost walk into Asami.

Nina would nod and take his number, stuffing it into her pocket "alright, I might have something for you soon" she told him, although her motherly instinct kicked in at the same time "just make sure you get enough sleep to function okay? Nothing wrong with having a nice nap" she told him with a smile before watching him almost walk into Asami, she would sit behind her desk and take out her bento box to eat in the classroom.

Asami went wide eyed when Husher almost walked into her "h-hi do you uhh..want to eat lunch together?" she asked him, hoping that he would accept but...if not then she would just have to sit alone in the corner again like she had done the previous days before this class started.

Husher blinked at the presence of Asami. Had she been waiting for him? He couldn't imagine why, unless she had designs on some of the stuff he carried. In which case - why didn't she just say? She was a queer sort, "Sarmi isn't it?" He asked, thankfully back to his human face now. If Asami corrected him in the pronunciation he would look quizzical and reply, "That's what I said, right?"

"Sure. I could do with some nosh." Or maybe she was just trying to make friends. Husher hadn't known friends his own age for quite some time. And all his older ones were really work-mates. People looking out for number one, "Thanks for thinking of me."

Asami would seem confused, just deciding to accept the nickname of Sarmi, it was easier that way "yeah, I hear the cafeteria is serving lasagna" she said happily, pronouncing the g in it as she didn't know better "of course, you seem like a cool guy" she added at the end as she walked with him to the cafeteria, of course it was themed to look like a beehive, hexagonal tables and lots of yellow and black.

As they enjoyed lunch together, Asami felt like she had finally made her first friend, maybe HIVE wouldn't be so bad afterall, maybe she could make a bunch of friends.