"Ahhh...um..."
"Is anybody there?" Athena murmured.
There was no answer at all.
"Hmmmm, how odd." Not that anything felt especially ominous, but it some ways that was even odder in and of itself, so...
"Hmmm. Well anyway, to get back to our scanning and scrying..."
**Timeline A
Tomoe Hotaru stood in line, almost petrified. Oh, she knew what 'stage fright' meant now, how she knew...
"Alright, then... Tomoe Hotaru-san. Tomoe-san, please come up to the stage and place your hand on the Orb, just one hand is enough, you don't have to try to show any magical powers, touching it is enough..."
Oh, dear. It was her turn already, and, and...
She craned her head back, looking at the back rows, where her Papa's glasses glinted among all the other watching parents. And was he - yes, he'd noticed she was looking back, since she couldn't think of any other reason he'd try to wave the newspaper he was holding otherwise. Oh, Papa. - Ahh, well. Thank goodness her Papa was so easy to pick out of a crowd, with the grey hair and the ever-glinting glasses and all...
Not that Kaori-san's red hair didn't stand out like a beacon, but then, that woman would stand out anywhere. Hotaru watched her Papa's assistant lean over to her Papa to say something, and sighed. Why did she have to be here, anyway? It wasn't like she was a relative or anything...
"...Tomoe Hotaru-san?"
Ooops. Hotaru turned back towards the front of the room. It was time to go.
OK, OK, just get up on the stage, don't look at the people looking at you, just put your hand on the glowing Orb and no extra magic necessary. Right. You can do this, Hotaru - if everybody else here can, so can you....
The Orb was somehow soft to the touch, like soapstone. It didn't feel bad or anything like that, but it did hum with power, which did worry Hotaru somehow even though she knew it was supposed to do that.
...And why was it taking so much time, anyhow?
And then a symbol flashed inside the Orb, quite clearly. It was...
And a murmur ran throughout the room. Was that... could that be...
Hotaru felt faint.
"It's... Saturn."
"Saturn?"
"Yes, it is... unbelievable!"
"My, my..."
The Vice Headmistress, on the other hand, didn't really look all that surprised, Hotaru noted dully. A bit apprehensive and maybe a bit sad, yes. Surprised, no.
"Tomoe Hotaru-san - Congratulations, you're in House Saturn. Please go to the Outer table, Tomoe-san!"
She was an Outer.
She's wondered and dreamed of which House she was going to be in, here at the School. Well, she didn't think she'd fit in House Venus or House Jupitar, somehow, but maybe House Mercury or House Mars...
...Hotaru sighed, then. That did seem to be the story of her life. Always on the outside, looking in...
She tried to find her father among the spectators, but couldn't find him in the glare from the magelights.
Hotaru stumbled up to the Outer table, almost tripping over nothing. A older girl, brown-haired and green-eyed, grabbed her hand.
"Whoa! Are you alright?"
"Um, yes, s-s-sorry..."
"Come, sit, sit." A sandy-haired older girl pulled a chair out for her, while another elder girl with sea-green hair pushed a glass of water over.
"Hey, you're in Saturn, right?" And now this was a blonde older girl, her hair in pig-tails. "Coool. I was soo bored, being the one and only student in Saturn..."
"Now, now, Usagi - it's not like we Outers usually have separate classes anyhow, you know that..."
"Yeah, yeah, of course I do, Houses Pluto, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn only have about the same number of people combined as just one of the bigger Houses, after all - that's why we're always being lumped together as the Outers, anyway. But Hotaru-chan knows that already, I suppose! ...Um, your name is Hotaru, right? Tomoe Hotaru?"
"Um, yes, I am, thank you, uh..."
"Oh, I'm Tsukino Usagi - House Saturn, like I said." The blonde girl with the pigtails grinned at her. Hotaru grinned back, shyly.
"Kino Makoto, House Uranus. Wanna join the cooking club? We're good, I assure you..." This was the brunette girl who had caught her, she saw...
"Now, now, Mako-chan, that can wait for later - Mizuno Ami, House Neptune." Ohh, this girl had blue hair! That was sort of rare, and easy to remember.
"Hino Rei, House Pluto." Ohh, she was pretty, with such long black hair...
"And I am Aino Minako, House Uranus as well. Though the Orb sure took a good long while before deciding to plonk me here..." Hmm, this girl looked somewhat familiar, but...
"And I am Tennou Haruka, House Uranus..." This was the sandy-haired girl.
"Kaiou Michiru, House Neptune." And this was the girl with the blue-green hair, yet another rare color. But...Kaiou Michiru?
"...Oh! You're the violinist, Kaiou Michiru..."
"Ha ha, she got you, Michiru!" Tennou-san grinned cheekily, while Aino-san - that was the name of the blonde girl without the pig-tails, right? - looked a bit disgruntled, for some reason.
"Oh, come on Minako-chan, you'd be a famous as Michiru-san one day, really..."
"Well, one day I am going to be a famous singer and actress, just you wait and see. Well, OK, come here and tell us about you, since we're gonna be sort-of Housemates and all..."
"Come on Minako-chan, stop jumping all over her like that. Sit, sit, have some cookies but we're not supposed to have any refreshments till the Sorting is over so don't get caught, 'kay?"
Hotaru googled a bit at the pig-tailed girl and the cookies. The sandy-haired girl snorted, grinning.
Well, everybody was, actually...
Hmmm. Hotaru grinned back, relaxing for the first time in what felt like days.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad...
And back in the room, a red-haired woman was looking at a certain Professor.
He didn't look all that displeased, all things considered...
"Ahh, the Outer towers. Those were the days, Kaori-san..."
...Hmmmmmm?
"...Ohhhhhh. Yes, now I remember......"
Athena and her friends googled a bit, as the gust of wind slowly drifted about, firming into a humanoid shape.
"Sorry everybody, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be like ...this. Whee!"
'Haruka' and 'Michiru' grinned, snickering.
"'Hotaru'! What's up?"
"...Oh, I heard you people were doing something interesting here, so I thought I'd come and take a look - is that some version of me? Wow..."
"That does seem to be the case. But, um, 'Hotaru'? About, you know..."
"Oh, don't worry about Cosmos - most of Me is still helping out with her side of things. This 'me' just a rather small part of the whole, all things considered."
'Hotaru' grinned, then, looking at herself.
"'Tomoe Hotaru', eh? Well, it does seem to be the theme today, so...Mmmmm. Now, what have you people been doing up to now?"
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(Posted Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:48)
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