Call Of Destiny

The Trifecta of Teams

Jana entered the dorm, and immediately claimed the closest bottom bunk bed as her own, by throwing her sacks of luggage from the luggage rack onto the mattress. Maciej claimed the other bottom bunk, by simply saying to his teammates that "that one's mine" and pointing to it. Joanna simply nodded, and placed her stuff on the top bunk, above the bunk that Maciej had claimed. Ana took off her denim jacket, and hung it off the corner-post of the top bunk above Jana's.

"So, what's next?" Jana asked, looking at nobody and nothing in particular. "Not sure." Joanna said, also staring into nothing. "Well, I'm taking control of you all then." Ana said, standing in front of the group like a military drill sergeant. "We're going to go through to the communal area, and see the people we are going to be living with. Ok?" Every word came out of her mouth with a stern echo, as if she were trying to tell her team that she wasn't angry with them, just disappointed. Without a word, the team shot up from their beds and headed for the door.

As they walked in to the communal living area, they spotted three people sat around the coffee table, two of whom were new to them. One was Yang Xiao Long, the blonde girl that had helped- along with the rest of her team- to show JJAM around Beacon upon arrival. Sat next to Yang was a girl with skin the colour of a milkless cup of tea, at least the little amount of skin that could be seen. She was dressed in a floaty gold-beige dress that ran all the way down to her feet, obscuring what shoes- if any- she was wearing. The sleeves went all the way to the wrist, and the ends were decorated, just like the shoulders, with a black lacy pattern. This black pattern was complemented by a swathe of black satin that sat around her head. Her eyes were a dark, Bournville brown and her small nose sat completely symmetrically between them.

On the other sofa, perpendicular to the other two girls, sat a third. She had a crop of short, dishevelled, Deku-esque blonde hair atop her smooth-skinned head. One could not easily tell what colours her eyes were, as she wore a pair of Ray-Ban-type sunglasses over them. She was wearing a tailored pair of pinstriped trousers and a matching double-breasted jacket, over a plain white t-shirt. Sitting next to her on the sofa was what appeared to be a folded up length of white metal.

As a polite introduction, Jana, Joanna, Ana, and Maciej gave a small wave to the three girls who were deep in conversation. This gesture was politely reciprocated, at least by the scarved girl and Yang. The other just sat tight. "What a grumpy bitch." Jana whispered to Ana, looking at the girl in sunglasses. Yang beckoned the team over to the sofas, which they filed onto dutifully and took their seats. "You two should probably introduce yourself to your new flatmates." Yang said, looking towards the two girls she had initially been speaking to.

"Ok I'll start out. It's nice to meet you," began the girl in the black headscarf, "my name is Imaan Farah Samirah Pepelny, but you can call me Imaan or Immy, whichever you happen to prefer. I'm from that Pepelny family, yes, but please don't think my father's politics are mine. He's a little too business and money-orientated for my liking. I'm hoping to be part of the other half of my family, who like to go on long trails with basic supplies and wipe out waves and waves of Grimm."
"Nice to meet you, Immy." Jana greeted her, extending a hand to shake Imaan's.

"Hello," butted in the girl in sunglasses as the two shook hands, "I am Louisa Amaranth, and I come from North Patch. I can hear one of you is from southern Patch, so it'll be nice to get to know you better. As you may be able to tell from the stick and my glasses, I'm totally blind."
"Oh, so that's why you didn't wave back at us." Jana said, sounding rather relieved. "Yes, that's why. Apologies if you thought I was being an arsehole. Anyways, I come from a medium commercial farm that sells wheat and dairy products to the retail industry. My grandfather is the head farmer even today, at eighty-six years of age. I like to use the field to practice with this bad boy!" She pulled out her folded out cane, and pressed a button in the handle. In a flash, the metal changed shape into a recurve bow, with the string that ran through it becoming the bowstring. "And if Canesly Harriott here isn't being used as a bow, he can hit burlap targets like there's no tomorrow, let me tell you."
"Burlap really is useful for all sorts of farm activities. Combat practice, storage, me and my mother use it to dry out our oats for hand-rolling. The name's Jana Fíníuna, by the way."
"Fíníuna, huh? By any chance, are you one of the subsistence farming lot down in the south?"
"Absolutely, and proud of it."
"I can already tell we're going to get on well, Jana." Louisa said, flashing her dazzling white teeth in a huge smile.

"What are you doing in here anyway, Yang? You're a second year." Ana asked, trying consciously to lessen her accusative tone, but not really succeeding. "I'm aware," Yang answered dryly, "but each communal area has two first year dorms and a second year dorm, so that we're around to mentor you and help you out with any problems you may have."
"Did you specifically request ground floor like I did?" Jana asked, focus switching from Louisa to Yang.
"No, just got chucked here to help you guys. Ground floor is normally reserved for teams who have a member with a disability."
"I take it Louisa is why you guys are down here?" Kisa asked Imaan, with her usual tactlessness. "Yes, but also-" Imaan tapped on her leg and a hollow thud rang out. "I struggle to get up stairs on the prosthetic, so they assigned us this. How come you guys are down here?"
"I have joint issues which make stairs a nightmare for me." Jana explained.l, before looking over at Yang who had, sans explanation, stood up. "Right, new kids. Time I gave you guys the tour of the apartments, come with me."