"What a complete load of crap!!" Alex still complained as the overconfident young boy barged into the team's dorm room first. Instead of going home, each student was required to stay in the dormitories with their team. Likely another way to try and get the four to bond
"I don't see why not." Scarlet defended him, she looked to have warmed to the boy already.
The cocky ginger seemed to have forgotten the events of the day already, "But I'm the strongest here, my armours are impenetrable and I've never lost a fight in my entire life!"
Black stepped in for once, he sounded like he had had enough. "If those are the qualities of the leaders you follow, I think I finally understand the political situation we're in." They were quiet. He'd never spoken so much in the day they had together. They'd forgotten what he'd even sounded like. This was ignoring the random statement about Stirly's politics.
"What was that? Your fringe is muffling your voice." The ginger folded his arms in retort, the first good diss in his arsenal fired at the angsty looking one.
"Your lack of awareness makes you the least fit to lead." He fired back, he didn't seem bothered about his appearance being mocked.
"That's it, I'm not gonna talk to you 'till you start speakin' normal." Arms crossed over his chest, Alex huffed.
"What's wrong with the way he talks? I think it shows a lot about his character." A picture-perfect smile of politeness appeared on Scarlet's face as she attempted to befriend Black.
"I don't need defending." He turned it around, making the only left spectator jump in late.
"We can't all hate each other straight away, can we? It's the first day of two years we'll be working together. We have to want to get along." Jack reasoned with them. Scarlet was trying, to give her credit. Alex was...not helping at all, but Black surprisingly seemed to look down on them just as much.
"I don't wanna get along with rich snobs like her." Alex croaked with a look of disgust in the poor redhead's direction.
She looked quite downhearted by that comment. "I don't like you."
Alex almost burst into laughter, competing with Black's patronising views on his teammates as he went further to harm her emotionally. "What're you, ten? At least say it in a way I can respect."
"You're the pigeon of the animal kingdom." The girl stomped her foot and moved over to the far left bed of the room, opening the door wide open and sitting eagerly by it. Her response was crafted in such a peculiar manner that it shut Alex down. He went to the far right, and laid down silently. Black had taken the one next to Scarlet, deciding that she was the less bothersome of the two so far. He sat with an air of discipline, a complimentary physical demonstration of how he spoke: it was straightforward, blunt. Perhaps it wasn't one of those teen phases, but just who he was as a person. To find out, Jack tried a topic of conversation that he was actually interesting in, his weaponry.
"Those daggers look cool. Well made, must've paid a lot of money for them." He made an unconfident gesture to them, sat in holsters that fit their luxury: they were stainless steel, that on its own was hard to come by. Jack's blade was scuffed beyond belief, but further than that, Black's full holsters were smooth black leather, as were his handles.
"They are hand-me-downs." He rejected the invitation to converse.
Jack didn't back down. Some people just needed a little more of a push. He noticed letters engraved along them. "B.C, are those your initials?" He made another, more concrete gesture to them, making the boy's hands flinch to cover them, before he stood up suddenly and squared up to him.
"Does your leadership require my life story?" He asserted. Neither had noticed the third boy on the other side of the room eavesdropping with a suspicious brow raised.
Backing down, Jack stumbled over a response. "No, I was just--" lucky for Jack, they were interrupted by nearby chirping. They wouldn't have turned their heads left if it were simple bird noises, but they were very obviously inside the four walls. In fact, there was a growing number of up to six frail whistlers on Scarlet's bedside cabinet, and in her hand. She'd be giggling to herself as they hopped about her personal space, giving the two boys their first thing in common: curiosity. "Scarlet?" The appointed leader gently called for her attention. She saw the two pairs of eyes looking at her and got a bit embarrassed. Every bird simultaneously fluttered aboard her wherever they could perch, the moment her expression grew red.
"Oh, sorry, well... this is my Power. I'm a wildlife empath!" She briefly explained, earning each response from those she addressed.
"You speak to animals?"
"Does it work on amber and red levels?"
Calmed from her embarrassment, as were her temporary pets, returning to their business about her small section of the room. They inspected her bed for grub, or found comfort in her touch and natural warmth. "No, no. It's just a connection. We share feelings. The stronger I feel, the wider I can reach, and the larger animals I can connect with. And no, I've only ever connected with greens. When I was at home I wasn't allowed out very much, because all I used to do was attract animals. So I used to go in the garden and play with them, even after I got control of it I never really connected with anyone. They either didn't like me for my money, or that was all they wanted from me."
Following such a sad story, even Black didn't know what to say. They gave some sympathetic looks, even though she'd been smiling through her monologue and even afterward. She was happy, and it explained a few things about her as a person. As an Animal Empath, Scarlet had the ability to befriend and convince the gentle wildlife of Stirly, labelled as the green levels. This includes most vegetarian creatures such as deer, horses, and dolphins as she'd displayed. The important thing to note is that though they do emotionally connect, she doesn't command nor compel, the animals have the free will to be there for her or ignore her. There is no risk of rebellion from those that she regularly connects with. The stronger her feelings and the more focused on them she is, the wider radius her emotional calls will reach and therefore attract more animals, and the larger animals it will affect. Unfortunately, this ability has shown zero affect on red level creatures thus far. Whilst amber level life are hostile when provoked, red level life are hostile on sight, and only Protector's are fit to deal with them when they appear. The main trio classes of animals can often leak from their own land into civilisation. The second of the three nations of Stirland is the largest, and is unsettled land left free of human meddling, one of the several sources of wildlife known to the people. When the wrong ones overstep the borderlines, it's a Protector's job to step in.

After Scarlet's sorrowful revelation, Alex perked up a little again, having settled in his bed and losing a lot of his fire from before. "Yeah, well, at least you had animals." Jack only felt more down, whilst Black didn't seem amused with his tone.
Scarlet, on the other hand, completely missed the insensitive undertone. "What's your favourite animal?" She directed at him.
The boy's address was to the ceiling, but harshly snapped to the nearest wall to respond, "Pigeons."

Following their snickers and chuckles, the ginger stayed put in bed. Meanwhile, the other's convened around Scarlet and Black's bed to casually converse about whatever came up. It turned out Scarlet knew the blonde girl she stood with on the beach, as a fellow heiress to fame and fortune. They were the only two children of the four prosperous families to enter the academy, only Scarlet had trouble convincing her parents. On the other side of the minted spectrum, Celiac Skylight got every little thing she wanted since birth. If you were to be realistic, she's the richest of the family, and probably the other's two, as her folks know nothing of the word 'no'. Scarlet described her as a friend of many years, but the only really good thing she had to say about her was how pretty she was. The conversation smoothly shifted into how well Black seemed to bond with the birds, to which he seemed to be embarrassed by and activate a further cold exterior.
"What about you, Jack? Where do you live?" Scarlet inquired it was his turn to share.
Admittedly, there wasn't much to the boy in blue, but he'd try to make himself seem a little interesting. "Nowhere with a name, officially. It's a cottage out in the country, a short trek from a river that runs the whole way to the ocean. My family is known a lot more for fishing than Protector-ing, in fact I'm the first to ever have the dream, despite..."
"Despite what?" She seemed invested, eyes unwavering as they met with his, breaking down any hesitation to open up on more sensitive subjects, "we've never really been trained to use our Power. In fact, my dad doesn't even have one, and my mum uses it so little that she might as well be the same. What I'm trying to say is that I'm kind of--"
"You're weak." Black remarked bluntly.
Jack's shoulders dropped. "Yeah."
"Now, hang on a minute," a voice they'd not heard in a while asserted itself into the conversation. Having bounced back from his embarrassment, Alex led on that he was about to say something supportive, "your lot sells fish to my village, don't they? The Blue's?"
"Oh, yeah, that's us."
"No way! They talk about me?"
"Not really. We have a lot of customers."
"Rude." Alex huffed, but rather quickly relit his enthusiasm to introduce himself, as if he required one. "Alex Green, hopefully y'all 'aven't forgotten! I'm poor, small, ginger and damn well proud of it! When I graduate I'm gonna get so much richer than all ya sorry asses that they'll forget every other rich idiot's name! My family'll completely tower everyone else, and you'll be asking us for our money and our help instead!" If his motives weren't clear before, they were now - money and fame. Not the most pure intentions, not like the desire to create a gentler world, but it wasn't likely a boy like that would have a selfless goal.
Suddenly the attention was on Black to say something. Considering he'd only said about five short things since he met Jack, it was surprising the attention wasn't on him sooner. He hid most of his face in a black piece of cloth he wrapped around his neck like a snood, and finally spoke again. "My name is Black. Since we will be together until the end of next year, I may as well tell you how my Power really works: simply put, I heat things up. I'm conditioned to create fire from that." He sort of sighed out of irritation.
Jack, and even Scarlet, picked up not to ask him any further on the subject, unfortunately Alex was his own person. "What d' that mean? Conditioned?"
"It means I have worked harder than the rest of you."
"Pah! I've been trainin' phsically and Power-luly since I were a kid!"
Black made no comment, even though the perfect response was connecting the three of them telepathically: clearly, not academically. A step in the right direction in that the four were in conversation, however awkward or tense it was. Far from friends, or an acquainted team, but still somewhere closer than before. Black seemed to be nearly there at times, but he refused to put much trust in anyone else. His logical type of thinking gave the new leader some faith they could get along, but the dullness to his personality created a barrier to any kind of friendship. He seemed a bit more like a non-fiction character than an actual person - perfectly mysterious and untrusting. Alex was Alex, and that was a whole new discussion. He was the type of person Jack knew would be make a great friend and teammate, but the arrogance had already built such a feirce shield that it almost seemed impossible to get around and make actual progress. All the students were stubborn in their own separate ways. As time went on, they gradually learnt a bit more about each other, bar Black. Talks about their Power gave Jack great ideas for uses in sticky situations, and weapons gave him unique customisation ideas. He loved to get creative, and as much as Alex knew he was strong, Jack knew he was smart. He expressed a few ideas to the group, and they seemed compliant with most of them, as long as not a lot changed. That all being said, the most progress was made with Scarlet, her naturally compassionate nature moulded with Jack's naturally friendly nature and they were friends instantly. She was a bit awkward at times, she didn't seem too aware of most things and a lot went over her head. She was overly excited by Jack's love for animals and he was fascinated by her Power to bond with them. Black sat quietly. There would be some glares from Alex occasionally - he wondered what the boy was thinking, if he recognised his name.