Welcome to Gaia! ::

Adah looked to the sheet her father held with an excitement glowing in her eyes. Here was her chance. She could finally prove to her brothers that a girl was just as good as a boy. Even if the year was 4232 the three idiots she shared blood with still thought that your gender specified your worth.
But today. Today she was thirteen and would finally be old enough to attend the Academy. She would rise to the top and be better than any of her brothers ever was.
"Adah Lee!" Adah raised her head sharply to her father.
"Yes father?"
"Have you been listening to anything I've said?"
She hung her head, "no father."
"I thought so, listen. You have to be at the Academy at sunrise tomorrow. You just made the age cut-off."
"Yes father!" Adah gleefully hopped up and down, excited for her day tomorrow.
"Go get some sleep Little Lee, it's a big day tomorrow."

Adah stared at her ceiling, wondering what the Academy would be like. What kind of girls was she going to meet? Who would be her Didustrati? That one warrior who was closer than blood, who could work together with her without fault, who knew her mind as well, if not better than she herself.
She fidgeted and finally sat up, staring out the window to the moon, a curving smile that split the sky. She sat at the desk that was beneath the window and laid her head on her arms, watching the soft glow as it sat amidst the stars.
"ADAH LEE WILLIAMS! IF I HAVE TO COME UP THERE YOU'RE GOING TO BE SORRY!" Adah jumped as the voice of her father cut through her room. In a panic, she looked around and saw that she had fallen asleep on her desk again, the wood slightly stained with a puddle of drool.
With a grimace she wiped her chin and yelled out, "Hold on dad!" Screw the formalities, when he was angry the best thing to do was talk like he did. She looked out the window and saw with a panic that the sun would be rising soon. "I overslept! I'm late!" She jumped out of her seat and rummaged through her dresser, pulling out a pair of brown trousers and a blue shirt, she slipped her belt on and stumbled into her shoes.
Unbalanced, she tripped and landed on her bag which she had luckily packed last night. "Found you!" Adah grabbed the brown satchel and slung it over her shoulder, alternately brushing her short hair and running another brush across her teeth at the same time.
"Adah…." Her father's voice rose up.
"Cmgin!" She yelled, her mouth full of toothbrush. She spat the excess out and stuffed the brushes in her bag. Giving her room one last glance, she grabbed a well-worn book and cradled it close to her body, carrying it down the stairs with her. "I'm read-!" She called out as she ran into a thickly muscled chest.
"Hey! Watch where you're going Midge!"
Adah looked up to see her youngest, yet still elder brother, Michael. "What? Why are you here?"
She watched in curiosity as his face turned beet red. "Never you mind Midge-fly. Look, Dad told me you were going to the Academy today, and well, I know I missed your birthday and we were always kinda harsh on you growing up so…" His face turned even redder as he spoke, Adah couldn't believe it, was he embarrassed? Suddenly, a small leather wrapped bundle was thrust into her hands. "Open it later okay?"
Adah, confused beyond belief just nodded, slipping it into her bag. Her father came into the room and called for them to go, apparently Michael would be coming with them.

Adah stared in horror at the giant building set before her. Michael laughed, "And that's only the front hall where they admit students and entertain guest. Come on, over here. This is the Headmaster." He bowed before the man and Adah stared at him, forgetting her station for her curiosity. He wore large sweeping robes that fell to his toes and his chin was neatly trimmed with a white goatee, but his eyes were what caught Adah, they seemed more alive than anyone else she had ever seen.
He smiled at her, seeming to know who she was, without her having said a word. Quickly, she bowed low and introduced herself. "Ah yes, Miss Adah. Welcome to the Academy! I hope it is to your liking so far?"
"Oh! Yes Sir! I could fit a dozen of my houses in the front hall alone!" She spoke without thinking, a bad habit she had picked up around her brothers. But the Headmaster only laughed, his eyes still seeming a little too knowing for her liking. She looked around awkwardly, not sure what else to say.
It was then that she spotted another girl her age, but in an outfit of far better quality than her own. The girl was walking towards them with what looked to be her father. Already, a katana was strapped to the girl's hip. She must be higher up Adah looked on with curiosity, I wonder what she's like? Hm, she really doesn't look that strong. I doubt she'll last a month.
Nevertheless, she knew she would have to be polite for as long as possible when and if they met. How she hated that.

"May I introduce Miss Adah Williams, her brother Michael, and father Mitchell? Adah is your age Miss Katia. I trust you two will get along well?"
Adah stared at the other girl, he just would have introduced them. "Pleased to meet you." Adah said politely, nodding her head to show that Katia's parents stations were above hers, but that Katia was still unstationed like herself.

Adah stared at Katia, this is so awkward. What do I say to someone so above me? But to Adah's surprise, while she writhed uncomfortably, her father struck up a conversation with the other girl's father.
"Thomas! Is that really you? With a girl of your own?" Her father asked him, as if they were old friends. "Oh! Adah, this here is Thomas Addison, we went to the Academy together."
Adah bowed slightly at the waist, "A pleasure Sir."


[Lol, Thomas and Mitchell are pretty much of the same ranking, went to school together, and knew each other, but their kids are sooo different.]

Adah cringed under the head patting, her brother quickly grabbing her shoulder to hold her back, knowing his sister's temper at times like this. Excuse me Mr. Addison! But I'm only doing what is proper! Adah raged inside her head. Oh how she hated to be treated so patronizingly. No way am I going to end up with this weak little pampered pup! I'll shoot myself before that! Or go into Documentation or something! "Father, I think we should go now, everybody's lining up." When her father ignored her, she turned to her brother, "Michael! Help me!" She whispered harshly.
Michael laughed and gently steered his father towards the mass of people lining up to leave their children and hear the parting words of the Headmaster. He bowed to the Addisons and the Headmaster, who didn't look like he realized yet that he was supposed to be on the stage.
Adah bowed slightly to the elder Addison, bowing lower to the Headmaster, and then nodded to the girl, Katia. I'll see you at the Prelims she thought, knowing she would never see the girl again. They were from far too different classes for that to happen. Ugh, imagine of the pompous little thing were to be my Didustrati!

[Lol, they both want to die upon meeting each other.]

Adah stared in awe at the throngs of people assembled before her, there were so many, she doubted she would ever see so many before her again, the part of the city they lived in may have been crowded, but there had always been enough room for everybody who lived there. Her house had even had two stories! But this, this was like an animal pen full of humans; the din and heat rising from the crowd was enough to give Adah a headache. Not nearly a migraine, but enough to make her wince in pain.
"You okay?" He brother asked her.
"Yeah, fine. Fine. Just hate crowds." She muttered. She couldn't wait until the families left and the incoming students were filed off to whatever came next. Suddenly, beginning from the front and washing through to the back of the large area, a wave of silence engulfed the assembled people. The Headmaster had stepped up to speak:
"Young students. Returning students. I welcome you to the new year of study at our illustrious Academy. The children standing around you are the future of our world.
"We as a people have been through much. From the rise and fall of technology, to the near destruction of the Earth. The lands around us and across the seas lie in ruin, not a single human soul inhabiting them. We let them be, so that the Earth may reclaim her scarred flesh and make it whole again. We let her heal herself, so that we might have a new start, having learned from our ancestors' mistakes.
"We live on this small patch of land and do not spread to touch all corners of the globe as they had, for we know the Earth is not ours for the taking, she is a power in and of herself and the utmost respect is due to her. A lesson we have learned to the hearts of our existence, and a respect we give most readily.
"Here at the Academy we do not pay homage to any Deity, nor do we profess to any right or wrong other than that of human morality. We come here from all walks of life and it is up to the students of this bright new age to guide us to that gleaming future we can all see. We train fiercely, in the hopes that we will never have to use the military skills we learn; but should the moment arise, should rogue factions still lie in hordes in the vast deserts outside of our fair city's walls, we will be ready.
"It is to that readiness I ask you to commit your children today. Become a part of the future and, find your ranks among the heroes of our past! Welcome, to the Academy!"
And with his parting words, the Headmaster was greeted by a thunderous applause, shaking the floor of the foyer they stood in. Adah joined in the cheering without thinking. The things he had said, it was everything she wanted and more. She wanted to be better, find a brighter world than the one she had left. Find some way to cure her mom of the weakness that had plagued her since Adah was born, show her brothers what a girl could do, and most importantly, make her father, the man she looked up to the most, proud.