Blaine had finally made it to the place he'd been dreaming of since first realizing his abilities weren't a curse or a demon waiting to be exorcised back at the convent. He had came many miles and to say he was nervous would be the understatement of his life. His heart was beating quite fast as he made his way into the Main Office at the Black Thorn Academy. He was already thinking about turning back. His next few actions seemed very daunting.

He'd already succeeded in getting here and in not starting a riot as he entered the academy and passed many busy students. Blaine had spent most of the time it took him to get from the entrance of this academy to the Main Office over-analyzing the students or at least what he guessed to be students. His imagination went wild as he looked them over. His thoughts were racing from I wonder what her ability is to he looks strong. Blaine had done his best to get in unnoticed and not to stand out or at least his best without resorting to the use of his powers. He didn't know what type of rules there were here, so he decided to tread carefully.

Blaine stepped up to a very shiny desk that he found very nice. He focused on it as he waited for someone to see how clueless he was and help him. He was anxious and hopeful about the Academy, the bright room was beginning to get to him, but he was still doing his best to be optimistic. This is the place for me, this is where I'm supposed to be..things are going to better from now on he told himself over and over as he stood there mentally preparing himself for a social interaction. He wasn't a people person, it wasn't a choice like so many before him had made, but just how he was after being mistreated by the only people he ever knew. The world was all so new to him and he really hoped he could overcome his fear of it and start enjoying it soon.

As Riverstone grew in size, so did the student population. It seemed that the World Leaders, well those who knew of Riverstone's existence, were sending their meta populations by the plane-full. BTA and RUM could hardly keep up with the all the new students. Unless, you were a genius records keeper with a photographic memory and over 13,000 of life experience. Then it was fairly easy.

"Mr. Blaine..." Athena said to the young man that entered the main office. "Sorry to make an assumption, but the only new student I have on my list is a Mr. Alexander Blaine. And you have that look of a fish out of water, so again I assume you're new. Hello, my name is Athena, just one name, like Cher. And I am the records keeper at BTA as well as a Reformed Goddess. But I won't bore you with that story. Anyhow, is there anything I can help you with, class schedule, dorm assignments? I don't normally do the tours, but I suppose I could do that as well."

Blaine was caught off guard as the women or goddess rather spoke to him. How he had missed her on his way into the Main Office was difficult to imagine. Blaine was happy that his long hair managed to cover the fact that he was embarrassed and blushing slightly. He raised his head to meet Athena's eyes and prepared himself as he searched for the right words to say. Please don't let me screw this up.. he thought to himself.

"Ath" he choked "Ath-ena" he finally managed to get out. "It is nice to meet you. Yes, I am Alexander Blaine, but just Blaine is fine also." he said proudly, not because his name was special, but because he managed to get it out without looking too bad. He took a pause and then remembered there was a question unanswered. "I'd appreciate a schedule and dorm assignment. I.." he paused "hate to ask you for a tour since you don't usually do it, but I'm afraid I have no idea where anything is.. so if you could spare the time or at least draw me a map I'd greatly appreciate it." Blaine bowed his head down in respect as he awaited a response.

"Well, Blaine. It looks like you're in the environmental class. Which is taught by Ms. Vanessa Thane. Good girl. A little young. And since we had many students graduate very recently, we have a lot of rooms that need to be filled." Athena was trying to be a friendly as possible. She was a thinker and got a reputation for being coldhearted. Normally she didn't mind. But Blaine was really young. Especially when compared to her 13,000 plus years on this planet. She didn't want to scare him off.

"I have time, Blaine. Not to worry. I'll show you to the Boys' Dormitory and then to your classroom. And after that, we'll take a walk around the castle and I'll point out all the places of interests."

Blaine raised his head and smiled before replying to Athena. "Thank you very much, I look forward to getting settled in here and beginning my classes." Blaine wasn't quite sure what the environmental class was, he hoped it was more than landscaping or conservancy and was curious about how he'd fit in there. He tried to put his anxiety and nervousness behind him as he focused on what was coming. He was pretty sure what was ahead of him was much better than what was behind him.

"Well, I appreciate the help once again, Athena, I'll let you take the lead.. whenever you're ready that is.. I can wait if you've got something more important to do" He said as he walked over and opened the Main Office door. He realized he might be coming off as a little pushy, but was just anxious. He wasn't aware of many social laws, but he had seen men opening doors for women quite a bit and figured it was the proper thing to do. The hall outside of the Main Office seemed much quieter and Blaine assumed that

"You're welcome every much, Blaine. I know Blackthorn looks intimidating and awesome. I do mean that in the classic definition not the pop culture one; as is inspires awe rather than it being really neat or whatever the children are saying nowadays. You'll do fine, I'm sure of it." New things were always scary. Or so she remembered, vaguely. Memories get fuzzy after 13,000 years. Still, Blaine didn't need to know that. And Athena hated to talk about her immortality. She wasn't an Omega and never meant to be immortal. Athena was cursed with immortality. Which totally sucked. Seriously.

"You're welcome once and again. And thank you. I've got other work that I could be doing but I rather not be doing it, if you understand." Athena said walking out of the door. A gentleman, she could appreciate that. Along the liberated woman within didn't really like it when people opened doors for her. Unless it was a gender-neutral habit that they did. Still, she wasn't liberated enough to fight everyone about.

"Well follow me. The Boys' Dorm is on the third floor and the Environmental Abilities Classroom is on the second.."

Blaine followed close behind Athena using the time to analyze the school. It was a nice place, and he was happy about Athena's positive words, though he knew she might have just been being nice. This place had a few floors and he couldn't wait until he was familiar with it. "There must be so much going on here.." he said to himself. He had been itching to ask Athena a few questions, but wasn't entirely sure if it was a good idea or not. Nevertheless, he figured if there was a proper time, now would be it.

"So, is it rude to ask people what their abilities are? Also.. how many students are there here? I didn't realize there were so many people with special abilities. This is so much to take in and I haven't even scratched the surface I bet." Blaine moved a few strands of his hair out of his face and grinned slightly as he imagined the possibilities.

Athena smiled weakly. It was refreshing to see someone not born into the meta world. So many of the old families thought they had a claim to the world around them. But it was a mistake that she herself made years ago. The truth was nothing was promised to anyone. Alexander the Great once said "To the Strongest goes my Kingdom." And a enlightened Jewish man once said "the Meek shall inherit the Earth." Between the two philosophies the world was dealing with a major personality crisis.

"It's not improper to ask someone what their abilities are. In fact it's a good ice breaker. And there's hundreds of students in BTA. And well over hundred at the University. The town population is well into 10,000. And growing everyday." Athena said, claiming the stairs to the Boys' Dorms. "Blaine the Meta World has over 20,000 years of history and tradition. I'm an immortal who has lived through most of it and I still feel like a novice at times. Just keep in mind that like the humans, we metas come in all shapes, sizes and alignments. There are bad metas just as there are saintly ones."

Blaine contemplated over Athena's words, especially the part about bad metas. He didn't necessarily expect every meta to be friendly and good natured, but he had yet to consider the possibility of metas who might wish to harm the world. He, himself, had every reason to hate the outside world, but he chose not to. Just as he didn't understand what he was, neither did they. The torture he had bared witness to wasn't right, but he felt like he could forgive the people who do did those things to him.. someday. As they ascended the stairs into the Boy's Dormitory, Blaine finally felt at home. He had yet to lay his eyes on his room, but the fact was he was feeling a part of something much bigger than himself. The meta-world was larger than he had thought and he was looking forward to getting

Blaine's mind had been trigger particularly by another word Athena had mentioned. "Immortality" he said out loud. "How does one become immortal?" The concept of immortality was amazing to him. He had been taught only God was truly immortal and to meet an immortal who wasn't God or at least didn't appear to be the God, Blaine was familiar with, made Blaine's eyes widen and his sense of reality grow extensively. His mind was already racing with thoughts ranging from I wonder what it is like to be immortal? to How did she become immortal? As an immortal, a person's options must be countless.. he thought to himself, nearly tripping on the last step.

"Rules are pretty simple. Lights out is at 10pm. No going to the girl's floor after 6pm. No using your power against your fellow students unless it's supervised by a staff member and a part of the lesson. No fighting of any kind. No drug use (although a lot of students break that one). No smoking indoors at all (again a lot of students break this rule)." Athena said, her voice steadying. In a few moments, it wouldn't even be clear that Blaine had struck a nerve. And she had done that without relying on sarcasm. Athena was a little proud of herself for that.

"Go ahead and put your things in your room. And I'll show you to your classroom and then rest of campus."

Blaine could tell he struck a nerve and that it would be best for him to be quiet. He didn't understand boundaries or soft subjects, but he could tell when it was time to be quiet. He had learned that at the convent quite quickly. Talking too much about the simplest of things can get you in trouble and that is why he preferred to talk very little. The thoughts in his head were enough for him to focus on he didn't need to be getting himself into any trouble.

As Blaine neared the dorms and Athena pointed it out to him, he was more than happy to see a change of subject. "A single.." he said out loud. It was kind of hard to tell whether or not he was happy about it. It'd surely make adjusting to things easier. He could only imagine what types of rules existed when sharing a room with another. At least with his very own, he could avoid territorial problems. Then again, there were countless places for him to escape to when he needed alone time. "So what rules should I be aware of?" Blaine asked as he noted how quiet it was up here.

"Rules are pretty simple. Lights out is at 10pm. No going to the girl's floor after 6pm. No using your power against your fellow students unless it's supervised by a staff member and a part of the lesson. No fighting of any kind. No drug use (although a lot of students break that one). No smoking indoors at all (again a lot of students break this rule)." Athena said, her voice steadying. In a few moments, it wouldn't even be clear that Blaine had struck a nerve. And she had done that without relying on sarcasm. Athena was a little proud of herself for that.

"Go ahead and put your things in your room. And I'll show you to your classroom and then rest of campus."

(OOC: I totally thought I posted this. Apparently I edited my other post. Whoops.)

Blaine briefly thought over the rules as he entered his new room. It was empty of course and very spacious because of this. He noted a bathroom and a little kitchen that he found nice as he had never had his own anything until now. The only possessions he had were inside of his knapsack and they were simply essentials. Some tooth paste, deodorant, another set of clothes and a few other random items. He quickly took the knapsack off and sat it down. For a moment, he felt as if he had nothing. He had gotten accustomed to having the knapsack on his back and forgot it was there during his tour. After sitting it down, he turned around and acknowledged Athena by nodding his head.

"I think I can handle all of that. Once again, I appreciate all of your help and am ready when you are." He noted a few things he wanted to change in his room as well as a few items he needed to get and stepped out and waited for Athena to lead him to their next destination which would probably be a little more interesting.

(OOC:No worries heh)

Athena waited patiently outside of Blaine's dorm. She thought that the boy should have a little privacy. After all, BTA wasn't about setting boundaries is way about allowing children the freedom and access to knowledge that will help them find there own way. She didn't have much freedom herself at his age. By the time Athena was 16 she was a queen. She had more responsibility then most world leaders today. She didn't have any freedom to do much of anything. Even when she heard of her great destiny, Athena had really only two choices: embrace her fate or run. She ran, to her never-ending regret and shame. But still, she was barely an adult when she made the worst decision of her life.

When Blaine spoke to her, Athena snapped herself out of the memories of lives long since past and gone. "Alright. Follow me then. I think you'll do well here. You seem open to the experience. That's a rare trait among the student population. But those who are open tend to do the best."

Blaine stepped away closing the door to his new room and took his place behind Athena and began to follow her to their next destination. As his words triggered her attention, it seemed that she also had a lot on her mind. Blaine didn't quite understand her words, but the way she said them made it seem like he soon would or at least that is how he interpreted it. He didn't wish to be rude so he replied to what seemed like a compliment. "Thanks..I guess" he felt the blood rush to his face and was thankful that his hair likely covered his blushing. He wasn't very familiar with compliments, so it wasn't really a surprise to him that it had an effect on him.

"So, we're off to the Environmental Classroom now? What type of class is that?" Sure, Blaine had his guesses, but it was better to ask stupid questions now than to assume one thing and be wrong later. There was a lot for him to learn and he wasn't planning on wasting too much time

Athena could see that Blaine felt like she had put him on the spot. She was merely trying to give him a positive comment about his open-mindedness. It was good to see the Meta Community finally embracing a social progressiveness that would have been down-right frightening to those in power when she was a Queen. That was the reason for the civil war to begin with. Because the High King had bore a half-blood who was his rightful heir. It was refreshing to see that people liberal-minded metas were in the majority now. It was about time.

She nodded at his first question as they walked back downstairs to Blaine's classroom. "I hear good things about the class. Your professor, Vanessa Thane is young but she means well and she's knowledgeable about the subject she teaches. The environmental class is composed of Energy Manipulators and Weather Witches... Excuse me, Atmokinetics. The majority of the students in that class have a... I think the Americans call it "Hippie Lifestyle." So it should be fairly mellow.... Cosmics Above, if Demeter could hear that they way she was would be dismissed as nothing more than the carefree lifestyle of the long since passed 'Flower Power Generation;' she'd be mildly offended."